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.  

Labour: Cutting consumption with higher taxes, higher utility prices and higher prices in the shops will lead to mass unemployment

 

Even before the first budget is presented in Parliament, the Labour government has cut disposable income with higher taxes, higher utility prices and higher prices in the shops. 

In a reminder of what happened during the Covid Pandemic when lockdowns reduced economic activity dramatically to the point that the then Conservative government had to implement furloughs schemes to try to save ailing companies and prevent massive job losses, the Labour government now seems to intend to cause yet another financial crise.

Cutting disposable income in the United Kingdom while increasing the amount of monies thrown into a foreign bottomless barrel is a strategy for disaster. Money, money, money but not for Britain. Is this a government for the United Kingdom?

In the meantime, Prime Minister Keir Starmer travels around the world, organising new wars and leaving a trail of Pounds as he smiles for television cameras, but.... never mind... private donations for his wife's wardrobe are always welcomed.

When eve supermarket chains like Tesco are closing down branches, you can foresee what the future will be as numbers of cases of shoplifting in supermarkets increase exponentially.

 

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.

   

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.

An inconvenient truth: you can’t sell the green revolution to people who can’t afford it - Gaby Hinsliff

Even in the Labour Party some people are starting to realize the foolishness of Net Zero. As Gaby Hinsliff writes on The Guardian, 'an inconvenient truth: you can't sell the green revolution to people who can't afford it.'

The reality is that transport links in the United Kingdom are very poor. If you go out of the main urban areas, or even inside urban areas, the provision of public transpor is notoriously insufficient. Therefore, penalizing people for using cars or preventing people from using cars is madness.

Local authorities are using so called green policies to extract money that is in effect an increase in Council Tax. If you have to pay Congestion Charge and ULEZ, pay for parking and parking permits, you are in effect paying additional Council Tax because of the proceedings will end up in the hands of local authorities. 

Nobody has even calculated the impact of such taxes on the local economy in ways that will affect more those who have less. This wave of taxations has been promoted by the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and by all the do-gooders that want to make good with somebody else's money. And what would will be done when local economies collapse under the burden of taxation and people are forced out of work?

You can't sell the green revolutoin to people who can't afford it. This is something that Keir Starmer and all other proponents of Net Zero and the upper class weirdoes that go around making a nuisance of themselves should be thinking about.

Ticket Stations to be closed down: Paradise for criminals and a nightmare for old people, the disabled and the vulnerable

 

The closure of ticket stations leaving stations wide open and complete unguarded could make train stations now go areas and a focus for crime.

If you have an accident, if you suffer suddenly from some health condition and require urgent assistance, if you are lost and require guidance, if you are an elderly person or a mother with small children and require assistance, if you are vulnerable to crime, then you will be on your own and should anything bad happen to you then you will be lost. No aid, no assistance, no guidance, no support.

Private companies are getting away with murder. It is not enough with late trains and cancellations, strikes and announcement about non existing drivers. You wil also have to face what could be extremely dangerous situations because stations will be abandoned, deserted, with no help at hand.

Should electronic systems fail, you will face the prospect of having to pay unjustifiable fines for travelling without tickets. So on top of ever rising travelling fares, you might be forced to pay fines when it is not fault at all that vending machines were faulty.

Punctuality and efficient service? No. More affordable fares? No. Now, on top of that, you will face dangerous situations on your own.

As always, 'a consultation process will be available'. We know what consultation means. Decisions have already been made and whatever is going to be asked is no more than a formality. We do have a government and it is the duty of the environment to ensure that travelling in the United Kingdom is safe and affordable for all. Travelling is not a luxury. Travelling is an absolute necessity for most people using the transport system. 

ULEZ: London ULEZ has national repercussions

With London being the capital city and with millions of people coming to London for all sorts of reasons, the impact of ULEZ will be felt nationwide. People from far across the United Kingdom will be impacted and this has severe connotations for all involved.

Think about commercial transportation and this includes food supplies coming to London. If transport companies have to pay for every single vehicle that comes to London every single day then the cost will reach consumers with the speed of light. People have been complaining that food prices in shops and supermarkets are going skyhigh.. Well, from the day ULEZ is implemented those prices are going to go up, making London a very expensive city to live in. This is actual inflation. The pint of milk that farmers get very little from is going to be more pricey. Distributors will not lose any money. They will just pass the cost onto customers.

If driving electric vehicles is going to be charged by the mile then, yet again, costs will go up. And then you add up all additional costs. Parking spaces, parking permits, commercial permits for companies working in London. If you come from Surrey or anywhere else in the UK and you come to work in London, you will have to pay all additional costs. The loft conversion or refurbishment that you have been saving for will be a lot more expensive. What about gas, electricity, water, telephones and Internet? If service companies have to pay to move around London, they are going to pass the costs to you. Energy costs migth be going down, but as taxes go up the savings of lower energy costs will be lost several times - and especially because bringing fuel into London will cost more. Fuel is transported with tankers and if driving a tanker into London costs more then the cost will be added to you fuel bill. If electricity prices go up, then driving your vehicle is going to be more expensive.

Wherever we look at, there is a multiplier effect. How much in terms of salary rises will people need to have to afford to live in London? And even if you don't live in London, but you need to come to London, then you will have to be able to afford it.

What about key staff that commute? What about hospital restaurants? If transportation goes go up, the National Health Service will have to charge extra to feed its own staff that the moment eat with subsidized prices. 

The impact impact of ULEZ is massive and it goes well beyond London boundaries.

 

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.

July 19th 2021: time to go back to business as usual?

 

Since images like this were taken, London has moved on and movement in the capital city is almost normal in terms of people going about their business, public transport is getting busier as the number of vehicles on the streets has also been rising.

On July 19th 2021 the country is due to go back to normality without any major restrictions but the issue of Lockdown has been politicized so much that it will continue to be controversial with those who want a full opening and those who talk about caution.

The new Health Secretary Sajid Javid seems to be on the same wavelength with Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak that is totally opposed to any more furlogh schemes as the level of expenditure is hurting the British Treasury after more than 12 months of over-spending to deal with the pandemic and the cost of measures implemented to keep the economy afloat.

Many marching on the streets of Britain have said that 'enough is enough'.

Having seen holes on British highstreets with renowned businesses that are no longer trading it is difficult to believe that normality will be back any time soon. We will also have to be creative when it comes to public transport and fares. Because of Lockdown several franchises had to be temporarily taken over and reduced passenger numbers have also affected branches of services run by the State. Whether this is a temporary setback or a more permanent state of affairs remains to be seen.

And what about shopping habits and working habits for all other businesses that depend of the numbers of people working in offices. Will they ever be able to return to business as usual or will they struggle to get customers back?

At this point in time, July 19th 2021 is still a promising re-start of activities for many and the government has committed itself to a full re-opening. We waited and waited for June 21st 2021 and just days before Lockdown measures were extended. There are almost two weeks to go before July 19th 2021. Could some similar happen once again?