More chaos in government as perhaps the only person they’re seen to be vaguely competent is replaced by another lap dog. With change every 10 minutes it does give them an excuse for their incompetence. One would presume that all Ministry’s take time to understand and work efficiently. Shapps does not appear to be the sharpest tool in the box! I thought Coutinho was still with Aston Villa, but becoming energy Minister at this time must be a bit of a poisoned chalice with Shapps having done nothing remotely useful in his short time there, and more pain to be experienced this winter. Surprisingly he did not use the opportunity to weed out the rotten apples in his cabinet – perhaps the ERG did not allow it?
BREXIT AND BUSINESS
Gove announces plans to reduce requirements for new housing not to pollute rivers. The Express claims this is a benefit of Brexit – a benefit for fuck sake! The government has allocated £140m of taxpayers money to offset this pollution. So firms like Barrett’s can maintain their profits (£50000 per new house average) and payouts to executives and shareholders. There have been no new houses in Lake District or Solent area for 4 years due to restrictions. I personally say great, houses should be built to be water efficient as well as energy efficient. Another Brexit benefit – apparently we are importing eggs from Mexico ! Whatever happened to the concept of food miles.
PESSIMISM
It is hard not to be pessimistic in the light of scientific consensus. Ocean temperatures are at a record level, CO2 in the atmosphere has exceeded levels considered to be safe. Crazy weather events around the world are becoming more common. Yet the political and industrial leaders continue to advocate the burning of fossil fuels – how bad does it have to get before action is taken. If the Gulf Stream falters the UK will be setting records for low temperatures in winter and highs in summer. El NINO is on its way in the Pacific and is likely to result in more extreme weather events.
Meanwhile in the UK the Conservative Party is undoing green policies daily, they have committed to a campaign against Labour whereby they claim that Labour is waging war on motorists. For too long the car reigned supreme in our cities. Housing areas became rat runs for motorists and polluted our children. During Covid traffic calming schemes were introduced in many areas. The gxvernmentwants to undo these improvements to the standard of living and support and encourage the vandals who destroy bollards. As already stated in previous posts – charging by the m/km is entirely sensible. The ULEZ scheme is just a sticking plaster – fundamental change in our use of cars and transport generally is needed.
The disruption to air travel caused by the IT fault showed us how ridiculous the travel industry has become. Fuel is not taxed and air travel has become a right rather than a privilege to be used with circumspection.
CARS
The Mail on Saturday accused the Labour Party of having a secret policy to tax car transport by the mile or even km! They really are treating the motoring public as morons! By taxing petrol/deisel the motoring public are already beingg taxed per m/km. A fact that motor companies use to advertise the more efficient cars.
The government is already losing income on E.V.s which avoid road tax (£7billion)and fuel tax (£26.7 billion). So a £33 billion shortfall income and the roads need repair and improvement – so a better way than charging per m/km? This would be fair and acceptable to all – except the Daily Mail which is trying its hardest to agitate its motorist readers against Labour and especially Khan.
Places such as rural areas like Cornwall may need some amendments to a pay by the m/km scheme. Could it be like income tax? The more you travel, the more you pay? With registered companies allowed to offset the cost against tax?
Every town should have airport style buses from Park and Ride sites at a cost of £1 plus the parking. City centres could be totally car free and be regenerated into great places to gather, have a coffee/meal do a bit of shopping and exist in a quiet’ish and pollution free environment. Smaller towns have parking near enough to walk. Even taxi’s should only be allowed around the perimeter. Whether this is a decent plan, I have no idea, but something needs to change in our use of city centres and the car.
DIET
So an attempt at public outcry regarding diets and the prevalence of Ultra Processed Food. However the odds are stacked in favour of the processing corporations who dictate to the farmers the prices paid. if processed food was charged VAT then the price difference of fresh produce would be more affordable. This would also encourage more locally grown produce. Jamie Oliver is correct in his campaign for free healthy school meals – as creatures of habit our children would grow up with a taste for healthy food. Farmers would benefit and I am sure local stores in poorer areas would also adapt quickly, Perhaps even the regrowth of street markets in newly establish car free zones!
All this will be a red rag to the right wing who oppose any redress in the balance between free enterprise and the individual. They even railed against the sugar tax.
TODAYS TOPIC IS???
Not too sure what to write today? Death of Wagner leader is interesting – much of the press did the normal and decided that it was Putin – sloppy journalism, at least the Mail put a question mark on the headline. What happens next is the interesting bit. Wagner was big in parts of Africa where it provided soldiers and arms and received gold, diamonds, etc. I had wondered for some time where the conflicts in the Congo and Sudan got their weaponry from? The pen has yet to be more powerful than the sword in many parts of Africa. Fledgeling democrcies that are trying to build after the demise of colonialism and then globalisation of their resources now seem to be swayed by power grabs by military groups as in Niger recently. It is all a bit James Bond without a hero! I doubt many will rue the demise of Prigozhin – his troops were renowned for their cruelty towards civilians.
Next topic – education. There is a growing divide between regions of England with the N-E having 10% less top grades than London. Reasons for this are complex but would seem to be related to wealth and job opportunities. When there is a lack of opportunity there is a lack of motivation . Poverty of food and warmth does not encourage ambition and learning. Public schools do even better as the exams are ones that they can coach students for. It is time for a proper evaluation of our education system and the worth of certain qualifications.
Next – Bonus payments and wages of directors. I think this was yesterdays news – was it an average of 17% on top of the huge salaries they are paid anyway. I often hear of footballers, some of whom earn vast amounts, giving copious amounts to charity – but rarely hear of businessmen (and it is still mainly men – so I will alter to business people) who earn inflated salaries giving anything to any one! And when one like Dale Vince supports a cause close to his heart he is castigated for it.
The government is complaining about the cost of asylum seekers due to its own inefficiencies. Solution – do a quick check for criminality then approve them all. they can then get jobs and pay rent – so a deal may need to be done with the hotels to reduce their rates?
Lastly climate matters – it sure does. Energy cap will fall to £1900+ this winter, but still much higher than before.Government North Sea reserves will not help, it takes a long time to get the stuff out and it is then sold on international markets. Wind and solar however benefit immediately and are not subject to international fluctuations – but at set rates which industry can cope with.
SLAVERY
Gladstone’s dependants have apologised and will make a donation to a Foundation in Guyana. It’s hard to believe but it was only in 2015 that, according to the Treasury, British taxpayers finished ‘paying off’ the debt which the British government incurred in order to compensate British slave owners in 1835 because of the abolition of slavery. So we are not talking about ancient history or the Romans here! The families that benefitted from slavery and still do so today should be able to come to a correct decision without coercion. Perhaps they might like to make a payment to the treasury to compared to some extent the money hard working tax payers under went for 200 years!. The anti-woke mob dislike the full history of the great country houses stuffed with treasures that dot the British Landscape. Whilst revelling in the history of the Empire they wish to avoid any comments about slavery and the many misdemeanours that the Empire inflicted on others. Slavery and the holocaust are 2 of the greatest examples of man’s inhumanity to man in relatively modern times. Stalin and Pol Pot could be added to list along with, some would argue, Churchill for refusing to help those starving
What did Churchill say about the famine in India?
In a 1942 memo, he wrote, “I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion.” He also stated, “The famine was their own fault for breeding like rabbits.” His government also refused to send aid to India, despite pleas from Indian leaders and British officials on the ground.
TACTICAL VOTING
The debates need to be held as soon as possible – so social media should identify those seats where tactical voting will get this government out. Life long supporters of whatever party will need time to adjust themselves to vote for an “alien” party! This will not do the Green Party any favours as their exposure is at an all time low and reliant on the personality and hard work of the candidate. I think this is a shame as they could clean up voters on the left and those in the centre who put the environment at the top of their list – but what are they doing? Are they subsumed with gender issues?
ELECTION MAP PREDICTIONS
This site raises lots of geographical questions
https://electionmaps.uk/nowcast
Firstly Scotland where the SNP look set to lose some seats back to Labour. No real surprises there as the SNP have been going through a bit of turmoil recently and have the problem of being in power for so long. Whilst large areas of Scotland were previously Labour, the growth in the demand for nationalism will not be sated with the feeling that Labour is Westminster.2! Labour will need strong energy policies to win back seats.
The north of England. Sunak seems to think that a right wing policy will sway the “red wall seats”. I am not convinced that racism and nationalism will triumph over the economy and environment! Then the heartland of the tories – Middle England. For sure the Lib-dems have made inroads in some safe tory seats. Whether this will be replicated in a general election will be interesting. Wales will presumably follow the normal pattern with PC in the north and Labour in the south. I cannot see many swinging to the tories here. And then the South West – maybe the most interesting? Large numbers of old duffers, but there has been demographic movement since the last election. More young people moving in. I am not sure how Brexit voters have reacted to terrace since? It has never been a unionised area so the independence could benefit the Lib Dems or even the greens who might do well in Bristol and Totnes? Will London continue to be pro-labour with Khan promoting the ELTZ’s? Personally I hope the motor heads are sent home to choke on their fumes.
Despite wishes for tactical voting it looks likely that this will have limited impact? TBH Starmer is promoting tactical voting as he is hardly promoting the socialism many believe Labour should be promoting.
WILD WEATHER
Huge wild fires continue in Canada whilst further south Nevada braces itself for Storm Hilary which has brought floods to California and Mexico already. When will the climate deniers recognise the symptoms, how bad does it have to get? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-us-canada-66566483
Maybe when the insurance claims get so huge the corporations will take notice? Probably not – they will just move to less troubled climates. Will any government be brave enough to hold the executives of corporations causing climate disasters responsible? Huge fines and prison sentences are needed. The same for politicians who spread the lies and misinformation.