The King’s speech and Parliament

The King spoke well with a moving tribute to his late mother and his clear pledge to undertake his new tasks in the spirit of public service above politics which informed the Queen for seventy years. At the Privy Council he reaffirmed his wish to uphold our democratic traditions and to be guided by the Parliaments of his realms.

In the coming week the UK Parliament will  rest adjourned in mourning. The Palace of Westminster will  be turned into more of a  fortress than normal  in preparation for the funeral of the Queen and the arrival of numerous Presidents, Heads of State and government from around the world to London for this great and sad occasion. The Queen’s body will lie in state in Westminster Hall in preparation. The external business of government will stop, with politics suspended whilst  the relevant Ministers are involved in the preparations and events surrounding the death of the monarch.The nation mourns with its government until the funeral.

Meanwhile the country wrestles with the energy crisis and the cost of living pressures. It is fortunate that the government was able to make a reassuring statement before these sad events that relief is on its way from unaffordable fuel bills. Behind the closed office doors it is important that work goes on to complete the plans for the energy package and for the promised Financial Statement later this month to follow the period of mourning. Parliament should  return earlier from the planned Conference break to scrutinise and approve measures commensurate with the scale of the challenge to business and families posed by the prices of gas and electricity. Business is suffering now with no protection in place against the surges in energy prices.

155 Comments

  1. Mike Wilson
    September 11, 2022

    If the monarch had died during WW2, would government have gone into mourning? Aren’t there rather a lot of pressing things on the agenda? Just what we need – government absent again (after the vacuum of the leadership contest) and a bank holiday when the economy is going down the drain. And then you’re all off for your conference jolly. Still, let them eat cake.

    1. Sharon
      September 11, 2022

      Mike W

      I was just wondering how to express my thoughts. Your analogy to the Queen dying during WW2 is excellent!

      There are times, such as now, where the country hasn’t the luxury of closing down Parliament.

      1. DOM
        September 11, 2022

        Parliament’s become a destructive force in the life of our nation and its people. Certain pieces of legislation that have been passed and some in the pipeline have and are designed not to improve life and liberty but to actively CURTAIL life and liberty

        Parliament’s become a vessel for parties who seek constitutional redress for their warped and extremist ideologies

        1. Cuibono
          September 11, 2022

          +many
          And strangely it appears very keen on shutting down!

        2. acorn
          September 11, 2022

          “Fintan O’Toole: Britain is becoming ungovernable and Truss will not last long Liz Truss knows that Brexit cannot solve Britain’s problems”. (Irish Times) Nascent signs of “dominant party authoritarian dictatorship” have emerged in the Boris / post referendum era.

          Interesting move making chief ERG Brexit hardman, Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office. Have Lizzie and Michelle got a plan to stick the ERG with the blame for a united Ireland. Or is it; “Keep Your Friends Close and Enemies Closer”.

          Reply The government’s policy as defined by Foreign Secretary Truss is to negotiate a solution to the Protocol if possible but to press on with a unilateral fix by legislation given the reluctance of the EU to accept the current arrangements violate crucial parts of the Protocol especially concerning GB/NI trade. The new Ministers also support this policy. The legislative route takes time as although the now PM got it through the Commons in good order it now has to go through the Lords.

          1. Peter2
            September 11, 2022

            It comes as no surprise, acorn, that you follow and ageee with Finlan O’Toole.

          2. Peter
            September 11, 2022

            acorn,

            We have had a ‘Brexit hardman’ in place before. I suspect it was to give the impression of actually doing something.

            However, said hardman left once he could see that Johnson would continue to do nothing and kick the issue into the long grass.

          3. Graham
            September 11, 2022

            Ah yes! government policy as defined by foreign secretary Truss but we don’t know yet
            about government policy as defined by PM Truss – and especially as she is prone to chopping and changing when it suits otherwise called flip flopping – but your choice

        3. glen cullen
          September 11, 2022

          +1

        4. Michelle
          September 11, 2022

          Quite.
          When a Parliament is full of people with little to no consideration for a nation (and from my perspective that is England) and its people but is or seems to be working to further globalist causes, then open or shut, it makes little difference.
          The destruction goes on.

          1. Mark B
            September 11, 2022

            +1

        5. Jim Whitehead
          September 11, 2022

          DOM, +++++

      2. Ian Wragg
        September 11, 2022

        Seeing as how Parliament under Boris didn’t get much done, I don’t see a problem.
        Liz will have a few days to prepare for the cut and thrust of government and I have high hopes for her.
        If a job needs doing appoint a woman.
        I thought I heard lump dumb Davey congratulating the new king on his accession and trying to influence him to oppose fracking. Par for the course.

        1. graham1946
          September 11, 2022

          And it was Clegg, another LimpDumb who as deputy PM put the kybosh on new nuclear which would have been coming on stream now, when we are in desperate need. Let’s hope to God these people never get anywhere near power again, we have nothing to thank them for what with their treachery over Brexit etc.

          1. Sharon
            September 11, 2022

            From the tv footage
. Most are Privy Counsellors! So very much near power!

          2. turboterrier
            September 11, 2022

            graham1946
            To add strength to your comment all is explained in the following:-

            Self-Inflicted Wind & Solar Calamity Forces Brits to Embrace Reliable Nuclear Power
            http://stopthesethings.com/2022/09/11/self-inflicted-wind-solar-calamity-forces-brits-to-embrace-reliable-nuclear-power/

            It was being thought about as a problem in 2005.
            Very good letter to support the argument. Well worth a read.

          3. rose
            September 11, 2022

            And at the same time Davey put the kybosh on fracking.

    2. Lifelogic
      September 11, 2022

      Pressing things such as the 10,000 excess non-covid deaths since July or the self-inflicted expensive unreliable energy agenda perhaps?

      1. Cuibono
        September 11, 2022

        Oh yes!
        As ever LL
nail on head. Spot on!
        A diversion from our woes!!

      2. Jim Whitehead
        September 11, 2022

        LL, ++++

    3. Know-Dice
      September 11, 2022

      Too true Mike.

      The Queen worked throughout WW2 and right up to the day of her passing.

      This is not respect for someone who dedicated her whole life to public service, with dedication and decades of wisdom.

    4. Narrow Shoulders
      September 11, 2022

      Government does best which governs least

      1. Lifelogic
        September 11, 2022

        Does only those very few things government can do better than individuals, businesses or charities can. Defence, law and order & not very much more.

    5. jerry
      September 11, 2022

      @Mike Wilson; It would appear some people still need to learn the difference between GOVERNMENT and politics! Government never stops…

      Rest in peace our dear departed Queen, Long live the King.

    6. No Longer Anonymous
      September 11, 2022

      Mike. They know that what they do to mitigate the crisis will make not one jot of a difference.

      This country is facing a small business wipe out and with the loss of our Queen, is going to emerge from a very bleak winter a diminished ghost of itself and a vastly poorer nation.

      If energy is made artificially cheaper it will only lead to blackouts and rationing. The key problem here is lack of gas – a problem caused by the very people whom you want to return to their offices.

      What government does least government does best, as stated above.

    7. Nottingham Lad Himself
      September 11, 2022

      I wonder what King Charles will say, if the Tories try to prorogue Parliament unlawfully once again?

      Could be interesting.

      1. Peter2
        September 11, 2022

        Parliament has been prolonged hundreds of times.
        The Queen never seemed concerned so why should our new King?

        1. hefner
          September 12, 2022

          Prorogued, yes at least once a year as the ceremony to mark the formal end of a Parliament session is what is called a prorogation.

          Prorogued unlawfully as NHL has written had happened either in the past (before 1918) or very rarely: Charles I did it twice in 1628 and 1629 then ran the country without Parliament from 1629 to 1640. The Cavalier Parliament also had prorogations out of normal sessions. In 1997 when John Major prorogued the Parliament to try avoiding the ‘Money for Questions’ scandal, it can be argued that it was not lawful. And then there was the August 2019 attempt by PM Johnson, and contrary to rose’s comment below it was unlawful as declared by the Supreme Court on 24 September 2019 (commonslibrary.parliament.uk ‘Decision of the Supreme Court on the Prorogation of Parliament’).

          1. Peter2
            September 12, 2022

            It was deemed unlawful by the Supreme Court.
            A controversial decision which many felt was wrong.
            Thanks for the history lecture heffy.

          2. hefner
            September 12, 2022

            ‘A controversial decision which many felt was wrong’. Based on what arguments? Could you be a bit more explicit? I am waiting for your and rose’s arguments to understand what the chink in the judicial armour was.
            Or was it (as I think) because the Express and the Mail titillated you in thinking along those lines without you in fact having the very first idea about the whole story.

          3. Peter2
            September 12, 2022

            What a silly post heffy.
            Are we, like you, not entitled to an opinion.
            You and your pal bill are always demanding proof of every word spoken.
            Yet you post the same opinionated posts all the time.
            PS
            For mail and express I swop you for guardian and independent

      2. rose
        September 11, 2022

        It wasn’t unlawful. Blair’s ten year old court made up new law out of thin air and applied it retrospectively to persuade you to think that. The matter wasn’t even justiciable so they should not have heard the case.

        1. jerry
          September 12, 2022

          @rose; “It wasn’t unlawful. [waffling]”

          Who told you that, the same people who claims to have MAGA, and claims their man was re-elected in 2020?…

          1. Peter2
            September 12, 2022

            Tell us what existing law was broken please Jerry

          2. hefner
            September 14, 2022

            You really do not know what a red herring is P2. I had put these examples for rose to show that contrary to what she said there are cases when judges can tell the Government that what they might have produced before is inadequate. So completely contradicting rose’s ‘made up new laws out of thin air’.

            Furthermore she joyously mixes up Crown, Government, Parliament (and who takes an oath to whom) etc 
 to try to justify why she keeps on going with errors: It was originally the Scottish Supreme Court that decided that the previous decision by the Outer Court (‘the prorogation is a political decision’ and should not be addressed) was incorrect and allowed an appeal saying that the prorogation was justifiable and unlawful. It is only to resolve the discrepancy between these courts (and the English High Court) that the SCUK was called (involving G.Miller).

          3. hefner
            September 15, 2022

            P2 calls ‘red herrings’ things he does not know about or that he does not understand.

            Then P2 has ‘Parliament is supreme not judges’: the SCUK did not need to create any law in September 2019, the judges took a decision by interpreting the existing laws (two previous judgments of 1611 and 1765 to declare the prorogation justiciable, then based on the weaknesses of the reasons invoked by the Government of the day to call for a prorogation to declare it of no use).
            The SCUK could obviously have taken the opposite decision and both P2 or rose would have kept shtum because they would have been pleased.

            So the hypocrisy (and/or the trolling urge of some) is so obvious that it is better to mock these attempts at rewriting history.

        2. hefner
          September 12, 2022

          rose, ‘retrospectively’. Oh yes in cases of ‘validating activities with no statutory basis’ or ‘correcting practices which have been found to be illegal’.
          Do you consider the ‘Police (Detention and bail) Act 2011’, the ‘Mental health (Approval functions) Act 2012’, the ‘Job seekers (Back to work schemes) Act 2013’ wrong laws?

          1. Peter2
            September 12, 2022

            More red herrings from you heffy

          2. rose
            September 12, 2022

            Parliament makes the law; judges only interpret it. Judges are not supposed to make new law. We thought we had put them back in their place in the 17th century. We are not a Kritarchy.

          3. rose
            September 12, 2022

            Furthermore, there should be no question of judges telling Parliament and the Crown what to do. Parliament is the highest court and all judges take an oath of allegiance to the Crown. The Crown is Sovereign in Parliament. This means Ministers of the Crown are answerable to Parliament, not to judges. Parliament can pass a vote of no confidence in the Queen’s Ministers any day of the week they are in session. It is not for judges to tell them to do that.

          4. jerry
            September 14, 2022

            @rose; “Parliament makes the law; judges only interpret it.”

            Exactly! So why did you claim the Supreme Court made “made up [a] new law out of thin air”.

            Nor was this a new court, another bogus claim by you, just a new meeting place and name for a very old court, whose function had become increasingly politicized due to sitting in the House of Lords.

            “there should be no question of judges telling Parliament and the Crown what to do” [1]

            So in your opinion Parliament and the Crown are above the law, are you seriously suggesting the then ex Minister of State, and member for Wednesbury and then Walsall North between 1957 & 1976, should neither have been prosecuted for fraud, nor had to resign his seat?!

            [1] which, by extension, you must also mean those who serve Parliament and the Crown, it was not the Speaker who asked for a suspension but the PM

          5. Peter2
            September 14, 2022

            You are mixing up criminal law which applies to individual politicians with laws Parliament makes.
            Parliament is supreme not judges.

    8. Iago
      September 11, 2022

      I have a sickening foreboding that Battle of Britain Day, September 18th, has been cancelled.

  2. Mark B
    September 11, 2022

    Good morning.

    Parliament needs to reappraise its role in all this. We here have mentioned time and time again what needs to be done. One off payments and price caps will not work. You need to be honest and say that legislation, agreements and fanaticism with so called Climate Change and CO2 creates an environment of high prices. We stopped drilling for oil. Closed down and destroyed coal fired power stations. Created subsidies and for so called renewables that have not only been a blight on our landscape but have delivered unreliable energy.

    Parliament for far too long has been a body ready and willing to follow. The late Queen’s first Prime Minister was a leader, I only hope that her last Prime Minister can be half as much.

    1. Lifelogic
      September 11, 2022

      Truss is retaining the deluded net zero religion and we now have King Charles who is also a great fan of Climate Alarmism & this unscientific CO2 (devil gas) religion too. Well he is a fan of it for other people anyway not for himself or his family of course!

      1. Cuibono
        September 11, 2022

        Interestingly we will soon learn just how involved in politics a “constitutional” monarch can be.
        2020 at a WEF Summit the then Prince Charles claimed “ We need a Marshall Plan to tackle the environment ” 
He was keen that the polluter should pay ( private jets and limos akimbo!!) and that the “greening” should accelerate.
        Before the sheeple wake up?
        But
the jigsaw is all falling into place.
        And who is going to stop the completion?
        Our MPs appear very happy with the situation.
        Do they not need food and warmth?

        1. Lifelogic
          September 11, 2022

          +1. But Charles the extra atmospheric CO2 plant, tree, seaweed and crop food is greening the planet rather well giving more energy/food for humans and for animals & insects.

          1. Cuibono
            September 11, 2022

            +1
            Indeed and none of us would be able to breathe without it!

        2. glen cullen
          September 11, 2022

          Indeed it very disconcerting

        3. glen cullen
          September 11, 2022

          Wasn’t King Charles II, also keen on telling the serfs how to behave, because he knew best

          1. rose
            September 11, 2022

            I thought he was an enlightened monarch under whose encouragement real science flourished. He would not have gone in for a weird cult like the anti CO2 craze.

          2. glen cullen
            September 12, 2022

            He disbanded parliament and democracy

          3. rose
            September 12, 2022

            We didn’t have democracy till Disraeli and anyway, I think you may have Charles I in mind.

      2. John Hatfield
        September 11, 2022

        She may profess it for the sake of the destructive liberals but let’s hope she does not pracise it.
        Allowing fracking to continue is a good first sign.

      3. Philip P.
        September 11, 2022

        In fairness, the King indicated in his speech that he ‘will not have time’ for the kind of advocacy he allowed himself before.

        Let us hope that will be the case.

    2. ignoramus
      September 11, 2022

      Mark B, please stop making these arguments about fossil fuels.

      It’s a done deal, as I’ve had to write about five times now.

      The problem with fossil fuels isn’t green fanaticism. It is that they are very expensive as well as posing a threat to our energy security.

      Sticking with fossil fuels would mean subsidising them which would be highly unpopular, though it may be necessary in the short term for us to make the transition to cheaper energy.

      1. graham1946
        September 11, 2022

        Fossil fuels are not expensive to produce, only to buy due to to cartels and rigged markets. The USA doesn’t seem to suffer the same prices we do, and actually export gas, maybe because of fracking? You don’t say anything about subsisdising renewables I notice, or the fact that they are not cheap and being charged at the same rate as fossil fuels even though they don’t actually work very well and are really, not theoretically, posing a threat to our energy security.

        1. Lifelogic
          September 11, 2022

          +1

        2. Cuibono
          September 11, 2022

          +1

      2. Original Richard
        September 11, 2022

        ignoramous :

        Fossil fuels are far cheaper than renewables, it’s just that our Government, bankers and ESG investment companies are responsible for rising prices by causing a shortage.

        Furthermore, renewables are being subsidised not only directly but by fossil fuels which are providing the grid stability and long-term storage. If the proposed hydrogen is used for storage then the number of wind turbines required would need to be multiplied 8 times for any given amount of reliable power. This is extremely expensive.

        As I write wind is providing just 1.71 GW from an installed capacity of 27 GW, so we’re only getting 6% of all the installed power.

        There is no energy security in renewables when 95% of wind turbine parts and 100% of solar are supplied by China who also control the raw materials for batteries, generators and motors. Wind turbines only have a useful life of around 15 years so those installed today will be on their last legs by the decarbonisation date of 2025.

      3. Lifelogic
        September 11, 2022

        I am perfectly happy for renewables to compete fairly and pay a fair price for the back up needed (I am only against the hugely rigged market). We have plenty of coal and gas for the next hundred years if we choose to mine, frack and drill for them rather than banning them. But anyway we will surely have practical nuclear fusion within about 20 years which will take over and last for many hundreds of years.

        1. Old Salt
          September 11, 2022

          Lifelogic
          So why frack with the inevitable contamination of the subterranean water systems with all the chemicals needed for ever and a day on our increasingly relatively overcrowded island. Accidents can and do happen and at depth apart from any ground instability. We read any such gas would make little difference anyway.

          We also read wells don’t last long. After a year, production typically falls by around 40%” and “after four years, the decline is roughly 90%”. As a result, “companies need to stay on the move to maintain production levels” further contaminating the already diminishing countryside.

          Surely this resource should be kept as a last resort.

      4. Barbara
        September 11, 2022

        So-called ‘renewables’, far from being renewable, are so expensive they require eye-watering taxpayer subsidies and always will. They would not even exist if not propped up by public money.

    3. Jim Whitehead
      September 11, 2022

      M B, +++++

    4. Jim Whitehead
      September 11, 2022

      M B, +++++, well said

  3. Bloke
    September 11, 2022

    The high cost of oil for country dwellers using it for heating was left hanging without a solution.

    1. Lifelogic
      September 11, 2022

      The solution is to heat one room only and wear more thermals & jumpers. Perhaps chop and dry wood for a one room wood fire too. The wood you chop yourself warms you twice as they say.

      Few people had much more than one warm room in winter before about 1970. Might get to see and interact with your children rather more too.

      1. glen cullen
        September 11, 2022

        Is that a solution for the plebs and serfs

      2. No Longer Anonymous
        September 11, 2022

        Yup. Deforestation, LL.

        Unfortunately most homes built after the ’70s don’t have fireplaces.

        1. Lifelogic
          September 11, 2022

          Well you can still heat one room only using gas, electricity, coal, a heat pump, wood. People give off about 80 watts each at rest too.

          1. jerry
            September 11, 2022

            @LL; “Well you can still heat one room”

            Well yes, but you can not live in just one room, not even studio or bedsit flats are allowed to be built/converted to such a dwelling, as you should know if you really are a property developer and/or landlord. Tell us Mr Life, do you take cold baths or showers, in the mean outside temperature, during winter, if not why not?!

            “People give off about 80 watts each at rest too.”

            Only if they are well fed, or have come out of an equally warn environment.
            You really do not have a first clue as to how and why hypothermia can set in. Energy costs are but one part of the current economic crisis, inflation can be a killer too when even basic foods are increasing inline with (or greater than) the current RPI/CPI but incomes are not.

            Next you’ll be suggesting parents stitch their children and themselves onto combination long-johns and vests, from October, never to take them off until March, just like they did in the 1800s – oh hang on perhaps that’s what you meant when suggesting people wear more “thermals”…

          2. Mickey Taking
            September 11, 2022

            It is reassuring to know that you have the answer for most of us who will need to live in one room whether we have a fireplace or not. Bring the patio heater indoors and remove the batteries on smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors?

      3. jerry
        September 11, 2022

        @LL; “The solution is to heat one room only and wear more thermals & jumpers. Perhaps chop and dry wood for a one room wood fire too. The wood you chop yourself warms you twice as they say. “

        That has got to be one of the most crass, out of touch, comments since a certain French aristocrat is alleged to have uttered “qu’ils mangent de la brioche” (Let them eat cake).

        Many of the hardest hit already live in one room, they likely already wear what extra layers of clothing they own, they already eat less ‘junk food’ (and sometimes not only less junk food…), nor are ready-meals necessarily any less nutritious, whilst many are simply cheaper all told, given cooking times etc; and just how are those living in (high-rise) flats and apartments, or just many a modern house, going to burn wood when they have no fireplace nor any safe means of installing a wood burner -and then of course were do they get the wood from, burn their furniture, cut down the bushes and trees in the local park, steal transport pallets?!

        Even those houses that do outwardly still have fireplaces often have totally, unsafe, un-serviceable flues. Even more so since so many have cajoled by unthinking net-zero zealots (and those profiteers who have jumped on that bandwagon) into sealing up every possible source of ventilation or draft such open fires need to prevent death by carbon-monoxide poisoning.

        “Few people had much more than one warm room in winter before about 1970.”

        Never heard of back-boilers Mr Life, they were very common from the 1950s on, if not before, as was the cheap to run gas or electric individual room fire. The real solution is quite simple, nor does it require entire households to huddle together in just one room, but some will need to get off their political high horses first, and no, ‘net-zero’ is actually irrelevant to the real issues. Not that our host will ever admit or discuss them…

        1. Donna
          September 11, 2022

          My late parents bought a pre WW2 semi in 1963 which needed complete modernisation by the standards of the day. Heating the house consisted of a fireplace in “the living room” and an oil heater in “the front room” which was seldom used! 1963 was the very long, cold snowy winter that went on from Boxing Day until Easter and I remember the cold even though I was a very young child.

          Two years later, after the initial renovations had been done and they had the money, they had a Parkray fire installed with a back-boiler which heated 3 radiators and the water tank. I used to spend hours watching the Parkray burn coal making up stories for myself about the flames. 🙂

        2. Lifelogic
          September 11, 2022

          And bathe in tepid water once a month – needed or not!

        3. Narrow Shoulders
          September 11, 2022

          Re ready meals. I can feed my children on any given day in 15-20 minutes for less than the same number of ready meals in a week Jerry. There will be use of leftovers in that equation but poverty does not excuse laziness, recipie books cost about a pound from a charity shop or can be accessed using very little data on T’interweb.

          The narrative of the hard done by poor is tiresome. I do a commute, a full day’s work and prepare food and keep the house clean. If my wife found me more attractive more regularly, I would have it all without being hugely wealthy.

          1. jerry
            September 11, 2022

            @NS; “I can feed my children on any given day in 15-20 minutes for less than the same number of ready meals in a week”

            Assuming you’re talking about meat and three veg type meals, not opening a couple of tins, or something with pasta, I agree with regards family style units, cooking for two or more automatically brings discounts, ask any group of students too, hence why that govt idea of banning BOGOF offers etc. was so crazy!

            But not all people live in such household units, especially pensioners, and many older pensioners (and certain others) also have physical disabilities that cause problems when spending such time cooking, and doing the washing up after, not everyone has a dishwasher.

            Oh and how do those with mobility issues get to charity shops, how does someone access the T’internet if they do not have a broadband connection, even assuming they know how to use a computer – not all ‘home shopping’ is done online you know, a lot is still done via printed catalogue and telephone…

            Indeed YOURS and others narrative of “lazy” if not ignorant living by ready meals is tiresome, stop pigeon-holing those into your own cozy little world, life’s issues you seem to know nothing about YET.

          2. Narrow Shoulders
            September 12, 2022

            @jery – one visit to a charity shop – no ta mobility issue.

            Broadband = mobile phones, library only need to go once!

            THere is always an excuse isn’t there. Action!

          3. jerry
            September 12, 2022

            @NS; You have simply repeated your assertions, not offered any answers.

            Nor do mobile phones necessarily = Broadband. Assuming the person does actually own a mobile phone and know how to use such a device, neither are a given, they need to have BOUGHT both the correct type of phone and the correct service, for some that could well be an unnecessary cost to far just so they can fit your expectation of a pigeon hole. Then they need to have a decent signal, strange how some have seemingly forgotten the arguments (indeed lessons) they or others offered for reasons against home schooling and WFH during the Lockdowns… How does someone with mobility or medical issues, lacking access to a personal chariot, visit a library even just the once, more so if they live some distance away, perhaps off a free bus route, or the timetable means they might have to spend most of the day away from home.

            Perhaps you should take your own advice, visit that charity shop, you might then find a clue!

          4. a-tracy
            September 13, 2022

            jerry, people with mobility issues so severe they can’t get out and onto a bus are on mobility allowance either for a mobility car or taxi allowance.
            How many people are you aware of that would have this problem with no family, no friends, and no support from social services?
            Do these people you are aware of not get any top-up benefits at all? Which Council area do they live in? Have you made social services aware of them?
            I know a lot of poor people, and people with mobility issues, jerry. Fortunately, I know none that are entirely left to their own devices as you write.

          5. jerry
            September 14, 2022

            @a-tracy; “[more waffle and claptrap]”

            đŸ˜„
            Once again you are very wide of the mark; non so clueless as those you neither care or look!

        4. John Hatfield
          September 11, 2022

          Bloody rude Jerry. The point LifeLogic was making is that you can go out and find your own free wood but if they turn off the gas there’s not much you can do about it.

          1. jerry
            September 11, 2022

            @John Hatfield; The truth stings you, I guess…
            What exactly do you not understand about the FACT, most people have no SAFE means of burning such wood, coke, coal or using a portable propane heater/cooker these days, even if they wished?

            As for any energy rationing, it is the electricity supply that’s most likely to be cut. It is very unlikely domestic and business gas supplies will be cut, unlike industrial users. In 99% of homes, and most businesses, once the electricity fails so does the gas boiler/fan-heaters too. The logistics of safely restoring a street or towns gas supply would be huge – ever wondered why an adult member of the household needs to be present for a ‘simple’ meter change, even when said meter is outside?

          2. Mickey Taking
            September 11, 2022

            after a few miles hike to find any near me, do we carry it back in rucksacks or are you suggesting we use cars? It is likely to be damp, do I store it for a year or two or cause smoke and fumes and risk my chimney if I had one? Just asking.

          3. Peter2
            September 12, 2022

            You wont alter Jerry.
            He knows best and is always right.

          4. jerry
            September 12, 2022

            Once again Peter2 you prove that either you do not bother reading what I say or perhaps you simply do not understand the rational behind my comments? The only other explanation, for your constant needless interjections and hostile behavior towards me, trolling.

            Whatever…

          5. Peter2
            September 12, 2022

            I was actually replying to John Hatfield who quite correctly referred to you as “bloody rude”

            But to reply to this post of yours:-
            Which one of your many posts per day should I read, the ones where you are rude and condescending to others or your long pedantic essays?
            PS
            I rarely post in reply to you Jerry.
            Stop being so touchy.
            And for a change try to imagine you are talking face to face with another human instead of being the site’s keyboard warrior.

          6. Peter2
            September 12, 2022

            PS Jerry
            In the last week you have posted 24 times on this site.
            I have responded to you twice.
            Both being short polite straightforward questions.
            So your claim of me being constantly hostile towards you is complete nonsense.

          7. jerry
            September 12, 2022

            @Peter2; “So your claim of me being constantly hostile towards you is complete nonsense.”

            Yet you have just posted three comments, in this thread alone, directed at me personally not my arguments, and should I take it that you are indeed just cluless and not a troll, given your interjection regarding me pointing out the dangers of Carbon monoxide poisoning?! Then there are your historical posts, as found via Google, your posting behavior towards myself and others is not new.

            As you bring up your own posting style, which often amounts to asking loaded questions not necessarily related to anything I have said or implied (indeed you recent ‘question’ to me, by name, was about something @rose had actually said, hence why I chose not to reply), there is also the uncanny similarity between your own posting style and the historical style of a certain Edward2, even down to the chose of words, who vanished around the same time as you popped up, both of you appear to enjoy playing the man, not the ball (arguments).

          8. Peter2
            September 13, 2022

            Oh you are back Jerry.
            With yet another essay.

            Obviously I counted all the previous comments to your original post which made hose false accusations against me.

            The rest of your post reads like confused emotional waffling.

          9. jerry
            September 14, 2022

            @Peter2; “yet another essay.”

            Perhaps it was, historical facts often are, so? Clue, our host can deleted, on sight, any comments he considers overly long.

            The rest of your post, Peter2, reads like confused emotional waffling. 😛

          10. Peter2
            September 14, 2022

            Yes you are back Jerry
            With little of interest or significance.
            Every post from you refusing to answer the points previously made.

            You said I constantly posted against you in an hostile manner.
            Actual statistics and facts show your claim is ridiculous.

        5. Mickey Taking
          September 11, 2022

          and my parents were always anxious to get a large delivery of coke before autumn went too far, else we might freeze to death.

    2. graham1946
      September 11, 2022

      Yes there is no relief, but I think you will find oil heating actually cheaper than gas would be had the government not intervened and is probably still on a par. I will still have full central heating for a lot less than the new figure, due to careful use, regular boiler maintenance and the latest controls. Also a wood burner. I don’t intend to heat one room and live like a nineteenth century serf and it is insulting to a first world country to suggest it.

      1. Lifelogic
        September 11, 2022

        I was brought up in a family of six, we had no gas central heating until I was about 14 (I helped my Dad to fit it) and then it was only on the ground floor until we saved up for the bedrooms a couple of years later. Never bothered me or my siblings in the slightest. You rarely miss what you have never had. Though we were by the sea in the North West so not too cold very often.

  4. formula57
    September 11, 2022

    The Bank postponing its duty to take half a day setting interest rates is to disrespect us all but somehow it is a mark of respect to a Queen who for seventy years never faltered in doing her duty timeously.

    The Chancellor should himself make the announcement when normally due in the Bank’s stead and then when the MPC does return to work, it can have a good long whinge about keeping independence in the face of neglect.

  5. Lifelogic
    September 11, 2022

    “In the coming week the UK Parliament will rest adjourned in mourning”. I am a strong supporter of the Queen and the Monarchy. But why this endless mourning and vast numbers of pointlessly cancelled events for someone who died at 90+ after a long life & who was health almost up to the very end? For people who wish to mourn fine.

    “The nation mourns with its government until the funeral” well some will choose to mourn and some will choose just to remember her fondly and some with choose not to mourn. A nation is made up of individuals.
    enforced mourning, cancelled events and wall to wall. single issue TV, Radio and Press coverage is getting rather tedious.

    “Meanwhile the country wrestles with the energy crisis and the cost of living pressures.” But these are self inflicted expensive energy and cost of living pressures. Inflicted by Sunak’s currency debasement, the absurdly long and pointless Covid lockdown and the insane, climate alarmist, net zero religion. A deluded religion that Truss and her daft energy ministers seem insanely to want to continue with.

    1. Narrow Shoulders
      September 11, 2022

      Much more articulate and prescient than usual @LL. Well said.

    2. No Longer Anonymous
      September 11, 2022

      +1

      I am sad about the Queen but am buggering on. That’s what she would have wanted me to do.

      1. Lifelogic
        September 11, 2022

        +1 I think so.

    3. graham1946
      September 11, 2022

      It’s the new touchy feely, can’t cope with life attitude that is currently abroad in our country, plus a lot of virtue signaling as to who can show the most grief about anything at all. We are becoming hysterical.

    4. Jim Whitehead
      September 11, 2022

      LL, Once more you’ve put it so well, life goes on, MSN is mesmerising a nation with its own self importance

  6. Lifelogic
    September 11, 2022

    Meanwhile we have very high excess (mainly non covid) deaths running at 10-15%. Are these mainly caused by the largely ineffective and dangerous vaccines perhaps? Yet no proper investigations or detailed statistics seem to be being released. What are the causes of these deaths, the timing relative to vaccinations by age, how many of these people were vaccinated or not, the age and causes breaks down, how many had had Covid. This 10-15% is actually worse than it appears too as it is over the last five year average. This is higher than normal due to Covid and furthermore many Covid death were brought forwards deaths so one would normally expect a lower than normal death rate.

    10,000 extra non-covid deaths since July it seems so what are the causes? Failures of the NHS to treats people promptly or at all, ambulance or GP delays, adverse vaccine effects, adverse post Covid effects or other causes? Surly we need to find out and know.

    The fact that the government are doing little and keeping quiet leads me to belief that it is largely the fairly ineffective and dangerous vaccines, but I would be happy to be proved wrong. Meanwhile they keep injecting people and even the young (who were never at any risk anyway) with them!

    1. Lifelogic
      September 11, 2022

      Dr. John Campbell has some excellent videos on the excess deaths. He continues to press the issue of unexplained excess deaths and demands the authorities release more data.

      1. Donna
        September 11, 2022

        +1
        The Daily Sceptic has repeatedly highlighted this issue as well.

        The silence from “the authorities” is, as they say, deafening. Cynical old me suspects the Globalists are working on their joint defence.

        1. Lifelogic
          September 11, 2022

          +1

    2. Lifelogic
      September 11, 2022

      Many of these deaths are of young people who should have had many years of healthy life ahead of them too. Not as with Covid mainly the elderly.

      1. a-tracy
        September 11, 2022

        Lifelogic, weren’t you one of the people who were calling out for even faster vaccination, for men in particular, over the age of 40? I seem to recall that also cried out for more ventilators even though that has since been debunked as useful or necessary.

        1. Narrow Shoulders
          September 11, 2022

          (:

        2. Lifelogic
          September 12, 2022

          Yes I perhaps foolishly trusted the government, vaccine companies and “experts” lies that the vaccines were 80-90% effective and safe!

    3. Cuibono
      September 11, 2022

      I believe they found that with the very first smallpox scratches ( 1700s) and not that long ago with polio in Africa.
      But of course the money was very good!

    4. Enigma
      September 11, 2022

      Well said Lifelogic this is very concerning and needs urgent investigation.

    5. Sharon
      September 11, 2022

      Yesterday, LL, there was declaration made by an Indian group of doctors and scientists who have joined forces with over 400 others from over 34 countries that there is a global crisis from Covid 19 vaccine harms and deaths. Over 11 people million worldwide have been harmed and over 60,000 have died, according to the data collected from all the countries yellow card equivalents.

      https://dailysceptic.org/2022/09/10/400-doctors-and-professionals-declare-international-medical-crisis-due-to-covid-vaccine-injuries-and-deaths/#comments

    6. Mickey Taking
      September 11, 2022

      I’m dying for you to abandon this dark theory that Covid jabs are killing us off.
      If the world is to regain some stability and Earth to remain habitable a lot longer, the jabs could be provided to China, India, Africa and S.America to reduce population – the real cause of all this angst.

  7. DOM
    September 11, 2022

    Sadly, by its very nature the funeral now is and will become a political occasion. Politics is never suspended, ever.

    1. Cuibono
      September 11, 2022

      +many
      I think that the whole sad affair has been hijacked by politics.

  8. Mickey Taking
    September 11, 2022

    We lived through a period when unions took strike action which affected millions of workers due to the opinion that workers were underpaid. Now we are living in a period when workers can decide themselves not to work, stay home, seek benefits. Even the authorities responsible for much of the way we live our lives, and try to retain a sense of freedom of choice seem to quickly grasp opportunities to avoid that work. The nation is becoming a land of shirkers not workers. Support is given freely to all manner of ill-deserved causes yet those struggling to hold a family life together by earning a living get neglected.

  9. Old Albion
    September 11, 2022

    Perhaps the country could be run a little more efficiently if MP’s worked 52 weeks a year (O/K 50 with a two week holiday) But any and every excuse, they disappear for weeks. Overpaid and underworked ………….

    1. Lifelogic
      September 11, 2022

      Well, the last thing the country needs is even more laws. Perhaps if MPs devoted themselves to scrapping laws and red tape and firing all the people in the state sector who do positive harm or little or no good. Must be at least 50% of them I suspect.

      The highest taxes for 70+ years yet public services are generally dire and still declining. Nigel Farage has a good Telegraph Video:- I despise what the Conservatives have done to Britain – they just lie to you at every election, law and order has gone, no connection with small business, total lack of connection with the real world, no attempt to control borders, serial manifesto ratting, endless government waste… Is Truss’s damascene conversion to Brexit real? I wish Truss the best of luck she will need masses of it.

    2. SM
      September 11, 2022

      Albion – it seems you have fallen for the misunderstanding that MPs are only ‘at work’ if they are seen in the Chamber.

  10. Cuibono
    September 11, 2022

    The Queen’s state of health was definitely kept from us.
    And her death was a shock to us and to (it appeared) to the MPs.

    1. Lifelogic
      September 11, 2022

      Life expectancy of a 96 year old woman is about 3 years. Prince Charles at 73 can expect about 14 more years perhaps a little more given the longevity of his parents, the best available medical care and that he has not spent his live doing hard manual work.

      Then again he does travel rather a lot and drives rather too quickly I am advised by someone who has been a passenger.

      1. Cuibono
        September 11, 2022

        +1
        And the Queen Mum made it to 101!

    2. Narrow Shoulders
      September 11, 2022

      Does it matter that her health was kept from us.

      To see the smiling monarch inviting Liz Truss to form a government die two days later is indeed a shock but did we need to say a long declining goodbye? The drip she was evidently on at Balmoral kept her able to do the big things and I hope she did not suffer greatly.

      For a lady whose every move was in the public glare to have her health situation protected from general knowledge seems perfectly acceptable to me, it is not as though we were adversely affected by our situation.

      RIP Ma’am and thank you.

      1. Cuibono
        September 11, 2022

        I think it probably does matter.
        The late Queen went into hospital last October apparently with a stomach bug and then despite having the jab (how many?) tested positive for covid.
        There was never any suggestion that she was about to die
no mention that her doctors were “gravely concerned”.
        It was a shock to me anyway.
        I thought and very much hoped that she might rally.

        1. Narrow Shoulders
          September 12, 2022

          How has it stopped you doing anything (until the death when too many have been stopped doing things)?

    3. SM
      September 11, 2022

      How can the death of a 96yr old possibly be a shock?

      And since she appeared to be able to stand and receive both Mr Johnson and Ms Truss only two days before her passing, her state of health appeared to be excellent for her age. Why is it so difficult to understand and accept that sooner or later we all must pass?

      1. Cuibono
        September 11, 2022

        It came as a shock to me.
        She was looking frail but no indication was given that she was about to die.
        I had hoped she would go on for a few more years.

      2. Mickey Taking
        September 11, 2022

        as Timothy Leary translated from the original:-
        All things pass
        A sunrise does not last all morning
        All things pass
        A cloudburst does not last all day
        All things pass
        Nor a sunset all night
        All things pass
        What always changes?

        Earth…sky…thunder…mountain…water…wind…fire…lake…
        These change
        And if these do not last

        Do man’s visions last?
        Do man’s illusions?
        Take things as they come
        All things pass.

        Even George Harrison produced a song to fit it.

  11. beresford
    September 11, 2022

    I wonder what is going on in the world during the news embargo. I have tried foreign channels to try to get information. Perhaps we will find in a week’s time that the Government has taken the opportunity to initiate an amnesty for illegal immigrants, and that Putin has invaded the Baltic States.

  12. William Long
    September 11, 2022

    Do we really need the Party Conferences? Government has been on hold for too long now due to the quite unecessary length of time the Conservative Party took to elect a new leader; it could easily have been done in one month, or even less, rather than two full months. As you say, there are many very pressing things that now need to be resolved, and in the interests of all of us, it is far more important that these are dealt with, than we waste another three weeks listening to self indulgent pontificating from politicians and party faithful.

    1. a-tracy
      September 11, 2022

      William, I wonder how much it would cost to cancel all the booked rooms and conference suites? Or whether these venues would be happy to reconvene during a quiet period for them in January instead.

    2. Original Richard
      September 11, 2022

      WL :

      I expect party conferences will cease when we run out of hotel rooms.

  13. acorn
    September 11, 2022

    Have you ever wondered if the Queen went up on the roof of the Palace; surveyed her Kingdom and thought, If only, as Head of State, I had the power of an elected President like Macron. My Party-gate Head of Government, would have been out the Downing Street gate the next day. I would appoint a new PM or even instruct that a general election be held, if the mood of my citizens so indicated. And; that HoC shambles needs a total re-think. The arithmetic of the place, results in it rubber stamping more legislation than I currently do.

    1. a-tracy
      September 11, 2022

      Acorn, Boris has been more than punished for his turning a blind eye to Downing Street “party-gate”. He is not Prime Minister at the most historical moment in 70 years! He must be heartbroken.
      The whole government with an 80 seat majority was elected, not just it’s leader, it’s leader is chosen by the party. The Queen more than anyone knew of tradition & structure and why it was there.
      If we want a vote on whether to have a completely independent Prime Minister, and how we depose of them (not allowing only the party to chose) then that is another argument for another day but as it is right now this is the way we do things in the United Kingdom.

    2. Peter2
      September 11, 2022

      So you prefer a Presidrnt who could act like a dictator over an elected government acorn.
      What a surprise

      1. acorn
        September 12, 2022

        So Presidents Macron and Biden didn’t get elected by nation wide polls then. You prefer your Head of Government to be elected by a mere 25,000 in Uxbridge?

        1. Peter2
          September 12, 2022

          Depends who think should be in charge and have the real power, acorn.
          You want one person like in many less democratic nations.
          I prefer our system a Parliament elected by the voters.

          1. acorn
            September 12, 2022

            So, who do think elects the US and French Senates? Who do you think elects the US House of Representatives and the French National Assembly?

        2. Peter2
          September 12, 2022

          How is that relevant?
          You were talking about Presidents now you are off talking about other nations systems of government.
          I expect you like the EU system.
          They have 5 Presidents, none elected by the voters of Europe

          1. hefner
            September 13, 2022

            What a surprise: Slippery as an eel every time you are contradicted, aren’t you P2?
            With a further scent from red herrings.
            That’s for sure a ‘decent debate’.

          2. Peter2
            September 13, 2022

            I thought my personal troll might join in.
            Yet no “decent debate” with this post of yours heffy.
            Hilarious.

          3. Peter2
            September 13, 2022

            Is that your version of decent debate heffy?
            Hilarious.

    3. anon
      September 11, 2022

      In term rolling by-elections. Rights of recall. Binding referenda. 25% reduction in numbers of HOC. Abolition of the Lords. With a Senate tasked with current HOL role. These being on fixed terms. Voted on by the public. These being responsible for supporting the constitution, ensuring real transparency and trust in government. Approving money printing bills and a debt ceiling.

      We need a sound stable money the BOE / Gov is a failed model.

      Printing money above a certain cumulative level should trigger reduction in the life of the parliament. A legal corresponding plan should be in place to mitigate its inflationary consequences.

      Our focus should be UK self reliance , independence and outward to non EU-trade. Co-operation with non eu countries should be given priority.

      We should be accelerating the move to WTO and other external trade arrangements. We should be recovering funds paid from the TCA. It seems a million miles away from article 50 and EU seeking good relations.

      We should suspend all border checks to NI . We should bring in legislation to enable proportional checks to minimize the very low level of risk to the EU market, but suspend its operation until the EU Agree with it and act in a WTO compliant manner. Goodwill is probably just too much to ask.

      By referenda seek the view of the people of NI and then decide the fate of the NI protocol or EU sovereignty.
      Just manage Washington, listen them out, until we get a more sensible balanced approach based on what the locals people want. Simplistically its the EU or UK.

      1. Mickey Taking
        September 12, 2022

        Mostly sensible but decades overdue action and some revolution. The lethargy to act starts at the top and goes all the way down through Ministers, finally to ‘working’ people and their union masters of distruption. A nation sleepwalking to basket case economics and values.

    4. Mark B
      September 11, 2022

      She had that power.

    5. mancunius
      September 11, 2022

      Au contraire, Macron is indifferent to ‘the mood of his citizens’, as the yellow vests movement showed.
      He only sacks ministers for optics or for electoral opportunism.
      What you seem to mean is that an all-powerful head of state would call an election if the opposition wanted one.
      What the majority of citizens want is for the current government to implement its manifesto.

  14. Margaretbj.
    September 11, 2022

    The remarks about the queen included how she always gave people the same amount of time.She was clear from her own ability to combine and keep her expected status that she was more democratic than John .

  15. a-tracy
    September 11, 2022

    “In the coming week the UK Parliament will rest adjourned in mourning”

    I can get my head around not meeting daily and scrapping it out this week when emotions are high. What are you all doing instead? Have you been sent out to your constituencies with a list of things to do, such as meeting local religious leaders, schools leaders and address assemblies to explain what the Kings role is in modern life, meeting local business leaders to help to explain how this bank holiday is going to be funded?

    I believe the conferences should be called off and delayed until January, there is much to be done if you close parliament for a week. Or perhaps just hold two weekend conferences instead.

  16. Original Richard
    September 11, 2022

    “Meanwhile the country wrestles with the energy crisis and the cost of living pressures.”

    Despite renewables proven to be only be able to supply expensive and intermittent power (as I write wind is providing just 1.82GW out of an installed capacity of 27 GW) the Government intends to press on with renewable energy with “vim and vigour”.

    The reason for Net Zero is not to reduce our 1% contribution to CO2 emissions. There is no proof anyway of climate breakdown, let alone anthropological climate breakdown, and the climate activists have nothing against China and India burning 6 billion tons of coal each year.

    No, the real reason is to force through the electrification of heating and transport because enormous power will lie in the hands of those who control the smart meters and thus the capability of switching on and off not only individual properties but even individual electrical items.

    Electrification will ensure continued energy rationing controlled by smart meters, even if nuclear fusion provides sufficient low carbon energy, because the local grid does not have anywhere near the capacity to handle all the power required for everyone to have heat pumps and evs.

  17. The Prangwizard
    September 11, 2022

    Sir John will wish to do ‘the right thing’.

    As much as I fully admired Her Majesty and I am very sad at her death, I am getting thoughly fed up with all the news channels overdoing their broadcasting and I would hope that some of the reporters are too.

    Their efforts to outdo each other will diminish the event by deterring many people. Trouble is that those who run broadcasting and many of the reporters live in their own narcissistic world however they pretend otherwise.

  18. Iago
    September 11, 2022

    September 11th, the date rings a bell, twenty-one years since 9/11. I wonder how your controlled invasion on the south coast is going.

  19. Denis Cooper
    September 11, 2022

    Hopefully work will continue behind closed doors at the Department for International Trade to formulate a useful response to my Freedom of Information request about the government’s new approach on the NI protocol.

    If you read the BBC’s explanation here:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-62819799

    you might get the impression that Northern Ireland is like an empty desert, with goods arriving at the shores and being checked before being taken in caravans down to the border with the Irish Republic:

    “Instead of checking goods at the Irish border … this would happen between Northern Ireland and Great Britain”

    and with nothing either subtracted from or added to that original flow of goods into the ports.

    Nothing about the goods which are checked on arrival in Northern Ireland but because they are consumed in the province would never need checking at the land border anyway, making these checks at the points of entry an inefficient way to protect the EU Single Market, and nothing about the goods produced in the province which are then taken across the land border, which goods will not be checked at either border, making this not just an inefficient but an ineffective way to protect the EU Single Market.

    I’ve been promised an answer by Tuesday 20th September.

  20. Mark
    September 11, 2022

    Sir Lindsay Hoyle has provided us with another demonstration of the innumeracy of MPs in matters energy. He has proposed a tidal stream turbine be erected in the Thames to power Parliament.

    The O2 Orbital tidal stream turbines of Orkney in the raging torrents of the Pentland Firth produce a maximum of 1MW each from 20m diameter blades. The tidal cycle and minimum cut in speed means that on average they produce just 300kW, rather intermittently (now fed through expensive vanadium batteries to smooth the output at a loss of about 20%). The maximum diameter of turbine that could be accommodated in Westminster would be under 2m given the water depth at low tide. The power developed by a turbine is proportional to the area it sweeps out, so at best we are looking at (2/20)^2, or 1% of the output, or just 3kW on average. An electric kettle.

    But with the Thames tidal flow, especially away from the central navigational channel being considerably more languid that the Pentland Firth, and power output depending on the cube of the flow velocity, we might be looking at say half the speed for an eighth of the output. Just 375W, or about half a Watt per MP – not enough to power a dim nightlight to illuminate their thoughts.

    Why do we trust MPs to vote on these things?

  21. mancunius
    September 11, 2022

    “Parliament should return earlier from the planned Conference break”
    I disagree – this year there should be no Party Conference break at all. The urgency for action is too great.

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