Consumer confidence has fallen. Investors are putting off new projects. Landlords are selling up. Shareholders are taking gains while they can. Thatās what two months of things can only get worse from the government does. Thatās what leaving open so many possible tax rises does as people fear they will be taxed into financial difficulty.
Newspapers and media fuel the downbeat mood with item after item asking who might the government come after? There is a mighty long list as there so many groups Labour seems to dislike. Will they come for landlords, savers, people wanting a decent pension, the self employed, the drivers, the rich, the high earners, all the successful, the strivers, people with good homes, energy companies, banks, small businesses, large companies?
If you want growth and more investment that list is the list of people and companies that will do most to deliver it. It is a bad idea to let them all fear the budget. In three months many of the super rich will have gone to homes elsewhere and will have signed the papers to pay their taxes to other governments. Many of the well off will be well advanced with plans to move away or with better legal ways of placing their savings at home to reduce the coming tax bill. Many strivers will strive less or take early retirement, deterred by the likely higher tax and growing hostility to running a business or renting out property.
The government message seems to be āI warn you, do not work for yourself, do not save too much for your retirement,do not Ā build a successful company or invest successfully. The government will be out to tax you.ā
September 23, 2024
All of the above.
One area of growth will be car sales and boiler sales.
They are forcing me to buy a new car in about 2028 – so I can buy an ICE car to see me out. And a new gas boiler – which I will buy before the mad scheme Mad Miliband is going to introduce on boilers. I am hoping to buy a boiler and store for years until it is needed. Air source heat pump no use to me whatsoever.
Reply Indeed. I have put in a new gas boiler ahead of higher taxes and bans.
September 23, 2024
Reply to Reply.
Me tambien, I have just bought a new combi boiler and a 2 year old japanese ICE car to replace my partners 12 year old japanese ICE car. An act of faith based on 32 years experience. Both will probably see us out.
September 23, 2024
Indeed purchased a 4 month old diesel car last year at a 20% discount on its new price, guess it will see me out.
Was concerned, I was making the right decision at the time, but now a no brainier as things turned out.
Traded in my old 23 year old petrol V6 for it. (Neither UK made).
September 23, 2024
Hi Alan, you did well there. What did you buy? I keep looking at new cars – I probably want a Toyota Corolla estate – but they (like all cars) are mad money today. Even ones that are a year old are ‘nearly new’ money. If I could find a good quality diesel, I might be tempted.
September 23, 2024
Mike the one diesel I have considered is a BMW840D coupe,, Ā£35/40,000 , about 3years old, fully loaded, 40 mpg. Cheaper than a new Qashqai.
September 23, 2024
Mike
Purchased a Mercedes GLB 220d Premier Plus model .
Got 50 mpg on a recent 2,500 mile high speed cruise to the South of France and back with 4 people on board and a fully loaded boot.
Have run a Toyota Corolla D4D SR 2 Litre diesel for the last 17 years, been excellent so plan on keeping it for another 5 years.
September 23, 2024
I put in a nice new boiler earlier in the year. It would have been required in the next couple of years but I brought it forward.
September 23, 2024
I’m aiming to buy a new petrol car in 2026 but depending what the lunatics announce it could be next year, or delayed by a year or two.
September 23, 2024
I’m wondering whether car manufacturers (I prefer to buy Toyotas) will offer a scheme where you put down a deposit – maybe Ā£1000 (just to show you’re serious) – so that you can get an order in for a new car a couple of years ahead.
September 23, 2024
A government of public service they said they clearly meant self service.
To Reply. If we all switch is heat pumps (which cost far more to install (about 10 times as much for a decent system and EV cars) then we need about 10 times as much electricity and grid capacity just for a few winter months with will cost Ā£billions too and be wasted for 70% of the year. They also cost more far more to run despite the COP of 2-3 as electricity cost far more than gas. More to maintain too.
The policy is insane. Plus this winter electricity will inevitably mainly come from fossil fuels anyway. Is Ed Miliband a complete PPE idiot, a religious zealot or just on the make?
September 23, 2024
Mike you read my thoughts. I’ve just had a new gas boiler fitted together with an overhaul of our heating system and I’m swapping my car next year.
The tories never got rid of IR35 and Gove started the onslaught against landlords.
It was a Tory minister who allocated money for LTNs and let Khant introduce the expanded ULEZ
One reason the tories are finished is because they believe in all the things Thieves and Spanner are doing. Two cheeks of the same posterior.
September 23, 2024
I replaced my gas boiler a few months ago, after all the threatened talk about heat pumps. My diesel car is now 4 years old and will see me out. The flight of capital is all too obvious in the LSE’s AIternative Investment Market (AIM) where valuations continue to fall as investors sell up. It will be hard to attract them back, making it harder for these smaller, growing businesses to raise the cash they need to grow and prosper. It is what happens when inept politicians get control.
September 23, 2024
FTSE AIM100 was a bit higher than 6000 between Decā00 and Decā21. It then fell to around 4000 over a year and has been between 4000 and 3500 since (with Trussās dip to 3200 in Oct-Nov 2022). So the trend had started much before Labour came to power in Julyā24.
As for start-ups raising cash, the various VCTs do not appear to have difficulties to get to their investment targets.
September 23, 2024
The AIM All Share index has fallen from 810 at end May to 745 today.
September 23, 2024
Ditto. I have just bought a new petrol car and a new combi-boiler. I will run both into the ground and sit it out until the EV/Heat Pump madness is over.
September 23, 2024
Until gas rationing?…
September 23, 2024
Plus the morons will tax the cars off the road or ban them!
September 23, 2024
+1 Mike Wilson
Unfortunately the car could become an increasing liability, especially if they introduce road pricing using ANPR Cameras. There are thousands of people wrongly fined on ANPR schemes due to misread or false number plates. There are also the pay by phone parking scams, congestion charging, bus lanes, and all the other money traps set for the motorist to consider.
Itās definitely a NO from me for heat pumps and electric cars, Iām not even convinced by the over complex Hybrids. Like thousands of others we will manage without and the government will suffer a large drop in tax revenues.
September 23, 2024
Will they use ANPR cameras? Or some pesky GPS based method that gets you wherever you go. There is a tiny lane leading from my town to a local much bigger town – it’s a real Dorset lane, just wide enough for one vehicle with passing places. I can see that becoming a highway if they use ANPR cameras. There is already an ANPR camera outside the main town on the main approach road.
September 23, 2024
ANPR cameras would be destroyed at a rate far exceeding damaged (20mph) cameras in London.
September 23, 2024
By 2028 the waiting list will be so long to get an ICE car that it will go beyond the ban date. Due to the quota system, manufacturers are stopping the delivery of new cars, pushing sales into the following year. I suggest you get your order in sooner rather than later.
September 23, 2024
I’d like to get my order in, but I don’t really want/need a new car until 2028 (and, even then, that thinking was just to get in well before the mad 2030 cut off date) – and I can’t see how I could order one now because they might not still be making the model I order and, even if they are, the price will change between now and then. If I had a dry garage, I’d buy a new car now and mothball it until I need it.
September 23, 2024
To reply often modern boilers are less reliable and less long lasting than older boilers. As more complex a bit more efficient on gas but this is often saves less in gas than in extra maintenance and less in energy than the van for the repair man!
September 23, 2024
Indeed. I bought a new Vaillant combi boiler 4 years ago – it came with a 7 year warranty. (Could have had 10 years if I had paid a bit more, I think.) Just as well it had the warranty – had to have a new gas valve at 3 and a half years. It’s really not good enough. There was a time when a Potterton Kingfisher (or similar) would last you 20 years or more. I am definitely going to buy to buy a new boiler (before the insanity begins) and store it until I need it. Guess it will have to be a Worcester Bosch next time. Hopefully if Bosch are involved it will be good.
September 23, 2024
Indeed 20 years and you might perhaps have had to buy one or two new Ā£20 themo-couples! Built and designed in redundancy to profit further. They also are quite likely to stop supplying parts. Similar with EV and modern cars. Best keep you 20 years old VW Golf, Sabb or similar.
September 23, 2024
Mike
Our potterton kingfisher boiler lasted 36 years, was installed when we built our house.
Only had to replace the pump once in all that time.
Changed for a Worcestershire Bosch 8 years ago, and modified the hot water system to a mega flow pressurised type at the same time, a pump and some valves replaced after only 4 years (under guarantee) already.
September 23, 2024
Future proofing is what many retired peopole are doing, obviously including our host and my wife and I.
We have created a space in our garage next to our existing five-year-old gas boiler. Before sales are banned, we will be fitting a second boiler alongside the first and will cycle them both, running them for a month at a time. The cost of the new boiler will be less than Ā£1,500 and installation costs will be minimal as everything is already there.
We will then have redundancy, so there will be no chance of a breakdown causing loss of heat or hot water.
The two boilers should easily see us both out. We are also adding a new gas fire to our lounge so we don’t have to run the heating in the winter evenings to keep warm.
We already have five IC-engined cars, including two classics which are road tax and MOT-free, and another is approaching 40 years old. They will also see us both out. No chance of us buying an EV as whatever extra tax they put on fuel, will pale into insignificance compared with depreciation on an EV.
September 23, 2024
@Mike Wilson @Reply and @everyone else on this thread. There’s ever so bright and clever people, they call themselves intelligent MPs and Ministers have yet to explain how an air sourced heat pump will heat any home over 10 years old let alone 30 years old, they are just not suited.
Then the Question, how many Labour MPs have air sourced heating, installed and financed by themselves, that’s before we get to the singular problem of Ed Miliband and this Labour Cabinet.
A similar equation goes for battery EV Cars, if they actualy have them are they made by fine UK Workers that this lot as with previous want to see out of Work. So out of 650 MPs how many use exclusive have and use batterie EV’s how many are 100% UK made. So would that be Parliament saying they don’t support the UK? When the Unions sponsored Labour to manipulate wage rises, did the realise they where sponsoring the removal of their members from the Workforce?
Then again under this Socialist regime it is clearly about them and us – there is no inclusion, no working with just against.
September 23, 2024
We must not loose sight that the costs and punishment that is being followed up here by the UK Parliament is not entertained or implemented in any of the UK’s main Competitor Nations. Or the UK People have high energy costs because of UK Parliament legislation, not the market, punitive punishment costs that don’t exist amongst the UK’s major competition.
Forcing air source heat pumps on a market, at cost to the consumer. When the theory can only work if the bulk of the UK housing stock is demolished and rebuilt. That’s not a few home that’s 90% of homes. An un-imaginal expenditure for no gain.
September 23, 2024
It will all add to their early demise. I will just illustrate how dangerous both Labour and their predecessors are and were. We need clean reliable energy under our own control. Rolls Royce could provide it within 5 to 10 years with factory produced SMRs. What has happened. The CS has worked its traiterous gonads off to block such a solution, backed by totally ineffective governments based on their collective ignorance. So front of the customer queue at Rolls Royce are Sweden, The Netherlands and Poland. This is the ” white heat of technological progress”, writ large, UK style. With Rasputin leading the inmates the best advice I can give the board at RR is re-incorporate in the Caymen Islands.
September 23, 2024
Yes, SMR’s SHOULD be where Millipeed spends our money, to get these in by 2030-2035 to replace electricity production from (all coal fired power stations and any gas powered station over 20 years old) X 2.
IF our big science brains can be motivated to work together to devise more efficient and safer SMR’s than current, then we will have a world leading product to sell.
September 23, 2024
Successive governments seemed set against supporting British innovation with SMRs. That is a disgrace. We have the technology, as they are based on our Nuclear Submarine reactors and Rolls-Royce are the experts.
What possible reason was there for opening a long drawn out competitive tender process when all of the other players are foreign? We need this remarkably innovative new industry to boost our economy. Far more prospects for helping UK growth than building even more unreliable wind farms when the technology and manufacture are in China and they are useless when the wind does not blow.
Reply Ingrained EU habits on public sector procurement. Note however a SMR is likely to be a lot bigger than a small submarine reactor so RR needs to design, build , test and get approved a new model that does not exist yet. The officials have taken a very long time to organise and complete a procurement process when all the Ministers in the last government said they wanted this to happen.
September 23, 2024
New Nuclear Watch Institute(NNWI),5/1/24:”Russian and Chinese SMR designs poised to dominate global fleet”
Nuclear Engineering international,10/4/24:”Russia bets big on small reactors -development of SMRs a key component of Russia’s nuclear energy strategy to 2050)
Russia had the first operational SMR (2020);it is building further land-based and floating variants for it’s own use and recently picked up its first export order,from Uzbekistan,with India and Indonesia also visiting the facility recently and showing keen interest.As Indonesia comprises a large group of islands the floating variant could be ideal.
September 23, 2024
@agricola – labour under Brown led the charge that there should be NO nuclear in the UK, there was no need. To that end he sold the UK’s major capability – the UK owned Westinghouse. Rolls Royce’s intention to get SMR’s of the ground in the UK is to licence a good chunk of the Tech needed from Westinghouse. Labour is in hock to renewable energy firms through donations and we have seen how Labour coalesce with all donas, donas get rewarded the People pay.
September 23, 2024
A government should tick over smoothly in the background to protect its citizens efficiently.
It should not act as a constant threatening force that restricts peopleās freedom, takes their money away, causes risk to health and imposes nuisances that spoil the quality of life.
This one has aggressive intent, claiming to pursue goodness, but bungling into fixing worse.
September 23, 2024
It is not even claiming to pursue goodness – all Starmer has said is that things will get worse and his pack have spread FUD but there are no carrots being dangled at all .. unless you are public sector employees with trade unions of course.
September 23, 2024
‘A government should tick over smoothly in the background to protect its citizens efficiently.’
Did that EVER happen? I suspect not in my lifetime, and can’t imagine it in the future.
September 24, 2024
It might have happened long ago, Mickey. In earlier times, many folk didnāt know what the then āPSBRā was, or even heard the term, but reading crisis headlines about it caused them to worry daily and react until it improved. Media, & particularly social media now, can expose wrongdoing to help force remedies, sometimes before much worse occurs.
September 23, 2024
@Bloke +1 – the purity and simplicity to good management and government, blurred by ideology and personal self-esteem.
September 24, 2024
Well-defined.
September 23, 2024
As you say, The government message seems to be āI warn you, do not work for yourself, do not save too much for your retirement,do not build a successful company or invest successfully. The government will be out to tax you.ā
The reason for this is not just hatred and envy, but a wish to drive everyone to dependence on the State. Universal income, digital currency, electronic voting etc. They are vile people who despise humanity and western Christian society in particular. They are out to destroy it, and have total control over us. If the armed services would do their bidding, they’d change things pronto, Pol Pot style.
They really are as bad as some people were warning. The Conservative Party did nothing to protect us from them or their policies, then prevented a true opposition (Reform) from getting the representation it deserved.
September 23, 2024
+1 Wanderer
If the Conservative Party had stood down in the seats they had no hope of winning, and left the field clear for Reform, they might have saved us from this disaster.
September 23, 2024
The Conservatives are in denial over what is happening in centre-right politics.
Even sensible Brexiters like Sir William Cash are refusing to countenance any form of accommodation with Reform, yet it is blindingly obvious that the Conservatives cannot win the next election without at least an election pact with Reform.
In 2028-29, Nigel Farage’s party is likely to win a lot more than the 4.117m votes he won in July 2024, many of them at the expense of the Conservatives, as even more staunch Conservative voters realise that they are never going to get a proper Thatcherite government without some backbone from Reform.
Where does our host stand on this ? He seems not to want to come down on one side or another ?
Reply My position is clear. It support a conservative agenda and want Conservative and Reform parties to sort it out so we can vote for a candidate who shares Conservative values and is likely to win. I set out such an agenda and will help suitable politicians if they want advice. So the 2 parties need to reach an agreement or one of the two needs to demonstrate an ability to speak for the conservative majority. It may be clearer who can best do that when the Conservatives have a new leader and he or she sets out what they will do and believe in. At the moment with Conservatives on 24% and Reform on 21% Labour remains ahead by default whilst being unpopular enough to lose without the conservative split. Voters were understandably angry about the last governmentās failures on migration, tax and management of state services.
September 23, 2024
Many of us posting here will be pleased to see your position set out so clearly. Your attitude is refreshingly honest compared with all of your former colleagues, except for ones like JR-M who I hope you will indeed join on GB News on a Wednesday evening.
Sadly, I think that the Conservative party is too aloof and arrogant to even consider any form of agreement with what they regard as a coarse young upstart, never mind Reform’s 4.1 milion votes and counting ! They won’t even think of budging until they start to loose council seats by the hundred. That is certain to happen over the next four years.
September 23, 2024
reply to reply… looking at the candidates for leader, I can’t imagine voters buying the line ‘ what they will do and believe in. ‘ We are still smarting from the last 14 years.
September 23, 2024
@ChrisS – the Parliamentary grouping of Conservatives, haven’t a clue about the centre ground, if it doesn’t include fully signed WEF Socialism. The centre ground is the vast majority of the UK’s People, the vast majority of support for this Country. Unfortunately they( the Parliamentary group) prefer the continuity of failure with all those that have failed in the last 14 years, it was the Conservative Party with choices that choose their path one without Conservative Values. Conservative Vales are neither left or right its just about releasing people to excel and achieve, without dogma and ideology.
Whether ‘Reform’ is a thing the jury is still out, but I would say the UK Politics scene needs reforming top to bottom and in every nook and cranny
September 23, 2024
Reply to reply, you want the BDI Sir John!
September 23, 2024
“You will own nothing and be happy”
September 23, 2024
the former possibly, the latter never.
September 23, 2024
Exactly – the start of dystopian future. Most of us on here, I imagine, will not be alive to witness it taking hold.
September 23, 2024
It seems John is confusing elected government with an all powerful, un-elected woke Socialist client state, which of course operates outside the democratic construct and in many cases outside the criminal law without regard for due process or regard to accountability.
It would assist his readers understanding if he detailed how this woke Socialist state goes about its grubby, filthy business beyond the prying eyes of interested parties ie the people. If anyone knows an ex-politician does.
September 23, 2024
Yes it is very bad. Even worse than my low expectations. People really need to vote Conservative even if it only yields a 3/10 or 4/10 govt like the last one.
At the next election we need to get a campaign of tactical voting going so as to kick out Labour.
September 23, 2024
Richard 1,
There is only one tactic, Vote Reform.
September 23, 2024
I would add that Reform appears to be the only vehicle at the moment but we must make sure there are people of good character and intention that represent our interests being elected to avoid it becoming simply a party of cheerleaders.
September 23, 2024
Er no, thatās whatās given us Labour
September 23, 2024
Richard
Reform is the only real game in town now given the conservatives programme.
September 23, 2024
I agree with Alan and Agricola. You former Conservative voters should definitely vote Reform
September 23, 2024
amazing! I agree with you.
September 23, 2024
We do not yet know the Conservativesā programme they havenāt chosen a leader. But whichever one it is will be better than Labour which is the alternative
September 23, 2024
Peter Hitchens rightly says that we need to embrace the concept of voting AGAINST ( aka tactical voting).
It probably isnāt any good voting FOR just because you hate one party and desperately want another to win.
Surely there is little doubt that revenge is the very last motive we should take to the ballot box?
Look where that has landed us!
September 24, 2024
What does he think I have been doing since 1990?
September 23, 2024
Why do people really need to vote Conservative because it will only be more of the same. Reform is the way forward.
September 23, 2024
No, NO, NOOOOOOO! I am 71. Born in 1952.
1952 – 1963 – Conservative
1970 – 1974 – Conservative
1979 – 1997 – Conservative
2010 – 2024 – Conservative
We have had Conservative governments for 47 of those 71 years – i.e. for two thirds of the time – and look at the state of the country. Bloated, inefficient public sector, industry gone, job security gone, occupational pensions ruined (I could go on and on and on) ā¦.and YOU THINK THE SOLUTION IS ANOTHER CONSERVATIVE government!!! I suppose you are familiar with the definition of madness – doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result. Are you mad? Iād say so.
The Conservative Party does not govern well. Weāve kicked it out. Let it die and let someone else have a go. Vote Reform.
September 24, 2024
Yes they can wreck the country in 1/3 of the time. Biden has wrecked the USA in 3 years! Maybe irreprably!
Look at what Starmer has āachievedā in 3 months!
We are lucky that Johnson is lazy and works just a day or two a week. Imagine the disaster if he worked at it! – he of course is a globalist neo-con.
September 23, 2024
@ Richard1 – can we not aspire to a better government than a 4/10 for if you think that is the very best possible I regret it is unlikely to be sufficient.
September 23, 2024
good luck with that. You are backing the wrong horse.
September 23, 2024
@Richard1 – Of the Parliamentary Conservative Grouping, how many are Conservatives? With the Conservative Grouping selection of leadership candidates, how many are Conservatives? The Parliamentary Conservative Grouping appears to have blocked Conservatives from even standing to be a Conservative MP, preferring those remnants the the Liberal Democrats rejected.
Labour are only pursuing the previous administrations direction with added bigotry and zeal. So to vote those that have a ‘record and history’ of doing the self same thing as Labour changes nothing.
Those that call themselves the Conservative Party disenfranchised a whole Country
September 23, 2024
“Will they come for landlords, savers, people wanting a decent pension, the self employed, the drivers, the rich, the high earners, all the successful, the strivers, people with good homes, energy companies, banks, small businesses, large companies?”
——–
Yes, and anyone else they can think of …. whether they are still moving and breathing, or not.
But their client state in the Public Sector will be cushioned from the “universal” tax increases by hefty pay increases and state-run “projects” which will keep them employed and able to squander taxpayers’ money on an industrial scale.
Down here in Dorset, the small towns have lost their banks and many of their shops. They are just about keeping going via the hospitality and service sectors, which have recovered since the Covid Tyranny. But it appears the vindictive, idiotic, authoritarian Puritans in Government are going to kill them off by increasing the already exorbitant alcohol taxes …. and driving even more pubs, restaurants and cafes out of business.
RIP British Economy: murdered by the Westminster Uni-Party.
September 23, 2024
Like you, Donna, I live in Dorset. We have lost our Conservative councils to Lib-Dim control with all the stupid policies that implies.
However your comment:
āWill they come for landlords, savers, people wanting a decent pension, the self employed, the drivers, the rich, the high earners, all the successful, the strivers, people with good homes, energy companies, banks, small businesses, large companies?ā
applied almost as much to the last Government as it does to the current homeless mob.
We need a return to a proper centre-right government and the current Conservative party in Parliament are even less likey to deliver that than Sunak and Co. That’s why I have broken the habit of a lifetime and joined Reform and will be campaigning for the party in 2029 and every local election between now and then.
September 23, 2024
@ChrisS – we don’t need ‘proper centre-right’ we just those that work with us and not fight us everyday. Real conservatives are more caring than the lefties, they are not centre, right or left they are just Conservatives, have main stream common sense and practicable. Not entitled but contributing.
September 23, 2024
I live in a small town not far from Bridport. We are lucky, still have 3 pubs, 1 hotel, Co-op, Spar, greengrocers, hairdressers and a few others. I know when we were looking to move here 5 years ago, we discounted so many places because, as you say, they had nothing there apart from houses. And, as you also said, the whole area runs on services. There is a bit of industry, but very little. As for farming, it astonishes me that the local farms seem to be run by one person and a million quids worth of machinery – most of the time. Two or three people – and another million quids worth – when they are harvesting.
September 23, 2024
let’s be honest. The reason Labour got in was because the Conservative party let the people down on many fronts . After 14 years people were just weary and public services just got worse. I doubt we’ll see an improvement with Labour, they guaranteed to be out come the next election.
September 23, 2024
I wouldn’t take money on that Stepen.
We need a well organised, capable, motivated and (above all) united political opposition to both Labour and the climate crazy Lib Dems. Where are they?
The Conservative brand is not only badly holed below the waterline but frankly I’m also deeply suspicious of the ‘grey men’ who seem to pull the strings in the background. Nothing lives forever.
Reform has a very long way to go before it will look in any way suited to govern this country.
Meanwhile, Labour has five years to further dig itself firmly into power. People need to remember that most autocratic governments don’t govern with the general consent of their people – just the appearance of it…
September 23, 2024
Presumably they will come for all those suspected of not voting Labour which will surely make their revenue HUGE?
September 23, 2024
They want the State to control our lives, thus the need for huge sums of money.
September 23, 2024
Good morning
The attack on the Middle Class has truly begun.
This will result in the destruction of wealth and aapiration. And aspiration dies, so to will society. The gap between the haves and the have nots will grow, thereby increasing Labours voter base.
A dystopia in the making.
September 23, 2024
Sir John’s conclusion: “The government message seems to be āI warn you, do not work for yourself, do not save too much for your retirement,do not build a successful company or invest successfully. The government will be out to tax you.ā”
This is the kind of rhetoric that we would ideally like to hear from candidates for the Tory leadership, combined with a clear personal explanation of how each candidate would take a stand against it, and indeed what they would repeal in office if given the chance. Regrettably we may be more likely to hear insincere platitudes with an underlying promise of more managerialist decline.
September 23, 2024
The Media delight in frightening us to death. Not a day goes by without lurid stories of āstarvingā children, and families who cant afford to buy a bed to sleep on. Endless stories of single mothers with several children, who cant afford to feed them, and go without food themselves, because ābenefits are not enough, and the Government (taxpayer) should do more to help usā.
i was at the Bus Stop last week, and there were several older ladies(of whom I am one) there. They were anxiously talking about the WFA, and what the Government might do next. They were worried that their Bus Passes might be taken away, or that they might lose the single persons allowance on their Council Tax.
Having lived a long while, and through several Labour governments, I knew what a Labour government might mean, but this one has surpassed my expectations. They are detestable!
September 23, 2024
You never spoke truer words !
Voters over 50 obviously had collective amnesia back in July.
You and I were amongst the few that didn’t !
September 23, 2024
Yes. Detestable and despicable and dangerous. The ending of the Winter Fuel Allowance is driven by their hatred of Tories and all independent individuals. The main sufferers will they believe be the wealthier pensioners, and thus Tories.
In Kier Stalin’s beliefs these pensioners are the equivalent of Joe Stalin’s ‘better off peasants’ (the kulaks), whom he severely repressed, and are part of his own groups of his ‘enemies of the people’ definition, all of whom he is intending to punish and control.
September 23, 2024
All nonsense from the project fear campaign by the Labour-hostile conservative press. So far, its all speculation, Labour have NOT announced any tax rises.
The Conservatives lost the election by a huge margin, get over it. The party should be analysing why and preparing for 2029
Reply Do stop lying.I increasingly decline your contributions because they are so inaccurate. They have announced VAT on school fees, higher Non Domās taxes and an increased Energy Windfall Tax and clearly plan more rises in the budget. They could otherwise reassure by saying No more tax rises.
September 24, 2024
@Sir John – reply
My posts disagree with many of the anti-renewable, pro-fossil fuel energy views that you espouse. I note that the right-wing press has confirmed that when the additional windfarms that Milliband is proposing are built, the price of electricity will fall so much that consumers will get free energy on Sundays. This will give a huge boost to those energy-intensive industries who are prepared to be flexible and operate over the weekend
Reply Most of your comments are repetitious slogans. What evidence is there of cheaper power from renewables? Have you included the large costs of back up fossil fuel power or of as yet undecided storage systems via big battery farms or hydrogen conversion? If you want to be published and taken seriously engage with the complexities. I am not anti renewables and pro fossil fuel. I am pro affordable and reliable power produced in the U.K.
September 23, 2024
Asset stripping and nest feathering.
I see now how we can look forward to a future of owning nothing.
Whatever precautions anyone takes there is no way of predicting what they will come for next*.
Theyāve had our peace of mind, happiness, healthcare, education, freedomā¦no limits I imagine.
* Years ago I could see the way the wind was blowing so we got a āgreenā wood burner.( To be free of govt. haha!)
Turns out they are enemy number one.
Luckily ours is multi fuel so we can burn ridiculous olive stone ācoalā.
But we did not make that choice because we had no inkling that woodsmoke would ever be a problem!
September 23, 2024
All this may have a point, but the base includes an attempt to divert attention from the incompetence of his party many years in government, which began all of this.
It introduced all the social and breaches of freedom horrors we are suffering from, and in particular the destruction of the identity of England and Englishness.
September 23, 2024
I haven’t heard too much about rising taxes for business. What does worry me as a small business owner is the prospect of more onerous employment law.
I’d like to be someone who encourages young people to be successful in their studies, in order to be successful in their future careers. On the other hand I would be extremely cautious about employing anyone and would strongly discourage a new business taking on employees. For goodness sake keep small.
September 23, 2024
It is notable that Starmer says “growth” is one of his aims but everything he’s announced or briefed the newspapers with so far will reduce growth. The one exception are his proposed (vague) planning liberalisation policies – I will be interested to see if these survive first contact with NIMBY constituency MPs (including his own).
September 23, 2024
Sir John, at the age of 79 I remember the many acts of sabotage by a Labour administration, closure of grammar schools, three day week et al. But this government beats them all, blinded by ideology they seek to render us all impotent. Any sane person looking at their front bench must shiver with the threat of more to come. We havenāt seen anything yet.
September 23, 2024
This is not a British government we have now, for they have none of the values that Britain used to stand for, that made us great. Those values that could make us so successful again.
This is a government of spite and envy, without morals and certainly no positive vision for the country. They are a government of default that nobody wanted.
Like all good socialists though, they are interested in making us more compliant to the state while depriving us of liberties. They claim of course to be agnostic or anti-Christian, but they bend the knee and bow devoutly to several religions, in particular the cult of climate change which they will milk for all the power it will give them to re-engineer the UK in their pathetic image.
There has never been a true socialist regime on this planet that created any kind of utopia. Far from it, so many were abusive of their own people. Our present regime must know that, so they exercise power for its own glory, not for the good of anyone but themselves.
Democracy needs an upgrade.
September 23, 2024
Has any regime of any stripe ever created any kind of utopia?
September 23, 2024
There some that came close but long dead now
September 23, 2024
It is a very familiar message after the last fourteen years.
September 23, 2024
With the Media there is a need to earn by exposing advertisers. Advertisers are really pay for view clients. Good Stories do not attract the same number of views as bad stories.
Headline writers have nothing to do with the story writer. They are part of marketing a separate entity. The Headline is to suck the viewer in – the content doesnāt even need to relate to the Headline, itās about exposing advertisers.
Then there is the freedom of the press, journalistic freedoms are sacrosanct in a democracy, all the mainstream media BBC and so on just take the handed-out media release have it printed and repeated verbatim. Where is the Journalist freedom there? What does the freedom they have mean in that situation? Are they like so many just bought off. If a Politician, a vested interest group hands you a press release and you donāt challenge its reasoning, thread, you are not part of the āfree pressā just another social user spreading what should not be challenged from those that think they are entitled.
September 23, 2024
If you are in (Government?) Parliament, an MP you are supposed to work equally for everyone, all your electorate!
Once elected you represent all equally and fairly, even those with opposing views. Your ear, your time as valuable as it is, should be available equally. To that end a lobby group, vested interest should only have access that should the also be granted to one your constituents, at best. They should also be constituents themselves.
For instance, why does a body like the misnamed CBI get direct access to the halls of Government ahead of individual constituents? Those that own and run CBI outfits tend to be predominantly foreign based and foreign owned that also have their own national Embassies and Trade Missions working on manipulating government on their behalf. So, they get to manipulate the Government/Parliament disproportionally to the individual electorate whose position and vote should be on an equal standing, and who is doing the empowering and paying.
The CBI isnāt alone, there are many more that have got ahead of themselves.
It might seem I am looking for some unobtainable purity in our democracy. But look at every avenue, and everything that has crept into what should be a great institution. Whether or not directly as individuals or as Parliament it has all become involved directly ā they are all culpable as one and other. Duty should be to the electorate, democracy, parliament before any pseudo gang floating around the chambers. It now exudes corruption, the salami slicing of integrity until it is all gone. It now lacks gravitas, credibility and integrity. All 650 MP have to own becoming part of the corruption of a banana republic ā they all own it; they could stop it but instead they accept it. It is everyone else(the wider country) that pays for this neglect.
September 23, 2024
This country has potentially a GREAT future ahead of it (but too many pessimists!). Labour is obviously a nightmare but the Tories at the moment are a bit of a bad dream. Something RADICAL needs to be done in the Tory Party to make it EXCITING for the voters. Same old, same old will NOT work.
1. We need to try and attract higher calibre Tories into the Party (let’s at least discuss this as the most important topic at next Tory Conference).
2. We need a big economic project (not in a socialist sense but in the sense of helping entrepreneurs more) to get voters excited. Such as trying to turn Cambridge area into the world’s Second Silicon Valley – with beautiful train service to the city etc. And help the High Tech industry in general. This provides great jobs that people love. And high revenues. And then to spread some of the success of this into the North (Manchester-Sheffield-Leeds area).
3. We need to make our people more productive and responsible. Start off by reintroducing National Service – at least for a month. Either military service or voluntary service.
4. Tory Party needs to invite more people from the Christian churches, the arts, media and education to their Conferences so we can try and spread more healthy Tory values into our society. And figure out how to do better in general. Because Western Civilisation in general is fast in decline. Strong economics isn’t enough. We need something more substantial underneath (i.e. values) to give the economy some foundation (otherwise, we’re just one big Rat Race – not just in the work place but in the neighbourhoods and homes as well).
5. Plough on with trying to be tough on immigration ,
That’s a good start.
September 23, 2024
The question is, who is the Government (or, rather, the Civil Service, quangos, authorities, regulators, academia, judiciary etc.) working for? The PM said he prefers Davos to Westminster.
Net Zero is designed to cause economic collapse. Our energy supply is being deliberately sabotaged to cause energy shortages resulting in energy lockdowns. There is no way that renewables, with no plan at all for grid-scale storage, can provide sufficient, affordable and reliable electricity and neither do the national and local grids have the capacity for transitioning to evs and heat pumps.
What is the purpose of the continued importation of unidentified young men of fighting age coming from hostile countries with alien cultures, practices and laws with offers of free accommodation, healthcare, Ā£40/week pocket money and the freedom to not only roam the streets unhindered but able to work in the black market?
Will this eventually lead to the necessity for a security lockdown?
September 23, 2024
“In government you are meant to work for everyone, not just your supporters” – sorry, sir John, but this is precisely what the socialist/communist playbook demands. Every day I am astonished yet again how come that our esteemed ‘opinion makers’ in the media and in politics so carefully avoided mentioning this. It’s not as if we, the voters, didn’t know this already. After all, we kept mentioning Wales, the ‘living experience’ of a quarter century of living in a Labour fiefdom …
September 23, 2024
As usual, the super-rich will be able to avoid the Labour tax rises and the burden will be left for the middle classes to carry. Iām a landlord and financially Iād be better off realising my gains and getting out of the business then moving to Spain. I wonāt do this as I refuse to evict my tenants. This stay of execution can only last a few years as all my properties are EPC āDā rated with little prospect of upgrading them to a higher level. My only hope is that we get a sensible government installed in five years, but by then it might be too late. I feel that Reeves is targeting people like me who have worked hard all their lives, saved for their retirement and never had any help from the state.
Iād be interested in some scrutiny of Starmerās finances as I read he is a multimillionaire but doesnāt pay a huge amount of tax and his freebies havenāt been taxed as Benefits in Kind. He also has a one-man law for his pension unavailable to others in the country.
Animal Farm has never been more appropriate. āAll animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than othersā.
September 23, 2024
Christine, I feel the same as and I cannot and will not evict my two tenants and render them homeless at this horribly difficult time for them and for we ethical landlords.
Remember, with the single exception of the first ever short-lived Labour government, all other labour governments have trashed the economy and the current one seems hell-bent on repeating the work of their forebears.
September 23, 2024
I wonder if those spin merchants around the Labour Government will have clocked the lesson from the previous one that once your popularity rating goes negative then you have a situation that is hard to reverse?
September 23, 2024
Perhaps Mrs. Reeves’ Chancellorship will not last as long as that of Mr. Kwarteng or not longer than a lettuce.
September 23, 2024
Labour have been more-a-less redundant since about 1951.
They’ve done a few good since. Minimum wage was one. But other than that, can’t think of much else. Like a spanner in the works to creating wealth for all. As well as WOKE. And then Blair’s mindless Iraq War.
It’s such a tragedy the Tories are where they are. They should be in charge and making this country great again.
September 23, 2024
Given the damage they have created over the past couple of months for once they’ve told us the truth. “Things can only get worse”. Sadly, it’s all of their own doing but they’ll always blame the “wicked Tories” for all of these self-generated problems. Surely, even the die-hard Labourites will see through it, soon?
However, we, the electorate, can do nothing until 2029 to stop the rot but maybe, the financial and FX markets will during the next few months, even right after the budget in October. But at what cost to the country?
September 23, 2024
717 irregular immigrants arrived in the UK yesterday from the safe country of France ā¦..presumably all trying to attend the second day of labour conference, in 13 boats
September 23, 2024
And 707 in 13 boats the previous day. There has emerged over a period of time a pattern. After several days of zeros we see surge techniques such as seen three times in the last 9 days with numbers of 801, 707 and 717.
Sept 14 to 22 – 9 days: Total arrivals 2612 in 47 boats. Just what has been done with all these people. Surely there must be some degree of warning & knowledge in advance of these arrivals to facilitate the accommodations and the, e.g., coach transportation needed. Unless things have changed, we know that there is some hotel room contingency held daily at presumably at huge cost but even so, 1424 in 2 days and 1093 in 2days last week.
September 23, 2024
Estimate of undocumented people in the UK : 800,000 ā 1.2m
Illegal migrants arrived since pledge to āstop the boatsā : 137,000
UK police officers 171,000
British army : 75,000
September 23, 2024
over staffed H of L – about 800.
over staffed H of C – about 400.
September 23, 2024
Equal opportunities & diversity officers employed in public service circa 30,000
September 23, 2024
Have just listened to Rachael Reeve our Chancellor. My verdict, high on rhetoric but very low on substance. If she wants investment in GB industry then it must come from the private sector of the UK and the rest of the World. To achieve that investors need an attractive fiscal climate, currently more visible in Eire. My final judgement will be on her budget.
September 23, 2024
Excellent Sir John as usual.
“Incentives” is the key economic driver missing from Labour’s ideology.
Margaret Thatcher and her fellow Ministers like yourself knew this instinctively without any prompting, part of the old real Conservatives DNA.
It gave Hope to millions of people to get up out of bed in the morning, dare I say get off bottoms and grab the opportunities on – get up and go.
Labour have done the exact opposite. They have frightened enough folk with the doom laden forecasts to kill incentives and hope for millions and many would like to get up and leave. (Perhaps they hope the net migration figures will relieve the current problem……replacing achievers with client voters ….).
September 23, 2024
Rachel Reeves attempted to paint a rosier picture to the Labour’s conference today after realising just how devastating the impact and consequences of all her previous dire warnings for millions..
Too little, too late. The cat is out of the bag. Labour’s track record of fooling voters runs ahead of them. People are pulling out and taking defensive action against Labour’s raids on their assets.
The only folks rejoicing are Public Sector workers and the Unions.
September 23, 2024
Off topic, I’ve just been listening to a conversation about Ukraine between Secretary of State for Defence John Healey and journalist Mark Urban at the Labour Party conference, and at this point:
https://youtu.be/wlt8qhlas4c?t=541
Mark Urban asked
“Does the UK have a point of view about, ‘They’ve got to get the east back, or they’ve got to get Crimea back, or they’ve got to get all their occupied lands back, or is that entirely up to the Ukranians?”
but there was no satisfactory answer.
If it is left to Zelensky the war may never end:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2023/12/23/the-obr-plans-a-tea-party/#comment-1425740
Which may be what some people really want.
September 24, 2024
Zelensky is running out of Ukrainians-and large numbers of western-funded mercenaries,’specialists’ and ‘volunteers’ are being eliminated too.
Ukrainska Pravda,5/8/24:”Mortality in Ukraine in 2024 is three times higher than birth rate.”
September 23, 2024
From Guido
Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy is spending her Conference putting together a manifesto for censorial press regulation to help the Labour Party.
āItās in the Labour Partyās interest and in the Labour movementās long-term interest to regulate the media properly instead of making short-term pacts and truces, and if itās done right media reform could actually make Keir Starmerās job a lot easier, and effective media reforms would make effective government much easier.ā
https://order-order.com/2024/09/23/ribeiro-addy-labour-frontbench-is-interested-in-tight-press-regulation-to-make-starmers-job-easier/
ā¢ Imposing state regulation on newspapers to ensure they arenāt āmarking their own homework.ā
ā¢ āSafeguard the independence of the BBC by removing the threat of charter renewal.ā So, the state broadcaster avoids any and all unaccountability on a permanent basisā¦
Governments have to be challenged, not use laws to curtain the opposition and everyoneās freedoms.
Similar has been voiced by some recently, those that want media competition curtailed, less active participants. Apparently, the Government has been told there are too many outlets, thus making harder for some to earn millions.
Which it is why people ask why those in the Labour Party are taking continuous handouts from a Media Multi-millionaire, and what is the Quid pro quo? Especially as the Unions got masses for nought.
September 23, 2024
Will Sam/Martin in Bristol allow me to ask Original Richard how he explains the precipitation events of these last few days over Central Europe and England if, as he says, a decrease in the equator-pole temperature gradient decreases the probability of this type of events. Thatās a real question.
September 24, 2024
You go ahead hefner if it pleases you.
Hotter, wetter, colder, dryer it’s all climate change.
Every event anywhere on the planet.
PS
The real question is, when we achieve Net Zero here in the UK, which no doubt you support, how much will it reduce global temperatures or stop any global weather events.
Do you know?