Rachel Reeves: trying to make numbers fit in is proving to be an impossible task

 

While Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Secretary for Defense John Healey, and other members of the British government can go around making all sorts of promises that they might not be able to deliver, it is up to Rachel Reeves to do all sorts of malabarismos to make numbers add up.

When she talked about pension reforms, she thought that would get more than 160 billion Pound to spend, but recent calculations show that the amount the Chancellor of the Exchequer will have available is less than 11 billion. 

In the meantime, John Healey, Secretary for Defense, has spoken publicly about building 6 munition factories, 12 nuclear submarines and so forth. More than 10 billion Pound are going to be paid to Mauritius for the transfer of the Chagos Islands. Billions of Pound are going to out to support military efforts in Ukraine, including training and sending of more than 100,000 drones (such is the number promised by Prime Minister Keir Starmer when he spoke about a tenfold increase. But there is a lot more. 

In the meantime, there is constant talk about budget cuts affecting Education, the NHS, the benefits system, the Civil Service, the BBC and so forth, on top of cuts for the elderly, the disabled and for those who look after the elderly and the disabled. But the list is a lot longer than that.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer is sitting around the table on a daily basis, including Sundays, negotiating with interested parties that are not happy with salary increases and cuts being proposed. So being Chancellor of the Exchequer in these circumstances is not the best post in the British Cabinet. When the Home Office, the Secretary for Defense, the local and regional authorities and whoever else asks for money, she is the one on the spot. The question is how long Rachel Reeves will endure the present state of affairs, before she herself decides that it is an impossible task.

UK Elections: Not since the days when Labour replaced Liberal Party as the other party has anything similar happened in Elections

In a Parliamentary By-Election fought due to the resignation of a Labour MP, the Labour Party in government lost a seat to Reform Party, a newly formed political party led by Nigel Farage MP who became Member of Parliament in July 2024. But not only that. In local elections, the Reform Party managed to win control of 10 Local Councils and turned the remaining Local Authorities to No Overall Control. Massive losses for both the Conservative Party in Opposition and for the Labour Party in government.

As reported by the BBC, the number of seats allocated to each political party, of the 1637 seats being up for election, was as follows:

Her Majesty´s Opposition, the Conservative Party, lost 674 seats. Her Majesty´s Government, the Labour Party, managed to retain barely 98 seats. The main issue is this elections was Immigration, although lack of trust and opposition to policies implemented since July 2024 played a very important role. To sum up, neither of the two main parties - Conservative Party and Labour Party inspire trust. There are conflicts within both major political parties. Keir Starmer, as Prime Minister and Labour Party Leader is facing increasing rejection from his own party. Kemi Badenoch, as newly elected leader of the Conservative Party, has not managed to make voters forget about 14 years of a Conservative Party that saw a succession of party leaders and Prime Ministers, due to internal upheaval. From Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak to Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative Party had to go through an election in which it was left with little more than 100 MPs, many of which do not see eye to eye. The local elections and Mayoral Elections and a Parliamentary By-Election were supposed to be litmus test for both major political parties.

There might be soon yet another Parliamentary By Election due to troubles affecting the Labour Party in Government. The Labour Party still holds a majority of more than 400 Members of Parliament but due to internal disagreement regarding policies being implemented by the Labour Cabinet, 2025 is bound to be a critical year. Industrial unrest could be on the cards, affecting the Civil Service, the National Health Service and Education. If Labour supporters choose to vote for other political parties - i.e. in a by-Election in Lambeth, Labour voters decided to support the Green Party that got a handsome majority with 48%, leaving the Labour Party in second place with 39% - or to abstein then the leadership of Keir Starmer will be increasingly challenged. The fundamental question to ask is "If there was a General Eleciton, would the Labour Party lose the General Election?"  

Alternative für Deutschland Far Right or Far Correct?

Alternative für Deutschland means that Far Right is Far Correct

The mess created by so called mainstream political parties is such that only political parties like Alternative für Deutschland can turn things for the better. For decades, Europe has been absorbing the mess created in other continents and being flooded with both victims and opportunists who seek to take advantage of a Welfare System paid for by hard working peoples. Most migrants end up not working or working in subsidized jobs, taking over services, housing and welfare infrastructure while locals who have paid for those services, housing and welfare are made to work harder at the best of times or to be without essentials at the worst of times.

So local and regional authorities are running out of money or have run out of money. Why? Migration. They are crumbling under the weight of inflated budgets that are not affordable. The Labour Party aka Champagne Socialists could not care less. Taxes keep going up, borrowing keeps going up and services are cut. When things are going in the wrong way, so called mainstream politicians try whatever they can to maintain the status quo, regardless of the consequences.

It is now that the Far Right / Far Correct has a vital role to play to amend what has been going wrong. So called Diversity has undermined public services by adding unnecessary costs that have nothing to do with the declared aims of public services.

Sexuality has been politized to the point of pretending that political statements about a myriad of non existing genders can change reality. Gender disphoria is a reality but is a reality that does not change the fact that we are talking about men and women. This is many cases has had a negative economic impact and negative social impact. 

Israel vs Iran: is this the real show?

 Is Israel versus Iran the real show?

We hear the news and see mass media flooded with articles about the dangers of widespread war in the Middle East and Asia Minor. We hear the news about North Koreans joining the fight in Ukraine. It is difficult to ascertain the real dimension of what we have been told. 

The real issue of widespred war in the Middle East and Asia Minor are not Israel or Iran, for that matter. The real issue are the vast amounts of oil and gas spread across the entire region. Kuwair, Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and so forth. If the Middle East and Asia Minor were to go up in smoke this will be a catastrophe for the world economy as a whole and there would be massive political consequences.

Both Israel and Iran have to play according to the rules. The United States of America might care about Iran, but the USA cares more about money and as long as money is being made the lives of hundreds of thousands don't matter at all, but the monies being made by shareholders matter more than human lives.

As long as the business of war keeps going and does not get out of control threatening the value of shares it is business as usual. Don't attack nuclear facilities! Don't attack oil reserves! Don't do anything that could ruin the business of war. Both Israel and Iran have to play for their own public and therefore they have to do something to prove that they are doing something.

We are dealing with Jews that do not give a damn about Jews, people for whom their own people matter very little as long as they get what they want. We are dealing with the Bernie Madoffs of geopolitics. Benjamin Netanyahu is a Bernie Madoff of geopolitics. The massacres carried out by Israel will continue. Israel has a license to kill as long as the business of war goes on as usual and monies are being made, but the Bernie Madoff also know that there are limitations. When Iran threatens to attack all those who help Israel there are direct references to oil and gas countries in the region. So any action against Iran has to be limited not to push Iran to attack the real targets in the Middle East and Asia Minor. We know how things are now under the present US Administration and I reckon that things will not change dramatically under a new US Administration because the interests are the same and the people actually running the circus are the same.

With regards to North Korea, I reckon that Ukraine is for North Korea what the Spain's Civil War was for the Wehrmacht: a training ground. North Korea has been in isolation and has not had any opporunity to test its Army in real battles. Although the number of North Korean troops is minimal, Ukraine can provide valuable opportunities. It also sends the message of unity: boys, we are all in it together. Military cooperation at every level. About 3,000 North Korean troops will not make any major difference in the conduct of the war, from a Russian standpoint as the Russian Federation has mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops.

Much of what Western politicians say is no more than chit chat, a propaganda effort to justify the existence of people who are absolutely irrelevant. NATO is a business to keep money rolling in for shareholders. Any monies that go into the pockets of shareholders are not monies that serve the general public. They are not invested in health, education, transport, infra-structure and so forth. The most important problems remain forever unsolved and this is why we have got the problems that we have got with more and more people facing miserable lives.  

Wednesday, October 30th, 2024 - Budget Day

 

This is personal, stated the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves. She refers to realities of the 1980s and 1990s. The Chancellor's efforts to gather capital will drag hundreds of thousands more people into paying tax and even more into higher rates as their pay rises, indicates none other than The Guardian.

Could a personal crusade turn into a nightmare? Changing fiscal rules to disguise debt making it appear as something else does not change the fact that it will still be borrowing. So more taxes and more borrowing that will be increased for public interest, according to the Chancellor.

Ordinary folk and many business were badly hit by the Covid Pandemic and the measures implemented to deal with the Covid Pandemic. After that, people and many business were hit by the energy crise generated by the conflict in Ukraine and the measures adopted against the Russian Federation. 

Now, they stand to be hit again by taxation and potentially higher prices of utilities, housing and daily shopping.

But the Chancellor of the Exchequer still says that she will implement the budget in a way that she will 'protect the living standards of working people'. 

Well, in an interview made in Washington, USA, Rachel Reeves - perhaps inadvertently - made promises that she will have to deliver. If she does not deliver and if the measures implemented by the Labour government become a de facto nightmare, then this will create a widely open door for another Conservative government.

Starting on Wednesday, October 30th, 2024, the government will have to deliver and with every failure, and every new crise, there will be many by-elections along the way in which people will express their discontent.

She talks about building schools and hospitals. Well, what will she do about nurses salaries that are not enough to rent a one bedroom flat? If living costs keep rising, this will be a de facto devaluation of salaries and a worsening of living standards. Before she goes around building schools and hospitals, she will have to look carefully at salaries actually paid to teachers and NHS staff. 

Even with the triple lock, state pensions are not enough to rent a one bedroom flat. State pensions are totally insufficient. Taxing state pensions and private pensions can only worsen an already bad situation. And this is going to do nothing to 'protect living standards'.  

Integration or disintegration: Keir Starmer faces backlash for including flag on electoral campaign

It looks and sounds like a contradiction that people coming to Britain or who have been born see the national symbols as a threat. Why is this happening? The education system might have a lot to do with it. Negative attitudes towards Nation and nationalist are being promoted throughout the education system, thus turning Britons against their own country and their own national identity.

Instead of being encouraged to love the country in which they live, they are being taught to hate the country in which they live and to see the country in which they live as evil. This state of affairs has to change and the time for change is long overdue when Britain might be about to face yet another historical challenge for its survival. 

Conservative Party: 40,000 teachers left the profession. NHS is bleeding professionals that are leaving even for other countries

Conservative Party is in a crisis with MPs no longer willing to stand for re-election and even members of the Cabinet announcing that they will not be standing for re-election. In the meantime, problems are being piled up at all levels. 

In education, more than 40,000 teachers are no longer teaching. They have had more than enough. When asked, a school teacher said 'I could not take it any more. It was not just about 35 pupils in the classroom. It was also about dealing with children with mental health issues that made teaching impossible.' It is not about remuneration. It is about working conditions. Teacher are supposed to teach. They are not supposed to deal with psychiatric problems thrown in the classroom.

What has changed about the operation of Police stations in the UK. Politicians including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak make promises in the House of Commons that he really and truly knows that cannot be delivered. Police stations are not even receiving reports regarding property stolen, let alone theft of mobile phones. They are understaff and they don't have the resources to deal with that kind of crime.

How much times does a consultant in the NHS have to deal with patients? Not much. There are not enough consultants and not enough specialised staff. There is so much that can be done with lack of human resources and with lack of equipment.

And what happens in Job Centres? Unqualified staff and insufficient staff are leading to DWP staff quitting their jobs because they cannot deal with the workload they are forced to deal with. 

And what happens at the Home Office? Not enough staff to deal with mountains of applications and the natural consequence is that everything gets delayed and this has social consequences. A rising number of people are wandering around in limbo and more often than not local authorities, schools and social services have to deal with the outcome having to find non existing accommodation for families with children, many of which are facing mental health problems and situations of abuse including domestic violence.

This is a tale of massive government incompetence. Government secretaries of state and ministers spend an awful amount of time making political statements and seem absolutely oblivious to reality. What is the point of spending millions of Pound every ten years to carry out Censuses? Save the money spent on Censuses and spend it to really try to solve the myriad of problems Britain is facing. Whatever data can be gathered in censuses are completely unreliable.

You will never be able to keep up with inflation when trying to support families via the welfare state. Look at the cost of buying and look at the cost of renting. Private renting is a total waste of resources. The private market is not supposed to meet the needs of those in need. Private letting is a business. What is needed is the sort of letting that can be controlled by the state. If you have social housing, the monies can be kept by the state and re-invested in social services. Private renting should be left for those who can afford to rent without state support. The state should be both landlord and service provider.

Do you know what happens to families with children that are forced to be constantly on the move from one area to another, from one city to another? Do you know what happens when it comes to education, health, work, family cohesion and mental health? Instability, uncertainty, mental health problems, domestic violence, constant financial struggle and dependency and the list goes on.

 

 

The Money Bubble: Why politicians are completely out of touch with peoples' everyday realities

When peoples are more familiar with spreadsheets that they are familiar with ordinary people bad things happen. Look around the cabinet. What do you see? They don't have a clue about what it takes to live the life of ordinary individuals that always have be chasing rabbits, always living with the uncertainty of being able or not being able to pay bills.

Because they are totally out of touch with realities of John Smith and Mrs Smith they go around talking about policies that are good for posturing and self-adulation instead of getting to grip with the real needs of those they supposedly stand to represent. By elections will be lost, local elections will be lost and ultimately a General Election will be lost. If you trully believe that falling into desperate situations and having to live on the streets is a 'lifestyle choice' then nothing else needs to be said about how out of touch you are.

Housing lists for social accommodation get longer and longer, the cost of rented accommodation is beyond most peoples' means as are unaffordable mortgages. Then you decide to throw people a few bones to supposedly allow them to cope with rising utility bills and consider that by doing so you are some kind of Robin Hood. No wonder qualified and newly qualified teachers are leaving the profession. They are supposed to be employed to teach and end up having to cope with worsening social situations in the classroom.

I can't wait to see a new General Election. I want everybody to get in touch with reality. As I have stated in many articles, I keep asking about the Dream. What is the Dream? All we get is procrastination, posturing, self-adulation and false promises.

Coming to the issue of migration and processing of applications, is there a backlog when dealing with applications that leads to all kind of irregularities? Don't have enough staff working at the Home Office? What are you waiting for? When will you employ enough staff to deal with the backlog when things get worse and worse? If you don't have the will to do what needs to be done, step aside and allow somebody else to do it.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt not standing as MP in 2024?

 

The political life of an administration is directly linked to two people: The Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The role played by Jeremy Hunt in the Conservative administration is a major role. We are a few months away of a crucial General Election and the role of the Chancellor of the Exchequer as main actor when it comes to implement economic policy can make or break a government long before a General Election. When Jeremy Hunt indicates that he might leave the Cabinet even before the General Election and/or that he will not be standing as Member of Parliament in 2024 sends shockwaves. He is basically cutting the branch of the tree on which British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is standing. Jeremy Hunt's calculations about not wanting to end his career with an electoral defeat show how little he trusts his own position and most importantly shows that he does not believe that there is going to be a Conservative government after the General Election. This is devastating. 

It must be said that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has of recent spent a lot of time trying to fix the rest of the world and paying little attention to what is happening in Britain. Money is flocking away from Britain and when it came to a major project the word 'cancellation' was supposed to be countered with veiled announcement about hypothetical transport projects that have not even been considered. The Prime Minister cancelled a project that was already underway and all the work done at a cost of billions of Pound is therefore abandoned. All the monies already invested and all the jobs that were generated are going to be thrown into the bin to be classified as yet more waste. We tried to sweeten the pill by promising a Paradise made up of new transport projects that he knows that he will not be able to deliver because he might not be able to stay as Prime Minister beyond the next General Election. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak put an end to something real and promised thin air in exchange.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has disarmed Britain by sending abroad equipment and resources that cannot be easily replaced. For many years, the British Armed Forces have been disadvantaged and even when it came to pay in the public budget the British Armed Force came last. On the one hand, you see speeches full of aggressive language and on the other hand you see the realities of the British Armed Forces. 

Education? Transport? Health? Public Safety? Immigration? When we should see improvements we see undeliverable promises and scandals of all sorts. 

But one has to be fair and in fairness he could not do more because of the realities of the Conservative Party that ended up with a Prime Minister that was not elected by the Electorate and was not even elected by voting members of the Conservative Party. He couldn't possibly be a strong Prime Minister because he has no power base apart from the support he got as Member of Parliament. The fact that none other than his own Chancellor of the Exchequer is throwing the towel tells you that it is game over. In the end, where are the heavyweights of the Conservative Party?

We have got a Secretary for Defence - Grant Shapps - that believes that being the descendant of people who suffered persecution in Europe 70 or so years ago is a crucially important qualification to be Secretary for Defence. Never mind if he does not possess any specific qualification for the post as man in charge of dealing with the defense of the Realm. Where are the heavyweights? The real knower - Ben Wallace MP - not only resigned his post as Secretary for Defence. Ben Wallace MP also announced that he will not be standing for re-election in 2024.

We see cancellations, resignations and lack of expertise that blended with a profound lack of self-confidence are a perfect recipe for disaster.

   

Scotland: Was associating itself directly with the Independence Movement a faux pas?

 

Was the fact that the Independence Movement was directly linked to the SNP a serious mistake?

The Scottish National Party and its newly adopted leader and successor of Nicola Sturgeon are in deep waters. Their management of Scotland has left a lot to be desired and has somehow come to be seen as what would happen to Scotland if Scotland were to become independent. Management of health and education - to name two vital sectors of any economy - has been an unmitigated disaster. The association of SNP with the Greens as a way to remain in power has led to disastrous policy making as a way to keep the coalition going.

Long gone are the days when Alex Salmond, the most successful Scottish National Party Leader, used to tell everybody that Scottish oil resources would ensure a strong Scottish economy that would be independent from the rest of the United Kingdom. In a move to remain Socialists without being attached to what they called the English Labour Party, the Scots gave preeminence to the Scottish Green Party and Net Zero did the rest to undermine what had been until a more or less credible stance. 

The poison chalice for Nicola Sturgeon as Leader was on the surface her stance on Gender Politics and suddenly, she was stricken by a series of scandals around financial impropriety. Her way out - and her resignation as Leader was planned as a way to avoid a major crisis that could have sunk the SNP even lower - was designed as a way to disappear. No sooner she was out as leader, a political storm was unleashed.

Humza Yousaf was chosen as scapegoat. He was supposed to be Nicola Sturgeon's heir apparent. He did not inherit her power. She threw him to the wolves and now he faces the inevitable. If his first time as leader is to lose to the Labour Party opening the way back for Labour into Scottish politics, will he survive? The Scottish National Party is extremely factional. In fact, the SNP has been at war with itself not just in Scotland, but most visibly in Westminster.

The SNP should have seen that by closely associating itself with the Independence Movement all it has done is to push backwards the Independence project. The Scottish people have just realised that when it comes to health, education and the economy in general the SNP has not delivered and it cannot deliver precisely because of its close association with the Scottish Green Party.

You cannot base your calculations on fossil fuel energy while at the same time talk about getting rid of fossil fuels. It makes no sense. I can't possibly make sense. If anything, it has increased economic dependency. The point might come when Devolution itself will be questioned.  

 

HS2 Fiasco: Message to China - Britain is falling

 

HS2 Fiasco is a direct message to China: Britain is falling and is incapable of building a high speed railway link, apart from other deficiencies that are by now pretty obvious.

1. Britain is incapable of patrolling and controlling its own borders.
2. Britain is incapable of having Armed Forces big enough and equipped enough to handle a real military conflict.
3. Britain does not have the military complex to be seen as a serious military contender.
4. Britain's nuclear deterrent is limited in its reach and is not even British.

Britain's standing in the world is based on myths that can be easily shown for what they are. Britain should not be worried about spies in the Houses of Parliament telling the world what is happening in Britain. To know what is happening in Britain you don't need spies and/or any kind of advanced technology. What is happening in Britain is pretty visible for all to see and it is absolutely lamentable.

The education system is not just in crisis because of lower education standards. The education system has been turned into an anti-Britain movement that is eroding the foundations of Britain as a country.

 

UK Politics: Faces come and go and sometimes they go as fast as they come, but what are the real changes?

We are a few months away from a General Election and all we get is soundbites and statements followed by counter statements from all sides of the political divide, but we are simply building a pile of bad news. 

Illegal migration is not going down. It is going up. Resources are been lamentably wasted when we obviously need resources to deal with basic needs. Regardless of the number of state school buildings, the issue is that there are problems that need to be solved so that the education system is not once again affected by avoidable problems.

The number of those sleeping rough is notoriously high and going up and we sense that on top of the number of Britons sleeping rough we have got foreigners that are not entitled to be in Britain sleeping rough on the streets. London has become a camping zone for illegal migrants. Why do people come all the way from foreign lands to sleep rough on the streets of British cities?

It is impossible not to notice those begging on the streets and on public transport. The question is why British authorities are not dealing with such an obvious problem. This is turning London into a Third World shit hole. It feels as if those in charge don't care at all. 

What about the state of London transport? London Underground is in dire need of attention. Never mind the addition of brand new stations if the rest of the network looks like work in progress or has simply been left behind. Standards have fallen and there is constant talk of leaving stations unmanned and unsupervised.

One thing has been certain all along: travelling fares continue to go up while the quality of services is going down? Trains cancelled because of lack of drivers? Timetables leave people astonished because few people can understand the rationality of empty trains that do not stop to pick up passengers.

We have become experts at ticking boxes while services fall apart and failures are constantly on the news damaging Britain's reputation.

We vote. For what? In local elections we vote for Councillors. Who are they? What do they actually do? We hardly see them while a myriad of easily solvable problems remain unsolved for decades. Therefore, it is not merely about political parties. The system, whoever is in power, does not work.

UK Happy New Year: The threat is that the New Year will bring more industrial unrest with foreseable and unforeseable consequences

If the Lockdown can be blamed for the loss of economic activity, endemic strikes will cause untold damage to a weak British economy and the chances are that inflation will then skyrocket with rates of inflation not seen for ages or ever happening in the United Kingdom. You cannot have a national budget in times of significant economic losses. How can you predict how much you are going to spend if the very same day in which you announce the budget the indicators used to calculate your budget have moved upwards. 

Put it this way. You plan to spend X amounts of Pounds for Health. Inflation will eat away whatever monies you invest in Health. If you say that you will invest 100 Pound and then inflation eats away 20 of the 100 Pound, the actual investment will fall from 100 Pound to 80 Pound. If inflation keeps going up and you end end up with an endless series of strikes with people demanding a series of increases just to keep up with inflation, whatever monies are given as increases will never be sufficient. You cannot go on borrowing indefinitely.  Other countries have tried to survive such a cycle and have ended up defaulting and Britain is not big enough not to fail. Given the size of the British economy, there isn't a single institution that could supply the amount of funding necessary to keep Britain alive.

No government could break such a cycle and the moment the country becomes literally insolvent we are going to lose many of the advances made in many areas including Health and Education. This has already been happening when you look at the number of vacancies that remain unfilled. Immigration will make a bad situation worse because the issue is management and not lack of resources and this is very much apparent when you look at other areas like Tertiary Education. If we keep pumping resources to produce things for which there is no demand then we are going to lack the necessary resources for things for which there is demand. The aim for many years has been to increase the number of those attending Universities without thinking about the kind of degrees we really need. The natural consequence has been rising student generated debt, degrees that end up in a drawer without ever been used in the real world and drop outs. The inconsistencies are pretty obvious but political correctness stands on the way of decision makers. As if this wasn't enough, those in charge of managing the budgets of education centres don't mind accepting students for courses for which there is no future as long as they keep getting funding.

We know that there are issues to deal with but there is no political will to deal with them and status quo sustains a permacrisis.

Strikes generate enormous losses for the economy by paralizing the country. As always, the ones who will suffer more because of strikes are the most vulnerable.

Working our way around strikes

In the end, we come to accept strikes as part of the food and parcel of everyday life in the United Kingdom. So, what do we do? We try to work our way around them and move on. Once again, waiting lists at the NHS and missed schooling days will happen not because of the lockdown measures impelemented during the pandemic but because of strikes of very crucial segments of the economy. NHS strikes? Patients without treatment. School strikes?

Students falling behind in their studies. Most British education centres were downgraded this year. No surprise there. It was bound to happen after what has been happening since 2020 and there is more to expect in terms of lack of schooling. Children at home or wandering around getting into trouble, parents struggling to manage between work and caring after their children and, if this wasn't enough, all those jobs prospects for their children getting farther and farther away because lack of schooling means lack of qualifications to have acces to job opportunities.

There is no leveling up if people don't have what it takes to get better jobs and it could well be said that strikes ensure that the new generations will miss opportunities in the medium term and long term. If somebody is making less than 20,000 Pound a year, we can understand that they need more to get by, but when somebody is getting 59,000 on average there is no justification to keep asking for more when the country is struggling with public debt out of control. Trade Union representatives said it themselves: trains drivers are getting 59,000 Pound a year on average. They are thinking merely about themselves and they are forgetting the hundreds of thousands that are not so lucky, the ones who are going to be harshly hit by transport strikes. No transport, no work when people need transport to go to work and especially when a day out of work means no income whatsoever. They say that politicians are out of touch with the rest of society. Well, high earning train drivers are equally out of touch with the rest of society and because of it society as a whole stands to pay a very high price for it.

Strikes hit the have-nots harder. Billions of pounds will be lost, taxes will not be collected, and social misery will spread faster than ever. With every year turning the Goodwill Season into a confrontation season the feel good factor evaporates. 

The expression Capitalism creates wealth and Socialism spreads misery is truer than ever before. Of course we must support decent incomes for all, but we must reject opportunists driven by greed that hide their greed behind legitimate concers to justify the unjustifiable. 

Strikes: winners and losers

 

Strikes: winners and losers

The coming months will see more strikes in Britain and this will include not only transport but also state administration, National Health Service, Education and other segments of the British economy. The idea is that workers want better deals to lose less of the value of their incomes being eroded by the inflationary process created by sanctions against the Russian Federation.

One of the outcomes has been the downgrading of the education system with most education centres having gone done in terms of education standards and there is more to come when teachers go on strike. To the damage caused by the Covid Pandemic will be added the damage caused by absenteism from classrooms caused by strikes. This is going to be also a difficult time for working families and many will face the dilemma of going to work, leaving their children alone outside schools or staying home to look after their families. This will also pose serious social risks. Having children without education and without adult supervision roaming around with little to do is certainly a recipe for disaster. 

We cannot entirely blame workers concerned about their incomes, but the very shortsighted approach of administrations that completely underestimated the impact of geopolitical decisions. Everybody with a grain of common sense could foresee that economic warfare would have repercussions not only for the British economy, but for the world's economy as a whole.  Even France with its nuclear power advantage is in dire straits as the vast majority of French nuclear reactors are not operational and this led to a direct confrontation between the French authorities and energy providers when French authorities tried to force energy providers to provide electricity at below operational margins. Similar situations occur across continental Europe and Winter has not even arrived. As temperatures fall, the true extent of the energy crisis will be felt and words like rationing and blackouts. Those who remember the early 1970's in Britain will know fairly well what it means. At one point, Britain was working three days a week. In Britain, temporary aid has been provided to help both ordinary consumers and companies deal with the brunt of energy prices but, unless such schemes are intended to be a permanent feature, sooner than later the real costs of energy will be felt across the board.

So what do strikes achieve? To begin with, those who are going to bear the brunt of strikes are going to be the most vulnerable and especially those who are part of the Zero Hour Contract economy and the black economy. With reduced economic activity, they are going to struggle to survive. Recession could soon be followed by Depression and we also what Depression means. In a recession, economic activity is severely affected but continues. In a Depression, the ultimate consequence is massive levels of unemployment. The hospitality industries - for example, were critically affected by lockdown measures during the pandemic. After that, they have had to deal with higher energy prices and many businesses came to an abrupt end. If now they to have to deal with higher energy prices and margins that do not cover their operational costs, for a vast number of businesses this will be the end game.

Any temporary gains will be followed by gigantic losses. In an economy with skyrocketting levels of borrowing, any salary increases will be swallowed by inflation.

The importance of language learning

Not knowing a language and not making an effort to learn a language is a form of disability. Some people cannot hear - this is called deafness. Some people cannot talk and this means that they are mute. If you hear and talk, but cannot communicate then you are disabled.

Not learning a language can also be the consequence of negative attitudes. The usual comment I hear as justification for not making an effort to learn a certain language is 'It is too difficult'. Another common excuse is 'I don't like it'. People who have such attitudes often deprive themselves of the opportunity of having a normal life and/or a successful life.

By not learning a language you are deprived of first hand knowledge and first hand experiences and constantly depending on other people to know what is actually going on.  You only have access to somebody else's interpretation or understanding of what is going on.

When it comes to sciences and especially to mathematics, we encounter similar kinds of attitudes. People want to have a better job, more work opportunities, but they are not willing to do what needs to be done to have a better job and more work opportunities.

Learning sciences is also about communication. Without acquiring certain skills, your understanding will be limited and you will always be prey of those who want you to believe what they want you to believe. How can you be able to make informed decisions if what you precisely lack is the capacity to understand and evalue the data and views you are faced with?

To be able to make an informed decision, you must know what everything is about. 

Britain is facing the dangers of a prolongued General Strike combined with financial meltdown

Britain is facing the dangers of a prolongued General Strike combined with financial meltdown

The end of the Lockdown will unleash the law of unintended consequences. For example, for education to go back to normal timetables, two conditions must be met. You need to have enough teachers willing to return to the classrooms and enough parents must be willing to send back their children to full-time education.

At the moment, none of the said conditions seem to be about to be met. Trade Unions have stated that they are reluctant to tell their members to go back to work in conditions deemed to be unsafe. Surveyed parents have indicated that they don't want their children back in school for fear of infection.

As long as the Lockdown goes, teachers' salaries continue to be paid. How long will teachers' salaries continue to be paid if the authorities decide that all schools must return to normal timetables and teachers don't show up? Will parents be forced to send their children to school? Will those who don't be penalised?

Normality in terms of school attendance has a direct impact on working families. Parents could not go back to work as normal if their children are not in full time education. In principle, the furlogh scheme will only last until October 31st 2020 when many - perhaps millions - will find out if they still have got a job. 

People without income cannot pay for mortages and loans. We could witness a massive Northern Rock effect. To the number of companies that have already gone under will be added the number of those who have gone under that we still don't know about.

This will happen at a time when the state is already involved in unpredented levels of borrowing to finance the furlogh scheme and other emergency funding. If as a direct result of the present predicament, the financial sector falters, there is no money in the kitty to rescue the financial sector and at the same time pay for mass unemployment.

Brexit and Nationalisation: Reality and fiction

Brexit and Nationalisation: Reality and fiction

Overnight, with the flick of a switch, Jeremy Corbyn plans to nationalise every single utility company and railway services. Now, apart from the monies needed for such enterprise, who is going to run the said companies and who is going to work for the said companies? Will the top managers and the middle managers want to become state employees? Will the workers want to become state employees?

Will specialized individuals want to work receiving lower salaries? What about the shareholders' position in what looks like a massive expropriation process? We are talking about billons of Pound invested in shares in companies that are valued in the London Exchange. The financial sector is the hearbeat of Britain and anything that affects the heartbeat of Britain can have widespread repercussions.

This proposed nationalisation has little to do with improving services for the general public. It has more to do with increasing the power of the trade unions that was dramatically reduced. In past public companies were used by the Labour Party for political purposes. Governments of a different political persuasion had to contend with the reality that despite having won an election they were often kept hostage by Labour Party controlled trade unions.

It was Tony Blair that despite being the Leader of the Labour Party knew that unless he curbed the powers of some elements within the Trade Union Movement the then Labour Party as it was would be unelectable. So he set out to transform the trade unions. The first thing that he looked at, together with John Prescott, was Clause Four - block vote.

The only way to weaken the influence of the bosses of the trade unions was to implement the rule of "one member, one vote". Having done that, for thirteen years - the Labour government firstly led by Tony Blair and in the end by Gordon Brown, never nationalised any utility companies and didn't nationalise railway services. Why? Because they didn't want to become themselves hostages of the trade unions.

When Labour Party MPs and now former Labour Party MPs speak against Jeremy Corbyn and describing him as dangerous, they know very well that Jeremy Corbyn is trying to turn the clock back in the Labour Party and in the country as a whole. The whole agenda is about power and control. Those led by Jeremy Corbyn want total control and controlling mass media and social media and any form of communication is very much appropriate in a dictatorial regime.

They will also control education in Britain. The idea of abolishing private institutions and the idea of putting everything under the control of a single authority will ensure that those born and growing up in Britain will have to conform to the ideological dictats. We have already seen quite a few examples when people who have different ideas or beliefs are excluded by Student Unions, Colleges and Universities.

At every level, this Labour Party Leadership is leading the nation towards a dictatorial regime dressed as a democracy in which everything you do will be scrutinized by ideological zealots. With this Labour Leadership we are going back to the days before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Massive tax increases, massive borrowing, loss of incentives for private investors, and in a country like the United Kingdom this will mean having to pay ever higher interest rates to attrack people willing to buy state bonds to manage the debt. The reality of low interest rates comes to an end and will go back to boom and bust that in the end will more bust than boom. The moment interests rates start rising homeowners that have mortgages will be hit hard and unable to make payments and we know what happens when this happen. 

Wasn't the banking crisis caused by a crisis in the housing market in the USA when people could not afford to make mortgage payments and many lenders found themselves with massive debts and devalued housing stocks? This is called negative equity. The words was repossesion. Thousands upon thousands of homes repossessed and the state having to go out and rescue banking institutions to prevent total collapse of the economy. 

And we will get to the moment when borrowing will not be borrowing to invest or to pay for public services. It will be borrowing to pay debts and for little else. At this stage, Britain becomes a Third World Country, no more the thriving economy of today, but a country at the mercy of foreign lenders. This is the cost of the approach proposed by the present Leaderdhip of the Labour Party. 

For Jeremy Corbyn, Brexit is an unexpected issue to have to deal with. The real issue is the creation of a completey different kind of Britain. Some say that he is a secret supporter of Brexit because the enormity of the changes he plans to implement would not fit in in a free and democratic society. This is not just about Political Correctness. This is about Democratic Centralism and those who know the meaning of Democratic Centralism and the source of such expression will be horrified. 

    

The Nazi Milkshakes and others relevant issues

The Nazi Milkshakes and others relevant issues

When we accept or promote degrading acts against those we don't agree with we are promoting exactly what we say that we reject. We must respect all candidates and their supporters, we must have open debate without exclusions.

Britain is quickly becoming the new Weimar Republic because of lack of trust and widespread intolerance.

We have a responsibility to avoid excesses that could lead to tragedies.

This no longer about throwing milkshakes but the act of throwing things at people will produce an escalation of events. Lack of respect, physical aggression and ultimately death.

Teachers having sex with pupils: rising number of cases

UK: Rising number of teachers banned from teaching because of their sexual involvement with pupils

Hardly a day goes by without yet another case of teachers banned from teaching because they have become sexually involved with their pupils.

Why do they risk their professions and their reputations and also risk being sent to jail? What is actually going on?

Just a few days ago, an impressive research was published in the United Kingdom that indicates that 20 per cent of adults in the United Kingdom never engaged in sexual activities.

But there is yet another problem. Everything seems to end with people banned from teaching. Where is the research to try and determine why they become involved with their pupils? There must be some fundamental reasons why an adult individual in a position of authority decides to throw everything away for the sake of sexual gratification, the kind of sexual gratification that ruins lives - their own lives and the lives of countless others.

The time is long overdue to have a closer look at psycho-sexual health in the United Kingdom. Behind a veneer of respectability and taboos, there is an underworld, a sub-reality, that spreads across all layers and segments of British Society.