Current Affairs

[Mervyn and Trish]

I'd have preferred they were made to give more back to their customers, why way of interest on savings.

Bleep bleep auto correct. .......by way of.....

[Kendhni]

Kwarteng announces £18bn cuts in public services ... austerity begins (albeit a very small step).

[Kendhni]

I know Dorries isn't the sharpest tack in the box but
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/nadine-dorrie ... 05708.html

I can just about hear the cacophony from her fellow tory members shouting ...
https://www.myinstants.com/en/instant/d ... ooooooooo/

[Onelife]

I may be seeing this through rose tinted glasses but I thought Kwarteng gave a pretty solid performance this afternoon.

He indicated that he would be cutting the red tape which many businesses feel restricts progressive planning…. I can see the downsides to this as jumping over hoops is far more difficult than jumping through them which could allow rules to be relaxed too much …. that being said if you want to get the economy moving you’ve got to remove the obstacles that slows it down.

Moving in the right direction me thinks

[Kendhni]

The problem is that many of the 'obstacles' you mention are workers rights .. the right to holiday, the right to time off, the right to maternity pay, the right to paternity pay, the right to sick leave, lower/removal of minimum wage, lower pay for regions, more zero hour contracts etc. ... not forgetting the regulatory 'obstacles' in relation to Health, social care, treasury, pensions, farming, food safety, environment etc. I fear that Rees-Mogg is desperately trying to take this country back to Victorian times.

On the subject of Rees-Mogg, why is he wasting valuable tax payers time and money on trying to reintroduce imperial measurements when it will put exporters and manufacturing at a disadvantage ... and is something that nobody has actually lobbied for. The survey that his department has come up with is a disgrace to anyone that knows how to carry out surveys. The question asks
“If you had a choice, would you want to purchase items: i) in imperial units ii) in imperial units alongside a metric equivalent.”.
There is no option for metric .. what brain dead moronic t*at thought that could possibly produce an intelligent unbiased informed response?

[towny44]

I wonder why no one is questioning why the reinstatement of a tiny £2bn tax cut for the higher paid has suddenly enabled sterling to regain its losses from the initial financial statement as well as govt borrowing rates to reduce.
Surely it's about time that the g7 countries brought in some tougher financial regulations to prevent the markets from grossly over reacting to govt changes in policy, maybe a vacation in the tower for the worst offenders?

[Onelife]

Hi Ken...We’ve made great strides since the Victorian times but you will be aware that nearly every town in our country now has a food bank giving food to those who think they must have returned to what for them must feel like the Victorian times. You could argue that cutting red tape will make them worse off…I personally don’t see that, what I see is that they are trapped on a vicious circle of circumstances, circumstances brought about by the Ferris wheel economics that will never allow them to get off. If we keep following economic strategies which are not meeting the needs of our country it will ultimately leave us all feeling poorer. I understand what you are saying about workers rights etc but I think what Kwarteng was implying was that he wanted to simplify the bureaucracy that requires so much form filling and the endless compliance of procedures.

I truly am on the side of the poorest in society but in the political system that uses the trickle-down philosophy you either go along with it or you change direction.

[Kendhni]

Hi Ken...We’ve made great strides since the Victorian times but you will be aware that nearly every town in our country now has a food bank giving food to those who think they must have returned to what for them must feel like the Victorian times. You could argue that cutting red tape will make them worse off…I personally don’t see that, what I see is that they are trapped on a vicious circle of circumstances, circumstances brought about by the Ferris wheel economics that will never allow them to get off.

My take on food banks is that they fall into the category of 'build them and they will come' ... while standing outside smoking and playing on their iPhones. They also fall into the category of 'give someone something for free and they put no value on it, they just become dependent on it' ... or the old adage, give a man a fish etc.

If we keep following economic strategies which are not meeting the needs of our country it will ultimately leave us all feeling poorer. I understand what you are saying about workers rights etc but I think what Kwarteng was implying was that he wanted to simplify the bureaucracy that requires so much form filling and the endless compliance of procedures.

I agree with your first point, the last few years of conservatism have been a disaster for this country ... it wasn't working ... and my concern of the change of direction is that it has not been costed, it has not been thought through, it has not followed the correct process ... it is just one woman trying to stamp her authority through change for changes sake (and making herself look like a rank amateur).

It isn't Kwarteng that is driving the throwing away of hard fought for rights and regulation, it is Rees-Mogg ... someone who is genuinely out of touch with reality with a poor track record of considering anybody other than himself, and given his way would prefer to see a return to the workhouses of Victorian times.

I truly am on the side of the poorest in society but in the political system that uses the trickle-down philosophy you either go along with it or you change direction.

I do not doubt your sincerity, but I am not convinced about this trickle down stuff ... it has failed in the past and all evidence shows that it will just redistribute money from the poorest in society to the richest (a point that Truss herself has ceded). Truss has also talked about a high wage society, the risk is that the UK will price itself out of the market ... regions around the UK often gain investment because employee cost is lower.

Even her flagship announcement of an energy price cap is not free money, it is estimated to cost every household in the UK £5000 ... just another thing we will eventually have to pay back or accept deep cutting austerity measures.

Having said that, she has less than 2 years to make this work (which I don't think, in the current climate, is enough time), so either we see significant benefits in 2023 or the tories will be gone (leaving every man, woman and child in the UK with an additional £30,000+ of debt).

[david63]

Be careful what you wish for OL. Much of the "red tape" is there for the protection of those that you are most concerned about, the poorest and most vulnerable. Any removal of red tape that is around businesses will make little or no difference to that business's employees - all it will possibly do is benefit the shareholders (OK there is a possible argument that the shareholders will have more disposable income etc.). The only way that increasing profits can benefit employees is if businesses move over to a John Lewis model.

So we now have another U-turn - we are going to be told how all this is going to be paid for by the end of this month - not the end of November which until last night was cast in stone!

Did anybody else see the comment from Jake Berry, the Conservative party chairman, which basically said "if you cannot afford your bills get a higher paid job" (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-l ... e-63118022).

And then there are the hints that those on benefits are effectively going to subsidise bankers bonuses - I know that is not strictly true but that is the way that it will feel to some and certainly how it will be portrayed.

This current Government is getting more out of touch with the people than I could ever believe possible and every day are moving nearer to loosing the next GE.

[oldbluefox]

There are those who would argue that those regulations which are there to protect employees work against taking more staff on.

[david63]

I think that for most regulations there is an argument for and an argument against and neither argument is right in all cases.

[oldbluefox]

I think that's true but it's a strange paradox that something put in place to protect workers actually works against them.
In such instances the regulations need amending which would allow businesses, especially small businesses to expand.

[Onelife]

I also think regulations need to adapt to suit economic circumstances.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Dare I mention the B word? Some regulations were dictated by the EU and might have been appropriate in that situation but are not now. The promised bonfire is overdue.

[oldbluefox]

I'm all in favour of ditching some of the red tape and paperwork which has taken over some of our lives. In education and the NHS too much time has to be devoted to producing charts, predictions, outcomes etc to satisfy the 'accountability' lobby taking up time which would be better spent actually doing the job. Frustratingly many of these reports would just be filed away, probably unread simply so that somebody could put a tick on a spreadsheet.
As an example in my time SATs results had to be presented in different formats for different outside agencies as well as internally, a time-consuming and time-wasting exercise in most cases.

[david63]

One of the problems from stats data that is published is that those who are responsible for the data spend more time creating stats for the stats so that if they are queried about the stats then they have the answer. This means that instead of "being on the shop-floor" managing the job they are sat behind a computer screen filling in spreadsheets so that they have the excuses ready, whilst all the time things are going wrong which means more stats and it becomes a continuous roundabout.

Managers should manage and bean counters should count beans.

[towny44]

The problem is then compounded as the managers that are good at stats and reports, but not too good on the shop floor, are the ones that get chosen for the top jobs, and eventually become CEO.

[oldbluefox]

Or "If you can't get rid of them, promote them out!"

[david63]

Or "If you can't get rid of them, promote them out!"

Resulting in the "Peter Principle" - promoting people to their level of incompetence!

[Kendhni]

Most pathetic excuse .... ever!!!
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/kwasi-kwarten ... 51449.html

[david63]

Most pathetic excuse .... ever!!!
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/kwasi-kwarten ... 51449.html

That is really clutching at straws. Anyway I thought that the "mini budget" was going to be within a week of taking over - the Queen's death gave them so more breathing space - just think (no I would rather not) what would have happened without the extra two weeks and they had rushed it through.

I thought that when you were in hole the best option was to stop digging!

[Kendhni]

All he has to do is get Truss out of the way.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/boris-johnson ... 17772.html

[Onelife]

Most pathetic excuse .... ever!!!
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/kwasi-kwarten ... 51449.html

It may come across as an excuse by those who wish to dam down anything Kwarteng and Truss do. I for one see it as a perfectly legitimate reason considering the circumstances both he and Liz Truss were faced with. The country was screaming out for action and whilst it can be argued they gave in to these demands I’m sure with more concentrated deliberation things would have been done in a more timely fashion had it not been for the Queen’s untimely death.

[Kendhni]

If they weren't ready to make the announcement they should have toned it down fulfilling a couple of electioneering promises and say that, due to events, more would come at the party conference? But, you have to admit they have both come across as very amateurish/naive in their delivery so far.

It looks like there is a slide back towards an announcement on 23rd November (I thought it was supposed to be brought forward) ... whenever it is, if they do not get that update right, I am not sure if Truss will make it to Christmas. (BTW it is an interesting choice of date, just before thanksgiving, American markets closed? I wonder if there is any political significance in the choice of date).

[Ray Scully]

If they weren't ready to make the announcement they should have toned it down fulfilling a couple of electioneering promises and say that, due to events, more would come at the party conference? But, you have to admit they have both come across as very amateurish/naive in their delivery so far.

It looks like there is a slide back towards an announcement on 23rd November (I thought it was supposed to be brought forward) ... whenever it is, if they do not get that update right, I am not sure if Truss will make it to Christmas. (BTW it is an interesting choice of date, just before thanksgiving, American markets closed? I wonder if there is any political significance in the choice of date).

The Dunning-Kruger effect