Current Affairs

[Kendhni]

A page for Jeremy Hunt

[Kendhni]

Just reading that a uturn on corporation tax is not the only one
I am seeing reports that there is to be a uturn on removal of the NI/income tax on workers as well.

[Onelife]

Let's hope Hunt does a better job at the Treasury than he did with the NHS

Let's see what he has to say first ... it's like chancellors have become more disposable than diapers ... just less environmentally friendly
I wonder what the odds are of u-turn betty making it to Christmas?

Better than a snail trying to traverse a hurdle, I hope. But I won’t be putting any money on it

[Onelife]

Let's hope Hunt does a better job at the Treasury than he did with the NHS

Quite. I wouldn't trust him with my grandchildren's pocket money.

Bring back Boris and Rishi.

Should have stuck with Theresa

[towny44]

Let's hope Hunt does a better job at the Treasury than he did with the NHS

If I remember correctly, he was well and truly disparaged by large numbers on here. I keep wanting to say, be careful what you wish for, but it seems some people want to go through as many of the Tory MPs as possible for the top jobs before the next GE.

[Ray B]

I will not try to analyze the pro's and con's of the mini budget, I leave that to you, fellow members, much to way over my head. But all I have seen is it's going to be doom and bust for the country jumping from the TV and the front pagers. But apart from the government, has anyone done the sums to see if Truss,s plan in the long run will work, as set out by the chancellor.
The rest of the world is not having much of a good time as well.

[Ray B]

Let's hope Hunt does a better job at the Treasury than he did with the NHS

Let's see what he has to say first ... it's like chancellors have become more disposable than diapers ... just less environmentally friendly
I wonder what the odds are of u-turn betty making it to Christmas?

Ken, we use nappies in the UK and Ireland.

[Ray Scully]

That press conference was very concerning. The poor lady looked totally out of her depth.

[screwy]

Kwarteng sacked.!

Well it is Black History Month.

[Onelife]

I will not try to analyze the pro's and con's of the mini budget, I leave that to you, fellow members, much to way over my head. But all I have seen is it's going to be doom and bust for the country jumping from the TV and the front pagers. But apart from the government, has anyone done the sums to see if Truss,s plan in the long run will work, as set out by the chancellor.
The rest of the world is not having much of a good time as well.

Hi Ray, I think the sums speak for themselves…in the time it has taken you to read this post our national debt will have risen by £50,000 or if you are a fast reader £5,000 a second.
……..
I think her long-term plan for growth centred on placing the UK in the best possible position to capitalise when global confidence returned…unfurtunatly she didn’t take into consideration that Global economics isn’t governed by an individual’s vision of the future.

[Mervyn and Trish]

The UK national debt as a percentage of GDP was falling from 2016 to 2020. Of course it rose sharply in 2021 as a result of Covid.

Between 2008 and 2010 it doubled, and was on a rising trajectory that took 5 years to bring to a halt and reverse.

Remind me who was in power from 2008 to 2010.

[Gill W]

I will not try to analyze the pro's and con's of the mini budget, I leave that to you, fellow members, much to way over my head. But all I have seen is it's going to be doom and bust for the country jumping from the TV and the front pagers. But apart from the government, has anyone done the sums to see if Truss,s plan in the long run will work, as set out by the chancellor.
The rest of the world is not having much of a good time as well.

The OBR are the people who do the sums, but Kwarteng just went ahead without getting their analysis. Their report is due on 31st October. After todays’s events, I’m guessing their initial sums indicate some … er….. significant issues

[Mervyn and Trish]

I'll wait and see thanks. But I agree. Bonkers to go ahead without it. Possibly a bigger factor in market nerves than the numbers themselves.

[barney]

I’m no great fan of the OBR or any of the other official forecasters.
90 % of the time they get it wrong.
Example. - forecast for July decline in Gdp
There was an increase of.1%
Forecast for August- increase- there was a decline of.3%
Twice wrong in two months.
If they were in government I’d be calling for them out.

[Gill W]

That press conference was very concerning. The poor lady looked totally out of her depth.

It must be awful to be so bad at your job. The stress must be incredible. On a human level I feel sorry for her. She needs to go for the good of her own health, let alone the good of the country.

but it seems some people want to go through as many of the Tory MPs as possible for the top jobs before the next GE.

Nobody wants any of this.

As a Conservative supporter you must be horrified by this

[Onelife]

The UK national debt as a percentage of GDP was falling from 2016 to 2020. Of course it rose sharply in 2021 as a result of Covid.

Between 2008 and 2010 it doubled, and was on a rising trajectory that took 5 years to bring to a halt and reverse.

Remind me who was in power from 2008 to 2010.

I don’t know but were Ken and Gill their advisers

[Kendhni]

I don’t know but were Ken and Gill their advisers

Sometimes I read other peoples analysis of numbers, and you wonder how did they become so dumb.

[Kendhni]

Hi Ray, I think the sums speak for themselves…in the time it has taken you to read this post our national debt will have risen by £50,000 or if you are a fast reader £5,000 a second.

I have seen that number, although I thought it was in $ rather than £ ... in fact there is a web site that shows how debt is increasing for each country over time. I will post a link if I can find it again.

If you want to know something that is worse, the cost of government borrowing has gone up from about 2.25% to 5.05% ... our interest payments were running at about £83bn per year (about half of what the NHS costs). Even allowing for the 0.5% BoE base rate rise, the incompetence over the last few weeks has more than doubled the cost of borrowing money .

[Kendhni]

Refreshing speech from Hunt, seems to be saying the right words ... even if it puts him in the "anti-growth coalition".
It will be interesting to see what he comes up with.

[david63]

Although I have my reservations I think that appointing Hunt was probably the best decision Truss (or more likely her "advisors") has made. He does have some credibility within the Tory party, he is experienced in government (probably the most experienced in this government) and will, or at least should, be able to hold his corner and not be pushed around.

There is also talk that this could be his stepping stone to becoming the next PM!

[Mervyn and Trish]

Isn't that Sir Himdsight?

[Onelife]

I don’t know but were Ken and Gill their advisers

Sometimes I read other peoples analysis of numbers, and you wonder how did they become so dumb.

I’ve wondered this myself but my excuse is that I started off dumb

[Onelife]

Refreshing speech from Hunt, seems to be saying the right words ... even if it puts him in the "anti-growth coalition".
It will be interesting to see what he comes up with.

I personally didn’t find anything refreshing other than what you would expect from a government down on its knees…If he had said something like… “me and my backbenchers couldn’t hack the fact that the referendum went against us, therefore we did everything in our power to disrupt the party” then I would have found that refreshing. But hey-ho it’s one foot back in the door.

[oldbluefox]

Interesting comment this morning that the Bank of England spent £19bn out of the £65bn it had allocated to bail out the pension funds.
Strange how the media were jumping ten ways at once to report the £65bn disaster. Bit of a difference if that report is true between £19bn and £65bn.
Little wonder I take many of these exaggerated reports with a pinch of salt.

[Gill W]

Refreshing speech from Hunt, seems to be saying the right words ... even if it puts him in the "anti-growth coalition".
It will be interesting to see what he comes up with.

He SOUNDS like a grown up, but that’s not difficult when compared to the people that surround him. I tend to think he has some fiscal understanding, so it will be interesting to see what he does. But it’s a strange world when Jeremy Hunt seems like a good choice!

Remind me who was in power from 2008 to 2010.

I don’t know but were Ken and Gill their advisers
[/quote]

I don’t even know what that means

The UK national debt as a percentage of GDP was falling from 2016 to 2020. Of course it rose sharply in 2021 as a result of Covid.

Between 2008 and 2010 it doubled, and was on a rising trajectory that took 5 years to bring to a halt and reverse.

Remind me who was in power from 2008 to 2010.

I can’t be bothered to even check the figures, but the the thing that stands out is 2008 - the banking crisis. No wonder things went awry.

I must admit, Mervyn, you confuse me. Here we are with a PM that is completely out of her depth and has caused a crisis with her actions. Our current problems are legion and there enough talking points about the present situation that could keep us going for days. But instead you dredge up something cherry picked from 14 years ago or say something about Starmer - who is nowhere near being Prime Minister as there is no General Election on the horizon. Genuinely, I’m not being rude, but I find it really curious that you do this.

Interesting comment this morning that the Bank of England spent £19bn out of the £65bn it had allocated to bail out the pension funds.
Strange how the media were jumping ten ways at once to report the £65bn disaster. Bit of a difference if that report is true between £19bn and £65bn.
Little wonder I take many of these exaggerated reports with a pinch of salt

They didn’t ‘bail out the pension funds’

They bought up Gilts that were being sold and no one else would buy them. They have effectively bought up government debt.

The bill could have run to £65bn or even more, but the BofE decided to stop their action on 14th October, probably to force the government to face up to the crisis and take action. If they’d just carried on mopping up unsold gilts, the situation would probably have just drifted on and on. Not sure we are out of the woods yet. The markets still seem to think that U.K. Gilts are not an attractive proposition, so, for all we know, the BofE may have to step in again