Category: Economics

COP26 and government policies won’t necessarily stop environmental degradation

COP26 and government policies aren’t  necessarily  going to stop environmental degradation instead focus should equally  be falling on individual  responsibilities and the activities  of businesses.  The activities  of these aren’t  necessarily  going to be directly influenced  by either the decisions  of COP26 or government  policies resulting from this conference.

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The stench of BRITISH privatisation is becoming evident in the run up to COP26

The stench of British  privatisation is becoming evident in the run up to COP26. Government ministers  are running for cover and attempting to hide under stones after a Government motion was defeated which would have forced the private water companies to clean up their act. However what happened was actually very embarrassing for the government because the bill  was defeated which actually  looked liked a huge endorsement for the behaviour of the private water companies and a signal that it was OK to keep discharging untreated sewage in the rivers of Britain  and into the seas around the UK. This is a huge embarrassment to the government in the run up to COP26. Again it is a stench resulting  from the privatisations of the water companies  pioneered by previous Conservative governments.

It appears that ministers voted on the matter in the way that they did mainly  because of huge investments in the infrastructure that would be needed to update the antiquated system currently  in place. Cost in this case was prohibitive to improving and maintaining the environment  so the choice preferred was to continue to pollute and degrade the environment.

So why haven’t these private companies  been investing in making these improvements themselves and why are they still reliant on funding from the government  and the tax payers? What has gone wrong with privatisation? Surely  the idea of privatisation was to become independent of the tax payer and yet these companies  still manage to bother the tax payers to subsidise their profiteering  enterprises.

No Special Relationship and No Phenomenal Trade Deals Post Brexit

There will be no special relationship and no phenomenal trade deals with the USA post Brexit that much is obvious now. The special relationship is just a sham and the phenomenal trade deals will be tailored to suit the USA to the detriment of the UK. Over the last week or so Donald Trump has shown that he simply cannot be trusted. He pulled American Forces out of Syria in what amounted to a betrayal of the Kurds and then stood by silently as Turkey took the opportunity for a land grab. Previously the Kurds had been an ally of the USA in Syria helping to fight Isis.

Next we have seen an example of the kind of special relationship that the USA has in store for us post Brexit. The imposition of a 25% import tax on a range of popular UK exports in a tit for tat trade war that has not been highlighted by the Uk’s Tory government. No wonder that they are not keen to highlight this because it demonstrates the kind of one sided trade agreements that we can expect from Trump’s USA post Brexit in the future. The special relationship seems to have been conveniently sidelined so that Trump can get his point across and Trump doesn’t like to loose. Let’s get a perspective on this Trump has been elected President of the USA on the premise that he will ‘put America first’ and that is certainly what he intends to do. The special relationship is nothing more than words, it is a sham. Trump cannot be trusted at all, he has shown this on 3 occasions in the space of only a week so why would we as the UK want to put any faith in dealing with him?

Post Brexit the UK will be in a desperate position looking for trade deals and this desperation will be exploited by countries like the USA who will see it as an opportunity rather than a mutually beneficial agreement. Trump is after all a businessman who is used to the ways of business. Not everything in business is always fair, good and proper and there are often winners and losers where business is concerned. Profiting from business often favours the more powerful protagonist. Exploitation is often a theme in business and the UK should be aware of that. Desperation and having a weak hand is not a good position to be in when negotiating.

Clumsy and Cynical Handling of the Anne Sacoolas Affair

The last example of untrustworthiness shown lately by Donald Trump was in his disrespectful handling of the parents of Harry Dunn ( the tragically killed teenager ). It appears that a meeting was set up at the Whitehouse with Donald Trump with the undisclosed purpose of actually and publicly (photographers were reportedly present at the meeting) putting the parents of Harry Dunn in the same room as Anne Sacoolas, the woman at the centre of the diplomatic controversy and the woman who is under suspicion of being implicated in the road accident that caused the tragic death of the teenager. This action of attempting to bring about this meeting against the wishes of the teenager’s parents and revealing this purpose only during the meeting between Tim Dunn and Charlotte Charles and Donald Trump seems to have been an calculated & underhand and cynical attempt to draw a line under the controversial diplomatic row going on between the UK and the USA about this matter. Rather than respect the wishes of Harry’s parents for justice to be done in the UK whereby Ann Sacoolas comes back to the UK and foregoes any diplomatic immunity to face up to the consequences of her actions: instead there seems to have been a cynical and clumsy attempt to swerve these issues and the wishes of Harry’s parents by attempting to get a meeting between the 2 parties and a quick and convenient resolution in a deceitful and untrustworthy fashion. The whole thing has the hallmark of Trump stamped all over it. This meeting and the possibility of a face to face between Harry Dunn’s parents and Anne Sacoolas would not have been possible without the knowledge and involvement of the the President. Arrangements had been made to make Sacoolas available to Harry Dunn’s parents at the time of the meeting so presumably she was in another room in the Whitehouse. The pressure put upon Tim Dunn and Charlotte Charles was quite unacceptable and unjustifiable and in extremely poor taste. I have the utmost respect for them for refusing to give into that kind of pressure at that level Quite simply Trump just cannot be trusted. Britain Post Brexit beware of what lies in wait for you!

Brexit means Wreckbrit

Let’s be honest I think Wreck it Ralph could do a better job of the Brexit negotiations than either Theresa May or (yawn-go-to-sleep,  I’m simply uninterested anyway, laughing stupidly) David Davis. Not to mention the exceptional wrecking abilities of Boris Johnson who basically wrecks anything that he comes into contact with including his own political career, the Country and his own Conservative Party to name just a few. So it has occurred to me a better solution to our relationship with Europe and our economic policies is to put  Wreck it Ralph in charge of Britain and let’s put this one to the the people’s vote. Most people know the animated character of Wreck it Ralph and have a better understanding of what he stands for than say Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn even, so I am sure that the British Public would vote for him if they saw him on an electoral ballot sheet. Letting the country make a contribution to the wrecking of Britain (Wreckbrit) and our economic future might be a good idea anyway and a political vote winner; oh but wait a minute that is what has already happened isn’t it? It also appears that all 4 of these characters ( with the exception of Corbyn I might add who has not yet been given the opportunity yet to wreck anything) have something in common they are all good at wrecking things. The only difference is that Wreck it Ralph only wrecks things in an animated world that is not real. All the others either directly wreck things that matter or support the wrecking of things that matter and have importance for the future economic stability of Britain and the future well-being of it’s citizens. This is a process that I now declare as Wreckbrit.

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May’s proposals for Energy Cap are unfair and discriminatory

Theresa May’s Conservatives have put forward proposals for an energy cap that is yet another undisguised Tory attempt to buy back votes from the poorest. Again it another means tested benefit that will help only a few and it is likely that the Energy Companies will seek to rake back these losses by actually increasing the tariffs of those that fall outside the means tested criteria. So again we may see some winners and some losers. This is a weak policy and simply a knee-jerk reaction to Labour’s manifesto pledges to actually completely overhaul the Energy Industry by reversing privatisation and getting these industries back into the public sector. Theresa May’s weakly watered-down version of fairness will benefit a handful only and is only a sticking plaster on a gaping wound. A weak policy from a weak Prime Minister still intent to protect the interests of these Privatised Companies. The reality is that the only thing that will ensure fairness for the Energy Consumer is to take these industries back into public ownership where we can all benefit from a fairer, not for profit, pricing structure. Where the capital that these industries generate work for the benefit of us all not just the few and privileged.

Conservative’s Party Conference shows that they lack: credibility, imagination and unity and that they are terrified of Corbyn

The Conservative Party Conference has left them looking embarrassingly weak. Seeming to lack any imagination, unity and credibility they are struggling to convince both themselves and the public they represent a credible government working for the benefit of Great Britain. The obvious truth of the matter is that they don’t. They claim to be championing the working people: they don’t. This is old rhetoric that we heard when  the Prime Minister, Theresa May, took over from David Cameron after he ran away unceremoniously embarrassed by his huge political gamble that had exploded in his face.

So we have heard it all before and the recent General Election 2017 showed that the public will not swallow it either. So the Conservative Party Conference sees them trying to win the same argument in which they have already been embarrassingly defeated. What this Conference has shown is that the Conservatives are unimaginative with no real vision for the future of Great Britain. They are unwilling to tackle head on the main issues which effect the British Public namely: huge profiteering of the utility providers, high rail fares, welfare, the NHS, and where the British Economy will be post Brexit. These are the issues to which the British Public want real change and real answers and these are the areas where there is high public dissatisfaction. Instead the Conservatives remain totally uninspiring, seemingly attempting to convince us they they represent the interests of working people and the working classes whilst doing very little to deserve this high accolade that they have foisted upon themselves. Well the public will not be deceived and duped so easily especially by a political party that cannot even manage their own conference properly. No the Conservative Party Conference 2017 has shown us that they are not united – they are divided and that Theresa May is not strong enough to cope with the dissidence within her own Party and in particular she is unwilling and unable to discipline it’s loose cannon:Boris Johnson. But what this week has shown most of all is that they are totally terrified of Jeremy Corbyn and of Socialism in particular. Reference the speech of the Chancellor of Exchequer- Phillip Hammond on 03/10/17. This  speech shows how much the Tories are fearfulness of socialism and fairness for Great Britain. They have little answer to it other than to pretend that they themselves represent fairness and prosperity but in truth they do not. So fearful are the Conservatives and this is indicated by the amount of time and reference he gave to attacking Jeremy Corbyn and his policies on a very personal level. By default this showed a great fear for what Mr Corbyn represents to his followers and in the long run it only served to give Mr Corbyn even more kudos.

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Socialism is better for Britain. Socialism is neither Communism nor Militant

Socialism is better for Britain. Socialism offers Britain  a New start and a shining new path towards prosperity. Socialism is better for Britain  because it lowers the burden of taxation on tax payers. So why aren’t we embracing it.

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