British Conservatives: No leader? Until when?

 

Now former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is also former Conservative Party Leader.

Some say that the General Election was premature, but the manner of his resignation as Party Leader was certainly premature.

Next week when elected MPs assemble in the House of Commons to choose the next Speaker of the House of Commons, the Conservative Party will be headless.

Despite comments made by David Cameron and George Osborne about delays the election of the next Conservative Party Leader, it is self-evident that the Conservative Party cannot be leaderless for long. Who is going to face Keir Starmer as Shadow Prime Minister? Who is going to give the Conservative Party a sense of direction?

In debating chamber of the House of Commons will be three powerful figures: Nigel Farage, Richard Tice and Lee Anderson that speaking for Reform and the door is open for more disertions from the Conservative Party if no one stands to lead the Conservative Party. We are dealing with the survival of the Conservative Party. 

So, any delay can only increase present dangers for the Conservative Party. Those who were on the brink of leaving the Conservative Party before the General Election could be tempted to join Reform or other political forces if the issue of leadership is not resolved.

In the selection process that led to his appointment as Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak lost to Liz Truss because party members voted mostly for Liz Truss. When Liz Truss was forced to resign, then Rishi Sunak was chosen but only by Conservative MPs without the support of Conservative Party members.

Therefore, the question is absolutely relevant. Who is going to choose the next Conservative Party Leader? Will Conservative Party Members be given the chance to vote or will the next Conservative Party Leader be chosen by Conservative Party MPs?

Rishi Sunak vs Keir Starmer?

Recent years in Britain has been the scene of a political catastrophe, from David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak to the soon to be Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Is this a fait accompli or could there be other developments in the making?

Looking at the teams - and this is about teams - what are the major differences between the two teams?

This is a specially tricky time both in national affairs and in international affairs. There are major concerns in terms of international events that could send countries over the edge. We need to look in both directions - across the Atlantic to see what is happening in the USA and across the Channel to see what is happening in France. If the unthinkable happens, whoever is Prime Minister in Britain might be dealing with Donald Trump in the USA and with Marine Le Pen in France.

Could we end up with a hung Parliament? Could the unthinkable happen leading to a Conservative win, whatever tight it might be?

If anything, apart from mass media reactions and the fact that not less than 73 Conservative MPs announced that they will not be standing for re-election, there is widespread apathy. Could the Labout Party be divided along national borders, ethnic differences and ideological differences to the point that an easy victory can turn out to be not just a tight victory but also a tight defeat?

Who can we believe? Can we believe mass media? Both major parties are losing membership support and voters are crossing new boundaries. Both Greens and Reform did pretty well all things considered and this in local elections - particularly in London. Could disaffected voters look for other alternatives?

Conservative Party: When a company goes into administration, we know the final chapter

 

The banner does not reflect reality. In fact, recent decisions made by Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister point in exactly the opposite direction.

There are no long-term decisions. In fact, you cannot trust that what is announced as a long-term decision will last long enough. In terms of a brighter future, all the promises about a brighter future cannot balance what is a disastrous present.

The country is pawned to the hilt and we worry about the day when investors will stop buying bonds if the rates paid for bonds are not dramatically raised, thus making public borrowing practically unpayable.

In fact, every indicator signals impending doom. Can you trust the promises made by what is a de-facto caretaker unelected Prime Minister? At this point in time, Rishi Sunak shares with the Liberal Democrats one fundamental characteristic. He can promise anything because he will not be around to deliver whatever he promises. In the present state of affairs, May 2024 seems - painfully - to be a long way away. His Chancellor of the Exchequer - Jeremy Hunt MP - will no longer be around either since he himself has said that he will not be standing in 2024. Investors will surely take notice of what is happening in British politics since a change of managers will surely mean a change of management style.

Britain needs clarity. Britain needs to know where it stands. Rather late, the Prime Minister is now talking about implementing the same kind of tax measures that he rejected when he was competing with now former Prime Minister Liz Truss. One could see that there were two Party Conferences. One was the official Party Conference and the other was the Fringe Party Conference. Some did not bother to attend either of them. Such is the state of disarray. 

In more than one way, seeking some kind of relevance in geopolitics has been a diversion. Foreign powers - friends and foes - who follow very closely what is happening in the United Kingdom know better. Whatever is agreed today accounts for very little. Long-term decisions? The UK political cycle is pretty short and makes practically impossible to have long term policies since the next Parliament can choose at will not to implement what the previous Parliament approved or supported.

The UK goverment that he presides spoke about foreign deals with huge markets and promised a brilliant future for the British economy. It is like writing on water. There are no guarantees whatsoever that colourful and impressive speeches will be followed by real achievements. May 2024, an important month on the British political calendar. If what happened in a series of by-elections is translated into a real General Election, not even a space in Madame Tussauds could be guaranteed.

The Conservative Party has broken a new record. A bit more than a decade in power and at least 5 Prime Ministers.     

Johnson Vs Sunak: The big loser is the Conservative Party

 

Rishi Sunak has played right into the hands of the Opposition by using a Committee headed by none other than Harriet Harman. Now, who is Harriet Harman? The MP standing for Peckham was so unpopular in her own political party that when she was on the list to appoint the next Speaker of the House, she could practically count on her vote only. Harriet Harman publicly declared that she was out to get Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak and Conservative MPs that made up the special committee played along. This is the state of Conservative Party that is now facing at least three by-elections in a row, that recently lost thousands of Councillos in local elections and that faces the propect of losing most if not all the seat that were won when Boris Johnson was at the helm of the Conservative Party. It was Boris Johnson's political dexterity that led thousands of Labour voters in the so called Red Wall to trust the Conservative Party. Now, Rishi Sunak has committed harakiri by getting rid of the man that gave the Conservative Party an 80 seat majority. Before Boris Johnson, Theresa May managed to lose a Conservative majority by calling an election that was an utter disaster for the Conservative Party. Theresa May's ill adviced election call was what allow John Bercow as Speaker of the House Commons to manipulate the democratic system to the point that even the unelected Judiciary had a say in the democratic process. John Bercow was later publicly exposed as a bully and was not even allowed to enter the Houses of Parliament.

What happens next? Well, Labour voters who trusted the Conservative Party because of Boris Johnson might not be around a second time. Conservative voters completely disenfranchised could vote for other political parties or abstain - whether they vote for other political parties or abstain matters very little. What matters is that they will not be supporting the Conservative Party. And the next question is: is the present Conservative Party a Conservative Party? The Conservative leadership under Rishi Sunak has not told members of the public that no new legislation is needed to prevent illegal migration. In fact, the legislation already exists and has international recognition, but the present administration does not want to implement it. If present legislation were used, no Rwanda schemes and no ship schemes would be necessary. Instead, cranky schemes after cranky schemes are abandoned at huge cost for British taxpayers and migration levels keep rising unabated. If your local economy has been ruined by illegal migration under a Conservative administration, would you still vote to have more of the same?

Smaller political parties that before used not to put forward candidates because they did not want to divide the vote are not going to be abstaining. They are going to stand up even if this means ensuring the demise of the Conservative Party because they say that what is shown on the label is not what is in the bottle that they have been offered.

Now, let's compare the two men's credentials. Boris Johnson was chosen by the electorate and by members of the Conservative Party. Rishi Sunak was not chosen by the electorate and he actually managed to lose internally because Conservative members chose Liz Truss instead. Apart from the election that allowed him to become a Member of Parliament, Rishi Sunak has not won any election and, even more, Rishi Sunak was not chosen by Conservative Party members. 

Boris Johnson not only won elections to become a Member of Parliament and Conservative Party Leader. Boris Johnson has a history of winning elections including elections to become London Mayor. Being a successful businessman does not make you a good politician. Boris Johnson has the political acumen that the Conservative Party failed to have this year when local elections were fought and lost, and acumen that is not going to be around at the General Election and at the local elections including the London Elections in 2024.

The next General Election is due to take place on May 2nd, 2024. In previous elections, the Conservative Party was wiped out in Wales and in Scotland and this time England will follow. And what will happen to investors' trust? What will happen to economic recovery? Britain could be on her way to become a gigantic Slough Authority under the rule of a political party that promises one thing on Monday only to change its mind the day after. Tuition fees or no tuition fees? Green plans or no Green plans? They promise something because it sounds nice and popular, without making the sums to know if they can deliver or not what they are promising.

 

 

 

European Union could re-start war in Northern Ireland: Rishi Sunak hanging from a thread

European Union is bent on destroying the United Kingdom, but the nearest chapters could be very bloody. Forcing Rishi Sunak to accept unacceptable terms, EU could trigger a new conflict in Northern Ireland that could spread and affect community relations motivating attacks against Asians if such deal is seen as the actual partition of the United Kingdom and there are precedents. Prime Minister Theresa May was very quickly given her marching orders and there were no other repercussions apart from the end of her political aspirations. In Rish Sunak's case the situation is a lot worse. If anger grows against an Asian Prime Minister classified as a traitor, things could become extremely ugly. This is one of the reasons why Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is being very cautious. He knows that Boris Johnson and Liz Truss are not the worst that could happen to him and his family and countless of other families across the United Kingdom.

Many politicians, including some in the European Union, have claimed that they want to protect the Good Friday Agreement and Peace in Northern Ireland, but paradoxically they are doing their worst to destroy the Good Friday Agreement and Peace in Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Assembly has been paralized not once, but several times forcing the Westminster Parliament to impose some kind of direct rule. If a deal means the end of power sharing then the Good Friday Agreement will be dead and violent confrontation will flare up with little to prevent it. Because of the ethnicity of the Prime Minister, there is the certain danger that things could spread like wildfire across the entire United Kingdom.

What happens in Northern Ireland is being closely followed by external operators, and especially at a time when NATO is bent on making things worse in Europe.

Ben Wallace: To be or not to be?

For British Secretary of State for Defense Ben Wallace MP the issue is pretty clear: to be or not to be? British politicians have been claiming that after the USA, Britain is the second most powerful country in the world and one wonders on what such claims are based.

Spending less than 2 per cent of the budget on Defense, Britain is below the 2 per cent required by NATO and with less than 80,000 troops the country is behind Germany in terms of capable combattants. Even Margaret Thatcher that is now in history as the one Prime Minister that was at the helm in 1982 when Britain faced Argentina in the South Atlantic was about to mothball the navy right up to the point when the country had to embark in a naval campaign for which NATO resources had to be moved south and private ships had to be used to transport troops. Lucky for Britain that the Harrier jump jets were available and were the key for success as Britain had completely underestimated the amount of resources it needed for such endeavour.

Today, reality tells us that Britain is not fit for war. Britain was not fit for war in Iraq and Britain was not fit for war in Afghanistan. Even when it acted as second fiddle to the US, its failings were immediately apparent. When you send troops to a theatre of war in vehicles that are not fully armoured and were only meant for riot control, you know that something is extremely wrong. As soon as they drove over landmines, British soldiers were turned into mincemeat. Britain's capacity to move troops around was very limited as there were no enough air transport resources and British commanders had to use American aircraft to move around in a theatre of war. 

Talking about the present conflict in Eastern Europe, if you give away British military resources and you don't invest to replace or increase British resources you know, once again, that things are extremely wrong. The country could run out of ammunition in a week. Britain build two very expensive sea mammouths at a huge cost only to realize that they were not fit for purpose. One of the biggest embarrassments were massive ships that were not sea worthy.

It was Ben Wallace that had to counter statements made by Rishi Sunak regarding the deploymenty of British jets in Ukraine stating that sending jets would undermine British security because it would trigger retaliation against the British homeland. But I am sure that it was Ben Wallace's awareness of the present state of the British Armed Forces that pushed him to act without delay to reject the promises made by Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister. Who could be the right Prime Minister if Britain faces the prospect of a protracted European War? I am sure that many Conservatives are asking such question. An opportunistic Boris Johnson? Bureaucracts like Lizz Truss or Rishi Sunak? Lizz Truss herself support a 10 per cent reduction of the British Armed Forces while at the same time trying to sound threatening on the world stage.

Eleven billion Pound might sound like an impressive amount of money, but it is just money. You need to train human resources, you need time. You don't build reliable Armed Forces on the hoof. Politicians and Church leaders seem more interested in promoting homosexuality and social decadence than in promoting a Britain that is fit for purpose and capable of performing in a theatre of war. In a country in which supporting illegal migrants is more important that supporting Britons, you know in which direction the wind is blowing. When local populations rebel against invasion and are labelled 'Far Right extremists', you know that the political system is rotten to the core.

Rotten to the core by militant homosexuality, social decadence and the destruction of British identity, Britain is not fit for purpose.

Countdown: Rishi Sunak becomes British Prime Minister

 

Rishi Sunak becomes British Prime Minister and this in itself is a bit like a Christian entering the Roman Colloseum to be eaten by lions.

Given the fate of his precedecessors in recent times, the newly elected Prime Minister is well advised to keep his friends close and his enemies closer.

Perhaps this is the idea of integrating his Cabinet with people from various sides of the political map of the Conservative Party.

Hopefully, his political honeymoon will last longer but, as always, in British politics 24 hours seem like an eternity and he is very much aware that he is cruising along very treacherous waters.

It has been well established that when the electorate votes, the electorate votes for a particular political party and not for an individual. Boris Johson managed to get a majority of more than 80 seats in the House of Commons and this, at least theoretically, would give him enough room to maneuver. Having said that, with such a majority neither Boris Johnson nor Liz Truss managed to survive. The issue is then not British voters as a whole, but loyalties within the Conservative Party. For many, having avoided a General Election until now is a blessing as many risked having their seats go up in smoke if a General Election took place in the present circumstances.

The next hurdle is January 2023, month when travelling fares are usually adjusted according to rate of inflation. The British government managed to alley fears about utility rates rises until April 2023, but it cannot go on providing lifeboats if inflation keeps going up. Although TFL is said to have been thinking about a 4% fares rise, TFL has no control of other areas of public transport. The present inflation rates is above 10%. Rises can only be avoided with bigger subsidies and in the end no one wins because bigger subsidies are paid with borrowed monies. If we try to avoid borrowing then we have to think about higher taxes or budget cuts.

Lizz Truss bet on lower taxes as a way of boosting economic activity. Rishi Sunak campaigned to avoid tax cuts and therefore will have to get better results to avoid entering a cycle of higher taxes and falling tax receipts that could ultimately push the country towards austerity budgets.

Inflation is eating away public budgets. If this goes on, very soon public administration bodies, local and regional authorities will ran out of money and will be unable to maintain service levels.

Liz Truss - New British Prime Minister - the test begins now

 

Forget the rhetoric of the election campaign and focus on actions taken from the moment that Liz Truss MP is officially inaugurated as British Prime Minister.

After the meeting with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Liz Truss as third woman elected British Prime Minister, will be on her way to deal with some of the most difficult situations Britain has had to face and will have to act decisively to avoid all kinds of pitfalls.

On the national front, she will have to deal with the consequences of the energy crisis generated by positions adopted by Boris Johnson regarding the conflict in Eastern Europe.

She would also have to deal with entrenched positions involving Northern Ireland and the formulation of new British Bill of Human Rights to detach Britain from the European Court of Human Rights.

All issues are directly linked to British sovereignty that was severely limited to the point that, even when sorting out problems generated by illegal immigration, it it is still the case that foreign countries can tell Britain what to do about her own immigration policies.

Energy and everything linked to energy will be at the core of her premiership. The choice is between Net Zero and Self-Sufficiency. Do we want Britain to be prosperous and politically stable or do we want Britain subjected to a cycle of permanent crisis caused by unrealistic aims?

It is no mystery that the Parliamentary Conservative Party wanted Rishi Sunak at the helm, but the Membership of the Conservative Party supported Liz Truss. The margin between the two candidates was pretty close, but she had an absolute majority anyway.

The EU economy is falling apart and the Euro continues its descent compared to the US Dollar. The same is happening to the British Pound. So there is no safe haven anywhere. It is only September 2022. The arrival of the European winter will forcefully bring new realities into the big picture. The Russian Federation will not be willing to restore gas supplies until sanctions against the Russian Federation are dropped. What happens to the German economy will have a direct impact inside the EU and also in Britain. 

The prospect of a conflict of major proportions has already been mentioned by the European Commission. An economically unstable European Union can bring back the ghosts of the 1930s. Words like recession, rationing and blackouts are mentioned with increasing frequency.

This is not an easy time for Britain and Liz Truss knows it full well. As a member of Boris Johnson's Cabinet she had to support policies that went against her declared way of thinking and this is clearly understandable. The challenge is to adopt policies that many in her own party will oppose. Loyalty seems to be one of the main qualities that better describes the new British Prime Minister. She campaigned for Remain, but helped Boris Johnson to implement Brexit. She was not in favour of tax rises, but she did support tax rises out of duty. She occupied key positions within the Cabinet and is seen as the longest serving MP in the Cabinet. She is known as very hardworking and committed to the task in hand. You might disagree with many of her stances, but we must recognize her dedication.

She is definitely not a good debater. Her political opponents criticize her debating skills. Having said that, what really matters is her capacity to make hard decisions and stick to the course.

We look forward to knowing who will in the next Conservative Cabinet. 

  

UK: Money is the cost of political decisions, but it can also be measured in lives lost

 

Money is the cost of political decisions, but it can also be measured in lives lost

The cost of dealing with the Covid pandemic has been enormous. Lives lost or damaged, job lost, the burden of anxiety and despair plus the economic and political cost.

But in essence, every political decisions has a cost attached. The cost of decision making when dealing with a crisis cannot be underestimated. When wrong decisions are made there is also a cost. Britain has been acting like a gambler, betting and hoping to win, but losing along the way. This gambling behaviour has been at the core of British geopolitical decisions. On the one hand there was the intent of saving money by cutting corners and on the other was the intent to remain relevant.

Afghanistan and Iraq have proven how wrong it was to cut corners while at the time attempting to remain relevant and and the consequences were shambolic. Politicians like to sound impressive and impressive it was the idea of investing hundreds of millions of Pound to build what were thought be state of the art aircraft carriers that have been beset by disasters. On top of delays came the realisation that structures were far from perfect and lead to leaks. As if this wasn't enough, it was understood that the carriers could be operational, but without the aircraft that should carry onboard. The latest chapter was HMS Prince of Wales when having left Porstmouth it had to return to port just when it was on its way for a long naval exercise and these was due to 'technical problems'. If Britain was at war, such kind of deficiences would be unforgivable.

What happens to the British Royal Navy in terms of mishaps does not end there, but other branches of the British Armed Forces are facing challenges. The recruitment crisis is not about lack of candidates to join the British Armed Forces. It is about suitability. Of those wanting to join in, there is a huge percentage in terms of those not judged fit to join in. This is why there was the idea of opening the gates allowing candidates from the Commonwealth to join. That did not go well. Now, recent decisions made in terms of recruitment have been criticized. Positive discrimination, not allowing white candidates to join in, has led to a new low. Trying to be politically correct, those in charge have made a difficult situation even worse. If those wanting to join in - if they trully wanted to join in - are ultimately judged not fit for purpose or if standards are lowered to allow them to join in then there will be serious questions to ask about fighting capabilities. The British Armed Forces do not have the necessary manpower and are also critically stretched in terms of material capabilities. Should Britain have to face a real threat involving a sustained long term effort, Britain would be facing mortal danger without the tools needed to get itself out of danger. Today's Britain is less capable than the Britain of 1940. 

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss spoke about her willingness of 'pressing the button' should it be necessary. Well, without the necessary conventional forces, 'pressing the button' might be the only one thing to do when everything else is missing. Just a few weeks ago, she stated that she was in favour of reducing manpower. It seems that all she has in mind is the nuclear deterrent and IT capabilities to deal with dangers linked to Internet. The formerly glorious Royal Navy had to be committed to the task of patrolling the Channel because Britain does not have enough patrol boats and this didn't go well either. Using warships to chase small ships and rubber boats is not ideal.

Building huge aircraft carriers was expensive and time consuming. One wonders how much could have been done instead of building such huge aircraft carriers. How long did the Bismark last? Were any lessons learnt? Titanic comes to mind. Given the way the British Armed Forces are managed, they could well become the new Titanic.

And when all this is happening, Britain faces a financial crisis of major proportions that threatens to unleash waves of social and political unrest. Will politicians be able to deliver all the promised budget increases? The months ahead come with the threat of blackouts, rationing, riots and defaults. Does internal upheaval make a country stronger? 

 

 

  

Conservative Party about to break one of two new records?

On September 5th 2022 in Britain, the Conservative Party will break a new record whoever is elected British Prime Minister: it would be the first Asian Prime Minister or the third female Prime Minister, after a leadership campaign in which there was a very diverse range of candidates.

The original article indicated 'second female Prime Minister' when in fact it should have been said that she would be the third female Prime Minister. We totally forgot Theresa May. 

Candidates openly disagreed regarding many issues and no one knows with any degree of certainty what will the direction of travel of the new Conservative government. The next hurdle is the choice a new Conservative Cabinet to support the agenda of whoever is elected. Expertise and stamina will be in high demand given the kind of problems the new government will have to deal with from the very beginning. There are extremely hard choices ahead. It is all about energy: energy of the chosen team to deal with lack of energy that is pushing up inflation and leading to industrial unrest.

The situation is especially worrying since British woes are directly linked to geopolitical decisions made by the present government of which one was the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the other still is Foreign Secretary. Until the beginning of the electoral campaign, they were part of the same team, but during the hustings both candidates let it be clear that their agendas were remarkably different. 

The one thing they have got in common is the concept of self-sufficiency and self-sufficiency when it comes to energy supplies will be on a collision course with enviromental commitments. For strategic reasons, Britain might have to delay, water down or even push aside many of the declared goals. Fracking could be at the core of new efforts to make Britain self-sufficient.

Having said that, in the immediate future, the new government will have to deal with the fact that there will be shortages and that the costs of energy might not be coming down as many would like them to come down. The words 'rationing' and 'blackouts' have been mentioned as something Britain will have to face in the coming months.  

British Conservative Party is about to break a record: first Asian Prime Minister or second female Prime Minister

On September 5th 2022 in Britain, the Conservative Party will break a new record whoever is elected British Prime Minister: it would be the first Asian Prime Minister or the second female Prime Minister, after a leadership campaign in which there was a very diverse range of candidates.

Candidates openly disagreed regarding many issues and no one knows with any degree of certainty what will the direction of travel of the new Conservative government. The next hurdle is the choice a new Conservative Cabinet to support the agenda of whoever is elected. Expertise and stamina will be in high demand given the kind of problems the new government will have to deal with from the very beginning. There are extremely hard choices ahead. It is all about energy: energy of the chosen team to deal with lack of energy that is pushing up inflation and leading to industrial unrest.

The situation is especially worrying since British woes are directly linked to geopolitical decisions made by the present government of which one was the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the other still is Foreign Secretary. Until the beginning of the electoral campaign, they were part of the same team, but during the hustings both candidates let it be clear that their agendas were remarkably different. 

The one thing they have got in common is the concept of self-sufficiency and self-sufficiency when it comes to energy supplies will be on a collision course with enviromental commitments. For strategic reasons, Britain might have to delay, water down or even push aside many of the declared goals. Fracking could be at the core of new efforts to make Britain self-sufficient.

Having said that, in the immediate future, the new government will have to deal with the fact that there will be shortages and that the costs of energy might not be coming down as many would like them to come down. The words 'rationing' and 'blackouts' have been mentioned as something Britain will have to face in the coming months.  

 

UK: In just a few weeks, the British economy could be in the doldrums and much stronger leadership will be needed

 

What is happening right now is deeply worrying because the times of easy money could be coming to an abrupt end. The issue is not just rising inflation. The issue is that salaries and pensions have been pegged to inflationary pressures. 

At this point in time, asking for salary rises pegged to inflation could itself be a force towards more inflation and more borrowing when interest payments will be taking their toll on public finances.

And what if, as expected, the Treasury does not agree to salary increases that it could hardly afford? Would the state sector be ground to a halt? It is understandable that public workers that are seeing their incomes devalued are prone to ask for salary rises. Having said that, those in charge know full well that public finances have been drained and that any monies to pay for higher salaries will come from additional borrowing at a time when interest rates are going up and from an increase in taxation.

If energy is the main driver when it comes to inflationary pressures, then more energy will have to be produced and to do so all the promises in terms of a reduction of the use of fossil fuels will have be put aside. In the 1970s, Britain was almost brought down to its knees and the country was working just a few days a week. The issue was then energy or lack of it. Today, the issue is the price of it. Whoever takes the reins of power in September will have to make difficult choices. Doing less to save energy is not an option. Slowing down the British economy by enforcing energy savings will make matters a lot worse. 

We learnt from the imposed Covid lockdown leading to lack of economic activity that slowing down the British economy will cost livelihoods: businesses will be closed down and an undetermined number of jobs will be lost. Companies that generate little or no revenue at all have no reason to maintain jobs. Less economic activity endangers jobs and produces less tax revenues. If you slow down an aircraft in plain flight the time comes when the only way is down. We cannot have yet another loss of economic activity. We need energy and we need energy wherever we can find it. If foreign oil and gas producers don't want or cannot provide additional oil and gas, Britain will have to become self-sufficient and all options should be on the cards, including fracking.

Whoever is chosen as Prime Minister will have to make hard choices and implement decisions that will prove to be as unpopular as fundamentally necessary. Whether Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss is in command, he or she will have to forget about popularity contests. The popularity contest is only there to get one of them elected. Real governance demands dogged determination to do what is right.   

Liz Truss is wrong about British mercenaries

The British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss MP should be respectfully reminded of the fact that British mercenaries or any other mercenaries participating in a military conflict are not protected by international agreements designed to protect regular soldiers when they are captured.

She has made public statements regarding the situation of British mercenaries caught up in Ukraine and sentenced to death that contradict international agreements. She is wrong and perhaps she does not have proper advisers to tell her that she is wrong. This is becoming a national embarrassment.

She was initially wrong when she encouraged British citizens to join the fighting in Ukraine and she is wrong now when she talks about prisoners of war. Mercenaries are not regular combattants and therefore when captured they expose themselves to be executed and they were lucky to have survived so long and luck to have faced trial. They could have been executed on the stop with no questions answered because they Geneva Convention does not protect them.

A former British military commander and now Member of Parliament speaking candidly about Liz Truss and her role as Foreign Secretary clearly stated his views and said 'she is lightweight'. Lighweight is another way of saying she is not competent as Foreign Secretary and there are clear examples showing that she is not competent. As a politician she is prone to making colourful statements that are not supported by facts.

I do believe that Ben Wallace MP, presently Defense Secretary, would be a much better choice as Foreign Secretary and especially when dealing with military matters and there are no doubts whatsoever that the conflict in Ukraine is both a political issue and a military issue.

Ukraine: Blockade or no Blockade? British foreign policy stances could cost Boris Johnson his premiership.

Western countries - especially USA and UK - have been supplying weapons to Ukrainian forces. Economic sanctions, bans and political bans have been applied against the Russian Federation and against private Russian citizens. No wonder then that when President Macron of France and others ask Russian authorities to lift the blockade of Ukrainian ports to allow safe passage for Ukrainian exports like wheat Russian authorities are not willing to lift the blockade. I don't think that after everything that has been done and is being done against the Russian Federation there is any mood for negotiation.

There is an ongoing military conflict and Western countries are not neutral in this conflict. There is a massive anti-Russian propaganda machine and some countries have gone as far as banning Russian mass media so a mass media war is very much part of the war in Ukraine and the United Kingdom is the main culprit in what is happening concerning Ukraine.

The mood for confrontation is pretty obvious and the level of madness is rising with the British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss MP now threatening that she is going to ban Chinese investors being China another piece of the puzzle of another potential conflict that could make what is happening in Eastern Europe look like a game for small children. The fact that Britain does not have its own foreign policy and simply follows what the USA wants or does not want is a recipe for disaster and British consumers are already paying a very high price for such short-sighted approach. In political terms, the consequences for the ruling Conservative Party would be catastrophic.

After the Covid pandemic and the cost of dealing with the Covid pandemic, the British Chancellor Rishi Sunak was counting on resources to repair the economic damage generated by pandemic and the policies implemented to keep the British economy afloat. Now, the British Chancellor is having to go farther along lines that contradict what many in the Conservative Party believe the Conservative Party should stand for. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has now become a very visible target within his own ranks. Never mind the innefficacity or the incompentence of the leadership of the Labour Party. The British stance on Ukraine could cost Boris Johnson his premiership and open the way for a return of the Labour Party to power. 

Mass Media Blackout: Purpose? Not to allow the general public to know what is really happening.

 

At this point in time, all information coming out of Ukraine is fragmentary to say the least. On the one hand there is the propaganda war telling you that the conflict has stalled and giving images to fit in with the narrative and on the other is the data about advances inside Ukraine that is losing access to the Black Sea and therefore any intervention via the Black Sea is now a non possibility.

The map shows very clearly that all the talk about resistance is merely talk. Liquid courage not based on reality. Why would Ukrainian forces be blowing up bridges unless they were losing? You don't blow up your own bridges when you are winning. Seventy or so years ago, the French blew up bridges that would allow a rapid German invasion, but failed to destroy the ones that were used by German forces to advance very quickly towards Paris. At the time, remembering what happened to Warsaw, the French authorities declared Paris an open city so that Paris was not bombed.

 Away from the Black Sea there is Poland as the only way in if anybody wanted to get in, but getting in comes at the price of losing neutrality status and entering a new and much more dangerous phase in the conflict. Although some would like to enter, for Poland it is a very simple choice: if access is granted then Poland becomes the next immediate target and that will engulf Baltic Republics that are hanging on the sides without any means to repel an attack that will certainly come if a chain reaction based on NATO structure is unavoidable. The fate of all other countries all the way towards Britain would be sealed.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and Dominic Raab MP have explicitly said that they don't want a no-fly zone, let alone an intervention that could make Britain a target and unleash World War Three. If the numbers published by the so called West are to be believe, a massive wave of refugees has already entered Poland and from then onwards it will be coming to Western Europe, including France, Germany and ultimately Britain.

Right now, France is accusing Britain of not doing enough to deal with refugees. This comes on top of the issues affecting what is happening on the Channel region. Can Germany handle any more refugees? What about Hungary? As it happened before with Iraq, neighbouring countries will take the brunt. Olaf Scholz promised to invest not less than 200 billion EURO to beef up German armed forces. Having hundreds of thousands of refugees reaching Germany, on top of the existing refugee issues is not good news for the fledging German coalition. What about France that faces the first round of Presidential Elections in April?

Refugees in Britain? Britain can hardly afford social housing to cover present needs. Hundreds of thousands coming in on top of what is happening right now? Will the British government be taking over expensive private property to house refugees?