OneGuyFromBarlick

Look for Feargal Sharkey on Today for a good attack on the water companies..... I have looked but can't find it.

I think this gives a good view on the current inflation. The Chancellor pretends that his actions will reduce it - whilst those of him and his predecessors have not been responsible for it.

Inflation analysis

The US is concerned that the rules of origin required by firms manufacturing in the UK are jeopardising investment in the electric car industry. Kemi Badenoch says its nothing to do with Brexit its all to do with the Ukrainian war and covid. Meanwhile Sunak is talking to the EU to try and get the rules relaxed on countries of origin. Put me down as confused.

And this in the week when the scientists tell us we shall soon breach the 1.5 degree rise in temperature which has been described as the point of no return in terms of climate change. I join you Ken in the ranks of the confused.
See THIS for news of the UK's latest 'killer blow' inflicted on the Russian economy.
Russian diamond imports to the UK will be banned in the latest sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine. Imports of Russian-origin copper, aluminium and nickel will be blocked, under legislation to be introduced later this year. Rishi Sunak said the UK must show "violence and coercion do not reap rewards" ahead of the G7 summit in Hiroshima. The Russian diamond industry was worth $4bn (£3.2bn) in exports in 2021. The UK government said it was also planning to target 86 more people and companies connected to President Vladimir Putin, including people who are "actively undermining the impact of existing sanctions".
Am I right in thinking that I saw recently that the Russian Economy is outperforming the UK's?
I am even more confused.

I suppose the most important news, and the bit that will alarm Putin the most is the news that the US will allow the export of F16 aircraft to Ukraine and will help train pilots. This unlocks the import from other European countries.
See THIS BBC report on the local elections.
Thousands of people did not vote in England's local elections as they did not have correct ID, according to council data collected by the BBC. Information from 160 of 230 councils where polls were held this year shows 26,165 voters were initially denied ballot papers at polling stations. Of these, 16,588 people came back with valid ID, whilst 9,577 did not return. This is a relatively small number of voters, although campaigners warn this would not capture all those affected. England's local elections on 4 May were the first in Britain where people had to show photo ID, such as a passport or driving licence, to vote in person. The impact of the rule is being closely watched ahead of the next general election, expected to be held in 2024, when it will also be in force.
The Electoral Reform Society, a campaign group that opposes voter ID, warned that "far more" people would be turned away at the next general election unless the rule is scrapped. "These figures, while not a complete picture, show what we've long feared," said Dr Jess Garland, the society's director of policy and research. "One voter turned away is one too many, but these figures show that the impact was far, far greater."
There is no way to assess what political persuasion was affected most. The assumption is that it would be mainly left wing voters but that is not necessarily correct. Jacob Rees Mogg says it is an own goal and he may well be right.

Diamonds are forever. Sanctions on Russian diamonds only applies to rough diamonds. A couple of suitcases will hold £millions worth of them. We can hardly contain oil exports which require huge ships and can be seen by satellites. I'm afraid this is just hot air to show that we are doing something. Encouraging young Russians to emigrate would be far more destructive to their economy than pussy footing about with fringe affects like diamonds.

I agree entirely Ken. We keep being told that our actions will bring Russia to her knees. That may be true but in economic terms she is still performing better than the UK.
See THIS. Is there no end to the revelations about the Tories?
Labour has called for an investigation after it emerged Suella Braverman sought advice about arranging a private speed awareness course. The home secretary was caught speeding while she was attorney general last summer, and faced three points and a fine, or a course as part of a group. She tried to arrange a private course via civil servants and her adviser, the BBC has been told. A government source denied Mrs Braverman broke the ministerial code. The reports, which first appeared in the Sunday Times, have triggered calls from opposition parties for an investigation by the prime minister's independent adviser on minister's interests. fter being caught speeding, Mrs Braverman was offered the choice of either a fine and three points on her licence, or a speed awareness course. A government source told the BBC the senior minister was "concerned" about her insurance premiums, and favoured doing a speed awareness course. She asked civil servants about arranging a private course, citing security concerns about doing one as part of a group, but was told it was not a matter for the Civil Service to get involved in. Ms Braverman then asked a special adviser to try and arrange a one-to-one course. When the course provider told her there was no option to do a private course - and after she was reappointed home secretary in Mr Sunak's government - she opted to pay the fine and accept the points, the BBC has been told.
Far more important is THIS report on the NI elections. i]Sinn Féin is now the largest party in both local government and Stormont for the first time after making huge gains in council elections. With all seats counted, the party has won 144, up from the 105 councillors returned in 2019. Its vice-president Michelle O'Neill called for the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to end its boycott of power sharing at Stormont. The DUP has 122 seats, with the centre-ground Alliance Party in third place. Stormont's assembly and governing executive is not functioning because of the DUP's protest against post-Brexit trading rules. In last year's assembly election, Sinn Féin became the largest party at Stormont. Ms O'Neill described the council election result as "historic". [/i]
Ms O'Neill is correct, it could well be a tipping point. Remember that Sinn Féin's core aim is reunification with the republican south.

On Braverman I think it was more about keeping a low profile than any attempt to avoid a fine. For her to have been offered the option of a speed awareness course must have meant the speed was relatively low. To be making headlines just after Johnson's Partygate fine wouldn't have been a good look. Keeping things low key and out of the limelight was thought to be best. In the end she paid he fine and took the points. The episode was then buried until this leak.
Braverman appears to be positioning herself for Party leadership. Undermining Sunak and leaning to the right of Genghis Khan. Not everyone in the Conservative party is happy with this swing to the right and are making mischief without exposing themselves to retribution from the ERG etc:

Why do I get the impression that the government is about to implode. Nothing is improving with everything going downhill fast in spite of optimistic aspirations from Sunak with his five promises disappearing faster than the grin on the Cheshire cat.

That's my feeling as well Ken. As I said the other day, I have this feeling in my water that something is going to happen and that started with the two meetings of the far right elements. I think you are right and the Tories (or some of them) have made the decision to go full reactionary right wing as they believe they have nothing to lose, whatever they do they will not have control after the next election.
Note I do not forecast a Labour victory as I don't think Starmer can inspire the country to vote Labour. None of the above qualifies as 'good politics' in my book. We desperately need some sensible politics. All Sunak is doing at the moment is firefighting in hopes he can retain the leadership long enough to benefit from the economic improvement he keeps forecasting. (I believe that's an illusion.)

Stanley wrote: ↑21 May 2023, 09:05 I have this feeling in my water that something is going to happen

Me too - had it for years. If you have it often enough, one day you'll be right.

plaques wrote: ↑21 May 2023, 08:47 and leaning to the right of Genghis Khan

Here are the successors to the Khan. The Hu. Wolf Totem


"If humans come we'll fight and obliterate
Ten thousand of us will hand you the wrath of heaven"


As the Duke of Wellington was once heard to remark -

"I don't know what effect these men will have upon the enemy, but, by God, they frighten me."

Joking aside David too many things are stacking up. One that hasn't been mentioned yet is Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty going to Hiroshima together. What exactly was her position? Who pays for her? Will some questions be asked? Or does being the PM's squeeze automatically make her a member of the government....
Sunak says he has full confidence in Braverman.... Where have we heard that before.....

I think Rishi Sunak's priorities at the moment are more closely connected to retaining control of his Party than governing the country. The consequence is that the only political news that appears this morning is that Raab will not stand for re-election. I think he realises that he is going to get no further in Westminster after being branded as 'aggressive', perhaps he has had a better offer?
Braverman continues to stonewall in public about her speeding and no doubt in private is continuing her campaign to become the next Leader of the Party.
This is the most ineffective Parliament I can ever remember. Anyone would think that all was well in the country and strong governance wasn't needed.

Suella Braverman. All getting very complicated. Did she try to influence a private matter by asking government officials and advisors if she could take a private awareness course? The ministerial code of conduct apparently doesn't allow mixing private and government business.
She is also been reported to use the words 'nothing untoward' as part of her defence. This is an intransitive verb that conveys no action to the subject under discussing. I looks like she has been groomed to use words and structures to put the best possible spin on what has gone on.
One for the pedantics. Above my pay grade.

I have no doubt the weasel words department exists and advises on these natters!
(They'll describe it as 'presentation technique'.)
While you are waiting for Sunak to make up his mind over whether Braverman is sacked or not, have a look at THIS report.
Boris Johnson has been referred to police by the Cabinet Office over further potential rule breaches during the Covid pandemic. The department said it made the referral after a review of documents ahead of the Covid public inquiry. The former PM, who was fined last year for breaking Covid rules in 2020, has strongly denied wrongdoing. Both the Metropolitan and Thames Valley Police say they are assessing the information received. The Cabinet Office said officials had been obliged to disclose the documents to the police under civil service rules. The Times, which first reported the story, says Mr Johnson has been referred to Thames Valley police because his ministerial diary revealed visits by family and friends to Chequers - the prime minister's country house in Buckinghamshire - during the pandemic.
Handy, two potential Sunak rivals under investigation for wrong doing. Could this be a Party at war?
Later.... There are reports that Johnson's 'advisors' are saying that the charges are a political stitch-up. Surely not!

I see that due to the fall in wholesale gas prices the inflation figure has dropped significantly. Hunt and Sunak will cite this as a sign their 'plan' is working but hold on a minute, the experts were predicting a lower figure. Could something be going wrong?

What good is wholesale prices dropping if the energy companies keep the difference for added profit. Sunak's windfall taxes are a joke. The companies can offset the tax against decommissioning old plant and building new oil platforms. Only when my unit energy costs drop then I will consider this to be a true reduction not a comparison with something I never see.
Food inflation continues a pace with higher prices on the horizon. For all intent and purposes the prices we are seeing now will only go up for the next year or more. Out of our control claims Sunak all because of the Ukraine/Russian war then on an upbeat note says that the F16 jets will make a difference but they won't be fully operational until the end of the year. From that we can assume the war will continue for at least another year and energy prices will still stay high is spite of all the hot air and aspirations that that they want us to believe.
The Bank of England are admitting that their interest rate plan isn't working. Surprise, surprise, and that they need to look at the problem in a different way. After all this Mea Culpa nothing will change. People will get poorer and Sunak and Hunt will claim a success.

David Cameron (remember him) gave a long interview on LBC this morning. he seems to have calculated that we have now forgotten about The Greensill affair He's smooth to the point of smarminess, and would still make a good car salesman.

Having purged his comtempt, he appeared as the President of the Alzheimers Society. He was speaking about two new drugs for the condition and name checked them both. He spoke about the plaques in the brain - which I thought had been discredited last year as the trials had been manipulated. Information on that is hard to find, but having seen Dr John Campbell's videos, that does not surprise me.

Is it too cynical to assume (as I do) that he is in the pay of the drug companies, and doing a bit of PR for them?

I agree totally with Ken. Joe Public is being taken for a ride by the politicians and the supermarkets. We now have a clear view of Sunak's moral compass. His actions in keeping Braverman despite further evidence that she is unfit to hold high office tells us all we need to know about him.
Of course he is David. He is another example of a politician who failed and demonstrated clearly his grasp of ethics and principle.
See THIS BBC report on the position of Boris Johnson in relation to the Covid Inquiry. He is finding that like Raab, he is beginning to look toasted round the edges.....
(It strikes me that the Old Bullingdonians aren't faring too well....)

Stanley wrote: ↑25 May 2023, 02:33 We now have a clear view of Sunak's moral compass. His actions in keeping Braverman despite further evidence that she is unfit to hold high office tells us all we need to know about him.

We now now that on the subject of Ministerial codes the Prime Minister is the ultimate arbiter on whether action needs to be taken or not. Suella Braverman has decided that no action is needed and for now Sunak is in the clear. This is obviously a warning shot that if Sunak doesn't behave himself and do what the Party has decided he is out. Does this mean that in a short period of time we have had six Prime Ministers, five elected and one usurper.

Interesting point of view Ken, that the PM is actually Braverman. She is certainly acting as though she is and funnily enough is being helped (and protected) by the figure of over 600,000 net inward migration. (Remember Cameron talking about tens of thousands?) Sunak daren't sack her in the middle of such a crisis.
See THIS BBC report on his latest position on migration.
"Net migration is too high, Rishi Sunak has said, after data confirmed levels hit a new record high last year. Immigration saw the country's overall population increase by 606,000 in 2022, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS)."
But he denies he has lost control. (Of course he hasn't, Braverman has!!)
What is even more serious in terms of the effects on the system is THIS.
The number of asylum seekers in the UK awaiting an initial decision on their case has climbed to a new record high. Latest Home Office figures show the backlog had risen to 172,758 at the end of March, despite government promises to bring it down. The number of asylum seekers waiting longer than six months for a decision now stands at 128,812. Labour said there had been "no action at all" to lower the backlog and make sure claims are properly processed. But Downing Street said measures it had introduced to tackle the number of unresolved cases would "take time to bed in".
The Home Office has gone quiet on the subject of accommodation for these victims of our system so presumably they are still being accommodated in hotels. We have heard nothing of the problems that seem to have arisen with the cunning wheeze to use Scampton and other MOD properties.
What we have heard is Braverman rattling her sabre at Sunak re the post of PM. Perhaps that project is seen as more important than actually getting on with running the Home Office.

I'm not sure why net migration is such a bad thing. Without a breakdown of the figures the UK could possibly benefit from people coming. The big numbers as I understand it are students who pay their way and then go home. The more highly skilled have had their education paid for and can be considered an asset. The usual argument is there is not enough houses to accommodate them and yet the government is resisting building more. This subject of immigration needs a proper debate not just sound bites.

Ken, I suspect that the real opposition to inward migration is insularity and a phobia that militates against foreigners. Look at the number of words there are in the English language that discriminate against 'foreigners'. What is so laughable at the moment is the fact that Sunak and Braverman, the two king pins in the anti-migrant debate are both the children of migrants. I speak as one who was told by my father a long time ago "If anyone ever calls you an ill-bred bastard, don't argue with them!" (It was many years before I fully understood what he meant and it was quite true!)
I have argued for years that it was impossible for anyone to prove they were a 'pure-bred' English man as there was no such thing. The derivation of the name 'English' denotes that we are descended from the Angles, a Germanic race. Even more stupid to my mind is the epithet 'economic migrant'. These are just the people we should be encouraging to come in, brave enterprising people who are prepared to uproot themselves and their families and start a new life. They are the ones who start businesses and are and economic asset to the country. Look at the number who run small shops and businesses just in Barlick! Further, the low birth rate and the proportion of old people in the country point inexorably to the need for young people to be economically active and pay for us old farts!
So yes Ken, I agree with you. If we analysed the situation dispassionately we would find that inward migration is at least desirable and perhaps even essential.
See THIS BBC report which highlights a situation which we have all been aware of for years but which somehow seems incapable of a solution.
Two machine guns, two pistols and nearly 2,000 rounds of ammunition have been lost by UK armed forces over the past two years. Meanwhile, two SA80 Cadet PP Rifles were stolen in 2021. The figures, first reported by the Daily Mirror, also showed 258 laptops had been lost or stolen from the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
The MOD budget is about £40billion annually and not one of their projects is on time and within budget. There is a long history of waste and mismanagement and no government seems able to improve things.

See THIS BBC account of an interview with Russian Ambassador Andrei Kelin.
Andrei Kelin, Russia's ambassador to the UK, told the BBC his country had "enormous resources" and it was yet to "act very seriously". But Mr Kelin's claim that Russia has "enormous resources" available to fight clashes with multiple reports on the ground of its forces being poorly equipped and without proper training.
Ukraine has already said it is ready to start the expected counter offensive and it looks as though we are in for an interesting summer.

Rishi Sunak rides to the rescue. He's done a VOLUNTARY deal with the supermarkets to keep basic food essential prices to a minimum. I had always though that competition between supermarkets was designed to do exactly that. It now looks like that they have been acting like a cartel to keep prices and profits up. Thank God its only voluntary, we can't have a Tory government acting like some communist state dictating what prices should be. Supermarkets should be squeezing every last penny out of shoppers maximising profits. How can GDP grow if they don't make profits and pay extra taxes. Food banks should be banned and energy price capping stopped immediately. The sooner the UK does away with workers rights the better. How can any country operate efficiently with artificial controls like. this? Always kick your opponent when he's down.

We are told that the Government is considering ("early stages - still on the drawing board") and will fix a ceiling price for bread and milk.

Big mistake. Wait for the cries of "discrimination" from the lactose intolerant and those who are on a low carb diet. Many of an Asian background do not have the body chemistry to digest dairy products, and far prefer rice to bread for their carbohydrates. I gave a 10 kg bag of rice which I will not use, to such a person yesterday. She said thanks - and called out "Rice is Life".

This policy could be considered discriminatory, even borderline racist, and should be dropped.

PS - When did anyone last use a 'drawing board'? Interestingly the 'use by' date on the rice was 2034 !