WTF is happening in the UK?

[Undried Plum]

The price of second hand Rolexes is up 200% in the past three years.

The price of fine art has ramped up similarly. An oil painting I paid £4,000 for less than three years ago has recently been valued for insurance purposes at £25k.

A plot of forested but junk land which I had successfully bid for at £3,500/acre last year, and subsequently rejected as it's got the mother and father of all title conveyancing problems, has been sold and is now back on the market at o/o £10k an acre.

Real inflation is here and the official retail price indices understate it by at least half. Real wages are down by at least 5% this year already, and probably by more like 10%, while petrol/diesel prices are up two or three times that percentage this calendar year already.

Oh, and Covid is back big time.

There may be trouble ahead. Let's face the music and dance.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Inflation: That would be about right. I reckon the official inflation rate has been underestimating real inflation by between 2% and 3% each year for about 15 years. I think 3% was the maximum they thought they could get away with BS'ing hadn't happened.

Still, at least the Police haven't opened fire on farmers blockading food distribution centres, as appears to have happened today in The Netherlands.
https://thecountersignal.com/shots-fire ... h-farmers/
Can't vouch for either side of the story, but the video looks pretty damning - the Police opening fire on a tractor driver posing no threat at all.


Isn't this a lovely day?

[Undried Plum]

A smidgin of good news, for a change.

The Noggie offshore workers union has called off its streik action after government intervention.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

From the Torygraph today

National Grid ramps up pressure on industry to cut gas use
National Grid is set to turn the screw on big energy users to curb their gas use this winter amid fears Putin's supply cuts could lead to shortages.
Britain's grid operator is meeting regional gas network companies tomorrow to discuss how to get more factories and businesses to cut their consumption.
With many companies reluctant to step up voluntarily, the grid managers will examine new incentives to encourage reduced gas use.
Getting large industrial users to agree to cut gas use could be key in avoiding shortages this winter. Plans have already been rolled out to keep coal plants online if gas flows are cut further.
There are also similar plans being prepared to reduce electricity use if needed.

It's titled "ramps up pressure",
but the body states that, in fact, they will use bribery (see emphasis).

So, the complete opposite. Great journalism there.

[Pontius Navigator]

UP, the question whether the rich millionaires should get the 10% pension increase NEXT year seems to have died down. As you seem to be in that bracket, what is your view?

In the noise it seemed overlooked that workers pay strikes were for pay rises TODAY, whereas for pensioners it was 11 months off.

Then the question is what constitutes a millionaire. If the value of my pensions are considered, together with the value of my house, I squeeze into the 7 figure bracket.

[G-CPTN]

AIUI, the pensions triple lock was suspended last year and 'should' be re-instated this coming year.

Triple lock

A deal is a deal and shouldn't be reneged on IMO (but, as a pensioner I am biased - my energy bills have escalated significantly).

[PHXPhlyer]

Boris Johnson’s tenure has been defined by scandal. Here are some of the biggest ones

In case you have lost track.
What would the full list look like?

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/06/uk/boris ... index.html

London
CNN
—
The crisis that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing right now might be the gravest for his leadership so far – but it’s definitely not the first.

Johnson’s government has been plagued by a series of scandals, from accusations of his disregard for rules and revelations of illegal lockdown-breaking parties held in Downing Street, to allegations of impropriety and abuse by Conservative lawmakers.

Here is a look at some of the more notable scandals of his government.

Illegal prorogation of Parliament
Johnson’s critics have often accused the Prime Minister of disrespecting government procedure and bending rules when it suits him – such as when he decided to ask the Queen to prorogue – or shut down – Parliament for five weeks at the height of a political crisis over Brexit.

The monarch rubber-stamped the request in line with her duty to stay out of politics and to act only on the advice of ministers.

But when the Supreme Court found the prorogation was illegal, it raised the uncomfortable question of whether the Queen had broken the law. The ruling led to accusations Johnson’s government deliberately misled the monarch as part of its strategy to secure Brexit.

Johnson was forced to personally apologize for embarrassing the monarch, according to the Sunday Times.

But the botched prorogation was just one example of Johnson’s disregard for parliamentary rules and standards.

He backed Home Secretary Priti Patel after an investigation into allegations that she bullied staff found that she breached the Ministerial Code and did not “treat her civil servants with consideration and respect,” and had committed “behaviour that can be described as bullying.”

Johnson’s ethics adviser Alex Allen resigned over the issue.

The flat refurbishment
One of the first scandals Johnson faced was an allegation of corruption after WhatsApp messages revealed he had asked a Conservative Party donor for funds to refurbish his Downing Street residence. British news outlets reported that the work cost around £200,000 ($280,000).

Political donations and loans are tightly controlled in the United Kingdom, with loans of more than £7,500 ($10,400) logged and publicly revealed by the commission four times a year.

Johnson did not report the donations and as a result, the Conservative Party was fined £17,800 by the Electoral Commission in December last year.

Owen Paterson lobbying scandal
Last year, Johnson attempted to force Conservative MPs to vote in favor of overturning the suspension of a fellow Conservative Member of Parliament.

Owen Paterson, an influential Conservative backbencher and former cabinet minister, had been facing a 30-day suspension after being accused of an “egregious” breach of lobbying rules.

Following a backlash, Johnson U-turned and Paterson ultimately quit as MP.

The Liberal Democrats won Paterson’s seat – one the Conservatives had held for almost 200 years – at the subsequent by-election in December.

Partygate
Johnson has faced months of damaging revelations of parties held at Downing Street in defiance of coronavirus lockdowns, with leaks and images dripping into the media since January.

A report published in May by senior civil servant Sue Gray criticized a culture of rule-breaking events, and revealed new photographs of him at two separate gatherings.

Among the parties: A night of heavy drinking on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral – at a time when strict limits on socializing forced even the Queen to sit alone to say goodbye to her husband of nearly 74 years.

Gray wrote that “the senior leadership at the centre” of Johnson’s administration “must bear responsibility” for a culture that allowed the parties to take place.

Johnson himself was fined by London’s Metropolitan Police for attending a party on government premises, making him the first UK premier in history found to have broken the law in office. Sunak, who resigned on Tuesday, was also fined for attending the same event.

Johnson’s handling of the scandal was particularly misguided, with Downing Street first denying there were any gatherings, then saying he didn’t know about them and then claiming he attended them because he believed they were work events.
Damning report reveals Downing Street's party culture
Pincher misconduct allegations
This week’s cascade of resignations was sparked by revelations that Johnson appointed Chris Pincher into his government despite knowing of past allegations of sexual misconduct.

Pincher, the Conservatives’ deputy chief whip, resigned last week after allegations that he groped two guests at a private dinner. Pincher did not admit the allegations directly, but told Johnson in a letter that “last night I drank far too much,” and “embarrassed myself and other people.”

Downing Street had struggled to explain why Pincher was in government in the first place, amid a wave of revelations about his previous alleged conduct, denying Johnson knew anything specific about the allegations.

On Tuesday, it emerged that a complaint had been made against Pincher in the Foreign Office about three years ago and that Johnson was briefed on what happened. Downing Street then said he had forgotten.

Johnson acknowledged it “was a mistake” to appoint Pincher to his government on Tuesday, but the damage had already been done. The wave of government resignations started just minutes after he apologized for the decision, with Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid handing in their notices. Over the next 24 hours, dozens followed.

PP

[llondel]

Better than any reality TV show at the moment. Gove just got given a free hand to put himself forward as leader, although No.10 seems a bit confused as to his species, calling him a snake, not a lizard.

[Undried Plum]

Now, even Gove has slithered.

[Ibbie]

........and there's more........

[k3k3]

53 resignations upto now.

[Boac]

Has Carrie resigned yet?

I am more than a little puzzled by the (07:45A) reported '24 resignations from the Cabinet'? How many are there in it to start with?

[G-CPTN]

Has Carrie resigned yet?

She said her job sucks.

[Woody]

He’s gone

[Pontius Navigator]

PP, thanks for that but we don't need reminding. I always thought BJ was the right man to get Brexit Done and thought he would make a fair fist of the job provided he got a good team to run things. That seemed to work as Mayor of London. I also thought two years and he will step aside.

He never got that team to function. His civil serpents were largely left wing and remainers. The T shirt wearing skinhead might have worn Jack boots but was neither a people person nor abider of rules.

He needed a good regimental sergeant major* to scare the SPADs into shape.

*and definitely not a SGT Duffy or Bilko

[Pontius Navigator]

OK, 0830 not 2030

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Well, he's not going to go until October, according to the DT
And he's still the completely untrustworthy, immoral scoundrel he was yesterday.
I do not see how any delay can be justified.
There's a Deputy PM (which happens to be Raab), or the Cabinet can choose one of the senior Ministers. Or, if there's any justice, one of the many who have resigned from such posts in the last couple of days.

[Undried Plum]

UP, the question whether the rich millionaires should get the 10% pension increase NEXT year seems to have died down. As you seem to be in that bracket, what is your view?

In the noise it seemed overlooked that workers pay strikes were for pay rises TODAY, whereas for pensioners it was 11 months off.

Then the question is what constitutes a millionaire. If the value of my pensions are considered, together with the value of my house, I squeeze into the 7 figure bracket.

I wouldn't call myself a "rich" millionaire, but yes, I am one of the one in four over 65s in the UK who is a paper millionaire when you add in home and pension pot valuations. My home property is worth over a million, but most of my most liquid assets, which are worth well over that figure, are hanked up as security in what is known as Funds At Lloyds. I would need to give three or four years notice if I wanted/needed to cash in those assets, so they're not really 'liquid' for me.

The traditional definition of a millionaire is now thoroughly obsolete, thanks to inflation. One or two hundred years ago a total net worth of an individual of a million was serious dosh. Nowadays even the most mundane flat or terraced house in Nawf London is worth a million.

I would say that a modern definition of a 'millionaire' would be someone who has an after-tax net income in excess of a million Pounds. A rich millionaire would be someone who has a net income one or two or more orders of magnitude greater than that. I'm not in either of those brackets.

When I brush aside the pestering shoeless street urchins of Schittagong or Bombay or Cairo I'm mindful of the fact that in their eyes I'm rich and potentially an endless font of money. I feel the same way way when I get the occasional visit from my VAT inspector and when I visit my tame counter of beans or my bastardmotherhumpinglawyer.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I'm horribly poor, and could really use that 10% increase for when my pension starts paying. I expect my hot tub will need a new sound system by then.
The trick is working out what HMRC considers being a millionaire, then not being that.

[Boac]

You will need to factor in donations to a political party.