GARDEN 20MAY 2023

First day of real warmth at 9am. Tomatoes in greenhouse begining to flower, chillies looking good and red peppers are coming on. Basils are doing ok. Most mints have survived and some of the thyme I thought was dead is showing signs of life. Apricot and lemon and lime trees are all looking good. Wisteria and honeysuckle are again amazing – scent should be bottled! Last year on this date I picked elderflowers to make a cordial – it will be. few days yet this year.

Making ciabatta and some chocolate ginger cookies later.

CIVIL SERVICE

The Conservative Partuy blame game steps up a notch with Raab’s resignation. Firstly the Civil Service is not robust enough – does that mean someone should just have punched him? Mire concerning is tue move to blame the Civil Service for everything that hgoes wrong. Brexit is such a huge failure due to activist and extremist civil servants. they fail to state that Thatcher did not have this problem. Maybe that was because, although her policies were ugly, they were not illegal or just plain idiotic. Today at 3pm we have another example – even ardent tories I know are not sure why it is happening. Spending £10 mollion to prevent voter fraud, that does not exist, would a non-controversial policy as it is used in most of Europe, until the detail is examined. Young people cannot use their Oyster card or I believe their NUS card, but old people can even use their bus pass!

Brexit snarl ups are due to their incompetence not “leftie” civil servants. The Rwanda Policy and subsequent Immogration Bills are just plain illegal. Laws being passed to give ministers the free reign to impose by-laws are just plain undemocratic.

The ERG has failed democratically with key muppets gone -Johnson, Truss, Kwarteng, Raab and others sidelined like JR-M. So the Sunday Express has started on the culture wars against the Civil Service. It is not enough for them to have experienced members of the CS resign due to the political machinations of ministers – they now want to plant political appointees in key roles to ensure that however stupid or illegal a proposal is, it will get a green light from those who at present are tasked with pointing out the ineptiture of ministers. One only has to look at Coffey torealise that she has no qualifications to have been Minister for Health or the Environment. Perhaps she could get a role as a road sweeper.

PRIORITIES

Braverman tells us that only some refugees are ‘supposedly’ good people – I fail how not to see this as incredical words. She relies on the Police for her information, of whom 1539 have been accused of domestic violence (and probably at least double this due to fear). Fiona Bruce defends Stanley Johnson for breaking his wifes nose – just the once. I guess it did not go to the police, the rich can pay people off.

Meanwhile we have energy costs spiralling, mortgage and rent costs rising, food prices rising, sewage polluting our streams renering them unsafe to swim in, agriculture in dire straits, transport networks in an unplanned mess (unless in London), voting rights restricted.

INFLATION

I am admitting my ignorance here. Inflation hit levels above 10% because?

The reason I have heard are : people saved money during Covid by not travelling and going out (mmm. how this causes inflation is interesting, unless they all go out and spend, spend, spend). Secondly the Ukraine war – certainly the cost of fuel rose rapidly but has now fallen below prewar levels. Thirdly wage inflation – even private sector workers are getting less than inflation rises (and way less than public sector workers). Fourth – supply chain problems largely related to China and chips, but also container traffic being disrupted. None of these seem to explain inflation at 10+% and food inflation at nearly 20%.

But it is ok for energy companies and banks and the rest to make £billions – pay massive bonus’s and dividends. I do not get it? Surely this is inflationary? It puts money in the pockets of the rich. So either inflationary if they spend it, or wasted to the economy if they move it off shore?

Can someone show me evidence of rich investing in business? Companies go public to raise funds, and I get that risk they take. Companies also raise money to cover losses. But general trading on the stock market is pure gambling.

So Sunak stop hitting the poor with rent/mortgage increases and tax the rich – actually I would prefer some price caps which would be fairer.

CLOTHES I HAVE LOVED

When I was about 4/5 I remember having a Ladybird yellow sweatshirt. Then a couple of year later I had a Scotland Football shirt. (I have no Scottish relatives and have never been there!). In my teens I had a yellow t-shirt with flared arms. Later I had some light blue suede boots. Then my wife had some incredible jeans. I like my Patagonia coat and a Nepalese coat.

WEIRD

Sunak has a go at Gary Neville for making remarks about the strikes whilst having nothing to say about the vile comments made by Clarkson! Perhaps Sunak is too influenced by the right wing trolls who pull his strings? Lord Faulkes (chair of IPSO – part time earning over £150000) had to cancel a dinner with Murdoch) over the Sun’s publishing of the hateful material (thousands of complaints).

BREXIT

I am fed up with talk about greater independence, sovereignty and non existent trade deals. And the leavers then try to blame the EU. We left in the economic hope that the EU would be happy to let us gain an economic advantage over them. What a surprise – they have said no! Controlling freedom of movement has meant a decline in experienced workers in this country and a labour shortage. Dealing with the EU now means red tape and increased costs. None of this is unfair or unexpected. Holiday makers complaining that they are treated like the foreigners they are and having to queue at customs.

Is there a logic in the fact that most people now believe we were wrong to leave the EU, but a majority say we should not rejoin? Is it embarrassment at the decision they made in 2016? of course the EU has many faults, but we are unlikely to be welcomed back as full members anyway – why would they. However agreeing full trade terms with them should be feasible. It would also protect the warped politics of Northern Ireland.

SUNDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2022

Temperature today forecast to reach 18C. That is a huge concern. Trees coming into blossom, insects around (just a few).

Listening to the Trawl podcast. They make the very pertinent point that this government does not care about the British Economy, just the economy of the top 1%. The Truss ‘budget’ will cost the taxpayer £40-50 billion. £10 million of that was purely due to the announcement and the loss of confidence in the government. That confidences is creeping back slowly, The Braverman, Williamson and now Robb appointments have not gone down well with the public.

PROFITS

Oil companies have raked in nearly $150 billion this year so far. This is double the profit for the same period last year. Also today the UN has reported that climate change is now irreversible, and that the 1.5C target will not be hit. It is late October and the temperatures are above 20C (10C above average). Yes this might be due to natural circumstances, but the trend is obvious to all.