POLITICS CORNER

[Tizer]

I think Johnson has realised that he needs an early election. Chickens may be coming home to roost.

Just before the re-shuffle Tory ministers were briefing The Times (off the record, of course) that Boris was going for an election soon and it was all part of his dream to be in power for 10 years (!).

[plaques]

Right lads we are in the soft stuff and things are going to get a lot worse. If we leave it too late those clowns out there will rumble that we are useless and vote us out so no more gravy train for you. Our plan 'A' is to have a general election as soon as possible before they get locked down again. I know it will come as a surprise that we have a plan at all but since we don't know what to do to get out of the mess we are calling it plan 'A'. If any of the suckers asks why we are going for an election when we have two years left and a stonking majority to cock up anything thing we want the official line is we need more time to put Jonny Foreigner in his place and get these great trade deals done. Oh, and another thing you could always throw in how much worse the other lot would be. Right lads go to it before the thickie's see what we up to.

[Stanley]

That's about the size of it Ken. Mind you I think they may have left it too late. We already have the supply chain difficulties and they become more obvious every day. Milk is being tipped down drains and food is rotting in the fields but the government does nothing to help. This isn't just the chattering classes picking up on what might happen, have you looked at the supermarket shelves lately?
See THIS, isn't it amazing how Ms Truss has suddenly become an expert on developments on the other side of the world?
Then read THIS and ponder on the strange way government works. I do not think Nadine Dorries is going to have a comfortable ride...

[Big Kev]

have you looked at the supermarket shelves lately?

Personally I've not noticed any empty shelves, I've been in 4 different supermarkets over the last couple of weeks (2 Aldi's, a Lidl and a Tesco) and got everything I needed.

[plaques]

The AUKUS agreement promises hundreds of extra jobs for the UK ship building. This sounds to be at odds with the press release.

The pact, known as Aukus, will see Australia being given the technology to build nuclear-powered submarines.

During WW2 the Churchill government proposed that Rolls Royce give the Americans the technology to build their aeroplane engines. RR would have none of it, They were a private firm so they could refuse. How much technology are we going to give and why. Because the Americans say so?
My guess is that we haven't heard the last of this deal.

[Tizer]

When I first heard about the AUKUS agreement I wanted to shout at the radio `What about NATO, are we ditching NATO?' so I'm glad to see that the UK’s former ambassador to France, Peter Ricketts, has joined the fray...
`AUKUS pact a rift in NATO alliance, says former UK ambassador' LINK
`The announcement of the AUKUS Pact between Australia, the UK and the US last week has created divisions in the NATO alliance for France, the UK’s former ambassador to the country said. In an interview with the BBC’s Today Programme on Saturday, Peter Ricketts said the announcement of the security pact and the French recalling of its ambassadors from the US and Australia was more than just a diplomatic dispute and stands to threaten the world’s most powerful military alliance...'. (Perfidious Albion again?)

[Tripps]

I haven't looked closely, but our relationship with France seems strained at the moment. The submarine thing is mega, but so are the expansionist ambtions of China. I've been banging on about that for years. See refs to the Spratley Islands etc.
It's about time we responded to it all, and their reaction shows we've probably got it about right.

Jacinda from NZ says you're not playing in my yard - I think she says that to all her friends, but how will she know?

Didn't we very recently just cancel a big contract for a French Covid vaccine which was about to be manufactured in England. Said vaguely to be because of a 'breach of the contract' . I've seen no more than that in the press, and it's odd that the French interconnector at Sellindge which has been happily helping us for decades, was recently fire damaged and is now at half power. I wonder if these events could in any way be connected - especially the Covid contract.

Good that Sue is returning to France. That will improve Anglo French relations I've no doubt. She'll show them that we're not all perfidious.

[plaques]

Personally I've not noticed any empty shelves, I've been in 4 different supermarkets over the last couple of weeks (2 Aldi's, a Lidl and a Tesco) and got everything I needed.

This empty shelves syndrome is far more complex than the odd missing item. What we are looking at is the start of potential shortages of goods that rely on small firms exporting to the UK. At the moment the problems are in the opposite direction ie: from the UK to the EU. The Brexit agreement which somehow our Buffoon and his side kick thinks they can still negotiate stipulates controls (red tape in Express language) on both sides of the border. So far the UK is not implementing our side of the agreement and goods from the EU are not being checked for conformity. Imports continue to be one sided giving advantage to the EU meanwhile our trade is going down the tube. Should we ever apply the checks then there will be inevitable delays and more empty shelves. The big firms with their own lorries and drivers will survive. Small firms with multiple different items on hired transport will simple stop trading. Supermarkets will have the monopoly and prices will rise.

[Stanley]

Good post David. I'm not qualified to give an opinion on the submarine deal but it seems funny that a contract can be just ditched like that. Like you I had a flutter of the crap detector when I heard about the inter connector being down at half capacity....
Kev, supermarket shelves, must be a Co-op thing.
Ken, I agree. This trade problem is a slow burner and I am sure that it will result in some long term effects. We haven't seen the full controls yet due to us asking for delays but even at this level Northern Ireland is reporting major problems, things like the export of Scottish live shellfish trade and Scottish seed potatoes have already finished. As I keep saying we have not yet seen the full effects and those problems that do arise are being blamed on Covid by the Tories which is not entirely true.

[Tizer]

I see that the AUKUS pact is being described by some Tories as a `multinational navy' to counter China. Have they forgotten that the Brexiteers were forever warning us that the EU wanted to create its own multi-country army? It's supposed to be one of the reasons we left the EU.

[Stanley]

True Peter but nobody has mentioned where the new nuclear submarines will be built. I will make a guess that most will be in the US some construction in the UK and very little in Australia. Like most things in politics these days, profit trumps principle. When profit is concerned things like prior agreements and contracts are surplus to requirements.

[Tizer]

Many of the news reports say the subs will be built in Australia - if that's not true there will be a lot of annoyed Aussies! On the other hand, our ministers say it will bring work here. So I guess we'll be making bits and sending them to Oz for `construction' of the sub. AUKUS should have included Denmark - they're good at making stuff out of little plastic bits!

[plaques]

The shortage of CO2 gas used for stunning pigs, a 20% concentrate of CO2 puts them to sleep before they cut their throats, has been traced to the Tory government who have been using it on the population before they cut their economic throat. Rumour has it that a lot of their MPs have also been sniffing it causing them to walk about in a dazed stupor muttering ' covid, pingdemic, Russians'. We can all gain some comfort in knowing that the government is addressing the problem and its under review. The trouble is in knowing if they mean the pigs or the population.

[Tripps]

There is so much bad news today, that it may be wise to keep an eye open for any dead cats that may be thrown on the table.

Oh wait - the Home Secretary is making an emergency statement in the Commons about the Skripal Novichok poisoning.

Vital news - they've identified the third man.

[Whyperion]

There is so much bad news today, that it may be wise to keep an eye open for any dead cats that may be thrown on the table.

Oh wait - the Home Secretary is making an emergency statement in the Commons about the Skripal Novichok poisoning.

Vital news - they've identified the third man.

Russian - but like with gas - they hold all the cards.

[Whyperion]

I think Johnson has realised that he needs an early election. Chickens may be coming home to roost.

Just before the re-shuffle Tory ministers were briefing The Times (off the record, of course) that Boris was going for an election soon and it was all part of his dream to be in power for 10 years (!).

72hrs is a long time in politics and its going pear shaped quickly. Boris missed a trick putting a new face in a DWP for spinning a reverse on the UC cut rather than attempting to re-inforce the cut. Unless they are going to shift the taper on earnings in before benefits out.

[Whyperion]

Strange language in a bust up reported by the Independent via MSN with respect to Truss as new Foreign Sec and Raab as former not wanting to give up use of Chevening in Kent as the weekend retreat.

Boris Johnson has dismissed a row between two of his most senior cabinet colleagues over the use of the country house Chevening as “frippery” which would not distract him from his policy priorities.

The 17th-century Kent manor is traditionally used as the country retreat for the foreign secretary, in a similar way to the prime minister’s Chequers getaway in Buckinghamshire.

But outgoing foreign secretary Dominic Raab is refusing to hand it over to his successor Liz Truss, arguing that his new title of deputy prime minister entitles him to hold onto it.

The final decision rests with Mr Johnson, who made clear he has not yet decided who will get to use the 15-bedroom property, which sits in extensive parkland near Sevenoaks.

Asked if Raab or Truss would get the house, or whether they would be asked to share it, Mr Johnson responded: “The people’s government does not bother with fripperies and foibles of this kind"

(I thought it was Her Majesty's Government ? - Doubly so when the For Sec is top diplomat)

[Whyperion]

From BBC Website
Boris Johnson has said people should not worry about putting food on the table this winter, amid surging energy prices and a cut to universal credit.

The prime minister told BBC News: "I don't believe people will be short of food - and wages are actually rising."


So thats OK then, we are assured and can happily vote tory at the next election

[plaques]

Wages are rising but not as much as this.

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Inflation 1 .jpg

[Stanley]

Well spotted Ken. When it gets a brief mention the wonks refer to it as a 'spike'.
So that's all right then.....

[Stanley]

Johnson makes quite a coherent speech to the UN on the need to take action at COP 26 in Glasgow. (He can do it when he follows the script1)
However, here at home we start to see the cracks appearing in the brave world of post-Brexit and coronavirus. Remembering what David said yesterday about 'something happening', we may be seeing the start of some very difficult times.

[Tizer]

...we may be seeing the start of some very difficult times.

Perhaps that should be more difficult times!

I enjoyed a bit of video of Angela Rayner haranguing Raab yesterday in Parliament. For example the accompanying BBC article quoted: she claimed someone on minimum wage would "need to work an extra 50 days to pay for a single night at his favourite resort, probably even more if the sea was open".

[Stanley]

Raab deserves all he gets Peter, I heard her and was cheering her on.
I heard the differing opinions about how long the effects of this energy price spike would last. The problem is that this particular 'event dear boy' is inextricably tangled with the increasing effects of Brexit, a fact that this lousy government will exploit to the utmost when looking for excuses why and how we are going to fail. This is their greatest asset at the moment and why they will be looking for an early general election. The Treasury hasn't improved things by forecasting that inflation is going to rise above 4% because of energy price rises. This rather takes the shine off any rise in wages and indeed any employment at all.
Go back to Piketty, all this is forecast in 'Capital' and the only way it is going to be eased is by a wealth tax, not increasing the tax burden of people who are already below the poverty line.

[plaques]

And that's why I've raised the minimum wage by record amounts. A lie which we hear from the Buffoon as a answer to inflation.

.

annual increase 1 .jpg

[Stanley]

Problem there Ken is that the National Living Wage has no relation to real life. For one thing it uses the official figures for inflation which are themselves nothing to do with the rise in the cost of living of the poorest people because their money is spent on services, housing, food and energy all of which carry inflation rates far greater than the official average figure.
See THIS for a good estimate of families in poverty.

"The number of working families struggling to make ends meet hit a record high just before the pandemic, according tothe Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), with one in six working households – or 17.4 per cent – living in poverty.
More than 30 per cent of couple households with one full-time earner are in poverty, nearly as high as the rate of hardship for families without any full-time workers.
The research showed the UK had hit its highest in-work poverty rate in the 21st century, while the chance of households with two people in full-time work being pulled into hardship has doubled since the millennium.
An increasing number of people can’t afford to buy property so are forced to rent, but rent costs rose by almost half (48 per cent) in real terms in the past 25 years.
It means increased housing benefits are “effectively channelled into the pockets of private landlords,” according to the report, with an estimated £11.1bn of state support for tenants ending up with landlords while tenants still struggle to afford essentials such as food and heating.

Note that this doesn't take into account the effects of the pandemic or the cut to Universal Credit and the other benefit reductions. All of these worsened by real life high inflation.
This is the trajectory of the problems facing the government who spend the national income on vanity projects like Trident, HS2, Crossrail and aircraft carriers instead of on aid to people struggling to survive in an increasingly hostile modern world.
Yes, you're right, I am angry....