Month: October 2023

I will finish this post after reading the newspaper tomorrow morning. However it seems that this phase of the Inquiry has got off to an explosive start. The government “flip-flopping” (an unfortunate term for the government as they have been selling Starmer flipflops at their party conference”. Policy changes by the hour, Sunaks eat out to help out criticised for having no evidence to support it. This governments protestations that it is a safe pair of hands for future policy making is rather left in tatters

Well absolutely nothing in the Guardian today! We will see what develops today?

So the tories have spelt out their tactics for the upcoming election. The underlying tactic seems to be fear. Fear of the millions of refugees who want to come here resulting in the paving over of the Britsih countryside with flats for them, Fear of net zero with the figure of the cost being £15000 per household. Fear of 15 minute cities with permits being issued to enter shopping areas. Fear that Labour will give the Falklands to Argentina (who cares?).

No mention of the wasted £billions of the last 13 years; no mention of spiraling water and sewage bills, no mention of policies to curb traffic congestion. No lie is too ridiculous to be spouted and then supported by other Cabinet Ministers. No conspiracy theory so unplausable to be used if it will win a few votes.

They talk of Sunak “resetting” Conservative Policy – why is this needed? Beacuse the last 13 years have been a disaster. No bragging of what they have achieved – Sunak attempted to say education(based purely on OFSTED inspections) but was not interogated on the numbers missing from school since Covid, or the numbers of crumbling schools.

Well we seem to know what they are NOT doing! They are not introducing a 7 recycling policy, they are not implementing Net Zero Policies, they are not building the HS2 extension to Manchester, they are not doing anything to end the strikes, they are not able to tell the truth, they are not capable of governing this country, they are not looking after our schools, are not controlling the economy, the are not looking after the NHS, they are not protecting the environment, they are not supporting schools, they are not capable of governing the UK.

Are they on drugs or just pissed? This one from Robert Jenrick (who is actually the Minister for Immigration – not just an out of control MP), is making me question the quality of reporting in the Guardian. To quote McEnroe “You cannot be serious”!

Families should have more children so they could look after ageing parents! he is obviously delerious, what % of children live within 50 miles of their parents? What % of old people have children who are not in full time employment? He goes further and says we should cut care visa’s for migrants to force this issue. He also suggested cutting the number of students to free up accomodation near Universities.

Basically he was appealing to the right wing who would see women staying at home looking after old and young for nothing, aspirations for a university degree only available for the rich. What a dinosaur?

Typical though! No plan for coping with a falling birth rate and a growing number of older citizens.

Sunak uses an excuse to hide his WhatsApp messages – he changed phones and did not back them up – and it was up to officia;s to ensure records were kept, so not his fault. At least Johnson had a better excuse – he has had more practcie after all!- and said that others should have copies on their phones and he would be happy for them to be passed to the Inquiry. I suspect we will see a rash of lost or replaced phones. Surely MI5 can do something?

Already embarrassing – it could get a lot worse for the Government. I am sure Johnson will brazen out any criticism with the “unprecedented times and events” excuse, but Sunak will find it much more difficult as he lacks the chutzpah of Johnson, and will be seen to be responsible (as Chancellor) for the squandering of £billions.

It seems that there will be many criticisms of the governments handling – especially regarding care homes, but no overall condemnation (It was a pandemic that affected the whole world). However I suspect every cricism of a key figure will be dismissed by blaming someone else! Evidence by Cummins should be interesting and Hancock may struggle

Tax or not a tax? A tax is money levied to enable society to benefit. Sunak has obviously equated inflation – where his investments make money for his benefit – with the benefit of society. Also equating a reduction in inflation with an increase in the money in peoples pockets is false parallel. Inflation halved to 5% from 10%, just means that we have 5% less in our pockets. So I would agree that inflation is bad, but but 5% inflation is just less bad – not a fantastic triumph. Addressing the huge profits that companies have made would be a better idea. It is well known that companies that raise their prices due to inflation never reduce them when the rate fallsbelow the original benchmark. It is all part of the “growth economy” that is destroying our planet.

Yet another non-policy from the Incompetence Party. Schools already use their discretion. In my old school phones are banned during the school day until the bell goes. Being a rural school students can miss the bus or chose to visit a friend and phones are essential. use of a mobile can aalso be great in a controlled way – as a geography teacher I would suggest that the phone can be a great source of knowledge and applications. A typical blanket ban from Whitehall is yet another example of an out of touch incompetent government. If they wanted to be helpful they could ALLOW a school to confiscate a phone for upto a month if abuse during lessons is a problem.

What is coming next – free unicorn for everyhouehold?