Yes, and you need good regional rail to support it as well. That way you can use high-speed stations as a hub for lesser used small town services.

Australia needs bullet train lines connecting our major cities, at the minimum Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne should be fully linked with high speed land travel.

I was worried it had been replaced by AI!

Welcome back Sydbot! I hope you had a relaxing holiday!

Democracy works best when the decision making is engaged in and as close as reasonably practicable to the people.

Therefore a single 'Greater Sydney' municipality would disenfranchise and disengage the people for which the democracy purports itself to be run in the benefit of.

Britain is the case point for this. From Thatcher a process of centralisation and privatisation was commenced. It is the underlying, often unidentified, cause of many of the systemic issues Britain faces today. It has led to an inability of the democracy centered in London to deliver for people outside that central area who are poorly represented in that capital city. Andy Burnhams policy of distributing democracy back out closer to the people should noy only drive engagement in their democracy, but also have positive effects on business productivity. Because if you can make a decision without travelling 50miles down the road to rubber stamp it then that has reduced the friction inherent in that process.

In other words, central authorities are basically friction engines. Removing agency of action from the people on the ground slows and inhibits those processes. Sometimes, say in War its useful, other times, say in business it can kill productivity and efficiency. This is why Thatcher was arse about backwards in her decisions.

Tonight ended up good despite my bitching about previous EDM events. Went to electro-acoustic gig. Eventually got pumping. Whole age spectrum here too.

Yup mostly twenties to forties

Mixed age?

In EDM show as I type, erryone grinding. West Coast, us

🤦‍♂️

Well they lost it before someone stole it

At the point where you found the airtag in the bin, the camera went from lost to stolen. Sorry about that - having "lost" (it was stolen) a DSLR myself, I know how sucky that is. 😢

That really sucks. Sorry.

The space pope is reptilian

The pope is Catholic

And water is wet :(

Hmm what happened to sydbot.

Someone's a Bayern fan....

Yeah... But if it's just Sydney to Newcastle for years, then Newcastle will become way note expensive and crowded very quickly. The covid shift was bad enough, this could be a lot worse

At this point I don't care so long as they actually start construction somewhere.

Honestly, why would you start with the syd-Newcastle connection first? Syd-Can-Melb are much higher gain connections.

Unless the aim is to increase the number of flights, I guess..

No expense has been spared!

On behalf of Sydney, may I cordially invite you to visit and stay in the city for as long as you want* and enjoy it's many and varied things to do

*subject to visa and other laws

I have been to Sydney twice. 1970 and 2001. Never left the airport either time, just in transit.

Sydbot down briefly. Should be all good now.