The national mourning period and State Funeral of our dearly loved Queen Elizabeth allowed for a brief pause in the normal hurly-burly of life. A time for reflection, not just of the exceptional period of stability that she brought through thick and thin, good times and bad across her seventy-year reign, but an opportunity to realise that we have a great nation and that the Monarchy is a unique glue that keeps us together and strong. The planning of all aspects of this national event went like clockwork and we can all feel proud of being a part of it as we shared our sadness at the passing of a remarkable woman recognised and respected internationally. I had the great privilege of being in Westminster Hall for the address to both Houses of Parliament, Commons and Lords, by the King and also had the opportunity to pay my respects as the Queen Lay in State for that extraordinary period.
Normality returns with something of a bump. I am delighted with what I’ve heard thus far from the new Truss government. Common sense emerging on energy policy with more licences for oil and gas in the North Sea and a removal of the shale gas extraction ban. There are many who get themselves in a fizz over fracking. Let’s not forget that without that proven technology being implemented in the USA we’d be in an even more precarious situation as the Liquified Natural Gas ships make their way across the Atlantic to make up for Europe’s energy failures. It must be preferable to source energy domestically, blessed with it as we are. This new industry would bring investment, jobs, tax revenues and balance of payments savings compared to spending tens of billions abroad which brings no financial benefit and indeed financial losses and an estimated 5 million additional tonnes of CO2 emitted in the process of supercooling and regassification as it is shipped around the world on diesel powered ships from as far away as Australia.
We also need to look at other ‘greenwash’ nonsense that has dominated muddled thinking by my government and previous administrations, gripped as they have been by Net Zero whilst China, India, Indonesia and others go all-out to dig more of their own domestically mined coal to give their industries and populations a clear advantage of cheap energy. Take, for example, the madness of cutting down mature trees in North America, drying and pelleting the wood with all stages of the process from the chainsaws, the lorries, the pelleting machines and the dryers being powered by hydrocarbon energy. The pellets are then transported on diesel powered ships across the Atlantic, transported by lorry or rail to repurposed former coal power stations in the UK and burned. The CO2 output per KwH of useable energy is twice that of coal and four times that of using natural gas. We then call this ‘green’ and say that this is CO2 free because of the carbon cycle and sourcing abroad – who are we trying to fool?
I welcomed the Chancellor’s fiscal event or ‘mini budget’. In a nutshell we are back on a proper Conservative path of taking a smaller percentage tax slice out of a pie we wish to grow with a longer- term result of higher overall tax revenues rather than the long-term orthodoxy, which can never be sustainable, of simply taking a bigger tax slice out of a static or diminishing pie. It has to be right that National Insurance is being reduced back to where it was – taxing things we want more of, i.e. jobs can never be sensible. Corporation Tax rates reversed to where they were to attract new companies to the UK and for entrepreneurs to take the step to grow their ideas.
The Stamp Duty Land Tax changes all assist labour mobility and reduce the unfair tax take to the state for simply wishing to move house. Many have wished to focus on the reduction of the highest rate of personal tax from 45% to 40%. The 40% rate was deemed the right one by the 1997-2010 Labour government across 12 years and 11 months of their term in office, with their then 50% introduced rate only seeing the light of day at the tail end of their tenure. The amounts raised by the 45% rate have always been small in any event. An indication to the wealth creators that risk will be rewarded by lower tax rates has to be the right message.
Of course it is a strategy that has some associated risk as we step away from a comfort zone that simply doesn’t work. We need a disruptor government to challenge many failing orthodoxies and I’m pleased to be a part of it.
Two years to find another job !!! Craig boy
aye to that
Haha. Of course he supports the British harming Mini fiscal event that was not scrutinised.
Tick tock Craig. Enjoy your ill gotten gains off market manipulation.
Even the morons that voted for you last time have wised up.
He won 3 elections, with ever-increasing majorities. Can’t imagine anyone from Labour doing that in Thanet.
You are probably right. A damning indictment of local education isn’t it….
He might get in but I’m fairly sure blue flags will not be flying high the day after the next GE which will leave Craig even more useless than he is now.
It was either him or Farage Peter, so people had to vote for him or be lumbered with laughing boy!
What stopped you all voting for Will Scobie? A very nice chap.
Three things have come together to put this country into a desperate situation. The pandemic, Brexit and the Ukraine. Any one with any sense knows which one was self inflicted. This man was complicit in that wrongdoing.
Comedy gold.
The Queen’s funeral was a truly incredible spectacle, made me very proud of my country. The most moving bit for me was the lone piper, fading into the background as he walked away, particularly in Windsor.
We were tempted to queue up to pay our respects to her majesty Lying-in-State, but instead compromised, and went to see all the flowers in Green Park the day before she came to London (intead of buying flowers ourselves, we’re donating to charity).
God Save The King!
Yes Peter, I really enjoyed seeing all those people dressed up in funny uniforms, ready for the next panto! Charles the turd was wearing his colonel/admiral uniform weighed down with several rows of medals, which makes a mockery of all those service men and women who were awarded medals for actually having been on active service! Charles has never seen a days active/service in his life, so where did all these medals come from? The whole thing is a distraction for people who have too much time on their hands, lets hope the coronation will be over in one day, so it doesn’t upset the TV schedules again! What must be remembered is 50% of the population are opposed to the monarchy, or indifferent to it!
He also walked for 2 miles, straight after his mother’s funeral. What other 73 year old would do that?
Likely making sure she had finally gone & the crown was really his.
I was still cycling several miles a day, and swimming a mile every other day, which I had been doing for over 20 years, up until I was 75, Peter, and was diagnosed with Swimming Induced Asthma!
Yes, but you didn’t have to wear loads of medals! ; )
Never been much of a swimmer, but I still walk at least a few miles most days and cycle about once a week (just last week we both strolled from Birchington to Herne Bay for lunch – and then got a bus back!).
Nice to Andy there-the guy who hung around with a convicted child rapist after he came out of prison & whose accuser mummy paid off with taxpayer money, so she could have her summer ego trip before popping orfff.
Sadly many had their cancer treatments & operations they had been waiting years for cancelled & will have to pay for the ‘privilege’ by funding that grotesque event of mass stupidity & sycophancy. Still who cares how many peasants die waiting for treatment, or remain in pain & how many freeze/starve to death this winter?
As long as the tax cheating thief, who funded her fairy tale world via taxing the poor got an obscene send-off & her son can carry on stealing from the plebs.
Thought there must be someone somewhere that supports this train crash of a government – turns out it is our local MP! When even the President of the USA tells everyone that “trickle down economics don’t work”, we still have a regime flogging this particular dead horse. If the state gives the wealthy and the tax evaders more money, they don’t invest it here but sort it away in Panama or the Cayman Islands.
Not all wealthy people are tax evaders, despite what the “hate the rich” inverted snobs in the far left claim.
You’re quite right Peter. However I reckon anyone who completes a self-assessment tax return has sometimes wondered just how much they could reduce their tax by if they could afford an accountant … legal tweaks, semi-legal tweaks, downright illegality … they all come into play if you have money to spare.
I don’t have a high income but I know plenty who do and I’ve twigged that being wealthy can be incredibly ‘economical’.
Of course Carina, anyone can “fiddle” the system – if they want to. Not that I ever would…
To many big companies ‘fiddle’ the tax system, than these big companies fund the Tories. So the Tories repay them with tax cuts, simples.
The so called biggest name in football Manchester utd isnt a British company its registered in the Carmen Islands. Like lots of other big companies.
Wealthy people don’t need to be tax evaders. The government is doing it for them.
How on Earth can you support a policy that makes the very rich even richer, at the expense of the poor, who will be paying for this folly for years to come?
As for fracking:
1) It won’t be very productive in the UK, because of the geology.
2) Even if it was, it wouldn’t make things any cheaper for most of us; it would, however, make a few rich people even richer.
Mackinlay is an example of what’s wrong with this government.
I like how you can’t refute that trickle down economics, and thus the entire tory fiscal policy, is in fact a crock of shyte, Peter. Keep licking the boots of a family that protects pedophiles though Peter. That’s a solid gold look.
Not as much as I like the way that you can’t even come up with a half-decent nom de plume to hide your own mediocrity and nothingness.
True, but the very richest like Bezos, Musk & Trump are very good at paying less or no tax on their billions, or hundreds of billions, than a peon working 9-5 flipping burgers for minimum wage.
By the time the not so huge tax benefits (around £8 a week for anyone on a £30k pa) come into effect that will have long disappeared as the £ declines to below 1$ and imports push the cost of virtually everything up to wipe out any gains. In the meantime the big earning “winners” will use their extra 2-5k a year to buy more foreign cars, Japanese tvs and overseas holidays-
And who benefited the most from this mini budget ?
The rich of course
Why is thanet a shining example of the tory government ?
Very strange one of the most deprived areas in the land keep voting in people who vote to punish the poor non-stop.
A big mistake cutting the higher rate of tax your government should have raised the base starting line for the higher rate so those who are in the middle and are feeling the pressure on funds a bit of relief and those at higher end of earnings will still be better off but not as much as what your government would like but this would be fairer to everyone instead of the rich getting richer.
I cannot think of anything this MP has done for Thanet in all his time in office,( and that’s from a true tory
Our local MP who is a trained accountant by the way thinks the mini budget was good. Tories are the lowest form of life.
You South Thanetians had your big chance with Nigel Farage and you blew it. So you only have yourselves to blame if you think Craig is a poor MP (I live in North Thanet, so it’s nothing to do with me!).
Peter
That’s not really true is it.
The Tories broke election rules for funding a campaign to beat Farage. Wasnt the person in charge of Mackinlay campaign team get nicked ?
The campaign wasnt fair and in my eyes it should have been made null n void.
How can our MP who’s campaign team broke election rules still be declared the winner ?
Good point.
Much as I would’ve loved to have seen Nigel stirring things up in the Commons, I couldn’t imagine him being very visible locally!
“You South Thanetians had your big chance with Nigel Farage”
You mean the guy who’s lost every election he’s ever stood in? You mean the guy so far up Donald Trumps backside, owned by Russian “businessmen” he’s basically a far right “conservative” matryoshka doll? You mean the guy who was Person of Interest in the FBI’s investigation into Trumps treason and espionage, that Nigel Farage?
Nah mate, he’s just another useful idiot. Like those “polezni durak” that voted for him and supported him.
I met him once. Very short.
That is Sophie’s Choice, a choice between Hitler & Stalin, a choice between Cancer & Aids. It is no choice, plus the only way he won it was by a criminal act of fraud by Marion Little for which she was convicted, in a bid to stop the attention seeker getting in.
Still, at least there is some interest in that area. Like yourself we know who is going to win out election-I am sure if Roger dropped tomorrow they would still put him up for election & he would win in a landslide.
I still can’t understand why Will Scobie did so badly, though I guess it didn’t help having people like comedian Al Murray splitting the vote.
William you haven’t seem anything yet! The pound has tanked as a result of Truss-nomics mini budget, which will mean a large increase in mortgage repayments, and rents! All those people renting from a Buy to Let landlord who has a mortgage can expect to have rent increases, because their landlords will pass on the increased costs of their mortgage to the tenants!
So, thanks Craig you and your daft Tory friends who believe in the magic of the Free Market have just increased mortgage repayments and rent for millions! The so called Trickle Down effect has been a failure since it was first introduced by the Americans way back. I prefer the Trickle Up system, give money to the poor who will spend it, which is a much better idea, than rich people getting richer banking it in Off Shore Hedge Funds, buying a 2nd, 3rd, or more mansion, or spending it on antiques, Duurh! Pleased to see in my newspaper this morning disaffected Tory M P’s have already started to write in to the 1922 committee letters of no confidence in Truss! I am on record here of giving Truss a year, make that six months!
It was a mistake not going for Rishi Sunak. Love him or hate him, he does understand finance.
I fancied Penny Mourdant.
I bet you did!
Still do. She was very fetching at Charles signing the papers thing.
Like the rest of the Tories he cannot only calculates for the rich, so they vote for him.
Yes, it is a contrast between the funeral of the late Queen, solemn,dignified and well organised, compared to what can only be regarded as a stellar performance from the crazy gang, where missteps were taken from the start.
I don’t think the mortgage payers of this country will thank you Craig,when the Bank of England raise rates yet again to stabilise a currency that has crashed and burnt, because of amateur hour at the House of Commons.
I think the 1p cut in tax will look pretty miniscule when the bank increases mortgage payments and the energy companies increase direct debits.
Here is a primer on economics for you,Craig.
1. give £1,000 each to the low paid or those on benefits, and spending in the economy will benefit from what is called the multiplier effect where £1 will multiply spending by 4 or 5 times.The poor don’t save, because they can’t, everything goes on paying off debts, or on buying essentials.
2. The further up the scale you go, the immediate cash injection into the economy, and hence the multiplier effect reduces, because of propensity of the wealthy to save.In short more money will be locked up in saving accounts or bricks and mortar, the higher you go.
3. At the top,giving them £50k or more won’t be noticed, and they will probably spend it if at all, on things like subterranean swimming pools etc, which probably draw in imports etc.
Trickle down works like this. You force feed elephants in the circus with as much grain as their bloated bodies can sustain, and once it has passed through their intestines, the resulting dung can picked over by the sparrows.The bloated elephants are the overpaid CEO’s, Oligarchs and Mrs Sunak. The sparrows are the rest of us picking over the remainder left by the elephants.
Here’s the funny thing Craig,if instead of being scrooge like and mean to the poor,you had a moral epiphany, and gave generously to the poor, guess what! The rich would do very well, because turnover would increase and the economy would grow.The multiplier effect lifts all ships,trickle down merely holes them below the waterline.I think Craig, your moral compass is in definite need of renewal, and your instincts on climate change, the economy and just about everything else is 90 degrees from the correct direction.
Finally, I told you before.There is no fracked gas to be had in Thanet. It dissipated millions of years ago.If you want to frack, Surrey and Sussex are the places, do you want to tell them or shall I? The former CEO at Quadrilla has said that fracking in the UK is a waste of time because of the nature of the geology, i.e. faults in the strata.Guess why the Kent coalfield was only every tiny? Yes, faults,thin seams and water.QED Craig.
End of the Tories in Thanet come the next election and that’s from a (now ex) Conservative voter 🤦🏻♂️. The ‘fiscal event’ was laughable. Look at how the markets have reacted. That’s my pension doomed 😢
Since the budget that wasn’t a budget, the £ has crashed to its worst ever value against the $.
How can you support such a policy, Craig?
Because he wants a Cabinet job & to retain his seat. He knows his party is sinking, but he wants that MP money for as long as possible.
The pound has crashed because the BofE failed to raise interest rates in line with Europe and the USA. If the BofE had been a bit bolder and raised rates by 1% instead of just 0.5%, the pound would be more attractive to investors and the exchange rate would have gone up instead of down.
Whilst those of us with mortgages would see our monthly payments rise as would people with loans etc. The benefits to the economy would offset that.
Gas and Oil, are priced in dollars. A stronger pound would see energy prices drop. Imports would be cheaper which would lead to a drop in retail prices.
Even going on holiday would be cheaper as you would get more of the local currency for your pound.
In other words… We need to have higher interest rates in order to have lower prices.
The best way to scare a tory is to read and get rich……
Craig, you’re so out of touch with the people that you’re meant to represent it is painful to read your gloating words. As a founder of UKIP you have a lot to answer for, putting our fine country into this abysmal decline that only satisfies the wealthy few at the expense of the majority. Trickle down? Do me a favour. In my opinion this is greed, pure and simple, where the health of the planet just doesn’t figure in your thinking, just the thickness of you and your friends’ wallet. Start packing your bags…
Sadly while his party will depart, I strongly suspect him & Gale will retain their seats.
Totally agree the Conservatives have messed up but with Labour in charge what chance would any of us have.
The amount of dinghy’s going from England across the Channel would be on a scale not seen since world war 2.
Possibly not as they might actually get on with the French instead of trying to pin the blame on them for the sake of flag waving and political show boating
Why do you think more refugees would try to cross the channel were a Labour government to be in charge? Do you think these hapless folk have the slightest notion of what the political climate in the UK is?
Ironically, if we were still in the EU, under the terms of the Dublin Protocol, we could send them straight back to France or Belgium, never mind Rwanda.
Because Labour would be less likely to come up with any deterrents (not that any Tory ones have worked so far…). Let’s hope that Sue Braverman turns out far better than Priti Patel!
Is it Pete?
“Because Labour would be less likely to come up with any deterrents (not that any Tory ones have worked so far…). Let’s hope that Sue Braverman turns out far better than Priti Patel!”
So what you’re saying is you’re up for more fascism? Because that is where Patels policies were firmly rooted (anti protest laws, othering of muslims, othering of immigrants (she was the descendent of two) dismissal of civil rights protest such as taking the knee etc al).
She’s very attractive though.
So far she looks even worse, makes Patel look like Corbyn.
Colin was pointing out that the dinghies would be going FROM England towards the EU not coming from France.
Good point!
Mind you, most of the money has already gone off-shore.
Most of it was never on shore , it was either in Bermuda, Isle of Man, Jersey or one of the other tax havens where money is squirrelled away by the rich.
Already is isn’t it? How much has this Rwanda fiasco that already failed years back when Israel cost the UK taxpayer? Did they learn nothing from Windrush?
That they tried doing it before even knowing it was legal shows how desperate they are to curry favour with the flag waving crowd-despite every one of their pledges(lies) on curbing immigration has failed miserably. Just like the lies about the NHS hospitals that were going to be built, how much was going to be invested etc.
One of my biggest concerns about Starmer/Labour is the woke stuff around gender, pronouns & not protecting free/fair speech, women & science. But we already have a Tory government who have let it run rampant for years-the Twitter check your thinking police, the cops painting rainbows on their cars & doing the Macarena etc at events-when they are supposed to be neutral, but their Chief Constables now order them not to be, women’s spaces being invaded etc, so it really makes no difference if Labour are in.
I have not read all of crazy crap , had enough with his letter to me how he sticking up Boris arse all the good stuff he has done, how do we know other parties may not have done the same eh.
Now the queen yes sadly she died so they took a long holiday not just a day.
Of course you’re happy with Truss’s government. More cash in the pockets of your rich mates, more cash for big business and, when the economy tanks, interest rate rises will mean your rich mates with loads of money in the bank are laughing.
I’m poor(ish), but I have rich mates too. Why just limit friendships to people like one’s self?
You’ll have to ask Truss, Craig and the rest of them that Peter….
Clearly they restrict themselves to only rich people that can help each other.
I know far wealthier people than those couple of also-rans.
SAME OLD CONSERVATIVES-PARTY FOR THE RICH. NEED A GOOD KICKING OUT.
No surprise-screw the environment, screw the poor, old people can freeze & starve to death, while we waste millions on a dead billionaire who stole from the poor for 70 years & her funeral was more important than operations & cancer treatments for those already waiting in pain for years & now have to wait longer.
Sadly no amount of Truss brown nosing & endorsing her repulsive & insane budget is going to get you into the cabinet & as shown by today’s poll Labour now have the biggest lead over your corrupt & cruel government since 2001.
People have had 12 years of your rabble voting tax breaks & more money for the very rich, voting to destroy the planet & pay cuts & punishing the poor. The rich in Thanet might be enough to keep you in for a Galeesque eternity, but your party will not be in power for much longer & you might start seeing the backlash yourself come the next local elections.
Not sure what this comfort zone is-I am sure you & your wealthy cronies are very comfortable, but it just shows how out of touch you are with the reality of most-people working full-time jobs having to rely on food banks to eat & not being able to heat their homes, more old people freezing to death because your leader refuses to stop fat cats bonuses/put levies on the energy companies making record profits.
You should be ashamed of yourself, but of course you have consistently voted to make the lives of working people & the very poorest worse off, cannot wait to see the back of you lot.
Is there any proof that a vote for the tories is a vote for a pensioner dying?
Would you vote Tory if it was/is the case?