I started to write this blog when the Government was announcing the financial support package, but developments with Trump over took me. I’m glad I waited until after the mini-budget because the speed of events has meant that anything I had written previously would be out of date by now. Lets go back one … Read more
Amongst all of this weeks budget announcements, one stood out to me – more sanctions to force people on benefits to take on more hours: This is the familiar story of the benefit trap – people are better off on benefits and there is no incentive to seek work, in this case more work. It … Read more
Maggie Thatcher once memorably claimed “the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money” During the credit crunch we discovered that deregulated free market capitalism had exactly the same problem, just on a much bigger scale. This week is the 30th Anniversary of Black Wednesday when HMG raised interest rates … Read more
Prince Andrew this week settled his court case vs Virginia Giuffre, with an enormous payout reported to be $10-15m. The Queen is to help Prince Andrew pay his settlement, and his massive legal fees, however this will come from her own private wealth and the sale of his Swiss Chalet, and not from taxpayers funds. … Read more
Dehenna Davison is the newly elected “red wall” Tory MP for Bishop Auckland. I am attending Bishop Food Fest next weekend, and I am hoping to say hi! Dehenna is also the co-Chair of the Conservative Free Market Forum – a grouping of hardline Thatcherites in love with a tax-cutting, government-shrinking deregulated future. Last week … Read more
The Government announced this week it is increasing NI to raise £11.5bn for the NHS and social care. This gives Boris Johnson the record for the highest levels of tax and spend of any post war Conservative PM. He is currently spending more on public services that Corbyn promised in 2019, and nearly as much … Read more
Barely a week goes by without someone telling me about another imminent threat from the Tories to privatise the NHS, and introduce American style healthcare. As you might have spotted after 30 years of these stories I am pretty sceptical. The NHS is still as it ever was. I do understand people’s anxieties. Hospitals that … Read more
The UK food and drink industry is recovering slowly from 18 months of crisis. Covid closed down lots of producers roots to market as shops shut. Brexit took away export customers. The apparently endless supply of low paid workers who kept everything running has dried up. This week we signed a post Brexit free trade … Read more
The Greensill scandal isn’t going away with further revelations about lobbying and inquiries. There are still some big questions that stick in my mind; What was Greensill’s actual business? How did they plan to make money? Warning: Contains full frontal accountancy Greensill liked to describe themselves as a fin-tech company, but their business model was … Read more
This weeks Daily Mirror covers the evolving mess that is Kickstart – the Government’s £2bn flagship scheme to help young people who are out of work. Of course you read it all here first: We are still not allowed to join Kickstart, and I believe that thousands of other small businesses are in the same … Read more