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Posts Tagged ‘UK’

It was inevitable and the markets have already priced in the rate cut months ago.

But losing the prized AAA rating is the least of our worries; debt is over £1 trillion and Sterling is in free fall. Government spending is still increasing and the Coalition are failing to insure Britain can live within her means. The downgrade will have little or no affect on interest rates due to the Bank of England being the majority holder of the national debt. This will not become an issue until the central bank has to sell its holdings back to the market.

Then the shock will hit and Sterling could possibly be destroyed.

Our deficit is not the real problem; it’s the government naively increasing debt and hoping to inflate the problem away. It has not occurred because the Eurozone has collapsed. The BoE planned to use inflation to deal with the size of the national debt, which is a clandestine partial default. Nobody expected a deflationary depression and Britain becoming the 21st Century Japan.

But it has happened.

Now the markets are telling us to stop spending . We have no choice, but to listen. The downgrade will force the hand of the Treasury to do what must be done. Parliament now has to address the economic reality; there are many pleasures that we, as a country, can no longer afford.

And we cannot simply tax the problem, either. This debt was accumulated, over a decade, without our consent; the taxpayer should not be held responsible because the government cannot control its spending. Why should we be made to suffer? This problem began in 2002, when the debt fueled boom was born. The boom turned into an economic nuclear bomb.
Now, in 2013, we are left with £1 trillion debt and a fractured financial system, partly owned by the taxpayer. A morally and financially inept health care system, expensive welfare state and a corrupt political franchise. In other words, the real downgrade occurred many years ago.

 

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As I wrote last year, any taxation on fizzy drinks would be a tax on the poor. But, yet again, Doctors are demanding a tax on fizzy drinks and more draconian actions:

Doctors today demanded a 20 per cent tax on fizzy drinks and a ban on fast-food outlets near schools to tackle Britain’s obesity problem.

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has drawn up an action plan in response to the UK’s current status as the fat man of Europe.

It added that councils should limit the number of fast food outlets allowed to operate near schools, colleges, leisure centres and other places where children gather.

You cannot control what people eat and drink; nor can you force them to change their diets, especially if healthier alternatives are more expensive.  The Academy of Medical Royal College fails to acknowledge that a significant portion of individuals purchase fizzy drinks and fatty foods because it’s what they can only afford. It is a not an arbitrary decision, some families have little or no choice but to buy cheap, low quality and unhealthy food.
It is also absurd to suggest restricting the numbers of fast food outlets near certain public places. Again, the College fails to take into account the numerous jobs fast food outlets provide for the community.
Similar to minimum pricing of alcohol, the majority should not be punished. There is zero justification for increasing the average family food budget to appease a special interest group. Hopefully, the Department of Health will ignore these recommendations and not seek to tax the poorest in society.

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Here is the ultimatum of our camp. What can be smashed must be smashed; whatever will stand the blow is sound, what flies into smithereens is rubbish; at any rate, hit out right and left, no harm will or can come of it.

- Russian Nihilist Dmitri Pisarev

Parliament, government, the police, media, finance, the economy, European Union and the United Nations are all fundamentally broken. This stalemate, this inability to achieve a basic solution to advance individual needs and aspiration is becoming a dangerous roadblock.

The education system is failing to teach basic needs and the NHS is killing us. Whilst wages remain stagnate, or shrinking, MP’s awarded themselves a pay rise. Nobody bothers to vote anymore, yet political parties claim to speak for the majority. Fundamental principles of capitalism have been masqueraded, if not altered, by this alien corporate system (both political and economic).

Britain has become a kleptocracy.

If we’re ever to achieve a new politics and economy, then the current system needs to be destroyed; and on its foundations a democracy built. In the last year, I’ve lost massive faith in politics and the ability of elected officials to do anything remotely beneficial.

We require a new constitutional settlement, but I have little faith in the current attitudes of the majority, who seems quite happy to allow the corruption to continue. Only we can bring change, not those who are apart of the problem.

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Maybe Ed Miliband would like to read this, before insisting on increasing benefit payments

Britain’s social security bill will rise to almost a third of all public spending by 2018, despite the Government’s planned cuts to welfare, an IFS report says.

The think-tank’s Green Budget 2013 warns the Chancellor must set out a “much clearer strategy” on social security spending and tax rises if he is to reduce borrowing in the next parliament.

Whoever wins the next General Election, welfare will have to be reformed (again). And it would be political suicide for a future government to favour increasing taxes to pay for an expensive benefits system; it would be very unpopular.

I find it odd that someone as intelligent as Ed Miliband is suggesting he prefers lower wages for workers and higher benefits payments. The IFS report is quite blunt; we will struggle to afford our current social security system in the long term. Bankrupting the system would have far worse consequences than cutting spending now.

But in fairness to Ed Miliband and Labour, even the Liberal Democrats are being incredibly disingenuous by demanding zero cuts to the welfare budget; it’s going to happen regardless post-2015.

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So much for SDSR and balancing the budget..

Yesterday, a senior Government source said that Prime Minister David Cameron did not “resile” from comments in 2010, when he said that defence spending would rise after 2015.

Responding to a report in The Daily Telegraph, that the comment meant defence spending was protected in the next 2015/16 spending round, the Prime Minister’s spokesman insisted his comments had been misinterpreted.

The very premise of deficit reduction is not ring-fencing or promising expensive areas of expenditure.

The Prime Minister wants to have above inflation defence spending (post-2015), whilst the budget has a overall -8% deficit and national debate of £1 trillion. Yet again, the state cannot live within it means. Oh dear…

 

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Cameron expands Mali operation

The UK is to deploy about 330 military personnel to Mali and West Africa to support French forces, but have assured that none shall be participating in any combat role. Other equipment, including transport planes and drones, will be provided to the French mission.

I cannot help, but conclude this is only the beginning; it’s inevitable Britain will have to become active in combat missions – if the conflict spreads to neighbouring countries. The African Union might struggle alone, even with French leadership.

Cameron agreed to provide training and assistance to Algerian forces, too, which means the British army will be engaged in training missions in another African nation. Not just Mali.

Mission creep is a genuine concern here. Non-combat roles can easily escalate into aggression. We must tread carefully.

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Recall MP’s expenses and the promise of “new politics” and a system to inspire confidence in Parliament. Remember how the Coalition would become the embodiment of it? Well, three years on…

Nothing. Nothing has changed in Parliament or the function of government. Expenses are still dominating the newspapers, along with lobby scandals and abuses of power. The Opposition have no interest in bipartisan support and will try to undermine and force Ministers to resign; the Liberal Democrats have no respect for Cabinet government and Collective Responsibility and Tories fail to remember the ‘freedom’ aspect of the Coalition Agreement.

The establishment is a complete failure; more broken and unproductive than the economy.

It is a lugubrious situation, in which the people have resigned to apathy and contemptuous nonchalance. Nobody cares; and that is the main problem with our politics.

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Two weeks ago one of friends took his own life. Only saw him a few weeks before and there was no signs of potential concerns; we use to cause mischief at school, played football together and was a significant part of my secondary school life. Sadly, when you leave school, life changes  and old friends tend to travel down different paths. Yet we would occasionally encounter each other throughout the years.

Since the tragic events, I cannot help recalling old days from school – to the point my dreams are becoming haunted by them. Tried my absolute hardest to use my philosophical and intuitive nature to understand why he took his life, but I can’t. Suicide is something humans struggle to comprehend and fully understand. The grief has been replaced with guilt and ‘what if?” questions; of course, I don’t have the power to alter time and events.

In 2011, according to the ONS, 6,000 individuals took their own lives. 6,000 men and women, like my friend, decided this world was too much to bear. We need to put faces to those statistics to truly recognise the growing crisis this society is facing; it is a list of people, not numbers.

It will be time for me, soon, to say my final goodbyes to him. The government might see him as a statistic, but I refuse to. He was my friend.

 

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@WilliamsJon

“Dozens” of British military trainers & RAF drones on standby to go to says @thetimes. National Security Council to discuss tomorrow.

 

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[From PoliticsHome]

David Cameron tells MP the United Kingdom should consider arming Syrian rebels in order to ‘shape’ any emerging political settlement.

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