WTF is happening in the UK?

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

On this day in 1632, King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden was killed at the Battle of Lutzen.
The Battle was then won by his Chancellor, Axel Oxenstierna.

Oxenstierna had been administratively running Sweden for 20 years already, and then effectively ruled it after Gustavus's death, as the new Queen was only 6 years old on accession.
He put in place large numbers of reforms which not only persist in Sweden, but have been widely adopted elsewhere, such as meritocracy.

He also did things which have not been widely adopted by rulers elsewhere, such as admitting he was wrong, and ensuring civil servants aren't paid too much.

He was responsible for the best known quote by a Swede (from a letter to his son):

"Do you not know, my son, with how very little wisdom the world is governed?"

This all seems quite relevant today....

[Woody]

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Although there are a number of MPs who have clearly had settlements named after them

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[Boac]

Interesting and worrying times ahead if we need to 'reinforce' the Falklands following the position of the new Argentinian president.

I guess we could always send a carrier or two...........................

[tango15]

Standard fare for every new president, I think. Most Argentinians I've spoken to, across the spectrum, couldn't give a flying **** about the Falklands/Malvinas. Once he's properly in power and he sees how big the national debt is, he'll have other things to worry about.

Mount Pleasant represents a significant statement about Britain's intentions towards the Falklands.

[FD2]

Or a few squadrons of Typhoons and the RAF Regiment display team...........................

[Boac]

Perhaps if there are not too many women on the islands we could send the Arrows?

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I doubt they'd be prepared to perform for an audience consisting mainly of sheep


...unless the new Leader is Welsh, of course!

[Boac]

You miss the point - the idea is to distract the Argies..............

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

..whilst?....

[Boac]

Fox3 and his oppos nip in in their Mother Riley's and zap the hell out of them.

OK - I admit there may be one flaw there.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Ah, yes...that the Tornado F3 had no bombing capability (although Fox3 does).

Cunning plan, though. You could stick a tail on that and call it a weasel.

Although the Argies seem to be doing a pretty good job of trashing themselves.
Currently they are assessed as having only 6 serviceable Skyhawks - hardly worth launching both 'Q' aircraft for them.
I suggest we leave them to it.

[Woody]

I need to find out if this is true

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-67502561

[llondel]

I need to find out if this is true

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-67502561

Whether he said it, or whether it is?

[tango15]

I need to find out if this is true

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-67502561

Whether he said it, or whether it is?

Both, I think. Mr not so Cleverly was reported as using those words by those who heard them, which were many apparently. Lots of reports in the print media.

Sadly, that part of the world, Stockton, Darlington, Middlesborough, and Teesside in general, are suffering badly from a lack of investment and therefore jobs. The government's much-vaunted 'Levelling Up' programme (if indeed it exists in reality), has not seen the light of day in that area.

Perhaps a measure of how bad things are is that one night not too long ago, I was driving through Stockton and there must have been a dozen ladies of the night plying for trade on one of the streets. It's very many years since I last saw that in the UK. Apparently, the police turn a blind eye, so to speak.

[tango15]

So the Chancellor reduces the National Insurance payments - fair enough. But why are the media calling it a tax reduction? I always understood that NI as such was not a tax, but a way of funding the NHS. The tax rates haven't changed at all. And after all the hullaballoo yesterday, I read this morning that energy bills are going to rise by about £90 from January, thus wiping out a significant amount of the savings from NI.

If the government wants to really get the economy moving, how about eliminating the fuel duty stabiliser, which was an additional tax introduced in 1993, allegedly in an effort to reduce fuel pollution, but was no more than an additional tax on our already heavily-taxed fuel?

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Most, but not all, of NI money goes into the National Insurance Fund and is used for pensions, but only about 25% of the NHS funding comes from it too.
Functionally, the government can shuffle money around as it wishes, so it's a tax.

Government debt is through the roof, increasing from 1.8T to 2.6T in 3 years.
and interest rates are way up due to inflation, and ain't coming down any time soon.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/governme ... tember2021

So, tax goes up.

That the UK is over its Laffer Curve peak and these measures will probably not succeed is way more than Hunt's little brain can handle.
https://capx.co/in-a-global-economy-the ... take-note/

[tango15]

What the media that I saw at least, didn't tell us, was that the duty on tobacco has increased. Just bought a box of cigars for a mate of mine and they've gone up by £1. I imagine cigarettes, rolling tobacco etc., have gone up proportionately too. The arriving Eastern Europeans will be able to make even more money now...

(I was once asked to go to a Wizzair aircraft that had recently landed, to recover some 'duty-free' that had been left on board by a passenger. This consisted of 2000 cigarettes (10x200), but since it was before Brexit, has was allowed to keep them).

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

The Bad News

Monday 27th Nov: The Governor of the Bank of England says the outlook for the economy is the worst he’s ever seen, as Britain struggles to boost low levels of growth.

The Good News

His forecasts have been consistently wrong for the last 10 quarters

[Woody]

This was released by Conservative Home today, it’s a photo of the inside of the Natural History Museum and not the British Museum