Rachel Reeves and the 5% for Defence expenditure

 

Having seen what we have seen until now when it comes to monies and politics, can you trust the British Prime Minister and his promises about Defence?

I asked and asked again. Can we trust statements made at the latest NATO gathering? Political speeches and posturing do not pay for massive investments and massive borrowing and massive borrowing is already an issue when Britain´s credit rating is at stake. If things become any worse and interest paid on public debt keeps going up, how long before we head for a financial crash?

Any reforms are now compromised for the duration of the present administration and strikes are just beginning. How long will Rachel Reeves be able to keep the boat afloat? There are three ways to get resources and each has a price. We can raise taxes. We can borrow. We can reduce services. For each of the three there is a political cost to pay. Raising taxes can be popular with the left of the Labour Party, but deeply unpopular for the business community and, ultimately, will lead to higher prices of utilities and goods. Borrowing will lean to higher interest paid for public debt. Cutting services will not be popular with members of the public. None of them will be a vote winner in the present environment. 

But what that means for British standing? How reliable can a country that cannot pay its debts be? If one of the core members of NATO cannot afford to deliver what it promises, what does it say about NATO itself?

The War of Words is what comes before the Physical War

People must understand that the War of Words is what comes before the Physical War, when bombs fly and people die. Any war is a financial affair. In fact, there is always a financial reason for wars to happen. 

At this point in time there are economic rivals fighting to prevail and this is accelerating to the point when there will be a point of no return. We know how wars begin, but we cannot foresee how wars will end. This sort of wars have happened in the past. The Mighty Roman Empire saw the sacking of Rome by invaders. So the success of the so called West is by no means guaranteed.

Going into the not so remote past, we must remember the history of Europe. There was a time when the Moors (Arabic Invaders) and the Turks took over entire regions of Europe by force and kept them under their rule for hundreds of years. The naive belief that demographic changes will occur without consequences is dangerous. Peaceful colonisation will suddenly turn into a more violent expression of colonisation as foreign populations grow in numbers inside the so called West.

A New Political Era for Europe: Germany falters

The announcement that the German coalition headed by SPD has collapsed leaves in power a government headed by a political party that in three recent state elections failed dramatically to capture the public imagination. In three consecutive elections, Grüne barely managed to get 7 representatives out of 88, 119 and 88. This is how bad things are and they are bound to get worse. Support for the war in Ukraine has banrupted Germany and attempts to increase borrowing led to a political showdown leading to the end of coalition that was unsustainable from the very begining.

FDP and Grüne are exact opposites in various ways and such agreement was bound to end in tears. Can a Federal Election clear the air? Such election would take place in March 2025 and not in September 2025. Germany has been leading and financing the European Union. Changes in German politics are bound to have a significant effect in terms of German leadership and of the survival of the European Union. Talks about increasing defence expenditure are bound to go anywhere as Germany tries to sanitanize its own finances. Job losses already announced are not going to make the present coalition popular amongst voters.

Who could be the real winners in March 2024? There could be three potential winners: CDU, a new political party that had success in recent state elections and Alternative für Deutschland. The one party that has a real project for Germany is Alternative für Deutschland, a project that takes care of Germany´s energy needs and of migration - a subject that is a major concern in many European countries, including Germany. 

Here came the budget: Main target NHS and Second target the economy and particularly interest rates and growth.

The general thinking is that the Labour government will inflict pain earlier with the hope that near the next General Election the numbers will be much better to produce good feelings amongst voters. But this is a gamble by a government that publicly stated that if they had not inherited interest rates that were already going down the present announcements about borrowing could not have been made. 

Everything is based on the presumption that the economy will improve, that interest rates will go down and that repaying the borrowing will become easier. Another factor is promised improvements of the NHS. If the economy does not improve and if improvements promised regarding the NHS are not delivered then this would be a double political wammy that could bring down the present government at the next General Election.

The hope is that no crise like the Covid Pandemic or the energy crise generated by sanctions implemented against the Russian Federation or anything of the sort happens from now until the next General Election. Anything that would require much more borrowing and generate emergency conditions, negatively affecting. the economy, is not welcome. 

Et ceteris paribus? All other things being equal? Expecting that nothing will happen along the way that could change or derail present plans is a very negligent attitude. Things are bound to change. There are crucial ongoing conflicts and the seeds for more conflicts are being planted.

Now, lets have a look at potential trading partners. What is the situation in Europe? What is the situation in the Americas? What is the situation in Africa and Oceania? What is the situation regarding new players that are rising and increasing mutual cooperation?

The belief that new global associations will remain focused on the East and will not spread towards the West is extremely naive. We now live not in a bipolar world. We live in a multipolar world. In which direction the Americas, Africa, and Oceania will go is not a given. But present trends indicate that BRICS is making inroads. Those joining BRICS happen to be the most populous countries in the world. They also happen to be those which tend to have more resources in terms of raw materials. 

Founding countries? Russian Federation, China, India and Brazil. While the main Western countries have been involved in a rising number of conflicts, China has been spreading financially and economically across key regions of the world. The impopularity of the Western approach when dealing with conflicts is spreading and such impopularity does not benefit Western countries. China has not been involved in any major conflict. In fact, it is gathering more and more influence in countries that are far away from China.

Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick: Conservative Party has demolished stereotypes

 

Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick

The British Conservative Party has demolished all stereotypes 

In a few years, the British Conservative Party has demolished all stereotypes and offered the country a wide range of choices, both in terms of ethnicity and of political beliefs, going much farther afield than any other political party, destroying every tool in the Labour Party's workshop. The traditional left used to dress itself as the representative of ethnic minorities and talked a lot about gender. The traditional left has been totally and utterly defeated and can no longer use the race card nor the gender card.

Kemi Badenoch, married, mother of three is an engineer that has held several high positions in government. Robert Jenrrick, also married, father of three, also University graduate and has held several high positions in government.

Both of them have been described as Far Right of Extremist. Really? I suppose that having family values, solid education and professional careers, caring more about the country in which they were born, it is easy to understand that those bent on destroying family values and British identity would certainly see them as something to be afraid of, especially when none other than Keir Starmer, the British Prime Minister, does not know what a woman is.

Political commentators who oppose them say that they might become leaders of the Conservative Party, but would have no political future in terms of leading the party and winning the next General Election.

One can never foresee what the future will bring. Suffice to say, that in recent by-elections, 14 Labour seats were already lost, after a disastrous beginning for a political party that had recently won a General Election with an outstanding majority. We haven't even reached the first national budget and there is already infighting within Labour ranks. 

We await the first national budget with trepidation.Already several MPs decided to become Independent and major figures of the Labour Party were literally pushed out of the Labour Party. It can be literally said that the present Labour Party won the General Election under false pretenses. Major policies that helped them win the election have already been thrown out. No more taxes? It seems that there was one Labour Party before the General Election and another, different, Labour Party after the General Election. A combination of lies, deceit, and miscalculation. 

Britain: long before the first official budget is published, announcements are not encouraging

As part of point scoring, two digit salary increases are announced for public workers and Union workers while, at the same time, measures to support pensioners are discontinued and new increases of utility bills are announced.

Presumably, in october, we are going to be told about a tax shower. So get your spreadsheets ready because it is going to take some time to calculate how much ordinary britons are gong to be hit with a barrage of taxes and utility bills that sooner than later are going to be reflected on the cost of basic items of the family basket. Nominal values might be going up but real values are going to make you poorer.

We are really and truly talking about a new period of austerity, but this time under a Labour government. The Labour Party played a new version of 'read my lips, no more taxes' and the gullible fell for it. People are going to be taxed to the hilt and beyond. Let's look at rental prices. They were already beyond reach for a growing number of peoples.

If you are going to have even less disposable income, things can only be worse and one of the most worrying bits for any economy is a massive reduction of consumption. Using Covid as an example, if people - deterred by rising taxes and rising utility bills - start consuming less and less then already struggling businesses will go out of business pushing upwards unemployment numbers.

In any case, get your spreadsheets ready. 

Labour government: Public sector pay promises that cannot be delivered will be the beginning

 

Is the edifice already starting to fall apart? Rachel Reeves promises of public sector pay rises have already backfired with Unions told that what they were promised is not affordable.

Winning an election acting under false pretenses is not a sign of political stability.

The 2024 September Budget will be crucial to know if this is the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end for the new Labour Administration, and this without taking into account dangerous statements that could take Britain to war in Europe, a war that will transform the Britain mainland into a battlefield.

Labour Administrations have a tendency to get Britain involved in disastrous wars. In 1997, Tony Blair won a historic majority only to get Britain involded in two major military conflicts that spelled absolute disaster. If Keir Starmer follows suit, the consequences for Britain would be catastrophic.

Rachel Reeves: Do you increase salaries across the public sector without raising taxes?

 

Just hours ago the Labour Party launched an attack against Conservative policies regarding National Service and possibly concription because of the cost of such policies. But after that, Labour Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves stated that a Labour government would increase salaries across the public sector. Well, how much will it cost to increase salaries across the public sector. I reckon that it would be a lot more than National Service or Conscription.

Right before an election the mountain of contradictions rises on a daily basis. Just before Rachel Reeves spoke about salary increases in the public sector, Keir Starmer said that he would not get rid of the two children cap when it comes to Children Benefits in spite of the fact that he would want to do so. I guess the Labor Leader was thinking about cost of getting rid of the two children cap.

Services are necessary, but services cost monies that need to be paid with higher taxes at a time when interest paid on public borrowing is extraordinarily high. Labour says that it will not implement austerity, but you cannot promise to pay high interest on public borrowing and raise salaries without increasing taxes. And if you start increasing taxes, you can guarantee that companies that pay higher taxes are going to turn those higher tax payments into higher prices to balance the books. There is also the danger that higher taxes will lower consumption thus affecting the monies that the state can collect as taxes. Higher rates and lower amount of monies coming to the Treasury. And what about companies that are struggling to make ends meet? Less customers coming through the doors and higher taxes pushing up prices are not a recipe for success.

This is the way it works. If you collect 100 Pound as taxes and suddenly prices go up, then you will collect 100 Pound as taxes but only nominally. You are going to be able to buy less with your 100 Pound. State employees will be getting salaries that are worth less money in spite of nominal increases.

If you are paying 2500 for rent and suddenly the cost of renting goes up to 3500 then your salary has actually been devalued. Nominal increases will make things a lot worse.

USA or Latin America: Migration will generate huge changes in the way see the American Continent

 

USA or Latin America: Migration will generate huge changes in the way we see the American Continent

It is just a matter of time and it cannot be reversed. USA and Canada will soon be part of Latin America. Financial and political crisis in Latin America, much of it owed to USA foreign policies regarding Latin America are turning the USA into Latin America as what started as a drip is now a flood that cannot be stopped. Latin American don't have to fly across the oceans. They are just walking into the USA and no closure of borders can prevent the exodus into the USA.

In demographic terms countries like Brazil are already competing with the USA and others are not far behind and this is also something to take into consideration.

In more than one way, the USA is also importing social issues from Latin America that added to existing issues in the USA can turn the American Dream into a nightmare. Extreme wealth combined with extreme poverty is not a recipe for success. How can things be turned for the better for all concerned? The tragedy is that problems are not due to lack of resources, but to lack of human intelligence to use a massive amount of resources for the common good.

Using Argentina as a example, Argentina's problems are not due to lack of resources. They are due to corruption and bad management. Argentina's enormous potential has been repeatedly wasted and the same can be said when talking about other countries including the USA.

 

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.

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.

 

William Hague: Pensioners, economy or complete disregard for older people?

When priviledged politicians like William Hague that are all too willing to find monies for white elephant projects talk against looking after pensioners that get three times less than the minimum salary in retirement, the said politicians show their true colours. I guess he did not protest or felt unhappy when he himself got huge increases as Member of Parliament or Cabinet Minister. 

Traditionally, old age people and pensioners have tended to support the Conservative Party. Maybe they should stop supporting the Conservative Party if individuals identified with the Conservative Party show such disregard for some of the most vulnerable people in society. But what does the Leadership of the Labour Party show? They could not care less. Regarding things that matter so much they keep their mouths conveniently shut because they merely playing politics and could not care less about the elderly.

If the so falled mainstream political parties don't care, somebody else has to care and so much is going on that mainstream political parties cannot or don't want to deal with. It was goes to the root of how the political system works. 

He is a runaway train. People like him are runaway trains. They have a license to abuse the system and they use it. They spend their lives milking the nation and with the hypocritical ways they criticize those who have less.

UK: the eve of an absolute financial nightmare

Mortgage payments increases and a whole set of new environmental taxes implemented by local authorities will push hundreds of thousands of families over the edge. If something is not done urgently, the financial crisis of years past that compromised the financial system and forced the Labour government to take extraordinary measures to rescue financial insitutions will be nothing compared to what is coming.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown had savings and the economy in general was in pretty good shape. The same does not apply now after Covid and lockdowns and consecutive rises generated by energy cost rises. If families are pushed into default, the impact felt by financial institutions will be massive. The definition of what is affordable has been changing at every faster pace. 

For many, once we take all increases into account, disposable monthly income for food will be limited or non existing. The choice will be between having enough to eat and having a place to live in. Whoever is in power in the coming months will have to design alternative ways to deal with inflation. Government and Parliament will have to do the unimaginable to keep things under control. Market economics will not be nearly enough to prevent widespread unrest.

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.

Permacrisis: new word officially added to the English language

From now on, we live in a state of permacrisis or permanent crisis. The word has been officially added to the English language. Events of the last two years and whatever is there to come more than justify the new addition. 

Despite the fact that the BBC, Sky and other media constantly fail to report what is happening not just in Britain but also abroad and especially in Continental Europe (for whatever reason they choose to 'blackout' the news and fail in their duty of care), Europe as a whole is in crisis. In Spain, hundreds of thousands went to the streets to demand better healthcare in Spain. The situation is critical due to mismanagement and lack of medical staff. Strike is the word across Europe. 

Unfortunately, those in power seem to be more interested in geopolitics than in real politics and ordinary people will suffer as a consequence of mismanagement and short-sighted approaches. Politicians appear to be acting first and thinking later, completely oblivious to the consequences of the decisions that they are taking. Some say that we need to cut down taxes to restore financial health. Others say that we need to increase taxes to restore financial health. The summary of it all is, nobody knows with any degree of certainty what is going to happen.

Flipping a coin in the air is all we have left to do. As a consequence of it, we are paying enormous amounts of money to people who are just guessing and don't have a clue about what is going to happen. This is Democracy for you. They sit inside a debating chamber, make a few speeches about things they know nothing about and we have to accept political gambling because this is what Democracy has become.

The ones making the decisions have little or nothing to lose and it is up to ordinary members of the public to deal with the consequences of their decisions.

Utility bills go up and grocery bills go up and this is very much what leads to inflation. Now, in order to reduce inflation we raise taxes that will make utility bills and grocery bills to go up faster and lead to more inflation, but 'those who know say that increasing utility bills and grocery bills will reduce inflation'. You know that it does not make any sense. You are going to be more often than not completely out of pocket and you will have to cut down vital expenditure or get into additional and higher levels of debt. The most vulnerable stand to suffer most from what is happening but because the most vulnerable stand at the bottom of the pyramic there is a domino effect. Suddenly, the hospitality sector detects that less and less people are using their services because they cannot really afford to use their services. Balance sheets go into the red and unemployment raises its head. Not only that, is the hospitality sector suffers others sectors that provide services to the hospitality sector suffer and follow a similar paths. More unemployment is added to the pile and tax receipts start falling. So the Chacellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt MP has formally declared that Britain is in recession and recession means that from now on unemployment is guaranteed.

Paralizing the economy with more and more taxes, fuelling inflation while not promoting added economic activity, will lead us to a permacrisis with higher levels of debt, unemployment and social ills. Before we had health lockdown. Now we will have economic lockdown leading to social breakdown and political instability.

  

 

Three Candidates? Hope-ful or Hope-fool?

 

In the state Britain is at the moment, one wonders if anybody will be able to change the direction of travel.

This is not merely about economics so don't get your hopes up thinking that everything can be sorted with proper accounting. Decisions have been made in terms of geopolitics that have had enormous repercussions in Britain and elsewhere.

Everybody is trying to make sure that they are not the ones worse hit by the repercussions. We have got salaries whose buying power could evaporate. We have quite a few pensioners many of whom depend on a state pension that, despite promises about triple-locks, could find themselves struggling to pay for the basic necessities of everyday living. We have authorities in charge of delivering services with budgets that were limited when things were more or less stable.

When it comes to transport in London, for example, the Mayor of London has very little room for maneuver. If he agrees to demands made by those working for rail services, he will have to reduce support for bus services. Whatever he gives to John will have to be taken from Peter. How will local authorities cope when their bills go up with little support received from central government? January is not far away and January is the time of the year when travelling fares are adjusted 'according to the rate of inflation'. Everybody, whether they are involved in transport services or use transport services, will be hit. The impact of energy bills has been limited with funds provided to consumers until next April but such kind of support cannot go on indefinitely. The list of adjustments and re-adjustmens is extremely long and difficult to deal with in a single article. 

Will the British government be forced to reconsider geopolitical stances? It is by no means justifiable to send valuable resources abroad when the country is facing a burden that is pushing more and more people below the poverty line, regardless of the fact that the present troubles have been self-inflicted. 

Countries are people: We must not allow homelessness or housing instability

 

As somebody who has been married for more than 28 years and brought up three children, I fully understand the importance of having a set abode. Where you live, the quality of the place where you live, and the stability of accommodation is a crucial factor that should never be underestimated.

If for whatever reason you don't live in adequate accommodation or if you are constantly having to move around, your life and your family life will be dramatically affected in a very negative way.

When you look at the language of social services, there is an emphasis on stable families, suitable environment to raise children, et cetera. Such considerations should be ever present when it comes to policies that affect housing. High rental costs for people who can ill afford to buy their own accommodation are a death trap that puts families in danger and ultimately will create a very unstable society.

For most people, working means having to travel around and much time, money and health are spent travelling around. If you live far away from the places where you work, you are going to be spending a long time on the road and this is time that you are not to be spending with your family, looking after your family, and you are going to be losing many opportunities. If on top of that, you have no certainty in terms of where you are going to be living in, you are going to struggle with travelling arrangements and your children are most probably have to move from one school to another and unable to form stable social relationships. This will feel like being regularly uprooted. This is what far too many families in the United Kingdom are facing right now.

If we ignore or underestimate the aforementioned realities, as a country we are bound to pay a very high price because countries are basically people. 

KGH

The biggest enemy are not countries nor terrorist organisations. Corruption is the biggest enemy.

Forget about enemy countries and terrorist organisations. Corruption is the biggest enemy of the Western World. 

The imbalances that endanger the Western World have been created by the Western World and we have reached such point as a direct consequence of having proven to be unable to cope with new realities.  Key nations of the Western World have been committing either one error of judgment after another or this has been the intention from the very beginning by exploiting chaos as a way to divert resources into the hands of private operators that could not care less about the common good.

No matter how many technological advances the Western World has and no matter how much financial power the Western World has, corruption ends up destroying the things we care most about.

Conflicts are being used to syphon money away from where it is most needed. Under the cover of national security and defence used as justification, vast amounts of resources are being squandered with little or no accountability.

There is no mystery regarding the fact that we seem to go from one conflict into another. Conflicts mean money. Being constantly at war or about to go to war is the perfect excuse for misuse of taxation monies and elected representatives are very much part of the game. Therefore, we cannot expect that this situation will go away any time soon.

The monies that were supposed to help Iraq disappeared into thin air. No wonder then about what will happen to the billion of Pound sent to Ukraine. Long before the conflict in Eastern Europe started, Ukraine was swimming in corruption. There is no reason to believe that the same levels of corruption have not been swallowing foreign aid.

Both in the USA, Britain and elsewhere, such state of affairs is being financed with public borrowing. We borrow, borrow and borrow and when things reach crisis point then we talk about cutting down public expenditure that allows the survival of vital services.