Month: June 2023

I suppose that we should not be to harsh on the government for a lack of a Plan B on the small boats issue – they rarely have a Plan A! TBH though Plan A is diabolical just like its mentor Braverman. Sunak is proving to be more right wing every day. Actually Plan B seems to be joining with Russia and Belarus and leqving the ECHR – hopefully there will be a general election before that catastrophe happens. In the meantime it would be prudent to set up leagal ways of getting to Britain, with permission to work (and pay rent) after a quick security check.

Meanwhile Sunak has done nothing to reprimand those identified as undermining Parliamentary democracy. it will be debated in Parliament on Monday and could lead to a call for a new Priveledges Commottee to be set up as the present one is the subject of the dispute. However such is the undermining of democracy that there are concerns that no one would come forward to be on the commottee due to the abuse and threats the present one has received. Will Sunak attend on Monday or find a pressing meeting with his tailor takes priority – he is a grown up now and should wear long trousers! So Dorries and Rees-Mogg shouyld be denied the whip forthwith, Goldsmith should be sacked as Foreign Office minister, Cruddas and Greenhaigh should have the House of Lords take actionnalongside Goldsmith. As for the others, Clarke-Smith, Jenkinson, Jenkins, Fabricant and Patel – Sunak should make it clear that bullying will not be tolerated. At present he has refused to criticise any of them. Is he trying to outdo Truss as our worst PM in recent times.

The head of the British Army may resign over spending cuts and the money being spent on warships? Evidence from Ukraine would suggest employing ‘gamers’ to control drones as a viable alternative?

Sunak has 5 priorities; small boats which most people do not care about; inflation which he proposes to bring down via interest rates and repossessions and bankruptcies; NHS waiting lists which despite 220000 Covid deaths to mainly old people are at record levels and show no signs of approaching manageable levels anytime soon (he was bragging about waiting times comong down to 18 months ffs!),: Economic growth – without accepting the failings of Brexit there is little chance of that. ; Debt falling – it is increasing and only a higher tax regieme will bring it down in the short term. The poor and middle classes are squeezed enough at the moment so that leaves the banks and energy companies and TNC’s. Which is against his right wing principles. Or he could cut public spending, although with 700000 school children being taught in unsafe and ageing buildings, councils going bankrupt, swimming pools closing, potholes in roads, rape prosecutions at record lows it would be electoral suicide to do so.

BROKEN BRITAIN

I watched a section of the Welsh Senedd and Mark Drakeford being asked questions. I was impressed by the calm way both questions and answers were given from a sitting position behind a computer screen. The Houses of Parliament are in a dangerous crumbling inefficient building – time to get a modern energy efficient building to emulate this success?

Also why is it the SNP leader in te HoC Stephen Flynn who always stars at PMQ’s when Starmer and Sunak compete for mediocrity! And when will the Speaker tell the PM to answer the questions asked – otherwise what is the point?

The speaker will also need to rule on the Priveledges committee when it calls out the likes of Sleaze-Dogg and Dorries and others.

Coffrey throws a sickie and leave Rebecca Pow to lie about the water industry in the UK. This government gets more shambolic by the second! Johnson over ruled the security service over Lebedev visit to villa and elevation to HoL. I suspect that if we have a major security alert soon our armed forces will be found to be under supplied and short of personnel.

Hancock says he is profoundly sorry whilst pleading that he was not to blame! We will see – he claims he was told evertything was fine! he is thicker than I thought!

Education – kids not attending, teacher shortages, language courses dwindling (after all now we have a Brexit of sorts we can ignore foreign languages!). Scools crumbling physically to the extent that children maybe at risk of injury. Mental health issues being ignored. Education in a mess too.

Environmental and climate targets being missed/ignored.

Small boat arrivals increasing. Food inflation steady at 18% despite it being summer when plants grow!

Several councils announcing bankruptcy due to lack of scuteny and need to raise money by inestments (which should not be their remit). Was there not a major warning signal of dodgy deposits by councils in Icelkandic Banks (where people were jailed!).

In this country the nice/old boy syndrome seems to be working overtime- handing out contracts without verification or scrutiny. But it is labours fault? or Just stop oil, or Jeremy Corbyn, or Gary Lineker, or the BBC, or Ukraine, or Covid, or inflation (implying that they have no control over the economy), or the weather?

Have I missed a rule? Starmer asks a question, Sunak avoids an answer, Starmer does not query this, just moves on to another question that will not be answered? Is there any point? and then SNP leader, Stephen Flynn again goes for the jugular -“when was the last time the PM had to worry about payong a bills!” . Why do Labour politicians not follow up the lies? Rayner has also been guilty of this too!

What is the government actually doing today?

short lived rebellion seemed to be popular in the towns he invaded. His narative of make Russia graet again bears comparason with Trumnps supporters in the USA. Even in the UK there are comparissons with the Brexit vote. Sad old people wanting to live a distorted memory of an unobtainable past. People do not like change, especially the old. Russia over the past has had some horrific experiences, So it is not really a surprise that they support a “strong leader” who can offer them security in the future (not wealth, just security). People in this country did the same with Brexit – they were encouraged to believe that the UK (England) could reclaim its former position (sullied position) as a world leader. if the Dily. Mail and Telegraph were in Russia they woulkd probably be promoting Prigizhin! Nationalism is their mantra – I do not understand this! Nationalism seems to me to be the worst type of belief.

What is going on? Before the Daily Mail, Telegraph and Express get too excited Prigozhin seems at least as bad as Putin. The chaos that might ensue is concerning (Chaos results in so many unknowns. From what the BBC is saying it seems that the Wagner group is challenging the Russian Military for control, not the Kremlin? However once destabilised it is entering unknown territory? Presumably there will be inits of the Russian military that are very loyal so some fighting is likely? The gripe seems to be based on ground troops rather than the airforce – so. this is an aspect which we remain to hear about. How this may affect the Ukrainian offensive is another unknown? Prigozhin seems hardly likely to back down on Russian territorial demands in this region .

The BoE has only one option to reduce inflation and that is interest rate hikes to reduce demand. However this makes the banks and bwankers richer. There are other alternatives – tax rises aimed at those who have money to spend (surely it is not the poor fuelling inflation?). A rise in VAT on luxury items . I am sure that there must be at least one economics student who has the ability to think outside the box. Interest rate hikes are there to reduce demand in a generic way. Surely we do not want to reduce demand for healthy foods, medicines and exercise. So maybe the whole vat system needs refinement? help me here!