It is strange watching a government advance towards a predictable crisis without it taking any of the obvious actions to avert the worst and tackle the underlying problems.
Yesterday a think tank put a figure on the hit to average incomes from tax rises and energy bills next spring. They said it would be £1200 per household. The government did not deny or correct the figure. They said they were spending £4bn on helping people with the cost of living.
Both these disputants might be right. The problem with the government’s response is it does not tell the person on average earnings facing the ÂŁ1200 hit how much of the ÂŁ4bn they will receive, nor whether this will be additional money or money they are already collectively receiving. It is not an effective counter to any individual complaint to say that the government is spending extra billions on the problem. People want the problem resolved and want to to know how it affects them. Taxpayers do not welcome the knowledge that spending has gone up a lot if there is no evidence that the spending is doing good and stopping the problems.
I have been urging the government to take this cost of living crisis more seriously. Much of it can be tackled by government actions. The Treasury needs to cancel its tax rises which will be damaging. Ironically if they help slow the economy too much they might even end up raising less money for the Treasury than not putting the rates up. The sooner they confess their error the better.
The Business department should heed advice on the need to expand domestic gas and electricity supply urgently. It needs to cancel plans to close the remaining coal power stations until we have reliable replacements. It needs to give permission for Jackdaw, Cambo and other oil and gas deposits in the UK . It needs to speed up the small nuclear reactor proposals and consider commissioning new gas capacity for this decade and next. More subsidies and shuffling around who pays the bills for dear imported energy does not solve the problem.
December 30, 2021
Spot on! Absolutely agree with all of this
December 30, 2021
Indeed – but Boris and Sunak have clearly gone mad (Theatre Studies Carrie surely always was). Their response to everything is more state sector, more government spending/waste & more government mainly âworkingâ from home, more regulations, more net zero lunacy & expensive intermittent energy, more lockdowns and huge tax increases (from a very high base already).
Boris like Cameron pretended to be a climate realist and a real Tory to get elected and has, just like Cameron flipped into a daft tax to death socialist idiot full of green crap, pointless lockdowns and insane economic policies.
These policies will be economically as or even more disastrous than the ERM and politically even more so. True Starmer, Labour/SNP policies are even more idiotic. General Election is less than three years from now.
December 30, 2021
We can say that this is a continuity coalition. It’s precisely what would have happened had the Conservatives gone into coalition with the Libdems in 2019. Perhaps that is where we’ll be when the train finally hits the buffer? Then back into the EU & Euro at parity to save us all, because that’s what they really wanted all along.
December 30, 2021
LL +1
Maybe the theatrical one is staging a âreal lifeâ production of Middleton and Rowleyâs âChangelingâ?
It is all just about sinister enough!
December 30, 2021
LL,
Neither Boris, nor Sunak, nor other ministers have gone mad.
However, none of them are conviction politicians. They are careerists and chancers following the Tony Blair template to fame and fortune.
Those who wish them to pursue such policies have probably made it very tempting to do so and the easiest route for people like that to take.
Voters donât count now.
December 30, 2021
Well let us hope at least that the (net zero expensive/energy dope) Boris does not take us into more totally (and very predictably) counterproductive & hugely damaging wars some on a lie – as Blair and Cameron did. Wars are certainly not net zero. Not many battery powered jets, tanks, war ships, missiles, explosives, ammunition⊠as they would not work! Not many battlefields, airspace or seas fitted with rapid recharge points!
His father (on Talk Radio this AM) is even more daft, deluded and scientifically illiterate.
December 30, 2021
Voters haven’t counted for a long time-it’s just more noticeable to the average person in the street now.
It looks like our putative next Prime minister,Liz Truss,has gone mad though.Just look at her article in the DT today:”Britain can help Ukraine wean itself of Russian oil and gas”(through our world-beating green technology).
Clearly the establishment (for whom Truss is just another disposable,dimwitted puppet)have decided that Ukraine is going to be our fourth(or is it fifth)desperate attempt at empire.The expression ever decreasing circles comes powerfully to mind!Sadly when we lost the empire we didn’t lose the high maintainence imperial class with it.
Liz,dear,Ukraine is a failed state,always has been.To “sell” to them you will have to “loan” them the money …..which you won’t get back.
December 30, 2021
In order to Build Back Better you first have to demolish the existing structure; when looking at government policy in that context it all makes sense.
December 30, 2021
The reason Boris has ‘flipped’ is because he NEVER had any strong ideology in the first place. A man with no strng beliefs of his own always ends up following those who do have strong beliefs. And Boris is surrounded by eco-extremists – from his wife to his civil servants to his scientific advisers. Boris will NEVER adopt sensible policies as he doesn’t want any conflict with these people. This is the same reason that he made, and continues to make, so many concessions to the EU: his desperate, cowardly, desire to avoid conflict with them.
Boris’s personality is not going to change, so his betrayal of Britain is not going to be reversed. The only solution is to get rid of him. Tory MPs must stop being so stupid and need to start writing their letters to Graham Brady.
December 30, 2021
@Lifelogic,
Conservative politics reached its zenith in being able to be (moderately) radical back in the 80’s.
If Conservatism wants to be radical now it has to move away from politics to culture in general. Because it is lack of cultural values that is costing the tax-payer billions and billions and billions – not politics (and, anyway, even if you want to be radical in politics, only about 5% to 10% of voters share your views. 40% of Conservative voters are moderates / moderates. The trick now is to stop people voting Labour / Liberal. And just to focus on transforming cultural values to conservative ones).
So we have to install Conservative values (the values of great Tories such as Edmund Burke) in: Education, Media, Arts, Church etc. That’s where the great battle now lies – NOT in politics.
December 30, 2021
And I agree with people here about the BBC being left-wing etc.
But there’s no point moaning about that. We have to to something constructive about it by entering into the cultural debate (like people such as Jordan Peterson).
Creative people, that you find in the BBC, will always be a bit left-wing in a way (part of their nature). That isn’t the problem. The problem is left-wing political reporting and the WOKE culture in general in broadcasting. We don’t need to shut down the BBC but to transform it (including making it smaller) so that it is more Conservative in values (and focused on programmes that are creative / original / artistic etc). Which we can only do by having hard-worn, good-natured debates about the positive reasons for Conservative values in general – not just in politics.
In other words, Conservatism isn’t just about political / economic theory. It is partly that but something much bigger / broader – that incorporates Education, Media, Arts, Church and so on.
December 31, 2021
Does the Coronacircus Act allow for the postponement/cancellation of elections?
December 30, 2021
Agreed. It is like watching a car crash in not so slow motion.
December 30, 2021
+1
December 30, 2021
‘Conspiracy theorists’ would say this debt crisis is being deliberately created and the same regime creating this, will also no doubt make a National statement telling people not to panic. The State will do everything it can to alleviate this devastation: No doubt with pained expression and much hand wringing, it will magnanimously offer to accept your assets, in payments for ‘your’ debts.
In the words of the WEF, “you will own nothing and be happy”. Which to date, is one of its few quotes Johnson has not yet parroted.
December 30, 2021
I’ve seen this post just minutes after having a notification pop-up on my phone reminding me that Trudy Harrison wants to do away with car-ownership. Some say that the government has turned socialist. It’s much, much worse than that.
December 30, 2021
An MP for part of hilly Cumbria and clearly etc ed. How will people get to work? Or tourists visit the lake district – on Tractors perhaps? She has a âFoundation Degree in Sustainable Communitiesâ from Salford. xxxxx perhaps indoctrinated in this green lunacy in a Jenny Jones way. How does she commute to the Commons does she walk to the station, get a taxis or get driven? Taxis are just less efficient cars as they travel empty much of the time and need a professional driver does she really not use or have a car?
December 30, 2021
I had not realised Trudy was the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport! But then her boss is equally daft. He even think electric cars are âzero emissionâ. In fact they are âemissions elsewhereâ cars and usually rather more emissions in total when manufacture recycling of car and battery + recharging is all considered.
Grant Shapps apparently was educated at Yorke Watford Grammar School for Boys, where he obtained 5 O Levels including a B in Woodwork, and Cassio College. He completed a business and finance course at Manchester Polytechnic, and received a Higher Diploma. Etc ed but why on earth has Boris appointed such a scientifically illiterate âŠ..to be the Transport Sec?
December 30, 2021
all pretty similar to Ernest Marples, couldn’t drive a car, sometimes used a bycycle, had chums in road building, so got Dr Beeching to kill train network and emigrated with a fat wad.
December 30, 2021
Jees. Even I’m more qualified than Shapps.
7 O levels, 2 A levels and a Chartered Inst Diploma.
From a comprehensive school where more lads went to prison than university !
December 30, 2021
+1
No one will need to get to work.
We will all be obliged to work from home.
CassioâŠ.wooooâŠ.blast from the past!!
December 30, 2021
My family have had to rely on trains recently, cancelled without sufficient warning to advanced ticket holders, no alternatives offered, no coaches, the car journey and on day ticket purchase to get back to Scotland for one trip was four times more expensive than the cancelled along with three other trips on the same day with no notice, BRING VIRGIN BACK please, this latest company are a waste of time, space and money.
December 30, 2021
One more thing, I thought we were supposed to have competition in the rail industry, if Southern canât put any trains on duty until after 10 Jan then isnât there another rail company that can step in. How much progress is there in DLR trains on our networks?
December 30, 2021
S W. +1
December 30, 2021
Dear SW, I have just read the article quoting Ms Harrison.
Perhaps she is unaware that many of us in our communities DO use their car to assist those who, for various reasons both temporary and permanent, do not or cannot have their own transport?
Or is it that these climate zealots have some kind of disconnect in their brain, wanting to both revert to certain kinds of lifestyle from the C18th, while expecting other elements (electricity, modern medicine and technology and so on) to be firmly in the C21st?
December 30, 2021
+1
Trouble is.
By the time they have finished with us there will literally be no use for cars.
No shops, Drs, dentists,vets( no pets),no beauty spots, no offices.
No holidays. Nowhere to go!
An unimaginable nothing is what they are aiming at.
And how MPs can not be aware of that..I do not know.
December 30, 2021
Quite right SM. I take my neighbour who can’t drive to the GP, hospital, vets and shopping on a regular basis. I took her for all her vaccinations. We have a bus service once an hour but it doesn’t go anywhere near the GP surgery or vets and if you use it to shop you have to walk back over a very muddy footpath or walk about 1.5 miles around the village with no pavements . Public transport is rubbish in many areas. She does not use a computer so online shopping is not an option
December 30, 2021
+1
December 30, 2021
Iâve no doubt that this government and its advisors believe we all own a Tesla, Apple phone, grow our own vegetables, have a roof solar roof & heat-pump, cycle at weekends and spend the evening watching our smart meter usage
December 30, 2021
well done you, by the way ever asked her what Party she has voted for in the past, and her future plans on voting?
December 30, 2021
Alas, they hope people like her will disappearâŠ
Zorro
December 30, 2021
The constituency she is supposed to represent is made up of one medium sized town (Whitehaven) and three small towns (Millom, Egremont and Cleator Moor). The rest of Copeland consists of numerous villages, hamlets and outlying properties and most do not have the luxury of a public transport service. Did she clarify just how people living in these areas would get to work, buy food, or attend Ha! GP and hospital appointments etc?
Whilst she may consider owning cars is so 20th century, it appears she wants at least half of the constituent population to return to even earlier centuries and rely on bicycles or ‘shank’s pony’!
December 30, 2021
They basically want 18th century mobility – 15 minute cities – itâs all in plain sight. She has said that her government policy is to get rid of car ownership – simple as that.
Zorro
December 30, 2021
Along the lines I was thinking. If it’s predictable, then it’s either planned, or the perpetrators simply don’t care enough about those affected to change course. Either way, Boris Bunter is going to lose the Tories the next election.
December 30, 2021
Build back better.
We are being deliberately bankrupted ready for a state takeover.
I was listening to a stupid government minister saying car ownership should be banned as it’s a 20th century concept. We should car share or use (non existant, ) public transport.
You couldn’t make it up.
December 30, 2021
Well with sensors tracking your car speed and use, taking photos through the windows, and it being illegal to tamper or add devices to your car, will it be worth owning one anyway?
Do we just stand back and watch as this whole thing implodes?
December 30, 2021
Did you know that the Welsh devolved government are bringing in a new national speed limit of 20 mph
December 30, 2021
Glen, well Wales must want it they keep voting for them.
December 30, 2021
All you see when you drive on Welsh roads is ARAF!!âŠ..SLOW
zorro
December 30, 2021
Scotland wanted 20mph through towns. I’m not sure if it’s been implemented yet as I’ve not gone back there in 3 years.
December 30, 2021
Does she have a ministerial car, I wonder.
December 30, 2021
Of course – like any good little communist apparatchik – we are going to have to fight our futures and those of our children.
Zorro
December 30, 2021
+1
December 30, 2021
I can only imagine that the Government, at every level, has contracted a death-wish viral mutation, and is now hell-bent on mass suicide.
December 30, 2021
Agreed, but they take the majority of the electorate with them. The country has been driven into a desperate situation by Boris and his yes-men.
On the one hand I cannot believe that a UK government would be so deliberately damaging to the country, and then I think back to Heath and the following PM’s and know that some politicians are willing to deliberately damage the UK and bypass democracy, in true EU style. They are still willing to bypass democracy and deliberately damage the UK. Why? What do they, or anyone else, have to gain from this stupidity?
December 30, 2021
Shirley, around the time of the Greek financial crisis a respected columnist remarked that you should never underestimate the resolve of the EU commission to financially destroy the lives of millions of their citizens in order to maintain ‘the project’. It sounds all too familiar.
December 30, 2021
Could it be Shirley, that they are trying to convince us that it was a mistake to leave the EU? Perhaps this is a prelude to rejoining. Unless sufficient of the electorate vote Reform.
December 30, 2021
Good morning.
Pardon me, but this reads like an MP writing for the opposition, pointing out all the faults with both policy and competence. A very worrying development. But what is more worrying is the government, whose party our kind host belongs, will not listen to him, hence the first sentence in his piece.
I like many here genuinely feel for our kind host. He wants this government to do well and look after those within his constituency. But those running things are not helping.
It is all well and good our kind host demand that we open this gas and this oil field, but he ignores two main problems. Firstly it will take time. Secondly his own party maintains legislation and policies that are in direct opposition to opening those fields. So it will never happen and, if I am wrong, it will come too late to help the Tory Party.
Perhaps this is all part of the ‘Build Back Better’ program all the party’s seem to have adopted.
December 30, 2021
I believe that the infrastructure is in place to operate Cambo & Jackdaw fields. Cuadrilla are placed to commence fracking
December 30, 2021
I welcome Sir John being so open about the failings. It has been a long time coming, but perhaps there is time to salvage the Party for him. Starmer and Davey need do nothing – they watch the disintegration and disillusion of the Conservative Party and indeed the country. Why make the running for the next GE yet – collect up the regular confused, ineffective and plain insane policies of the Government and be ready when the time comes to broadside on several subjects in turn for weeks. Economy, NHS, Brexit, China, Defence, HS2, Dinghy invaders, Downing St rule breaking, any decent media savvy scribbler will destroy what is left of the Johnson led shambles while 80 majority sat on hands.
December 30, 2021
Lenin(sometimes also credited to Stalin):
“You cannot make a revolution wearing silk gloves.”
December 30, 2021
Sir J. is in a very awkward situation, opposed to just about everything this government stands for, and too honest just to follow sheepishly.
December 30, 2021
The true cost of the British State and the unionised public sector is nowhere near reflected in current tax rates. If it were then direct taxes would be 2-3x current rates at all income levels. National debt conceals the true cost of constructing a Socialist client State that all parties in power have worked to build at our expense with the Tories stepping back from reform for fear of upsetting the free-lunch electorate
The cost of living debate is pointless. My personal income and my personal living costs are a matter for me not for political parties or politicians. I adjust my financial behaviour in response to the cretinous and destructive actions of governments since 1997.
The job now for all private people is to limit the damage caused by political government and their thirst for control of both our economic, social and private lives
The electorate, who continue to vote for the main parties are quite literally, right before our very eyes, destroying the country they purport to love
December 30, 2021
Dom. Your last paragraph says it all crystal clear for me. Why the hell are sensible people voting for the same crap? We must have change.
December 30, 2021
They have no choice as the only real alternative Labour/SNP is clearly far worse still.
December 30, 2021
The Reform Party has some fantastic policies and has promised to stand candidates in all constituencies. The problem is there are far too many smaller parties with the same ideas. Until a few years ago, UKIP was nearly bankrupt, now it has managed to obtain funding. I think these parties are being deliberately funded to split the vote. These smaller parties need to merge and put their efforts into beating the Con/Lib/Lab party because the main parties are all planning to destroy this country.
Unfortunately, the majority of voters think that by voting for other main parties they are going to change policies they dislike. Nothing could be further from the truth.
December 30, 2021
Hopefully Nige will be back in the saddle with Reform.
That will put a cracker up the liblabcon.
December 30, 2021
The argument that we have to vote Conservative because Labour would be worse was valid last time round, but NOT next time. Starmer is no worse than Boris. On the EU, they will both concede everything the EU wants, but not take us back in. On taxes, they will both raise them. On eco-lunacy, they both believe in EXACTLY the same idiotic, self-flagellating madness. On immigration, they will both continue to allow the UK to be flooded by bogus asylum seekers. I could go on, but you get the idea. I genuinely cannot see how Boris is any better than Starmer on anything. I will be voting Reform, and if that allows Labour in then so be it – it makes no difference to me anymore.
December 30, 2021
DOM. +1. Self destruction at every level .
December 30, 2021
The only logical conclusion from current government policy is to make our country bankrupt and subservient to the EU or whoever has the greatest hold over us. We know for certain that many UK politicians would like nothing better than being under the EU yoke again, and we know from experience that many are willing to lie to and deceive the electorate and even destroy/ignore/sideline democracy in the process.
Boris must want Brexit to fail, but cannot publicise that fact, so he is bankrupting the UK, giving us no other choice, and channelling us in that direction. Can anyone think of another reason for these idiotic policies that are guaranteed to bankrupt the UK?
December 30, 2021
They voted to get Brexit done. They won’t do it again.
December 30, 2021
The Government needs a reality booster!
December 30, 2021
‘It needs to cancel plans to close the remaining coal power stations until we have reliable replacements.’ Well there’s a nice line of attack for the next Business Questions in the Commons. Also:
(1) Are the coal-yards full?
(2) Where did that coal from?
(3) And could we mine the stuff here instead?
December 30, 2021
God, your blog makes for depressing reading today John. One man in the wilderness screaming out common sense but nobody listening. I really fear for the future of the UK. It’s on a good hiding to nothing. What the hell happened to the Tory party? How did it end up with such a load of idiots in charge? There are so many hard working people out here John who love their country and we can all see it being slowly destroyed. Your party shoukd be ashamed. Goodness knows how you must be feeling watching it slowly unfold.
December 30, 2021
What’s even more soul destroying is the fact that whichever party we vote for we can only see carnage and destruction because all parties are intent on the same policies. Those of mad men.
December 30, 2021
F U S
+1 This present party don’t do shame ,
they don’t know the meaning of the word.
December 30, 2021
+1
December 30, 2021
FUS. A heaetfelt +1
December 30, 2021
FuS, +10
December 30, 2021
I understand Sir Johns frustration and he is in that Party! He must therefore acknowledge how the rest of us feel with no one at the wheel of Government doing anything as we head for the economic and cost of living rocks. There must be an alternative to the collective madness at Westminster or one must be found for the majority dissenting voices in the Country. Most people do not want net zero. It seems they in Westminster believe in it 100% without proven science, so everything else, cars boilers etc must be banned etc. No, no, no!
December 30, 2021
The trouble, as you say, is that the government simply doesn’t listen to Sir John’s good advice – or that of any other backbench MP – and nothing will change until Tory MPs assert themselves. They can either do so by challenging Boris directly through a vote of no confidence, or they could send him a powerful message by conspiring with Labour to pass a vote of no confidence in one of his ministers. Only when Boris FEARS his backbenchers will he listen to them.
I am amazed that a Tory MP who has already decided not to stand again does not simply resign the whip and become the parliamentary spokesman for the Reform party. That would certainly liven things up!
December 30, 2021
We became complacent, not realising that dark forces were at work.
December 30, 2021
Very good entry today, and sadly a very true perception on the current state of play.
There is no plan, it is all words. The government has slowly but surely been losing control and the brakes are not working, common sense has been discarded and the inevitable train smash approaches at ever increasing speed.
This Prime Minister and his cabinet are the equivalent to modern day suicide jockeys hauling dynamite with no skills and application. There will be little or no party left come the crash let alone a country.
December 30, 2021
Which conservative could disagree with this post but our UK Government tumbles headlong on its path of green and socialist policy. Are we being governed by those we elected or are instructions coming from elsewhere, such as WEF, World Bank, WHO or UN?
How odd that the Government pursues policies and introduces taxes to cost ÂŁ1200 per household and then takes ÂŁ4 billion of tax payers money to throw at the problem. Tax money taken from those same households! Who devises this nonsense, did one fly over the cuckoo’s nest?
December 30, 2021
Spot on. A Government of idiots with a majority of rabbits for MPs allied to a EU friendly Civil Service.
December 30, 2021
I doubt the ÂŁ4bn will be tax payers’ money. More likely it will be printed by the BoE and lent to the banks at low interest, who then lend it to the government with their markup. In other words, more national debt.
Because this generation doesn’t wish to pay its way, we pile up debt to load onto the next. How kind. There again, the next generation will likely do the same to the one after, until it all goes bang.
December 30, 2021
That bang is coming sooner than you think.The whole postwar structure that has been debauched is going to be swept away,probably before the end of this decade,by competition from the alternative institutions set up by China and Russia and their expanding group of clients.
The Russians,for instance,laugh at the idea of being blocked from SWIFT-that would destroy SWIFT(it’s either a universal system or it’s nothing)and cause the west to collapse,not Russia or China which have alternative arrangements in place(although the whole world would be damaged by such a move).
December 30, 2021
Itâs all part of the levelling up plan, aka communism.
Flood the country with poor people, protect the super-rich, and get the hard-working middle-classes to foot the bill.
We now have a Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (AKA The Department for Communism). This says it all. I had a survey from them a couple of weeks ago asking my future intentions as a landlord to the further punitive measures they want to bring in. Whether this survey is to find out if their plan to encourage us to sell up is enough (you will own nothing plan) or whether they are genuinely worried about the effect on the availability of rental properties, I donât know. What I do know is that private rental properties are becoming scarcer as many landlords sell up.
December 30, 2021
Yes, not worth 3% gross yield less all the checks and certificates less estate agent fees less cost and aggro with repairs less income tax. The risk premium alone on this government or some near future one giving tenants the right to buy at below market rates must be 3%.
UK equities up 12% and US equities up 22% this year. Why do I need to bother with a paltry 2-3% yield on a UK buy to let?
December 30, 2021
My wife and I are selling one as I write as a direct consequence of this Governments policies/intentions to demonise and increasingly regulate Landlords. Taking away tax incentives, given to all other businesses. The increase in costs of their regulations (Electrical certificates/EPC rules changing under their green obsession), freezing capital gains tax and impending green levies make it an obvious choice. Their intentions are clearly to free up housing stock for their mass migration policy. Well their tax take is also shrinking as I will protect our assets from this greedy reckless Government. With zero interest on savings it’s a challenge to find worthy investments. I will however protect our life savings from these Consocialists even if I have to give it away early to our children/grandchildren.
December 30, 2021
O T. Are we approaching the end game of Covid restrictions? Many posts on Twitter indicate huge dissatisfaction and I cannot see how the Government can keep up this charade of scaremongering. People will simply stop believing them.
December 30, 2021
People already HAVE stopped believing them.
December 30, 2021
I stopping trusting him when in 2019 he was prating on about “Global Britain” etc with no explanation what this sound-bite actually meant. Two years on, looking at the level of illegal immigration he is allowing and quoting WEF we know. Those that don’t, God help them, because they are in for one hell of a rude awakening.
December 30, 2021
I think we have to allow for the fact that covid has knocked the govts economic plans for 6. We will have to give Boris a few months, at the moment he is mainly focused on fighting off lockdown hysteria from âscientificâ shroud wavers and their cheerleaders on the left and in the media.
But if say by the middle of 22 itâs clear that he really has lost the plot there will have to be a change. Might even be able to go for an election in 23 on the back of the new PM and then letâs see whether we can give Conservative government a proper shot.
December 30, 2021
+ 1
December 30, 2021
I understand that of the 10,000 odd patients in hospital who have Covid, one third came in for quite other reasons than Covid and didn’t even know that they had got it. Thus the true figure is around 6,600 of which apparently 90% have not had their third ‘booster’ jab. At least 90% of those in ICU or very ill have had no jabs at all. One shouldn’t, but it makes you inclined to say “Serves them right”.
We’re not told how long the average Covid patient (excluding the one third mentioned above) is staying in hospital, so it’s difficult to know what the pressure really is and how much of it is the normal seasonal increase for other maladies, alcohol and accident.
It’s a pity that so many skilled, but otherwise idiotic, professional footballers have managed to spoil the holiday football schedule so badly.
December 30, 2021
It turns out that the supposed statistics for jabless ICU patients are anecdote, not data. The real data we have from INARC show just under half of ICU patients being unvaccinated in the first half of November. Of course this still means that the completely unvaccinated who are about 10% of the adult population are over 8 times as likely to end up in ICU as someone who is vaccinated – at least before the omicron variant. Since omicron itself is a mild disease, those ending up in ICU are likely to be there primarily for other reasons and therefore the chance of ending up in ICU with omicron will simply reflect the chance of getting it in the first place, which is not as heavily reduced by the vaccine as previous variants. Therefore if anything we can expect a lower proportion of unvaccinated in ICU as omicron comes to dominate the figures.
December 30, 2021
Did you see that ridiculous comment by Kim Jong Son stating that 90% of ICU patients had not a booster� A disgraceful misrepresentation of the truth to misinform the public!
Zorro
January 5, 2022
If those figures are true I would like to know how many of those did not have the booster because it was medically contraindicated, or because the vaccine does not work for them, e.g. many vaccines have far less or no effect for immuno-compromised individuals who are far more likely to end up in intensive care because of the condition that compromised their immune system.
December 30, 2021
RICHARD1. Every day that Boris remains in office is an opportunity for him to inflict more damage on the country.
December 30, 2021
Richard1: “letâs see whether we can give Conservative government a proper shot.”
We tried that are look where we are now. Why would the next time be better? Think back to all the Conservative PM’s starting with Heath. How many truly worked for the benefit of the UK, and not the EU? One of them, maybe???? Why should we trust future Conservative governments?
December 30, 2021
Indeed. You shouldn’t we want and deserve better. No more Consocialist votes.
December 30, 2021
Assume the worst – ACTION THIS DAY!
Zorro
December 30, 2021
I repeat – this is the worst government in my lifetime. They care nothing for the people of this country. They are evil puppets implementing actions against the interests of those they were elected to represent. Parliament has failed in its duty and been complicit.
December 30, 2021
But most of you actually voted for this government so you are mostly complicit in its uselessness.
Spare a thought for the decent majority in this country who would not have put the useless lying blonde oaf anywhere near power.
December 30, 2021
Something we can agree on, have you had an Epiphany moment – saying the decent majority?
December 30, 2021
Many voted against Labour or against other parties.
Many voted for their good local candidate.
Many voted because they like one or more particular policies of a particular party.
It isnt quite as simple as you think young Andy.
December 30, 2021
A very rare agreement Andy.
December 31, 2021
Not only voted for it but gave it a majority of eighty.
And still all they do is moan and whine, about the results of their very own votes, whether in elections or in a referendum.
December 30, 2021
Iâve often thought of past governments decisions as being stupid or inept, but until Boris Iâve never found a government to be against the people that got them into powerâŠ.today I actually believe Borisâs government to be the enemy
December 30, 2021
“They said it would be ÂŁ1200 per household. The government did not deny or correct the figure. They said they were spending ÂŁ4bn on helping people with the cost of living.”
You will pardon me not understanding the governments logic, but as I understand it, the only money governments have is what they take in taxes. They wouldn’t need to spend ÂŁ4bn helping people, if they didn’t raise the taxes to the tune of ÂŁ1200 p.h. in the first place.
At the rate the Johnson regime is raising taxes, it is likely the tax bill will be more than your income and refer to my earlier comment.
December 30, 2021
You will pay ,loss of purchasing power via the assets you own and your income. Also via direct and indirect taxes. If that does not suffice it will be direct confiscation. Examine the motives of HMG & social services when they arrive to “help” those who may own there own home.
Your house will be confiscated but you will not get the **** hotel treatment, reserved for others.You will be means tested literally to death.
Any chance of a proper land tax? a complete closure of the offshore tax scams and a flat tax with a cap on tax deductions.
December 30, 2021
Spot on today as usual John, problem is we have very few politicians in Government, and in opposition at the moment that see it as you, and most of us do out here.
Highest taxes for 70 years to get even higher, Council taxes due to rise, Heat, light, and power going through the roof, food prices going up and up, vehicle fuel prices the most expensive they have ever been, Green policies ill thought out with farcical time scales with power generation in chaos, congestion/emission charges ever spreading, car parking ever more expensive, roads falling apart, the farce of Smart Motorways, the list is almost endless !
Then we have the triple lock on pensions, introduced to protect their value, but still one of the lowest in Europe, ended !
Covid is not the problem, politicians are.
Thank you for keeping on trying John.
December 30, 2021
Edwin James Milliken wrote a poem, apparently a favourite of Churchill’s, called “Who is in charge of the clattering train.” It told the true story of a train wreck, caused because the driver was asleep at the controls and Churchill compared it to the period of Appeasement prior to WW2..
And that is the situation we are in. Johnson is asleep at the controls and the train wreck is becoming inevitable. In addition to the extortionate increase in energy bills because of the ludicrous Net Zero agenda, in April we will see massive hikes in our Council Tax and a NI increase …… just a month before the local elections. Perhaps Johnson WANTS to see hundreds of Tory Councillors lose their jobs, because that’s what is going to happen.
It’s become blindingly obvious since he became PM that (without Cummings) he has NO ability to govern whatsoever. And with very few exceptions, the 2nd and 3rd rate Ministers in his Cabinet are no better.
Anyone with any real talent in the Parliamentary Conservative Party is sitting on the back benches….. watching the slo-mo wreck that is coming.
December 30, 2021
+1
December 30, 2021
The Spartans are the only worthy MP’s and they won’t be allowed near the levers of power.
December 30, 2021
“The sooner they confess their error the better.”
When was the last time any government admitted errors? Especially extreme left wing governments such as we have now.
December 30, 2021
“head a banging brick are your wall against you”
Rearrange into a well known phrase or saying.
December 30, 2021
They continue to make working for real money an option rather than an obligation in the post-furlough environment. Take National Insurance from the serious workers, give back Universal Credit to the occasional/casual workforce.
Very Old Labour- it doesn’t bode well. The LibDems will do well off the back of this as they don’t have the baggage nor the policies, but would just continue these types of thing ad nauseum in coalition. Perhaps what these civil servants hanker for, giving an opportunity to rejoin the EU?
December 30, 2021
Another excellent article that gets to the heart of the problem with government – Why are they not listening?
Surely they must be monitoring blogs and diaries from MPs, so that they can deny things before everyone knows more about them.
From previous history the Chancellor would bring in more money by reducing taxes – WHY doesn’t he know this?
We could perhaps blame all of these tax rises on net-zero, thanks to the government’s blind belief in it, but that still leaves serious gaps of logic in the policy – Are they really trying to impoverish us?
December 30, 2021
I wish their bank accounts for the last 2 years could be made public, but they would never agree to that. They would apply the Data Protection Act, as they did regarding when asked what clot shot an MP had.
However, this must also apply to every person in the country and also render useless a previous Chancellor (Osborne) decision for HMRC to have the right to take any monies from your account if it exceeds ÂŁ2,000.
Does the Johnson regime honestly believe it can apply and justify this type of a partied in England? And get away with it indefinitely?
December 30, 2021
+1 I fear they do
There have been many books and films describing how the authorities will shut us down and destroy our way of life — A manufactured virus is not news to horror film viewers, and the novel by Stephen King; The Stand is as close as they come to what is happening now.
In his story the virus is so much more deadly and quick acting, unlike the flu symptoms we get that allow doctors some time to cure the patient, if they are honest and do not follow government guidelines.
One of the interesting things in the story is how quickly the Army, and the government, become oppressive – This I fear is something we will be facing as the Plan unfolds – I just do not see enough Truth getting through to stop any of this.
December 30, 2021
Sadly I agree, to an extent.
I am of the opinion a significant number of the middle class will have no sympathy for the working class forced to give away their hard earned assets to pay for extortionate taxes and merely blame them for their inability to manage their financial affairs more efficiently.
However, when the State comes after them, here I am thinking of my sanctimonious eldest brother who has only worked in the protected public sector, they will expect everyone else to bale them out from this unjust infringement and threat to their assets. They will get short thrift from others they failed to support and fail to understand why.
Governments apply divide and rule tactics to gain power and control, but they are also increasingly greedily myopic for other peoples money and power and at some point pay-back will occur. How or when this will happen I do not know, but suspect the pay-back will come not from society as a collective. The social snobs would not be able to countenance it, so it is more likely to come from different elements of society, but all fighting for the same rights. And regardless of social class, those who are not prepared to fight and more importantly prepared to fight for everyone to have the same rights they are fighting for, will lose. Tough s**t brother, time to get off your sanctimonious a**e and recognize all are worthy of the same considerations you want.
Rant over
December 30, 2021
A vacuum in leadership. Government by inertia. I hope more MPs are putting similar pressure on.
December 30, 2021
This is the same old story put into a slightly different context, but as you imply the actions of government vary from doing nothing to being inexplicable. As the problems pile up the government appear lamped.
December 30, 2021
I think a new PM is required to have any chance of acknowledging the forthcoming cost of living disaster.
December 30, 2021
Perhaps we do not need tax rises, perhaps the inflation and energy price hike can easily be solved by something or other? It is not obvious to me that this post gets much further than to suggest the writer is against nasty things and for nice things.
December 30, 2021
I suppose that if we’re steered to keep things general, then if there were less gross inequality in this country, then an increase in expenditure and tax would not be anything like such a terrible crisis for so many families.
However, some people have now for many years repeatedly voted for the Tories, who will always deprive ordinary working people of the means to protect or to enhance their standing.
December 30, 2021
There is not gross inequality.
There is equal opportunity for those willing to take it and put in the effort.
I don’t begrudge going to a shit school in a shit area. (Mitcham, Sth London – called the Murder Mile) I kept taking crap jobs until I got a good one. I kept taking correspondence and night classes until I felt I’d caught up with what I’d missed out on at school.
December 31, 2021
No, there simply isn’t equality of opportunity.
Someone from a comfortable family who gets a private education has far greater opportunity than someone living precariously from a poor single parent one.
They probably need to work all hours just to survive. They cannot self-educate too.
Yes, some can, as your case proves, but your claim would need to include everyone, and it cannot.
December 30, 2021
To be clear, this is no income crunch, my incomings will not change and may even rise to keep my salary competitive in a rising priced job market.
My outgoings will be adversely affected by government policy to the tune of more than ÂŁ1,200 once NI increases, cost of gas and electricity and rampant inflation have been factored in. Each of those elements are as a direct result of misguided policy from the Conservative government.
No longer the least worst option I think.
December 30, 2021
+1
“Least worst option” was the unofficial slogan that won the landslide. Not “Get Brexit Done.” Now even that USP has been destroyed .
December 30, 2021
How can prices be skyrocketing Mr Redwood when Brexitists like yourself told us prices would go down when we left the protectionist EU?
We left, like you wanted us to but the opposite happened to prices. Who could have predicted Brexit trade barriers would push prices up? Erm, well me for a start.
I donât want to pay more for things but at least I can afford to. We can still afford heating and my children certainly wonât go hungry. If the worst comes to the worst and we really need to start making savings we can always sack our Brexit voting cleaner and gardener. But it is unlikely to come to that.
Mostly I feel sorry for all those poor Brexit voters who are now going to face financial ruin. My heart bleeds for them. Genuinely it does. (Okay, it doesnât but I will try not to laugh at them).
Reply More silly noinsense. I never claimed prices would go down when we left the EU. The same pressures hiking gas and energy prices here are hiking them in the EU so that has nothing to do with Brexit.
December 30, 2021
As people keep repeating, yes gas prices are generally increasing, but the UK alone in Europe has been exceptionally exposed to having to pay spot prices because the only-for-profit lads have shut down most of the storage capacity.
Those silly prices will before long be passed on to householders.
December 30, 2021
Even if we had 30 days worth of storage these higher prices for gas would soon work through.
Do you really think the rush away from coal, the lack of nuclear capacity compared to France the failure to get Shell to develop off shore capacity and the ridiculous refusal to get fracking for gas has had no effect on our prices?
December 31, 2021
Read up on storage in Germany and in Italy, say.
December 31, 2021
Whether the UK buys imported gas and stores it or uses it, the price is the same market price.
The next time you need gas to either refill the store or to immediately use it the price is still the latest market price.,
We are seeing huge increases in gas prices over many months, so to say storage is a solution is ridiculous
December 31, 2021
Look up “spot price”.
The UK also has to pay that for electricity because it does not have enough stored gas to use that freely for contingency generation.
December 31, 2021
I realise what spot price is thanks NHL
Explain why you think just extra storage capacity will cure steadily rising market prices.
December 30, 2021
Yes.
All promises broken.
January 8, 2022
Well P2, you do not seem to know that the spot price of gas, like any price in a âstock exchangeâ, varies every few minutes, and that variations of sometimes several percents can occur over a few hours. So having a bit of reserve in storage might allow one not to have to go for buying at the immediate instant price but to wait a few hours to see whether fluctuations are ârandomâ or denote a trend.
Quite elementary stuff in fact, but that you do not seem to know!
What type of business are/were you in? Your level of ignorance is amazing.
December 30, 2021
Andy :
The UKâs increase in energy prices has nothing to do with Brexit but rather the science denying net zero CO2 policies based on 8th century windmill power devised by the pro-EU Marxist Britphobes at BEIS as a booby trap for our classics trained PM.
So far though, despite BEISâ efforts, I see that according to Eurostat German households pay 29% more for their electricity than I do.
December 30, 2021
We are gradually piecing together more about the fantasy life Andy spins in his bed-sitter. Keep that gardener, Andy! But one of the chauffeurs might have to go…
December 30, 2021
Not quite nothing to do with Brexit .The post referendum slump necessitated more money printing which has inflationary risks, as does the continued borrowing endlessly advocated by those who wish to disguise Brexit`s recessionary affects.
Staff shortages are pushing up the cost of services of all kinds, and creating shortages due to transport delays,
The drag on growth caused by Brexit has an immediate consequence on borrowing versus tax rises. The growth outlook versus debt financing outlook will clearly be key in making such decisions ( more key that the supposed fiscal rules you have mystifyingly blamed the EU for ….. top marks for cheek )
Along with tax rises, HS2 and the trans-Pennine route, social care a delayed net zero package are all panicky hacking casualties of the Brexit, not that I dispute the wisdom of cuts at this time …its just that I wouldn’t have started from here ………..
It was an often repeated claim that removing all those pesky EU folk would drive up wages free up housing space ..not happened of course and you certainly did claim that food would be cheaper by our aboltyt0o access world markets.
Foolishly that last claim I actually felt might be true ..that will teach me.
I think when it comes to rubbish churned out by Brexit boasters I would probably start with N Ireland and its magic border but I digress . Energy costs are not Brexit related especially , other inflation and the cuts and tax rises Sunak is now obliged to insists on are very much Brexit`s ugly children
Reply The EU is printing far more than the U.K. adjusted for size and now borrowing in its own right. How do you explain that in your made up world of hating Brexit?
December 31, 2021
In a complex thing like an economy you can always come up with plausible but probably invalid arguments as to why one thing is not connected with another, but they are inherently not straightforward to disprove. The brexitians make great use of that fact.
However, the list of things for which brexit has been of the slightest demonstrable help whatsoever seems to be very short indeed, especially when compared with the list of materially serious problems facing the country.
December 31, 2021
NHL
It would be nice therefore if you now conceded that not every negative thing is “because of brexit” and not every positive thing is “despite brexit”.
December 31, 2021
I have never claimed that they were.
December 31, 2021
Well it would be good to see you write that in future when you and your pal young andy claim the next negative bit of news is due to brexit.
December 30, 2021
The 2021 Xmas superspreader event authorised by Johnson’s cowardice and refusal to stand up to bullying from the Covid Recovery Group seems to be having it’s entirely predictable result
Yesterday 183,000 cases of the Chinese plague virus Omicron variant were recorded. Due to the shortage of test kits this is an underestimate; a more realistic figure is 250,000. On Wednesday, more than 10,000 patients were in hospital with the virus, a figure not reached since March. NHS England is now asking hospitals to build new temporary Nightingale units in their grounds to make it easier for staff to move between new and old sites and keep patients closer to diagnostics and emergency care. The first sites will be at Preston, Leeds, Birmingham, Leicester, Stevenage, St Georgeâs in London, Ashford and Bristol. Marquees are boing sourced – there is of course a shortage.
Deaths always lag caseload with this virus and are now clearly being spun by Javid. The rest of the world (including an alarmed France) are now isolating Brits and refusing us entry.
Stay safe everybody.
Reply France has a huge caseload of its own. It too has decided against a comprehensive lockdown
December 30, 2021
So far I’m not too worried about hospital admissions because while they are a little higher than they have been recently they are still running at only about a quarter of the peak level in January:
https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/healthcare
There’s a lot of headroom between 1000 and 4000 daily admissions and between 8000 and 38000 patients,
the indications are that average stays are lower, and moreover deaths still seem to be trending down.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the South Africans have got it right about omicron.
December 30, 2021
The proverb has two parts “Hope for the best – but plan for the worst”
The “government” seem to be relying on the fact that a lot of people appear to have forgotten that.
December 30, 2021
No, Sakara, 183,000 cases of a positive test result, where a live virus may or may not have been present. How many using the PCR test, admitted last January by the WHO to be unreliable? As from the day after tomorrow, the American Centres for Disease Control’s web site says that test is no longer authorized for use in the USA. Antigen and molecular tests should be used instead. Do have a look – it was notified to the public back in July: https://www.cdc.gov/csels/dls/locs/2021/07-21-2021-lab-alert-Changes_CDC_RT-PCR_SARS-CoV-2_Testing_1.html
When are we in this country going to wake up to the PCR test scandal, I wonder?
The CRG doesn’t bully as far as I know, it asks the government above all to look at the whole range of facts, and not listen only to worst case scenario advocates.
December 30, 2021
Sajid Javid isn’t spinning anything about Covid deaths, Sakara. He’s as capable as you or I of looking at Covid death statistics in Britain and France (e.g. Our World in Data) and seeing that pro rata since the 2nd week of December, France has had a lot more than us. Even though from the arrival of Omicron onwards we’ve had more cases pro rata. It looks like the two statistics aren’t much related, which is why even the ‘cautious’ (a.k.a. usually alarmist) experts are calling Omicron a mild variant.
December 30, 2021
Sir John.
As usual you are talking sense. No chance anyone in government will listen.
Roger
December 30, 2021
ÂŁ1,200 would seem like piffling loose change to this govt.
The ÂŁ4bn âPoor Reliefâ will as ever, go to that class of âpoorâ who will need it to fuel their hot tubs and revels. A nice little supplement to the tax funded entitlements with which to further destroy the lives of those who pay.
WellâŠthe numbers of those who still CAN pay must be dwindling by the day.
December 30, 2021
This will send millions of ordinary people into the red sector and previously avoidable debt on every front cars, energy and taxes.
Red mist will descend and the Red Wall collapse.
Meanwhile the virtuous Boris and Carrie carry on unaffected.
December 30, 2021
Sir John, I implore you and your fellow Tories to defenestrate Johnson and elect a Conservative. If that does not happen, then the fate of the Labour Party shows what will follow. My final plea is that the Government submit the final decision on “Zero Carbon” be put to a referendum. Much as I hate them as a tool of government, unless one is held, I foresee civil unrest which will make Brexit look like a tea party.
December 30, 2021
Just hold off on the referendum until 2023. Let the people shiver in their homes next winter to sharpen their view.
December 30, 2021
Itâs quite clear to me that we are using treasury forecasts drawn up by G. Osborn. Time to tear them up and order The Treasury to confront reality.I donât believe we can change our plans overnight. Things will look much better in 5 years time.It will take 10,15 20 years to have sorted all the problems we have at the moment. So it will be fire fighting for some time.
December 30, 2021
This, and your previous post regarding the Business Secretary, make very depressing reading, but noone should be surprised as we have for some time had a Socialist Government, totally in thrall to the Civil Service and the Save (us from) the NHS.
The Government’s riposte about spending the extra ÂŁ4bn is one of the most fatuous I have ever heard: they are simply confirming their acceptance of the need to raise spending to meet people’s need to pay the extra Taxes they, the Goevernment have imposed. As you say, how much more sensible, and efficient it would be simply to admit the error of their ways and cancel the extra taxes.
December 30, 2021
Off topic, JR, I wonder whether you have seen this article in Spiegel:
https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/european-commission-vice-president-maros-sefcovic-london-has-breached-a-great-deal-of-trust-a-7ef3306b-5ebd-4366-9d55-c8cdf779d6e2
“DER SPIEGEL: What if the UK government makes good on the Article 16 threat anyway?
Ć efÄoviÄ: To begin with, that would have serious consequences for Northern Ireland. There is no other region in Britain where the economy is currently performing as well. All that would be put in jeopardy if Northern Ireland were deprived of access to the EUâs single market. And I donât even want to imagine the consequences for the fragile peace on the Irish isle. All this would have serious consequences for relations between the EU and London.”
The Irish News takes it further:
https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2021/12/30/news/maros-sefcovic-says-british-government-s-threats-to-trigger-article-16-are-enormously-disruptive–2546886/
“… Mr Sefcovic said that a British decision to trigger Article 16 would have “serious consequences” for Northern Ireland’s economy, while at the same time threatening peace.”
All of this is because the passionate unionist Boris Johnson was prepared to sell out Northern Ireland to get a low value special, “fantastic”, trade deal with the EU, and Tory MPs were prepared to follow his lead.
December 30, 2021
Agreed, “The Treasury needs to cancel its tax rises which will be damaging…….The sooner they confess their error the better.” – or they could just await the Sunak Slump and then act surprised. It is a puzzle to know which they will choose.
December 30, 2021
Iâm very much afraid that Digital ID and Universal Basic Income will be the solution to this crisis and then we will totally controlled by the government.
December 30, 2021
I’d rather be dead.
There are those who understand the evil, deceit and poison of Socialism in all its variants and they do come in many guises.
December 30, 2021
Universal Basic Income works well for pensioners. You pretty much all get your state handout and you are the richest demographic in the country.
There are certainly merits in the idea – or at least trying it.
December 30, 2021
Andy – Ban private schools and rich catchment schools too. Clearly they don’t work well for the country either.
Far better to make kids compete for special school and university places on pure intelligence alone – and against immigrants who are highly intelligent and motivated enough to get here.
The Boomer Bulge will be over soon enough. Alas we’ve replaced it with another demographic bulge despite the British public having decided to have smaller families.
Without the housing boom (both parents having to work), divorce and illegitimacy there would have been plenty of free carers for elderly parents.
December 30, 2021
Sir John,
What you say is true -but perhaps you could comment on the following:
That Johnson’s Government is really riding on the coat-tail-consequences of what the Biden Administration is doing in the USA with its Monetary Policy. That is, the US Administration is sanctioning the Federal Reserve to continue printing Trillions of Dollars. This is driving inflation world wide because of the status of the US Dollar. Moreover, there seems to be a deliberate move in the ‘progressive’ wing of the Democratic Party toward implementing (via money printing) ‘Modern Monetary Theory’ – briefly described as ‘Magic Money Tree’ theory – that will destroy the USA’s economy, with all the resulting ripple effects throughout the world.
Reply The UK has now ended QE and the US will taper it out in Q1 2022.
December 30, 2021
I think weâre heading for another John Major/ERM/Black Wednesday moment in Conservative Party history which will destroy the Partyâs reputation for effective governance for a generation.
John Major expended billions of pounds worth of foreign exchange reserves in an ultimately futile attempt to prevent Black Wednesday.
This time, Mr. Johnson will expend billions of pounds in trying to prevent the lights going out and failing and his government will be brought down by rocketing inflation, rolling blackouts, fuel and food shortages.
The ERM fiasco was as a result of the pro-EU instruction from the Britphobes at the Treasury and this time it will be as a result of following the ridiculous science denying, unilateral net zero CO2 booby trap devised by the Marxist Britphobes at BEIS.
December 30, 2021
Yes, I think it could be worse than the ERM debacle. Over the past few years the CONs have destroyed any reputation they may have had for:
1. Liberal, tending towards libertarian policies which recognise the interests of the individual
2. Sound economic management
3. Business friendly governance
4. Lower taxes
5. The party of law and order
6. Restricted immigration; strong communities
and virtually everything else which used to make them a slightly better prospect than Labour. I honestly don’t think they could do any more to wreck their reputation for competence.
December 30, 2021
The ERM mess was just the last thing in a long litany of baleful, dystopian experiences for the people of this country under the Tories, and was actually relatively benign compared with the rest.
But rewrite history to remember only that if you choose.
December 31, 2021
The ERM disaster was part of the obsession by the EU to get the UK to give up the pound sterling and adopt the Euro.
Labour were even more enthusiastic.
December 31, 2021
The Common currency had been discussed since the end of the â60s, but the euro only actually really started for financial institutions in 1993 and as paper money in 2002.
How exactly did this âEU obsessionâ affect the ERM disaster ⊠at a time when the UK held the Presidency of the EU? Have you ever heard of the UK Treasuryâs missed opportunities of realising the profits of a potential devaluation if the Chancellor at the time had not previously pegged the sterling to a level (ÂŁ1 = 2.95DM on 08/10/1990) inconsistent with the countryâs actual economic strength (high interest rates, falling house prices, overvalued exchange rates) given the fall in economic growth in 1990 and 1991?
economicshelp.org âUK recession of 1991-92â, 28/11/2017.
Reply The pound is up 6% against the Euro since Brexit
December 31, 2021
Reply to reply: whatâs that to do with my post to P2. Too much time on your hands?
And on 02/07/2016 ÂŁ1 was âŹ1.2887 and today ÂŁ1 is âŹ1.1908 (xe.com).
What is it that you do as an extra job on the side?
December 31, 2021
What has the UK’s presidency of the EU got to do with the ERM disaster hef?
The desire of pro Europe UK government ministers and the opposition parties in the UK, added to the EU’s obsession to get the UK to drop the pound and wed itself to the Euro, created a hurried and ill thought through pegging of the pound to the DM.
Hundreds of thousands of businesses, jobs and mortgage holders were ruined on the alter of this ambition.
It created recession and led to the Conservatives being out of power for a long period.
If it did one good thing it helped keep politicians away from daring to drop the pound.
December 31, 2021
Sterling is still down a lot more than that from the June 2016 crash, Sir John.
This last year the markets are simply relieved that the ERG didn’t get their No Deal fantasy.
reply Sterling is down 3% against the yen and 7% against the Euro since the vote
December 31, 2021
Gosh heffy
A new level of rudeness towards our host.
Lower and lower the trolls go.
January 1, 2022
Inform yourself before writing sweet nothings, P2.
âa hurried and ill thought through pegging of the pound to the DMâ:
Who pegged it this way? What about the BoEâs report of December 1990 by Andy Haldane âSterling relationship with the dollar and the deutschemark, 1976-1989â?
âThe vulnerability of pegged exchange rates: the British pound in the ERMâ?
January 1, 2022
The pound was pegged to the German Dm
Pegged as in there was a published policy to keep the pound within a certain limit in termscif relative value.
It was what allowed speculators to work against that known policy.
It cost us billions.
January 8, 2022
P2, the pound pegged at ÂŁ1/2.95DM in October 1990 just after a recession and with an increasing budget deficit was rather curiously high given it had been below 1/2.80 for six months between fallâ89 and springâ90.
But you will never admit such a thing, will you? As it was one of your cherished Conservative Chancellors who had taken the decision. Shame on you who after more than 30 years and all historical figures available for years are unable to take a back seat, look at the figures and try to understand what had happened.
Reply Yes I argued strongly against the ERM and predicted the disaster
December 30, 2021
This analysis is of tragically correct. Your Tory party Sir John has no connection with a former Conservative one and will continue with its plans to destroy us and be allowed to by its members.
Firstly it allows chaos to continue with ‘Boris’ (aka Nero) as PM, who causes it. He is has sold our interests for his own global advancement and glory.
Secondly because all its members and MPs in particular consider preservation of the party more important than anything else.
The country can fail and be destroyed provided the party is saved. The discontented MPs, no matter how discontented and seriously worried they are, no matter there are enough to make a break, won’t because they are Tories and the country and its people can be sacrificed.
They believe the Tory party is the country and it must be preserved, even if the people starve or freeze.
We need a new party. The present Tory elites and its cowardly followers must be destroyed.
December 30, 2021
We do not have a government, we have a bunch of wet puppets being driven by an ultra left-wing Civil Service and the media. The minute a problem looms up on the horizon a puppet minister gets up on its hind legs and declares that ‘N’ billion has been thrown at it, and sits down again.
I was a huge fan of Boris especially after his spell of running London and was not surprised that he did so well in December 2019. Covid-19 was cruel blow and he did very well to over come a host of problems, created by previous administrations, and commission and roll out the vaccine. After that everything has fallen apart and shows absolutely no sign of it coming together again.
During the same period he, who is in the second half of his 50s, took a girl friend some 20 years younger into No 10 and now has 2 children under the age of two in a central London attic flat. That must be purgatory at times, and we are allowing a man in that situation to run our country and steer us through a host of worldwide problems.
It is little wonder that he is being battered around by the media and thwarted by the civil service and misled by the remainers lurking amongst his own MPs. At the same time we are squandering the advantages and opportunities of Brexit and building up a huge debt that will take years to repay.
He has to go and go quickly so that his successor has time to get us back on track
December 30, 2021
I’m sorry but his personal circumstances are self inflicted and the sign of someone with an utterly chaotic, reckless and disloyal mind.
8 (?) kids by different women and he has the nerve to tell the rest of us we’re using too much carbon.
December 30, 2021
I fear that Conservative back-benchers are dumb enough, and selfish enough, to give Boris time to scupper the electoral chances of a mass of decent Conservative councillors.
December 30, 2021
And who should his successor be, George? Unless you can suggest an alternative who you can be confident would not also be pushed around by civil servants, Remainers, Green fanatics and Covid ‘expert’ doom-mongers, I’d rather stick with Boris. (And saying that doesn’t come easily, I can tell you.) At least he has stood up to the lockdowners this time, whatever we may think of his appalling misjudgments in the past.
December 30, 2021
Even the attempt to “do” Nut-zero by 2050 will bankrupt the country.
We see the start by the 4bn subsidy to fuel, by the time the government will give anyone the first 1 pound there will be millions in fuel poverty.
The cost of living crisis includes energy, taxes and inflation + expected costs of the WTO (I’m all for it) when that comes.
Industry will be bankrupted and leave the UK because Boris’ mad dash for a pointless (we only produce 1% of global CO2) Nut-zero, instead of a dash for affordable energy.
December 30, 2021
So, first the government adopts policies that raise the cost of living, and then they say they will spend ÂŁ4 billion to alleviate the problems they have created. Hmm. this doesn’t seem very sensible to me. Add to that the fact that the ÂŁ4 billion will only go to those on benefits, thus aggravating the problems of the struggling middle class. This is not sensible either economically or politically. This government’s economic and political mismanagement has been on an epic scale – and all because of the literal INSANITY of their ‘net zero’ goal. And what are backbench Tory MPs doing? Nothing, it seems. Certainly nothing effective, that is clear.
December 30, 2021
A ÂŁ1200 squeeze (which excludes other inflation) will be devastating for ‘discretionary’ personal spending and the jobs (which includes most of the jobs associated with my 26 commercial tenants) that depend on people’s non-essential personal spending. It will also cause huge electoral problems for the Conservatives.
I agree with John Redwood that the proposed tax increases (especially National Insurance) should be cancelled.
However the gas and electricity prices crisis seems intractable. It is not much good now saying (as John Redwood does) ‘I wouldn’t have started from here’ because it will take years to get a significantly increased domestic supply of gas. The problem is immediate (and comparable or greater than the last big supply crisis, the 1973 oil crisis). So I sympathise with Boris Johnson and Kwasi Kwarteng. Much as I want a freemarket solution, a freemarket solution may not be compatible with electoral politics. Can anybody here find an immediate freemarket solution to this energy price crisis that won’t cause other economic or electoral problems?
December 31, 2021
The immediate solution would be to firstly eliminate VAT on all energy supplies, and secondly to abolish (or at least suspend) the carbon taxes.
Then build the new RR SMRs in double-quick time, SIMULTANEOUS to the safety review, not waiting for the review to end before building commences. They could thus be up-and-running in about three years. Oh, and also build a couple of quick, new coal-fired plants.
December 31, 2021
Please see the proposals I have made here in recent days to suspend (ideally abolish) Green taxes and perks and subsidies for green suppliers, and to promote alternatives and more supply. In the first instance they would go a long way towards reducing the impact on consumer bills, and also set us on a path towards a more sustainable lower cost future through moving away from net zero. It would take rather more focus than is being offered by BEIS, who see the priority today is to plan for the next CCUS cluster …. which will only serve to push bills higher still.
January 1, 2022
Emergency legislation to get markets to work.
Attend to the supply problem!
Allow the coal stations to boost output.
Run the plant to eliminate any net import from the EU unless its rock solid reliable. It is not!
Indeed running coal plant in the UK could have helped relieve some of the pressure on the European market as well.
Then after this winter mothball the plant and recalibrate for next winter.
December 30, 2021
Good.
Hardships are going to focus people’s minds about the reality of the Tories and strip them of very many seats.
Boris listens to the likes of Andy… who will never vote for him in a million years.
December 30, 2021
We are gradually piecing together more about the fantasy life Andy spins in his bed-sitter. Keep that gardener, Andy! But one of the chauffeurs might have to go…
December 30, 2021
How many of this ‘Conservative’ government’s Spads are former members of the Revolutionary Communist Party?
December 30, 2021
Very true Sir John.
So the Chancellor of the Exchequer has got it wrong.
The Business Secretary has got it wrong.
Let’s face it the whole demonising CO2 policy is wrong. So Boris Johnson has got it wrong.
And haven’t 2 Health Secretaries got a lot wrong too? With lock downs, testing and jabbing some who didn’t want to be jabbed.
It is a bit difficult to find anything this government have got right isn’t it. Seeing as how we did not get a clean Brexit.
Now then – what are Lord Frost’s opinions on these questions?
December 30, 2021
As yet another of my real world posts gets deleted; yet, you continue to allow semi-moron conspiracy theorist posters, to fester in their own ignorance without correcting them. If it’s not a silly request, can you do a new year summing up of all the post Brexit advantages we are now enjoying, that the proles are too stupid to perceive and appreciate?
December 30, 2021
France suspends transit ban for Brits living in the EU. Remainers with property in the EU 27 can now transit through France to get to it. Naturally, I am assuming that no “leave voting” Brexiter would be a property holder in the EU 27; or, have I got that wrong, hypocrisy wise?
December 30, 2021
Ridiculous logic acorn.
What has UK membership of the EU got to do with individual European nations deciding to welcome other European citizens to purchase freehold properties in their countries.
December 30, 2021
« Yesterday a think tank put a figure on the hit to average incomes from tax rises and energy bills next spring. They said it would be ÂŁ1200 per householdâ did this think tank give a breakdown of how this ÂŁ1200 per annum is arrived at? Is this a two earner household on average earnings, London earnings? What? Which think tank is it so that we can record this.
Median wage is currently ÂŁ31,487 (Statista) is this a double income at that level or a 1.5 times this income? What size home? What if the home is energy efficient, insulated and the people in it donât overheat it?
Why is your government putting us in this position John?
Why doesnât your government take reciprocal action against France nothing more but nothing less? Cases are rising in France without people from the UK from 18th so have we banned their travellers from entering the UK including for work, have we cut off their poultry imports because of their out of control bird flu? How come Boris allows them to walk all over the UK with their punishments for daring to leave, what they see is their controlled EU organisation, without any retaliation. To keep turning the other cheek is obviously seen as a red light to Macron to do more. Your government allowed France to virtually take over much of our van sales market, they hold us to ransom all the time and they are destroying the entente cordiale.
December 31, 2021
resolutionfoundation.org âHousing outlook Q4 2021â, 22/12/2021 and âLabour Market outlook Q4 2021â,
Also ifamagazine.com âResolution Foundation report declares 2022 is set to be the âyear of the squeezeââ, 29/12/2021
December 31, 2021
Thank you Hefner, happy new year to you.
December 30, 2021
A continuation of high inflation will kill off the Conservatives. It’s not covid that’s stopping people spending its the thought of the inflation boogeyman. The BOE left it too late. Until the covid supply lines are once again replenised inflation will continue.
All countries need to get together to jointly agree a way forward, i.e.
how they address covid collectively , and how to joint up supply lines,otherwise many businesses and jobs will go down the pan
December 30, 2021
Government ministers and MPs live in a cosy, protected world with no money worries. They do not give one single toss about people facing a fall in their living standards. Who cares? I wouldnât. The ONLY thing they care about is your vote, once every 5 years.
December 30, 2021
As well as the NI increases and the gas and electricity rises – let us not forget the annual 5% increase in council tax.
December 30, 2021
An annual 5% council tax rise means COUNCIL TAX DOUBLES EVERY FOURTEEN YEARS. That will make mine 5 grand in 14 years.
December 31, 2021
Yes, it’s still basically a poll tax.
That’s how the Tories would fund everything if only they could.
So they cut, ever more, central funding for locally-delivered services and move the burden onto CT.
The Duke Of Devonshire only pays the same for Chatsworth as the owner of an ordinary detached family house does, remember.
Reply What nonsense. the overall tax system approved by Conservative governments is very progressive with the better off paying most of the tax revenue. Council Tax only pays for a minority of the local spend and is itself progressive with higher tax for more valuable homes
December 31, 2021
Nonsense?
How much more does D o Devonshire pay in CT for his house than another top-band owner in a suburban housing estate does then?
It’s a bit progressive, but only a little bit.
January 1, 2022
How much tax do you pay in comparison to the taxes the Duke of Devonshire pays?
December 31, 2021
Well the general and wide ranging increases in the cost of living for the bottom third of incomes or benefits will indeed herald a new poor.
So Sir John will you add your voice to a call for massive increase in the minimum wage rate? Also for the Personal Allowances to be raised by something like ÂŁ2000 in order to ward off the approaching poverty?
I doubt it. Mr Starmer and Mr Davey will sit back in the comfort of knowing the daily shift of voting intention will gather momentum (sorry!) against the Conservative Party.
Reply I am pressing for tax cuts for those on lower incomes and more help in getting into better paid jobs, along with stricter controls on unskilled economic migration into the UK.
January 1, 2022
We appreciate your efforts but doubt among the benches any willingness to demonstrate sufficient concern. Voters will decide.