Lol...
She'll make a paper aeroplane out of the letter and throw it at "Digital" Dorries.
Former foreign secretary Liz Truss has been voted in as the UK's next prime minister – at least by about 80,000 Conservative Party members – and will face a barrage of policy decisions. Questions over the cost of living and energy crises will top the agenda, but tech policy also needs her attention. BCS, the Chartered …
I, for one, welcome our new ... just kidding :-)
Liz is so crap only 57% of the Tories could bear to vote for her. Quiet Man Ian Duncan-Smith got more. Cameron the pig-shagger got more. Boris "I promoted a sex pest" Johnson got more.
Dear god! The world just keeps getting less rooted in reality.
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Truss. It'll be like watching Forrest Gump on repeat, 24/7. Just waiting for her to announce that everyone should invest in a shrimp boat, and call it Jen-'nee'.
She'll be finally sorting out the hashtags, now Rudd is nowhere to be seen. /s
Missing something.
These Germans[1] just don't understand that cheese should come in 200g crumbly blocks with the name of a bit of the UK on them - not individual slices of extruded cheese product. Sometimes individually wrapped.
I love living in Germany, but I am missing Leicestershire, Wensleydale, Lancashire, Stilton, Caerphilly... 'Cheddar' made in Ireland somehow doesn't cut it.
[1] OK, they're pretty good with sausages and beer. I'll give them that.
I've tried most of the big supermarkets; Kaufland has a pretty good range along with Rewe and Edeka but sadly no sign of the British cheeses I like. Just bloody Cathedral City. I've made my own bread for donkey's years and also occasionally cheese but it's not easy to get a decent analogue of the stuff I like.
My impression is that selection at the fresh-counter Edeka, is that it is VERY well equipped. While I must admit that british cheeses are few and far beween, the selection of cheeses from the rest of the EU is very good, my personal favorite beeing the pricy and seasonal Ocello packed in chesnut leaves.
This may have something to do with it being quite close to the french border though.
"I love living in Germany, but I am missing Leicestershire, Wensleydale, Lancashire, Stilton, Caerphilly... 'Cheddar' made in Ireland somehow doesn't cut it."
My cousins in Germany always ask for English cheese when we ask what they want when we visit. They're like starving animals!
With you on the general tastelessness of German cheese. I really do miss good English cheeses but Comte isn't a bad substitute for cheddar, and even the mature Dutch cheeses aren't bad.
But what you can't get, for love nor money, are kippers. I could kill for some decent kippers!
"The UK now has more varieties of cheese than France"
Putting assorted things into cheese, like herb seeds or pickled onion, doesn't create a new type of cheese variety. And Cheddar is just Cheddar, whether it's labelled 'mature', 'mild', 'extra mature' or 'vintage': it's just one cheese.
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Norwegia: den milde smaken som alle liker...
"The mild taste that everybody likes" i.e. so bland that there is no taste of cheese associated.
Although, it is also the best cheese for eating with (Norwegian) kaviar. It yields texture while the kaviar yields taste.
On the other hand, without the protectiionism, there would be no more farming in Norway, and the country would be only forests, montains and settlements. (see large parts of Sweden)
Therefore, although I am generally quite pro EU, I do not think that Norway could remain unchanged within the organisation unless it got very special deal that would protect farming.
Which is why Norway is where it is. It pays all the fees, conforms to all the rules, but has no say in the rule-making. It is still worth it economically.
A position that I believe the UK too may have to consider until tempers have cooled sufficiently in a generation or 2.
Deaqr downvoters, you seem to have short memories. Boris Johnson said “fuck business” to Belgium’s ambassador to the EU during a reception at the Foreign Office in June 2018. It was first reported by the Brussels correspondent at the Telegraph, a position Johnson himself had held.
You're wasting your time, the two or three Worstall-worshipping brain-dead Brexit headbangers will go back days later when the conversation has come to a stop because everyone else has bailed as they've got better things to do then go round in circular arguments, then they get their two downvotes in so they can finally declare victory against science, economics, common sense, or whatever it is.
It's funny that everyone's experience with cheese is the same.
I buy mature Cheddar from the UK, which I can fortunately find in the local supermarket, because most of the local cheese here seems to be rather rubbery and bland, designed for easy slicing. Still, there is some reasonable stuff available, so it's worth trying a few before throwing in the towel.
I would like to say this is the last straw, I'm off - but where would I go?
Frankly, most of the world appears to be spiralling down the drain and the so called leaders are only getting worse
[as I type, the headlines below the comment box are the latest IR35 mess up and Mad Nad in her Data Protection mess - add in the Online 'think of the children' debacle and it is obvious that our government is woefully lacking in basic technical intelligence]
Canada and Australia - you can get HP Sauce and Yorkshire Tea easily and the house prices will make you feel nostalgic for home.
New Zealand - is imaginary
USA - as long as you stick to Seattle (or possibly New England?) and never turn on the TV news it's not too bad.
Everywhere else you can't understand a thing they are saying - and they won't let you in anyway
"New Zealand - is imaginary"
Not entirely, but cheese really is expensive (to be blamed entirely on profiteering, as far as I can tell). Cost of living is a problem everywhere today.
USA - as long as you stick to Seattle (or possibly New England?) and never turn on the TV news it's not too bad.
USAian here. The Midwestern states are mostly nice people, although some of the politicians are goofy. The weather is a bit more extreme than the British Isles used to have, although you are sadly catching up with us due to climate change. Don't get sick, it will cost you an arm and a leg even with decent insurance. Can't speak to the labo(u)r market, as retired now. Housing, while we all grouse about its cost, is reasonably achievable on an IT wage. Ammosexuals, even in my rural area, are a tiny minority. Horses for courses.
Personally, I would say that the rest of Europe remains a viable option.
The various governments remain relatively sane (unless you pick Hungary), most people speak English as a second language, the cultures and values remain similar, the travel distance for family visits is not too big. And sooner or later you will pick up the local lingo.
Yes, you will have to go through some more hoops and red tape since you got rid of freedom of movement, but that is not the fault of your potential new host nation.
It is just a matter of trying it out, and the experience will broaden your perspective, not only with regards to where you move to, but also with regards to where you come from.
I jumped ship to the Netherlands. Cheese wise you are stuck with Gouda, Gouda, and Gouda in various states of ageing. But you are close enough to Belgium for decent beer, Germany for a good sausage, Italy for food in general, Port from Portugal, and France for (something) if you ever think that may be your thing. My satellite dish is pointed at Astra 2E, and I don't pay any tax for watching the TV. It's not true bliss, but it ain't the shitshow that the UK has turned into.
I'm still fond of my homeland of Canada. Australia seems moderately sane, too.
There aren't too many other parts of the world that aren't in a screaming match politically nowadays. Even here in Canada there are perpetual shouting matches and blame gaming between the two major parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives (whose policies bear no resemblance to their UK counterparts.)
There are a few European countries that seem pretty reasonable socially, but they've got the tightest of immigration requirements and restrictions because lots of people want in.
I think your government is in for a 2 year term. The UK economy is in dire enough straits that no politician is going to be able to turn things around in the 2 years before an election because the problems are global in nature. But the voting public is too brain damaged to understand the concept of things that are beyond the control of a nation or its government; they demand that the government perform a miracle and save their bacon.
So you'll have a new government in 2 years, guaranteed. This one is guaranteed to be hated because of the global issues facing everyone.
By 50% to 22%, Britons are disappointed rather than pleased that Liz Truss is the new prime minister.
I've just read through reams of guff in the mail and telegraph following her not as triumphant as expected victory : apparently Johnson was brilliant and we must all be grateful for the many fantastic things he did, whilst at the same time Truss must now ditch most of what the previous 3 Tory governments did because it was disastrous and do radically different things instead. And she was in all 3 of those governments.
Apparently Rees Mogg will be minister for business, so maybe he'll advise us all to move to Dublin because that's where he moved his business after the Brexit vote. But then again John Redwood is supposed to be coming back from his crypt into government, so we won't have to experience it all for very long, as we'll have all soon joined the ranks of the undead.
Which means he's moved at least some of his business to Dublin. So that's all right then.
But why did JRM do that? If Brexit was going to be as wonderful as he claimed, JRM would have had no need to set up a fund based in the EU because that would have made no business sense.
It's even more ironic that he's deliberately embracing "Brussels red tape and regulation" in preference to Littlle England's dumpster fire of the same. Remember he kept claiming breaking free of pesky Brussels bureaucracy would be good for British business. Though it's clearly not been so good for his British business.
It's the height of hypocrisy for JRM to say one thing and do the very opposite. It's even more repellent that he's chosen to trade freely with the EU after taking such a leading role to ensure it would be difficult/impossible for many thousands of UK businesses (like mine) to continue doing that.
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I'm slightly puzzled by all these cries of despair. Were you hoping Rishi would win ?
Given the choice, there wasn't going to be a good outcome.
Both options were members of a failing cabinet, and both were members of a party which for a long time believed Boris was their best member.
And the same selection process that produced Boris has produced Truss. Why would it do better this time ?
>Given the choice, there wasn't going to be a good outcome.
Was rather hoping for the more traditional "Gatorade Punchbown" ending to a cult
>the same selection process that produced Boris has produced Truss. Why would it do better this time ?
Given a choice between a woman and brown chappie, neither of whom went to Eton, I hoped that they would all give up.
>Given a choice between a woman and brown chappie, neither of whom went to Eton, I hoped that they would all give up.
Unlike Labour, Conservatives see people of all sexes and races as equals. That's why they've consistently produced the most diverse cabinets in history and had three female prime ministers. Meanwhile, Labour have yet to even allow a woman to lead them in opposition, much less a vaguely brown person. It's all head pats but, when it comes down to the wire, they expect the poor darlings to accept the crumbs they've been thrown and let their benevolent masters lead.
They backed Kemi because as a racist she provides the legitamacy that racists grave, "see a black woman agree with us, so we're not racist".
<blockquote>Far-right group Britain First has urged supporters to back “anti-woke” Tory leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch in the race to become prime minister.
Britain First – which has been described as a “fascist” political group though it has denied such claims – endorsed Badenoch after the results of the third round of Conservative leadership voting Monday (18 July).
The group claimed in a press release it had “thousands” of members who joined the Tories to “help Boris Johnson win the previous election” in 2019, according to screenshots shared online by Guardian political correspondent Aubrey Allegretti.
Britain First said these “members/infiltrators” have now been “instructed” to vote for Badenoch because she is the only “anti-woke” candidate. The group called other election candidates Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt and Liz Truss – who are the current frontrunners – the “liberal wing” of the Conservative Party.
</blockquote>
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/07/19/kemi-badenoch-britain-first-tory-leadership-race/
Were that story to have any credibility (and if there are indeed 5000 Britain First members in the Conservative Party) those members would surely then have voted for Sunak not Truss anyway.
No, the simple truth is that Badenoch is popular because of her politics and competence, not because of her skin colour or gender.
Why do some people find it so hard to believe that other people aren't racist?
Because they (the 'some people') themselves are bigoted, and they assume that everyone else is as bigoted as they are.
Ahh, a very feeble attempt at deflection.
If you really don't believe that immigration was one of the motivations for many people voting for Brexit then you are totally deluded.
But I am pleased that it has backfired on them.
Or that racism is present, public and obvious to all conscious people, some people of conscience are prepared to admit it exists, and try to ameilorate the corrosive influence racism and racists have on the world.
I can't imagine why some people would take exception to being discouraged from discriminating against other people /s
I love your touching faith that the far right would have voted for the brown man.
Sunak tried to be racist but his heart was never in it, Kemi speaks from the empty heart.
Racists expect someone to commit, and Sunak was never going to be white or racist enough for the narrow minded that make up the Tories electoral base.
"Why do some people find it so hard to believe that other people aren't racist?"
Very true. Just because people on the right use and post racist tropes, memes, talking-points and dog-whistling they are not necessarily racists themselves. They could be just race-baiters. Or just really nasty arseholes. We should not pre-judge them.
However, many right-wing Brexiteers* are top notch race-baiters. And others really are out-and-out "send 'em home" racists. So the massive upswing in non-white immigration into the UK post Brexit fantastic. And it is absolutely joyful to behold the racist end of the brexit voter* spectrum's bewilderment at this, after being told they had "won". :-)
*We must differentiate between the hardcore Brexit driving, Brexit funding, campaigning Brexit elite and their hangers-on vs ordinary every-day people who just voted for Brexit.
Let's be honest we're not talking the sharpest tools in the drawer here.
I'd be amazed if they bothered to attempt to vote, simply chucking a few quid to the the Tories in the membership fee being sufficient support for Boris. Let's also be clear this is a publicity stunt to attract members to their organization seeking to legitimate themselves somewhat in the eyes of the credulous cohort they represent.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/28/britain-first-far-right-members-5000-have-joined-tories
<blockquote>
Britain First’s spokeswoman, Ashlea Simon, who was among senior figures recently investigated by counter-terrorism police, said: “We will support a party that is willing to take a firm stance against radical Islam and it looks like the Tories are willing to do that.”
Days after his election victory, Johnson dropped a promised inquiry into levels of Islamophobia within the Conservative party and was accused of “rewarding racism” after Zac Goldsmith, who allegedly exploited anti-Muslim prejudices during the 2016 London mayoral campaign, was given a life peerage and kept on as an environment minister despite losing his Commons seat.
Simon added that Johnson’s hardline response to November’s London Bridge terror attack corroborated the notion he would be firm on the issue. “The majority of our followers appreciate [home secretary] Priti Patel’s and Boris Johnson’s hardline approach,” said Simon, who was questioned under terrorism laws at Heathrow airport last October after a trip to Russia.
Simon said Britain First members wanted to form a movement of far-right activists within the Conservative party that would back Johnson in the same way supporters of Momentum joined Labour to solidify Jeremy Corbyn’s grip on the party.
The mass defection of Britain First supporters confirms the backing of Johnson by far-right figures following his election triumph.
</blockquote>
Tue. But the main point is, despite her early background, she's yet another Oxford PPE grad.
I'd like to think she might have a little more empathy with the majority of British people due to her background, but I suspect the circles she's' moved in since Oxford and her performance in government roles in recent years say not.
So is this the timeline?
1) Graduated with a degree in PPE from Oxford,
2) Born in Oxford
3) Moved to Scotland
4) Moved to Leeds.
Very precocious.
Where she was born or moved to before she left her parents care was not in her control... and you missed out a brief period living in Canada - if Wikipedia is to be believed.
A Racist married a millionaire and was placed into a safe seat where a donkey could win provided the correct colour rosette adorned its hindquarters.
They repeated the trick with May.
Labour had harmful Harriet Harman as caretaker leader. <blockquote>Upon defeat at the 2010 general election, Brown resigned as party leader and Harman, as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, became Acting Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition until Ed Miliband was elected leader.</blockquote>
> Given a choice between a woman and brown chappie, neither of whom went to Eton, I hoped that they would all give up.
How sad to know that racism and sexism and still endemic in the UK. Maybe next century you'll grow up, or maybe all the old farts who think that way just have to die off before society can change for the better. :(
Hadn't even been announced as winner yesterday but she was the "victim" of "anti-Tory bias" on the BBC. Apparently Joe Lycett's dead-on impression of someone very right-wing was too on the nose for the Mail especially.
Anyway, she's only a caretaker till the next election, assuming of course that Labour don't manage to shoot themselves in the foot again. And again. And again.
There is one good thing about the US political system, the 2 terms and you're done rule. Party too long in Government and they get a choice between Truss and Sunak, and the people get no choice at all.
If you mean making Labour an unelectable Tory-lite sewer where the racists on the NEC attack a Jewish woman for being elected to the NEC, saying her election as a Jewish leftwing woman is a act of anti-Jewish racism.
Near bankrupting the party, loosing 100k members, and being castigated by the Forde report for 'hierarchy of racism' https://tribunemag.co.uk/2022/07/forde-report-hierarchy-racism-labour-party
Sure Keith is your fully paid up apartheid apologist member of the trilateral commission.
If "IT" means an electable alternative to the neo-liberal rule where we are all condemned to be unable to run independent business (IR35) travel freely (Brexit) and access public services without being a mortgage - no Keith is not your guy.
Keith is Bozo with a comb and less morals, remember Bozo never pretended he wasn't a racist incompentant arsehole who wrote a racist book (72 virgins) about Jews controlling the media,
<blockquote>hese are passages from Boris Johnson's novel "72 Virgins" - as we see the character's claim in the first quote that the media is run by a "Jewish cabal" who manipulate voting and statistics seems to be confirmed as the author's own view in the second quote</blockquote>
https://twitter.com/davidgraeber/status/1204371273675132928?lang=en
Ah you were doing so well, and then you fall into the old trap of condemning Starmer for not being Corbyn.
Shame about the ECHR report into labour under Corbyn, really. If you want to look at a party shooting itself int he foot, you have a great example of the left wing of Labour constantly whining on about Starmer, constantly denigrating him. Party unity is required to win elections, surely labour realises that by now?
It is, but the nature of US politics also means that effectively the whole administration goes, and they also have a huge tendency towards flip-flopping between the 2 big parties.
In the UK, even if the "Government" changes, huge numbers of civil servants and permanent under-secretaries etc stay in-post, which means the same idiots giving the same useless advice, just to a different bunch of useless politicians.
I've certainly not had enough of genuine experts, although there are plenty around who claim to be experts and are clearly not.
The unchanging civil service behind government is a large part of why things generally don't change though, new administrations come in promising big things and it's the same advisors behind the scenes. IR35 for example is one that is often discussed on these pages, it's been 22 years of a piece of legislation that is by no stretch of the imagination fit for purpose. It's survived through 2 Labour and 4 Conservative PMs and a host of chancellors.
IR35 was pushed by the big outsourcing companies that want to charge a 1500 a day for some not worth that sum of money.
Freelancers charging a lot less money with higher skill levels ate their lunch, and so they donated first to Blair and then to the Tories who completed the deal.
Bluntly the ability to earn a living without 10% for the big guy is frowned upon, naff all to do with civil service.
One of the great "could have beens". Labour was on course to trounce the Tories already when Smith suddenly passed away, but somehow the subsequent success of Blair was spun as solely a reflection of his policies. Little did we know at the time that he was a born again Catholic nutjob with an ego the size of Saturn and a messiah complex.
Agreed John Smith would probably have been a successful PM and good for the country.
Please can we bin the ridiculous phrase 'passed away'. He died. Rather sooner than was expected - but he died. We will all do it eventually - except possibly AMFM1.
Curiously I know exactly of who you speak.
And yes tha is one British histories great "What if...." questions.
I saw about 10 mins of the Johnson's farewell speech and thought "Started with bu***hit, ended with more bu***hit." "50Gw of offshore wind power (when it's blowing at the right leve, otherwise 50Gw of gas turbine to start up, and feed). "
Hoped for better.
Not worth the wait.
And so "Will the real Ms Truss please stand up?"
Why am I hearing the words "Now the Cobra will reveal itself" in my head?
There was a cute wee blonde bairn on Scottish TV told that the new PM had went to her Paisley primary school. She shouted out, "I want to be Prime Minister!"
And all of Scotland wished she was. I can't guess her policies but less homework and longer play breaks sounds fine.
"been on any good ferries lately?"
No, not for years. Certainly not since Westminster allowed P&O to sack all the competent British staff and hire foreigners on a pittance.
The Scottish government just froze public and private rent increases though, so how is it for you - lived in any good homeless hostels recently?
We were planning on borrowing your aircraft carrier -- you know, the one without aircraft so of little other practical use. But as it turns out, it doesn't even go. Tory economics. How's that working out for you down there? I suppose you can hope it'll at least float on the sea of turds you're flushing directly into the sea.
"Edinburgh council is run by a Tory-Labour coalition."
True, and that is where the bin strikes started, but Edinburgh Council isn't directly responsible themselves only. It's a national things through COSLA, which is why the bin strikes have spread so widely.
We'll all be made to work like China now as she appears to think we don't work hard enough and should work "more like China". She appears to not understand that China is the way it is because Winnie the Pooh loves to use slave labour.
So expect longer hours at work, no more unions as she'll make them illegal and no more workers rights. Extreme? Yes, but then she is shit & still thinks Bojo is great.
I dont want her support.
In any case, I wouldn't be surprised if her first policy was to do away with the energy price cap and let the energy companies charge what they like.
That way all the poor people and pensioners will die of hypothermia this winter because they cant afford heating thus shortening the NHS waiting lists and cutting benefit costs.
2 birds with 1 stone as it were
As long as you kill 1/4 of them in safe seats you're fine.
Ideally you kill more of the other lot's pensioners than your own. That's easier if your own pensioners are richer and live in the warmer south
The real problem is that red-wall Tories might be at risk from too many dead poor pensioners in the North.
Perhaps a targeted program of tactical lagging ?
Don't worry they'll kill a whole load of pensioners down south too, don't forget half the care home staff have left and the rest can't afford to get to work so will be a heck of a lot of conservative voters dying everywhere as they'll have inadequate care.
Maybe more accurately "Wealthy pensioners are one of the major Tory heartlands".
The 'electorate' that brought in the 'pryminister' are not Conservative voters - they're a tiny minority of them - just signed up fee paying Conservative party members. That pretty much distinguishes them from the majority of said voters by putting them firmly in the upper income bracket and therefore, if retired, recipients of large pensions. Consequently they quite possibly don't consider others (even Conservative others) as significant.
"let the energy companies charge what they like."
Except the energy companies that have the cap aren't the ones making vast profits, unfortunately. They are simply passing on the outrageous costs they incur from the energy generators like BP, Shell etc. But of course, the government won't touch their profits.
>He has more chance of becoming US President than a Brit had of becoming Eu president.
I thought BoJo could probably get Trump's backing for that venture... But as you observe, that is not impossible and does not have the comic appeal of Boris standing for EU president.
So if Truss wants to be Thatcher she just has to wait for Labour to build lots of council houses in London. Sell them off to the tenants for pennies, have them become fantastically rich on house price rises and give all the credit to her.
It's not the least credible plan in the last 12years
If you hadn't posted the link, it would have been hard to guess who made that remarkably stupid comment. There are far too many clueless idiots currently/recently in high office to choose from: Truss, Priti Vacant, Mad Nad, BoJo, JRM, Badenough, Braverman, Cleverly (nominative determinism passed him by),Gove, Grayling, Shapps, Hancock, etc.
This is people being childish and inferring a meaning to suit their agenda.
In fact drone dogs are already used in other countries against smugglers using drones. They are trained to use their hearing to detect the drones, they hear better than humans, and bark an alert. At some point a drone has to make its delivery and the dogs intercept it, and scare of the intended recipient. So it’s reasonable to explore the idea to prevent drone use for smuggling into prisons.
She hasn’t made it up, civil servants have been asked to do research on the problem and report back possible solutions learned from elsewhere in the world. She has been briefed on these.
"Technology can be our competitive advantage if we grow trust, particularly in online safety and digital privacy...."
Which is, of course, why the amendments to UK data protection legislation proposed in the current bill that received its second reading yesterday (and incidentally requires both javascript and obligatory but unspecified cookies to access it - without providing information about or seeking consent for the latter), is hell bent on reducing obligations to data subjects from the current specifics to a set of locally defined generalities. It will also remove the requirement for an unbiased expert to oversee data protection within organisations, replacing the role of the statutorily independent DPO with that of a "responsible person" with explicit interest in the organisation's aims (by virtue of being an executive) but not requiring any specific expertise in data protection in principle or the legislation itself.
Whether or not "digital privacy" will be maintained (let alone improved) remains to be seen but what's clearly missing is any reference to the rights and freedoms of data subjects. In effect the proposed legislation amends the definition of privacy. From being the right to be in control of who makes use of one's personal data and for what purposes, the changes essentially reduce it to mere confidentiality. Thus the proposed legislation modifies what is currently human rights law into data law that largely ignores those rights. In addition, it introduces massive a amount of subjectivity that will allow those using our personal data for profit huge latitude to do what they wish with it, as it hands many of the decisions as to the legitimacy of processing to those with a vested interest in that processing.
I have been in quite extensive communication with DCMS on these issues, and as usual one never gets a straight or informative response to any specific question or issue raised. It would seem that the proposed legislation is firmly aimed at "liberalising" in the interest of corporate advantage, regardless of the human rights of data subjects, who are apparently to be considered as mere commodities to be traded for profit.
The same people elected her, the same people are backing her, the same puppeteers are pulling her strings, so the only changes are how the puppet looks and sounds. I'll wait and see what her cabinet looks like and see if she does anything that might benefit anyone other than the already rich, but I'm not holding my breath and fully expect it to be business as usual.
@Dan 55
"I'd like to hear codejunky's solution first."
This is a supply issue. First we are funnelling money into low/unreliable supply and we need a secure supply of gas. First thing is to not shut down our available coal, we need the electricity supply. Remove the green levy on energy bills and they come down a little already but fracking must be explored if we wish to keep gas going.
In the longer term abandoning ditching of fossil fuel targets will make it attractive to build gas storage and building some actual power generation from whatever supply we are willing to build but it must be cheap and plentiful electricity.
Brought to you by NetZeroWatch (In association with Fossil Fuel dark money.)
Link to the Source Material by NetZeroWatch/Tim Worstall that it's been cribbed from. (PDF Download)
"This is a supply issue... we wish to keep gas going."
No, we don't wish to keep gas going if there's a supply issue, that's just postponing the inevitable and a recipe for continued unsustainable energy costs in the future.
Also, UK energy producers are forecast to make excess profits of £170bn. Windfall tax that, allow them to keep the profits they were perfectly fine with before, and use that excess profit to hold energy bills down and accellerate other sources of energy. That way the state is not in hock to energy producers for all perpituity.
But as it seems you've cribbed Tim Worst-all's back-to-front homework, I guess you think that this perfectly obvious solution is unreasonable and being in hock to fossil fuel energy interests is a wonderful thing.
@Dan 55
I suggest if your going to quote me you dont miss out the meaning. Your quote "we wish to keep gas going." yet what you are quoting is "if we wish to keep gas going". That single word 'if' matters because it changes from me making a statement to me asking the question.
You dont have to agree with me, you literally asked to hear my solution. My solution is pretty simple, generate electricity and provide enough gas to keep people alive and well.
"No, we don't wish to keep gas going if there's a supply issue, that's just postponing the inevitable and a recipe for continued unsustainable energy costs in the future."
There is a supply issue why not resolve the problem by increasing the supply? It is there, we are choosing not to access it.
"Also, UK energy producers are forecast to make excess profits of £170bn."
Will they or is that projected? Why is that? And is that bad? This comes back to supply and the security of the supply.
"Windfall tax that, allow them to keep the profits they were perfectly fine with before, and use that excess profit to hold energy bills down and accellerate other sources of energy"
So we should increase tax on suppliers when we want them to invest in more supply... to artificially reduce the price of energy bills causing greater use of the limited supply? While I agree with other sources of energy I am not sure we agree on the types of energy generation.
"But as it seems you've cribbed Tim Worst-all's back-to-front homework, I guess you think that this perfectly obvious solution is unreasonable and being in hock to fossil fuel energy interests is a wonderful thing."
Not sure why you feel you need to cry and throw your toys. Clean yourself up, wipe your eyes and come back when your feeling a little calmer and more mature.
My solution is pretty simple, generate electricity and provide enough gas to keep people alive and well.
We hold these three truths to be self-evident:
1. Gas supply is low and currently comes from unstable countries. Any proposal to try and find more sources of gas is merely flogging a dead horse as it is a finite resource close to being exhausted anyway.
2. By now energy producers should have divested away from unreliable sources and they haven't.
3. Energy producers are charging energy suppliers record high bills to generate record excess profits. Clearly energy suppliers are acting as gatekeepers and profiting from it.
This can be fixed by:
1. Investing in non-gas energy sources on energy producers' behalf if they won't do it themselves. That means no further gas and also no further fossil fuels, because both are evolutionary dead ends. We choose not to access these because in two or three decades we'll be in the same position again.
2. Changing the energy market so it doesn't follow gas spot prices so suppliers pay less to producers.
3. Any loan from the state/taxpayer bailout to lower bills is just passing on the wealth of the nation to energy producers who will just add it to their profit line, and taxpayers will be left with a loan to pay off which is completely the wrong course of action. Taxing energy producers excess profits and using it to hold customers and business' energy bills down at no cost to the nation or to taxpayers is the right way to do things.
Other quotes:
Will they or is that projected? Why is that? And is that bad? This comes back to supply and the security of the supply.
It is bad because they are tanking the economy in pursuit of their own profits. This is not a true free market and if no action were taken then the UK would get plunged into recession.
So we should increase tax on suppliers when we want them to invest in more supply... to artificially reduce the price of energy bills causing greater use of the limited supply? While I agree with other sources of energy I am not sure we agree on the types of energy generation.
They've already had the chance to invest knowing supply is limited and they've screwed up, instead they've decided to profit from the current scarcity. There should be no qualms about relieving them of their excess profits which comes from end customers bills going through the roof, they need to learn that this course of action isn't profitable.
@Dan 55
"We hold these three truths to be self-evident:
1. Gas supply is low and currently comes from unstable countries. Any proposal to try and find more sources of gas is merely flogging a dead horse as it is a finite resource close to being exhausted anyway."
Agreed it currently comes from unstable countries. This is of course a choice and we have a ready stable supply available to us that we choose not to extract. Since we currently have a lot of gas generation we do, at least in the short term, need gas.
"2. By now energy producers should have divested away from unreliable sources and they haven't."
By unreliable do you mean unreliables (wind/solar)? To run those required gas generation so if your not a fan of that I agree as I would prefer gas to mostly be piped to where it is used.
"3. Energy producers are charging energy suppliers record high bills to generate record excess profits. Clearly energy suppliers are acting as gatekeepers and profiting from it."
The price of energy has gone up. It was going up before the invasion, it is going up after the invasion.
"This can be fixed by:
1. Investing in non-gas energy sources on energy producers' behalf if they won't do it themselves. That means no further gas and also no further fossil fuels, because both are evolutionary dead ends."
This is where I think we disagree. We cant move on from fossil fuel until we have an alternative. Nuclear is an alternative if thats what you mean but cheap and plentiful energy is necessary for civilisation.
"2. Changing the energy market so it doesn't follow gas spot prices so suppliers pay less to producers."
This is where I would strongly consider fracking and keeping the gas for domestic use, at least in the short term to keep the lights on. Beyond that I dont excessively care where the energy comes from as long as its cheap and plentiful.
"3. Any loan from the state/taxpayer bailout to lower bills is just passing on the wealth of the nation to energy producers who will just add it to their profit line, and taxpayers will be left with a loan to pay off which is completely the wrong course of action."
I agree with you on that 100%. Prices exist for a reason and are necessary for markets to react to change.
"Taxing energy producers excess profits and using it to hold customers and business' energy bills down at no cost to the nation or to taxpayers is the right way to do things."
The reason for the profits is due to state idiocy. The state mandated green and left us energy insecure. Again if we use that to artificially drag down the price of energy people will use more of what we dont have. As a supply issue I think the supply needs to be increased.
"It is bad because they are tanking the economy in pursuit of their own profits. This is not a true free market and if no action were taken then the UK would get plunged into recession."
That is true about it not being a true free market. If it was we would see action and we wouldnt have been so heavily reliant on unreliables.
"They've already had the chance to invest knowing supply is limited and they've screwed up, instead they've decided to profit from the current scarcity"
Supply of what is limited? If you mean gas, the gov was promoting fracking (before banning it) because it would allow them to pretend the cost of green was less. Winter demonstrated this isnt a supplier issue but a state issue as coal had to be fired back up over winter to keep lights on which was due to close due to government. Government has mandated we have a lack of supply.
This is where I think we disagree. We cant move on from fossil fuel until we have an alternative. Nuclear is an alternative if thats what you mean but cheap and plentiful energy is necessary for civilisation.
We will not invest in an alternative until we have an alternative? There might be a problem with that plan.
The reason for the profits is due to state idiocy. The state mandated green and left us energy insecure.
To your other point - no, actually Cameron screwed up, then after that Cameron screwed up again, then after that May screwed up. If the country had gone in the opposite direction (nuclear rollout, green rollout, more storage) we wouldn't be in this position.
At every decision Tories gonna Tory. Here's another: the entire energy bill "help" announced by Truss (the little we do know about it - taxpayer giving £120bn to energy producers which no other country is doing as far as I know, every other country has gone the windfall tax route) came about after the wife of a former BP executive donated £100,000 to Truss' campaign.
It stinks to high heaven. The UK is in this position because of wanton incompetence and corruption.
@Dan 55
"We will not invest in an alternative until we have an alternative? There might be a problem with that plan."
That depends what you mean by invest? R&D yes. Deploy something that doesnt work as the forced replacement to what works, terrible idea.
"To your other point - no, actually Cameron screwed up, then after that Cameron screwed up again, then after that May screwed up. If the country had gone in the opposite direction (nuclear rollout, green rollout, more storage) we wouldn't be in this position."
Also before them. Remember Clegg not wanting nuclear, or labour backing out of it.
When you say more storage do you mean of gas or electricity? Electricity storage is still very immature right now. Gas storage is not worth investing in due to the serious anti-fossil fuel rhetoric. It takes decades for it to pay for itself yet politicians are insisting we will stop using them.
"At every decision Tories gonna Tory."
This isnt just a Tory thing, this is politicians. This is the last bunch of governments. Remember the winter fuel allowance brought in to cover up government inflicted damage.
"It stinks to high heaven. The UK is in this position because of wanton incompetence and corruption."
I dont know about the corruption bit, only because I dont think they have the organisational capacity. But I will agree incompetence got us to this point. We should not have energy supply problems.
Deploy something that doesnt work as the forced replacement to what works, terrible idea.
Insulation already works, green already works, nuclear already works, fossil fuels and gas generally do not come from stable countries and have no long-term future.
Also before them. Remember Clegg not wanting nuclear, or labour backing out of it.
Labour signed off on eight reactors before leaving office in 2010.
This isnt just a Tory thing, this is politicians. This is the last bunch of governments.
The last four governments were all Tory in the past 12 years. There is currently one reactor being constructed which will be delivered three years late, two proposals for construction, and three which have been shelved. That's your 12 years work. This on top of "cutting the green crap" and shutting down gas storage so that Centrica could play the middle man.
The preferred solution of the Tories, after lobbying and donations, is more of the same - continue with fossil fuels and gas which are at end of life and give billions in taxpayers' money to legacy energy providers who already have record profits. If that is not open corruption then I don't know what is.
@Dan 55
"Insulation already works, green already works, nuclear already works, fossil fuels and gas generally do not come from stable countries and have no long-term future."
Insulation works to a point. We are pretty much at that point. Due to how buildings have been made historically we are limited in how far this can go without creating mushroom farms or tear down vast quantities of housing and rebuild.
Green works is an odd statement as its an umbrella of technology from burning wood chips imported from the US (and Russia so I hear), wind and solar (which dont work) and arguments if nuclear is green. There is obviously a lot more such as hydro and so on so not all green works and has various problems for implementation and definition.
Nuclear works but takes a decade plus to deploy (hence Clegg rejecting nukes 10 years ago as it would only be online this year being notable but labour refused to get on with it before then). There are discussions about types of nukes and waste which are again political problems which can be dealt with fairly easily providing even more power.
Fossil fuels and gas coming from unstable countries is by choice. We have gas, we have coal, we have oil. Also it is worth noting the lack of Russian gas is because the west chose to reject it (sanctions) which has the unfortunate consequence of China and India buying it then reselling to us at mark up prices.
"Labour signed off on eight reactors before leaving office in 2010."
In their entire 13 years in office not a single nuclear power station had started construction. Not one. Add that to 12 years of Tories where no new plants have been completed and we have a problem.
"The last four governments were all Tory in the past 12 years."
And before that 13 years of labour, and not one of those a coalition. This isnt one or the other, both failed. The failure wasnt over the last decade, we have mismanagement for 2 decades at least. Money for power generation has been put into monuments to a sky god that increased our dependence on gas while reliable power generation was allowed to fall. We have targets to reduce Co2 and use more electricity (cars) but without the technology nor supply nor infrastructure to support it.
"The preferred solution of the Tories, after lobbying and donations, is more of the same - continue with fossil fuels and gas which are at end of life and give billions in taxpayers' money to legacy energy providers who already have record profits. If that is not open corruption then I don't know what is."
Again you say tories, I point out governments for over 20 years. Look at what happened in Germany, push to green and ended up subsidising fossil fuels just to keep the lights on. Ridiculous amounts of money given to the green madness and we are now wondering where that money is. We will reject fossil fuels but are so dependent on them for electricity because it actually works (especially gas right now). We even have governments trying to close coal power plants while showing an absolute need to keep them running (winter).
@Dan 55
Just to continue the problem with defining 'green'-
Few realize that the majority of renewable energy the EU counts toward its legislated targets is from burning wood, which, per unit energy, emits more carbon pollution at the smokestack than burning coal.
https://www.politico.eu/article/the-eu-climate-energy-crisis-renewable-energy-must-stop-burning-trees/
"Energy producers are charging energy suppliers record high bills to generate record excess profits. Clearly energy suppliers are acting as gatekeepers and profiting from it."
No, that makes no sense. Energy suppliers are passing on at east *some* of their costs to the consumer - businesses with uncapped energy costs are paying full price. Energy *producers* are making the huge profits, not the suppliers - they aren't profiting from it, most of the surviving ones run at about 5% profit at the best of times.
What I wonder, seriously, is how any PM manages to get through the incredible confusion of competing claims on their attention and concentrate on any one problem long enough to make a decision or get anything done. It must be like being in sole charge of home for cats comprising one enormous room and no litter trays.
She has promised a reduction in taxes (at least mainly removal of the rise in NI contributions) and seems perfectly happy that tax reductions benefit the better off more than the poor, and also some major announcement on the cost of living / energy costs in the next few days.
I just hope that the enormity of the current situation is enough to persuade her that party dogma is not going to be adequate and she has to do things that will actually benefit people now, rather than at some indeterminate time in the future.
We will just have to wait and see. (Fingers crossed.)
What I wonder, seriously, is how any PM manages to get through the incredible confusion of competing claims on their attention and concentrate on any one problem long enough to make a decision or get anything done.
Not to worry, the PM has a cabinet of competent ministers they can delegate problems to.
You mean like Jacob Rees-Mogg, the new Business secretary, who thinks that British workers need more 'graft' (despite having six children himself and being proud that he has never changed a nappy)?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-62802807
From: https://www.theguardian.com/global/2022/sep/06/record-of-climate-denialism-indicates-how-rees-mogg-will-handle-energy-brief
"An investor in oil and coal mining through Somerset Capital Management, the fund management firm he co-founded and still benefits from financially, Rees-Mogg has many times voiced climate denialism – even to the extent of misrepresenting climate science. In 2014, he told Chat Politics that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had found efforts to stop climate change would only work in the very long term.
He claimed: “If you read the IPCC report on [the climate emergency] it said that if you were to take action now to try and stop man-made global warming, it would have no effect for hundreds or possibly a thousand years. I’m all in favour of long-term policymaking but I think that trying to forecast the climate for a thousand years, and what little steps you make now having the ability to change it, is unrealistic. And I think the cost of it is probably unaffordable.”
In fact, the IPCC found that efforts to stop burning fossil fuels now were essential, and failure to do so would have an impact lasting thousands of years."
So I expect that we can 'look forward' some 'independent thinking'* when it comes to promoting 'new technology' in British business. But of course he will be completely objective, despite the enormous conflict of interests he has...
God help us all.
* A euphemism for thought independent of relevant facts.
"promised a reduction in taxes (at least mainly removal of the rise in NI contributions) and seems perfectly happy that tax reductions benefit the better off more than the poor"
I don't know the exact details of what is being proposed, but generally speaking, NI is disproportionately levied on lower-income earners. So rolling back a rise in NI contributions would benefit the poor. Although frankly I would completely scrap NI (being a tax almost exclusively on workers) and VAT (which as a consumption tax disproportionately targets lower and middle class spenders rather than rich investors), and roll it all up into a universal income tax (which includes as a tax base all income including capital gains and dividends, and treats it all equally)
The increase in NI of 1.25% was offset by an increase in the earning threshold before you start to pay it. That means that anybody earning under (around) £35k/year enjoyed a net reduction in NI, everybody earning more than that paid more.
There was a period (April to July) in which the 1.25% was applied but the threshold hadn't risen.
However, removing the 1.25% NI rise will reduce tax paid by all people earning above the threshold, not just those on £35k or more. What I wouldn't say is that it benefits them. It penalises them less.
The idea of a single 'universal' income tax has appeal - I'm assuming 'universal' in this context does not extend beyond our borders.
I think the complex rules have their origins in trying to encourage certain behaviours. So, there's a threshold before you have to pay capital gains tax, a threshold before you have to pay tax on interest, you can only put up to a certain amount into a pension tax-free. Because many of these behaviours are exploited by wealthier people the thresholds themselves have been made more complicated with different tax thresholds and rates depending on our main income tax brackets.
A single income tax with pre-established rules for distribution to the spending departments and regions would be easier for people to understand and to know what they're paying for and/or voting for.
I'm with you on reducing or eliminating VAT on basic goods but see a virtue in taxing the purchase of elective/luxury goods.
The situation where we get taxed multiple times (fuel 'duty' applied and then VAT on the resulting price is the obvious example) is iniquitous.
It's amazing. Someone is going through these comments and downvoting every single one that dares to suggest our glorious unelected PM is likely to be less useful than a chocolate teapot. How can anyone actually think that what the tories have done to the UK in the last decade or so is in any way beneficial to anyone but a tiny number of already very wealthy individuals, or that Truss will be even faintly different? She is a Johnson clone (no doubt those same people think he was hard done by, he only broke the law a bit, after all) - her political affiliation changes with the wind of personal opportunity. She has no moral stance, no ethical viewpoint. All she cares about is herself.
"our glorious unelected PM"
If you think a UK PM is elected, than you don't understand the UK political system. No PM is elected as PM because no one votes for a PM . Votes are cast for an MP. One MP from the winning party gets to be PM.
Sadly, thanks to the swamping of UK news with US political stories and the "americanisation" of UK political campaigning, many voters do actually seem to think they are voting for a PM and not a local MP.
"many voters do actually seem to think they are voting for a PM and not a local MP"
In practice, that's what most do: they support a party, they know which PM will be chosen by the winning party, and they vote for a local MP from this party in order to get their PM of choice. Very few (citation needed) vote for an MP based on their only merits as a local politician.
Well described, and that's a problem I've often had with our election process in the UK. In a general election I vote only for my local MP, whichever party's candidate wins, that party gets a point in the national competition and whichever party wins that chooses it's MP to become PM (chosen publicly well in advance as party leader).
I've often had the case where I'd like one party to rule the country but another party's candidate as my local MP, but I can't split my vote.
"If you think a UK PM is elected, than you don't understand the UK political system"
Got to love people whose first response is to try to be condescending...
I understand it perfectly well, thankyou. However, PMs are effectively elected by the voters; they are the face of government, they make the promises, etc etc. When was the last time we had a bald PM? People seem to care what they look like, or what they believe their policies are, and thus vote for that nice Mr Johnson, ooh we don't want that Corbyn.....
What we have yet again is a PM who has risen (much like pond scum) to the top through no discernable talent whatsoever. Nobody voted for a tory government led by Truss. New PM should = general election.
Mooseman: "How can anyone actually think that what the tories have done to the UK in the last decade or so is in any way beneficial to anyone but a tiny number of already very wealthy individuals, or that Truss will be even faintly different?"
They know, that is what they want. In the USA, some quite poor people voted for tax cuts for the wealthy because they believe that is how the country should be run.
There are people in the UK who believe in a 'low tax' economy with low government spending, who do not realise that the economy can be just as stimulated by government spending as by private spending, with the exception that government spending can generally be used to buy things that will genuinely benefit the general population (such as investing in public infrastructure).
We will soon discover how accurately your assessment describes the new PM.
There are people in the UK who believe in a 'low tax' economy with low government spending, who do not realise that the economy can be just as stimulated by government spending as by private spending, with the exception that government spending can generally be used to buy things that will genuinely benefit the general population (such as investing in public infrastructure).
I don't believe that government spending of my tax money efficiently stimulates the economy. I also think it rarely benefits the general population.
see: https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/06/public_sector_procurement_times/ - and yes I know that's mostly about USAians.
Yes, I'm one who believes we should have a small government and civil service - as efficient as possible. I'm seriously disappointed by recent governments.
"I don't believe that government spending of my tax money efficiently stimulates the economy. I also think it rarely benefits the general population."
There are ways to get out of recession - one is to stimulate the economy, get people spending, create jobs and thus creating actual wealth.
The other way is the Tory way - cut services to the bone, implement austerity, drive people further and further into poverty while the wealthy accrue even more money.
One of these methods works. Can you guess which one?
The government haven't spent your tax to stimulate anything but their own wealth.
@Mooseman
"There are ways to get out of recession - one is to stimulate the economy, get people spending, create jobs and thus creating actual wealth."
Stimulating an economy and creating actual wealth (productivity) was hit by lockdowns and restrictions and printing money while stopping people from producing. So stimulating the economy would in that case be for the gov to spend less and get out of the way.
"The other way is the Tory way - cut services to the bone, implement austerity, drive people further and further into poverty while the wealthy accrue even more money."
Implement austerity when? I remember the Tories talking about austerity, then they continued to increase spending. What services will be cut to the bone? The public service is forever expanding and yet the service to the public sucks. Not defending the Tories here because they are not implementing austerity since they have been blowing out the deficit no better than Labour did.
"The government haven't spent your tax to stimulate anything but their own wealth."
They havnt even been spending the tax money but borrowing incredibly as well.
"quite poor people voted for tax cuts for the wealthy because they believe that is how the country should be run."
The same kind of people here that vote tory again and again, despite their increasingly dire circumstances that the tories have caused. They believe in the trickle down policies that the tories espouse, despite it never having worked except for the few very wealthy individuals t the top.