Should we trust Sunak or the next PM to fix the Country's problems? (title revised 24/10/22)

[tobyjugg2]

That they will highlight local services, with some funding routed anywhere but .. then claim its local services that are failing

... sounds about right

 

Of course, some of the Tory Hamlets will undoubtedly do very well out of it

.. Got a cold: Claim one of your 7 bedrooms as a hospital room with generous tax relief, and your neighbor (a Harley Street doctors 3rd home) can claim £1000 per hour from the NHS budget to come and treat you ...

[theoldrouge]

For anyone who may be interested and doesn’t know 
Piers Morgan is interviewing slippery Sunak in Downing Street on Talk TV at 8 pm tonight 
May be quite lively 

[theoldrouge]

Interview was far too friendly imo
Would liked to have seen far harder questioning 

[honeybee13]

Opinion piece from Rafael Behr in the Guardian.

 

After Brexit, Britain’s competitors are running rings around us. Sunak’s not even at the races | Rafael Behr | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

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This reshuffle will make little difference: we’re going nowhere as the PM leads us further down an economic dead end, says Guardian columnist...

 

[theoldrouge]

One excellent appointment guaranteed to liven up the political debate ( I see the Guardian already in full flow)
 

‘Red Wall Rottweiler’ Lee Anderson appointed deputy Tory chairman

WWW.TELEGRAPH.CO.UK

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Pro-Brexit MP for Ashfield in Nottinghamshire brought in as deputy to Greg Hands, who backed Remain...

 

[honeybee13]

He'll liven it up by dragging it down to the lowest common denominator though. It doesn't seem to chime with the professionalism of Greg Hands. It's not just the Graun that have their doubts about the appointment.

 

It's not that long since Anderson the Labour councillor wrote online that he detested the Tories.

[honeybee13]

He didn't waste any time, did he? Sunak has already distanced the government from Anderson's death penalty views and this morning there was this. Guardian live feed just before 10am.

 

As Tory deputy chairman, Lee Anderson will be expected to defend the party on broadcast media. But it is not going well. He gave an interview to BBC Radio Nottingham which, after a discussion about his views of food banks, ended up with Anderson dodging questions about the episode when he staged an encounter with a supporter for a camera crew during an election (the “random” voter was a personal friend) and then asking the station not to broadcast any of the interview at all.

You can listen to the whole thing here, on the BBC’s website, where there is a long report too.

[unclebulgaria67]

UK still paying EU billions.

 

UK pays EU £2.3bn after losing trade dispute

NEWS.SKY.COM

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The UK has paid the EU £2.3bn in relation to a disagreement over the importation of Chinese textiles and footwear between 2011 and...

 

[honeybee13]

'Including £1bn in interest'. And HMG are trying to sell it as paying now to avoid future expense to the taxpayer. Shame they didn't pay at the right time.

 

No wonder the EU are having trouble trusting them over border checks for Northern Ireland.

 

 

[honeybee13]

Raab has spoken to the Telegraph while the enquiry into complaints by civil servants is still ongoing. The FDA have called for him to stand down until it's completed, as with a private sector company.

 

One of the complaints is now said to represent 27 people.

 

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[honeybee13]

It's not going well for David Warburton who had the Tory whip withdrawn. An investigation by the Sunday Times has shown financial irregularities and questions on top of the allegations that had already been made.

 

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[unclebulgaria67]

 

[tobyjugg2]

February 11, 2023 i Money Grace Gausden Awful April is coming. Here's which of your bills will increase, and what you can do

Millions of households will see a number of their bills hiked in the month dubbed “Awful April”: council tax, mobile and broadband bills and prescription charges to name a few.   There are things you can do to mitigate these increases, however. Follow the action plan below to get ahead of the problem – it will help you reduce some of the impact of the worst month in the year for your bank balance.   Council tax Increase: Up to 15 per cent The increase will depend on where you live. In more normal times, councils can only increase bills by up to 5 per cent, unless there is a referendum, but a change was made last year so councils can raise bills higher.   As a result, residents of Croydon have been told to expect an increase of as much as 15 per cent, adding around an extra £4.50 a week, or 63p a day, for the average property.     Prescriptions Increase: 25p an item (possibly) It has not yet been revealed how much prescriptions will be increased by after the price was frozen in 2022 for the first time to help with the cost of living crisis.         Mobile, TV and broadband bills Increase: Up to 17.3 per cent Mobile, TV and broadband bills increase every April with the majority of providers raising bills by the January reading of consumer price inflation (CPI) or retail price inflation (RPI) – while also adding up to 3.9 per cent on top of that for good measure.   January’s CPI last month was 10.5 per cent and RPI was 13.4 per cent. When an additional 3.9 per cent is piled on, many could see bill increases of 17.3 per cent in April.   Many consumers have their TV and broadband on the same package while others may even have their mobile with their same provider too.     Water bills Increase: 7.5 per cent Water bills are seeing the biggest increase in 20 years in April with the annual bill for an average household in England and Wales hitting £448, according to Water UK. The average 7.5 per cent increase will mean customers will pay on average £31 more than last year.        Energy bills Increase: £500 for the typical household (annually) The energy price guarantee, which the Government introduced last year in place of the price cap, is being increased from £2,500 to £3,000 from April 1. While prices for wholesale gas and electricity are now starting to come down, costs are still high. Most people are now on variable bills, which are capped by the guarantee, as fixed deals are more expensive than the cap.

Edited February 12, 2023 by tobyjugg2

[honeybee13]

How the Tories are living the high life on the taxpayer. From the Times.

 

Five-star hotels, VIP airport lounges, flowers, and gifts from Fortnum & Mason are among £145 million of spending on government credit cards.

 

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[tobyjugg2]

Just need to look at energy costs going up another 500 quid a year while the energy companies make not only record, bu obscene profits from it

and water companies that do the same while literally pouring doodoo into our lives

 

Does anyone actually think that the water companies should have anything other than frozen or reduced customer charges, and banned senior staff pay increases and all bonuses and dividends banned until they have AT LEAST brought the infrastructure up to a basically competent and working standard?

Edited February 13, 2023 by tobyjugg2

[honeybee13]

I'm not sure it's right to penalise all the workers but I certainly don't agree with bonuses for senior people.

 

Wasn't there an arrangement a while back where water companies were charging customers a levy to improve the infrastructure. I wonder if they spent the money on what it was intended for?

[tobyjugg2]

25 minutes ago, tobyjugg2 said:

Does anyone actually think that the water companies should have anything other than frozen or reduced customer charges, and banned senior staff pay increases and all bonuses and dividends banned until they have AT LEAST brought the infrastructure up to a basically competent and working standard?

 

Only the senior staff - apart from bonus' and dividends which should of course be company performance related

 

.. and they should be in the water and sewage management business - not simple extortion - pay us or else business

Edited February 13, 2023 by tobyjugg2

[tobyjugg2]

perfect example. Take the money when they are already failing to deliver ... and just let the doodoo flow where it will

The construction company would be required to enter the agreement - just like us.

Sounds like extortion to me.

 

Raw sewage from major HS2 site is being discharged into River Colne

Raw sewage from a major HS2 construction site is being pumped into a green belt river after being sent to a failing Thames Water facility, i can reveal.   Potentially millions of litres of polluted water from HS2 has entered the River Colne via a sewage treatment works, which was already suffering from storm discharges before Thames Water entered into agreement with the builders of the high speed railway.   Click here to read.

[unclebulgaria67]

See John Deadwood has suddenly realised that new modern electric vehicle manufacturing on a mass scale is more suited to counties that can support this e.g, US and China. But he does not mention that there are smaller electric vehicle manufacturing companies or component makers across Europe.

 

 

[honeybee13]

John Deadwood. Very good.

 

Components. Like...batteries maybe?

[tobyjugg2]

The utter definition of the rights 'blame others for not making our fantasies work' mentality

 

"The move to electric cars is doing big damage to the UK car industry."

 

Surely that should be:

'the Brexit and Climate denial policies I and the ERG have been such a part of driving and promoting  "is doing big damage to the UK car industry, and the agricultural and fishing industries, and the manufacturing industries

- Mind you, I moved chunks of my business to the EU unlike the suckers that listen to me.

 

or even a far more practical and meaningful

We need to press ahead with the UKs move to a hydrogen economy to begin to regain our place as a world leader before we are left too far behind in the drive for the future.

- but of course, its doubtless he would be lying if he said that

[tobyjugg2]

UK inflation falls from record highs driven by poopulist policies - to what would have been considered an extraordinary record high of 10.1%,  5x what was planned - the drop driven largely by other nations actions on world energy prices while the UK left the large energy companies to excess profit.

 

... so get ready for the poopulists claiming that they are heroes who have driven inflation down - without mentioning that its gone down a tiny fraction of what they drove it up.

 

[honeybee13]

Most of the forecasters were expecting inflation to halve over the course of this year anyway...

[unclebulgaria67]

Inflation will remain a problem for a long time to come. UK cannot rely on cheap imports of much, as prosperity has grown in other parts of the world and costs of transportation of goods are higher than they used to be.

 

Each time I visit a supermarket, I notice the prices have increased on most products. Might only be 10 or 20 pence increase each time, but it adds up.

 

And Government have not been able to provide any Brexit benefits that were promised by the vote Leave side, as the Brexit benefits were bogus. UK is a small country that thinks it has more influence in the world than it has or could ever have. A population of 65 million, when world population is over 7 billion. Pounds Sterling is now quite weak and does not have buying power it once used to have.

[tobyjugg2]

"In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality, was tacitly denied by their philosophy.