Best Of

Afternoon all

I see Badenoch has once again visited the Magic Money Tree. "Help with Energy Bills" - well, yes, but what kind of help and from where? Is she going to compel energy companies to reduce prices? Is there going to be Government money to help with bills, if so, how much and from where is the shortfall to be met?

As for drilling in the North Sea, I yield willingly to the knowledge of @Richard_Tyndall and others on the subject. I presume even if we started tomorrow, any new North Sea oil wouldn't be piped ashore for some weeks or months or years? I presume we'd need refinery capacity for example.

To be fair, "Fuel Britannia" is quite catchy albeit meaningless.

It's utter crap.

It would take many months.

It may get more tax receipts but would be sold at global prices at a loss.

Fuel Britannia lorry with a conservative logo when the pump price is £2 is a real vote winner?

Cue "Clueless Kemi robbin us" stickers

She's clueless

Vast majority of under 30s and majority of under 50s very pro renewables

Like with her rush to war, her rush to oil is the polar opposite of visionary or progressive.

You have already been rebuked by @Richard_Tyndall today on a subject he is an expert on

We know you have a weird anti Kemi issue but you are not convincing anyone, even labour supporters

I have an anti-Kemi issue, probably stronger one than Brian's. It's based on years of hiring, firing and motivating people towards goals. She's the perfect example of the best candidate on the day. Someone totally unsuited to the role but got it because the other candidates were worse. Luckily the Conservatives, unlike Labour, have policies that allow 'mistakes' to be rectified and we'll see such a rectification soon, assuming a better candidate is willing to take on the mess she leaves behind.

As you know my money is on Katie - but I'd have anyone but Kemi.

Interesting article Rochdale, but you can't have it both ways. It can't be bad that Ref/Green will fall away AND bad that Lab/Con will remain, surely?

Yes, you can. None of them are any good. None offer solutions to our problems. None are even willing to acknowledge the extent of the our problems because it would cause problems with their "solutions" and make them incoherent.

I remember Thatcher and her 1979 government. We were in serious trouble. Unions were willing to destroy businesses rather than compromise about what was needed to boost productivity. Management was arrogant, patronising and frankly under skilled. More and more of our economy was subject to the public sector mindset, more focused on those that worked for the business than their customers. Changing this was hard, brutal at times, but (with a lot of help from the proceeds of North Sea oil) it worked.

Where is the current Thatcherite solution? Not in any of our politicians, that is for sure.

My tentative suggestions are that we need a repeat of 1980s deregulation. We need to massively cut back on the regulatory state, many of these regulatory bodies should be completely eliminated. We need to protect businesses from their intrusions and allow them to get on with making money. This will make running businesses from here more attractive but we need to do more, giving generous tax allowances for investment both in kit and training. We need to admire and not want to tear down those who want to make money. We need them. We need the jobs that they create. We need the taxes they will pay and we need to accept that some of them will be chancers and wide boys taking advantage. That's ok and we need to not get too het up about it.

I don't see anyone offering anything like this. I don't see anyone who has anything like a workable solution at all.