The Jam Jam

Hardly mentioned in the British Press new advances by Houti forces may force the price of oil up again. That these forces are well armed is not to be doubted – they shot down a Saudi Arabian fighter jet, and damaged a Saudi pipeline trying to beat the Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Creating hassle in the Strait of Bab-al Mandab between Yemen and Djibouti would create major problems for the oil industry (or at least major profits as the price could spiral). Previous attacks by Israel, Saudi Arabia, USA and Britain seem to have had minimal impact on Houti ability to hit back. Meanwhile the US has approved a $2.8bn deal to supply Israel with weapons – this is surely related to the Iran War, Hamas and Hezbollah have largely been defeated so why does Israel need more than 40000 bombs? And the British public are paying the cost of Trump’s madness.

The press will create a furure over inflation, but fail to mention that it was caused by the right wing idiocrat in Washington.

I guess that when a family accepts privelege and a heap of money from peoples taxes, it is reasonable that they are scrutinised closely. The rift between Charlie and Diana is proving to be a long standing show. The Daily Mail loves it! they are serialising a new book by Di’s old man, or is it er brother? Washing dirty underwear in public seems to appeal to the great British public. Basically I could not care less, although the headlines provide amusement. There are other more interesting questions like is Harry his son? Interesting, but still irrelevant to the real world today.

Canada is forging closer links with the EU – a win-win situation, Canada has mineral resources (including rare earth) and the EU is the 2nd largest market for goods on Earth. Where is the UK? Well since we committed economic suicide by leaving the EU we have been suffering, major decisions regarding AI and tec matters will be made without us. However the parties of the right (and many Labour MP’s) are still espousing out independance. Reform are ruing the lack of their ability to build a wall through the English Channel (La Manche – or the straights of Farage?). yearning for days gone past is very sad – like wanting to reopen coal mines to supply old steam railway line and the fire hazards that they cause, let alone the pollution. Hey Burnham, get up off your arse and negotiate a deal with Europe that in effect gives us full membership again. Easy passport control, a say in major decisions, free movement of citizens, the Dublin Agreement, what is there not to like?

Other parties and the RWPress are working upto an apoplexy of hate and panic about future tax rises. Of course we would all like these taxes to be lower, until we see the harm done in lining the pockets of the rich at the expense of the poor. This is of course too simple, I would be almost sure that most people are ignorant about the wealth created by libraries, the NHS, education, etc. I wonder if a simple tax of x% of earnings would possibly disempower the wiles of the rich tax avoiding bastards.

Those who paid most tax last year were -According to the Sunday Times list, the top 10 UK taxpayers are:

Dame Mary, Douglas Perkins and family – Specsavers – £121.7m

Fred and Peter Done and family – Betfred – £400.1m

Alex Gerko – trader – £331.4m

Chris Rokos – bond trader – £330m

Stephen Rubin and family – Chair of Pentland Group – £325.6m

Denise, John, and Peter Coates – Bet365 – £227.1m

Peter Hargreaves – Hargreaves Lansdown cofounder – £210m

Tom Morris and family – Home Bargains – £209.1m

Sir Tim Martin – JD Wetherspoon pubs – £199.7m

Mike Ashley – retail – £175.9m

Note the lack of landowners, and investment bankers. Only 2 traders listed. It would be relatively easy to tax land and property, and difficult, very difficult to move it off shore! If patriots want to move away from the UK because they pay tax that protects these islands – so be it. Some names on the list are popular, but I applaud them for paying their dues.

I am not wishing it, just wondering! His deputies are even worse as they seem to believe in the distopian future portrayed by the old man. He posts at the rate of one per hour (last 6 months) and has not been coherent in any! In many ways I hope he survives to the end, then gets locked up for crimes against children, women, humanity generally. His sicophants should follow him to the lock up! But back to the begining – it is a very real question – his ramblings are becoming ever more incoherent – I would not give him long!

Are going up and up. £170 ltr, and likely to rise more as 3 of the most used seaways are all limiting traffic. The Strait of Hormuz is virtually closed on a haphazard basis; the Bab al Mandab Straight looks like it may be closed by Houti fighters supporting Iran and the Panama Canal is limiting the number of vessels passing through it to 29.5 per day. So world trade is being hampered and oil prices do not look like coming down any time soon. This will have major impacts on farming with fertilisers risinng in cost, let alone the transport costs. And all this is before El Niño’s impact is fully felt this year and next. The quicker we get to a carbon free future the better, the government should remove the costs of going green from fuel and put it on general taxation, and also stop pricing energy by gas costs. there is no doubt that the UK can be energy independent in a short time span, if the political will is there.

Thames Water has fallen foul of NIMBY’s who have objected to its plans for a new reservoir in Oxfordshire. I know little about the project but with a grown population in the south-east we will need to expand water storage facilities. However I would ask if there are alternatives, maybe more use of grey water in new developments. Also are data centres being charged properly? (i.e. being made to pay for the increased demand). Put everyone on a water meter with scaled charges – free for x amount, then scaled up for above normal use (150 ltrs per day per resident, allowances for medical problems). A new lake in Oxfordshire would provide jobs and opportunities for sports and recreation.

Pensions – let the old eat banana sandwiches with demarara sugar and give the young an opportunity to thrive.

The latest boll*cks to come out of Trumps obscene orafice is that the only guardrails that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ) PRESIDENT. The use of the word strong presumably means bigoted; and as for smart – all the evidence points to the opposite (Iran, tariffs, economy, world status, etc.). It is sad that so many hard working Americans have such tiny ….. cognitive powers that they are sucked into supporting him. Being warned by OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, Google DeepMind chief, and SpaceX boss Elon Musk is obviously 3 experts too many for the orange man child. Tec firms have spent $billions in building up AI – and need to get a return on their money, so these “experts’ are basically speaking out against themselves, share prices have fallen by up to 5% in tec shares. So a falling stock market, combined with rising inflation is just what Trump does not need with the mid-terms looming. The war with Iran and various trade wars (mainly Canada) continue as do the Epstein Files, his only chance seems to be manipulating the vote as his hero Putin does!

Oh I do like to be besides the seaside and watch Farage lose his wits. I have already stated my views on donations, and blatent lobbying by cryptobillionaires is an affront to our democracy. The donors were true ‘patriots’ (who have for tax reasons lived in Thailand and Hong Kong) says Dickwit Tice whilst failing to condemn those ultra brave folks who rescue strangers at sea. I am sure the RNLI would love a £72m donation – thank Nige! A final, or not, thought – could donations be limited to the amount of UK tax paid? maybe 5% (this would allow most trade unions to be in the clear as they could use members taxes) and the donors would have had to pay £720m in tax to be able to donate at the level they just have.

Pensions – the treble lock- is basically stupid. I am all for keeping us old ‘uns out of poverty, but the treble lock is running out of control and must be stopped. A rise of £500 is expected for next year, I am all for it until I see the deprivation vested upon our youth by university loans, AI job redundancies, etc.). If we do not look after the younger generation there is no hope, fortunately demographics may cause a fall in total population, but adversely affect the job market – more jobs in care homes, less elsewhere. Again there needs to be a proper debate about the demographics of the UK.

Sydney Sweeney – and Novig sports-prediction advert. Well it has caused a stir, and brought more publicity than the company could have hoped for – I had never heard of it, and probably never will again. I am basically against overt sexualisation of women in adverts, or men, but also recognise the brilliance of this advert in bringing an unknown company to prominence.

A much used term which has come to mean knuckle dragging, flag shagging, racist, misogeneric bigotry. I am sure that I missed a few things out. Basically it is white nationalism and based on ignorance and stupidity. I heard people in Portsmouth complaining that their girls were being raped all the time by asylum seekers and migrants on small boats (it is more likely to be their fathers and brothers!). These so called patriots are blinded by their own ignorance.

Patriotism should mean, amongst other things, paying taxes without going offshore, supporting the 4 nations in sport, respecting the emergency services, and being proud of being British. It could also include queueing, talking about the weather, being kind to animals and a great sense of humour. Patriotism is used by Trump, Putin, Netmanyahu, and just about every right wing bigotted ruler worldwide to justify the oppression of segments of their societies. perhaps these so called patriots ought to be more concerned about Artificial Intelligence that will be taking jobs away from them – taxi drivers seem to be first in line, along. with many office workers, supermarket shelf stackers will follow soon.

Change is what they fear most – and change is getting supercharged at the moment. Climate, society, industry, employment are all changing rapidly – those without the ability to adapt and embrace the changes will protest and ultimately lose. Last point is that the flag shaggers are against Islam, how many go to a church apart from weddings and funerals? So they understand nothing about religion other than professing themselves to be christian (BIGOTS).

How do you get to be a billionaire? Either inherit it, win it, be lucky or buy friendships seem the most viable options. The last being the main reason parents cough up loads of dough to send their sprogs to places like Eton. So why would not, one, but 2 or more billionaires donate £millions to Farage? It has to be because they want something in return – most billionaires are notoriously tight with their cash. Recent donations have been from crypto-currency billionaires. the BoEngland and other traditional financial institutions are hesitant in backing currencies based on …. well nothing other than supply and demand for their fictitious wares; no land, no gold reserves, basically nothing but thin air. What has Farage and his party of failures and racists promised?

trump meanwhile is in Ireland and states that it would be a good idea to have a united Ireland – which again reveals his contempt fo normal people; the people of Ireland, north and south, will decide to unite when and if they are ready, and that is likely to be a long time if conflict is not to raaise its ugly head again – so Trump ‘just shut the fuck up”.