The government is out to blame the oil and gas companies and the food retailers for price gouging when it is government actions and high taxes that are putting up the cost of living. High business rates for shops and a big tax rise on jobs compounds the problems. High energy prices and carbon taxes threaten many UK businesses. The failure to provide enough police to stop a tidal wave of shop lifting and violence in stores adds to the private sector misery.
I usually undertake a weekly food shop in one of three national chains with stores in my area, rotating between them to stay in touch and hear from them on how things are going. This week I went to a store which offered me £12 off £80, so I decided to restock some items that can be stored to get up to the spend level.
I also optimised the spend by using in store shelf edge promotions. It meant I could buy around £90 of goods for £68 combining £10 of product promotions with the £12 voucher. That was a useful 24% discount which helps with the weekly budget. What a contrast with the grasping wasteful Lib Dem Council demanding 5% more of my money under threat of imprisonment for non payment. They specialise in spending on road wrecking and bad investments that annoy me greatly. My Council Tax bill along with all the other people’s bills is way above the value of what they do for the local community.
The state is by far and away my biggest cost as I work away to pay the soaring tax bills. They never offer a discount for early payment or for good conduct or for not using some of their services which are badly run or pointless. There is no government loyalty card.
A lot of smaller shops, restaurants and pubs are closing thank to high taxes and the squeeze on consumers. This is visible on our shrinking High Streets. So too are many of our high energy using industries. Denby’s ceramics went under this week, adding to the rout in that industry. Royal Staffordshire and Heraldic have also gone recently and Moorcroft needed refinancing. The government does not care as it bulldozes its way through the private sector, blaming it for its own disasters.
April 2, 2026
When you say ‘Denby’s ceramics went under this week’ do you mean it is an example of concealed unemployment being converted into real unemployment?
Reply No. It is another casualty of rip off energy taxes
April 2, 2026
The deconstruction of western society is continuing at pace, thanks to the Marxist ideology adopted by left aligned state institutions and fed by a hard left government who sees no social danger in what they are doing.
If we can not change the mindset of the left there will be desperate times ahead as western civilisation is driven to accommodate draconian state controls and forced into behaviours alien to our culture and history.
It is becoming very troubling.
April 2, 2026
Rod, this is precisely what the government wants. Yesterday 2TK set out his plans for dynamic alignment with the EU and built in penalties should a Reform government wish to reverse these pledges.
He us looking for any pretext to cancel the next GE under the guise of national security.
We have councils and unions offering counselling for anyone worried by a Reform government. The left is entrenched in all our institutions and is he’ll bent on destroying our way of life in pursuit of some Nirvana.
We need to be rid of these charlatans but it’s going to be difficult. I see trouble ahead.
April 2, 2026
I am pleased to see Starmer is now showing a bit of honesty and making clear his intention to rejoin the EU. Clearly he believes this is a master policy to quell the left rebellion, reduce losses at the locals in May and be the reason he keeps his position. His delusion will be his downfall. His lack of understanding of the true feelings of the nation will become clear. This is the open goal for Ms Badenoch and Reform to tell the nation why he is wrong, the increased costs the EU causes and loss of control of our future.
April 2, 2026
Indeed all the problems caused be Starmer’s economic lunacy and Ed’s rip of energy will be blamed on Trump’s war and Brexit. They also have load of government NHS adverts saying the government is doing this and that for the NHS. The are surely using tax payers money for party political ends. The Mayor of London does this endlessly with London Transport advert etc.
I see that the First Sea Lord General Sir Gwyn Jenkins (on GB News Mogg) has stated the Royal Navy faces significant challenges, admitting it is not fully ready for a high-intensity war until the 2030s. While capable of advanced operations now, the service faces shortages in frigates, submarine maintenance issues, and manpower limitations, requiring time to restore readiness.
He is very optimistic indeed. So what makes him think they will be ready in 4+ years given this dire government and the appalling procurement and management systems they have?
April 2, 2026
“Also on Mogg he claimed that in year 2000 UK GDP per cap was 90% of US rates and it is now only 60% and that over the same period industrial electricity prices have gone from being the same as the US to now being 4 times USA rates.”
Taxes, low skilled immigration (often benefit claiming) and red tape have risen vastly too.
So well done Blair, Brown, Darling, Miliband, Cameron, Osborne, May, Hammond, Boris, Sunak, Hunt and Starmer/Reeves/Ed Miliband – Climate alarmist, net zero, doom loop, economic socialists the lot of them. Running an open door to low skilled and benefit claiming immigration (legal and illegal) hugely negative to GDP per cap and causing many other serious issues too. Starmer surely is the worst so far of a truly dire list.
April 2, 2026
Hoping Starmer comes to terms with reality is unrealistic. He has no difficulty ignoring reality. We have seen time and time again his capacity to simply say one thing but mean something quite different to normal interpretation of his words. His much published action/policy on migration to “smash the gangs” was taken to mean the trafficking gangs. What he was actually referring to was smashing the gangs of critics claiming immigration was out of control so he could simply continue importation without hindrance.
His Chagos Islands statement, “getting the best deal for Britain”, translates as getting the best deal for Mauritius. A deal funded all £35 billion pounds by the British tax payer and organised by his best legal partner mate working on behalf of yes Mauritius!
Starer lives in a make believe world, from his much touted tool maker upbringing to his belief that he controls the Labour Party as leader. His Marxist ideology if on full display with his energy minister a fellow self proclaimed Marxist determined to remove all semblance of energy security from Britain and force the nation into total dependence of foreign supply.
As they say in the tool making world when describing troublesome characters, ‘ he is a wrong un’
April 2, 2026
Unfortunately a large number of the population just need a scapegoat. In the past that was the EU, now it is not the EU. It is our own politicians who make this what they are. The world has some influence but itis our reaction to the world that makes us thrive or suffer.
Too many tools are allowed to vote. There should be a contribution test and reasoning test. Both of which need to be passed.
April 2, 2026
Council tax is a wealth tax simply in another name, you do not pay for the services you use, you pay by the so called value of your home, the assumption being that those who live in more expensive properties (no matter the size of the mortgage) should pay more, for the same services than those who live in less expensive homes.
Social care, the biggest Local Authority spend, should be funded by National Government not local councils.
April 2, 2026
It’s good that you were able to obtain discounts on your supermarket food shopping. And that you are able to afford to buy any, after the huge increase in food inflation over the past couple of years
Apparently about 2 million very poor folk, many with more than one job, have to use food banks in this country. While their children eat from breakfast clubs and free school dinners. Maybe you cold consider donating a portion of your food savings to one in Wokingham, or perhaps a can of baked beans and a couple of potatoes
April 2, 2026
None of us can afford this Government JR.
in addition to massive increases in costs there is increased time demanded because none of their systems work.
I have just filled in an online form, but was unable to add my address as there was no address box provided next to the ‘address’ * – so I put the address in the post code box which was big enough to accommodate the lot. However the computer could not ‘find’ it.
This particular service charge of £556 per month for providing access though no actual service, will take ‘up to September’ to action, once they are content with the form which is impossible to complete.
I will spend the day trying to contact somebody live because their complaints options don’t include one which says their form is impossible to complete.
April 2, 2026
The Government is deliberately de-industrialising the UK. It is deliberately making us dependent on imports for food security, energy security, manufactured goods and reliant on “our allies” for defence. They are deliberately destroying whole industries and thousands of jobs in order to continue implementing the Net Zero SCAM.
It has now, deliberately, alienated us from the only ally who could (if so minded) help defend these islands for us and is cosying up to an anti-democratic bloc which has extremely limited defence capability and whose members have NEVER come to our aid throughout history.
Everything they are doing has the intention of dragging us back into the EU, with no Referendum and no mandate, as Two-Tier made clear yesterday.
April 2, 2026
It is bad, getting worse, and we have no resiliance to economic shocks. It appears we are going to get a severe one. Trump’s announcement in the early hours was that the war would continue and oil is already 6% higher this morning.
Italy is keeping open its coal power plants. We need to be scrabbling to whatever we can, too. Frack, mine coal, increase North sea production. Instead the government is throwing us overboard with net zero “concrete boots” on.
April 2, 2026
This is the reality of the green agenda imposed on us all. Most people think that it’s all about windmills and reduced energy levels – It isn’t.
A major part of this agenda is reducing consumption and activities, and population reduction is a major wing of this insanity.
It’s not as though they haven’t compiled documents to tell us what to expect.
By 2029, as the plan goes:
– All airports except Heathrow, Glasgow and Belfast close;
– There are currently no freight ships operating without emissions, so shipping must contract;
– National consumption of beef and lamb drops by 50%, along with reduction in frozen ready meals and air-freighted food imports;
– Reduced cement supply compensated by improved material efficiency, new steel replaced by recycled steel;
– Material efficiency becomes prominent as material supply contract;
– Rapid reduction in supply and use of all fossil fuels, except for oil for plastic production.
So, if we want to stop our high streets closing, supermarket shelves becoming empty, industry going to the dogs and so much more we have to not only stop NET-0 – IT HAS TO BE REVERSED, and quickly!
April 2, 2026
I would contend that the £10 worth of supermarket savings resulted from unnecessary price increases being dropped back down to the normal level Lord Redwood. The £12 off was a genuine saving but not the £10.00
Unless the supermarkets and petrol companies are operating in a cartel then competition will determine that prices remain as low as they can.
Most consumers can knock 20-25% off their supermarket bill by not buying brands.
Not much can be done about the price of petrol unfortunately unless supply increases. How might we do that?
April 2, 2026
I remember the big weekly food shop. Queuing behind massive trolleys in the days when the big chains closed at 8pm.
Now the shopping is spread out over various shops. Shops have mostly got better – apart from lack of places to pay by cash. Small shops are still better for certain items. For example, if you want decent aubergines you have to use the Asian shops as they have cornered the market.
In contrast, the Liberal Democrats have raised the local council tax by 4.9%. Yet my street sign has been missing for weeks. When I contacted the council, they said they may take up to 28 days to address the issue. On the two occasions when I wrote to the MP (the fat bloke in a wetsuit) to complain about the removal of flags answer came there none. The council have now thankfully given trying to replace cameras to police traffic charges within zone 6 as members of the public simply remove them.
April 2, 2026
USA off to the moon again …..meanwhile the UK can’t even make HS2 work or go fast !
April 2, 2026
This government hates private enterprise. How else does one explain the IHT penalty now being imposed on family businesses?
April 2, 2026
The loss of heavy industry is an extinction level event. Once dead, they will not return. The capital investment required, quite apart from the lack of a viable eco-system of cheap energy, low taxation and sensible regulation will prevent it. So the list of things we can sell or barter to pay our way in the world will keep shrinking. Energy is key but so are the regulations and rules you decide to adopt. Much of the required change would cost very little, just the willpower to do it – and of course the desire to do so.
April 2, 2026
I know in the UK the well meaning ‘Luvies’ mainly on left wanting to be seen as caring and the go to for help, but one thing the end up doing is obscuring the truth. They take the honesty out of life’s realities. I am talking about Tax, unescapable tax. Societies were tax is something you add after a purchase fair better than those that only see gross. The point I am making Parliament wants to obscure what they are taking and squandering by lumping their ineptitude and inabilities on those that provide products and services mainly in the private sector.
In 1974 VAT was 8% on purchases now it is 20%. So at least 1 fifth of all spend goes straight to the Exchequer, but it is not identified on each purchase as it should be. Any one supplying goods and services would be doing extremely well to earn 10% net, yet Parliament for doing next to nothing gets 20% to splash around on personal pet projects. Why does Parliament seek to obscure their blatant disregard for our money,
On top of tax we have the Levies, tax in every-way but name – that tax on tax. Fuel Duty in the UK is today at 52.95p per litre then 20% VAT is added, this is rising with world energy costs, those that extract oil & gas, process it, distribute it, then sell it to the consumer get to share between them just 40% of the final price. They also get to be taxed on the 40% themselves.
The point is that Parliament gets away with not exposing what they take and therefore how prolific and wasteful they are. The prices shown with be the the cost of that being consumed and then what the government takes
April 2, 2026
In a similar vein, we all hate seeing what the authorities like to call ‘fly tipping’. But reflect, Parliament introduced tax on tax for waste disposal now for every ton that’s disposed of the Government takes £130 + 20%VAT a medium skip takes around 2-4 ton’s costs inclusive of tax around £200 so you are looking at a government tax take of around 70%.
Parliament/Government isn’t honest, more than 90% of so called waste isn’t real waste it can be recycled, resold, turned in to heat and energy thus making profit. They wishing to be seen to on WOKE message are the ones causing the problems and in doing so loosing out on revenue.
The one I find amusing is councils charging extra for what they call green waste. This is sold by them for composting which then turns up at garden centres in bags for spreading on gardens. What if they just collected green waste without the charge, wouldn’t they then have more to sell and make more money?
April 2, 2026
“The government does not care as it bulldozes its way through the private sector, blaming it for its own disasters.”
It is clearly worse than this. The government is deliberately following a de-industrialisation policy, calling it a decarbonisation policy, designed to impoverish for socialism depends upon making and keeping people poor. This scorched policy will obviously require the destruction of the private sector. The CAGW excuse for decarbonisation and hence impoverishment is entirely false as shown by both climate history and climate science. Even the science from the IPCC. In addition we have a civil service whose goals are made clear by Lord Gus O’Donnell who, when Cabinet Secretary, said in 2011: “When I was at the Treasury I argued for the most open door possible to immigration … I think it’s my job to maximise global welfare not national.”