Best Of

Remember what Pat McFadden said:

Every meeting I have is 'who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others'.

Reeves's parting idea:

22% Charge on interest paid on cash held in non Cash ISAs

Non Cash ISA portfolios made up of 100% cash-like assets will be non-qualifying investments

Restrictions on transfers into cash ISAs

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fiscal-events-2026-factsheets/isa-reform-2027-anti-circumvention-rules-factsheet

I am devastated. The 0% I earn on cash in my S&S ISA will be taxed down to 0%.

I’m getting a few percentage on my cash. The cash will be deployed. But this pushes you to be fully invested all the time and reinvest when you get income. Not a fan

I don’t like it but I have to go along with it

(narrator: yes, Viewcode got that reference as well. In the original German)

Remember what Pat McFadden said:

Every meeting I have is 'who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others'.

Reeves's parting idea:

22% Charge on interest paid on cash held in non Cash ISAs

Non Cash ISA portfolios made up of 100% cash-like assets will be non-qualifying investments

Restrictions on transfers into cash ISAs

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fiscal-events-2026-factsheets/isa-reform-2027-anti-circumvention-rules-factsheet

I am devastated. The 0% I earn on cash in my S&S ISA will be taxed down to 0%.

I’m getting a few percentage on my cash. The cash will be deployed. But this pushes you to be fully invested all the time and reinvest when you get income. Not a fan

I don’t like it but I have to go along with it

Accenture’s crash shows the consultancy racket is finished
Smart chatbots have exposed just how shallow much of the industry has become
...
...
There are already signs of a wider downturn in the consulting industry. KPMG is laying off about 4pc of its American workforce, and 600 jobs in Britain. McKinsey has considered a 10pc reduction in its staff numbers, according to a Bloomberg report.

Here in the UK, PwC cut 2,000 people from its payroll last year and has reduced its graduate intake this year. We can assume there is a lot more “natural wastage” behind the scenes, as people who leave aren’t replaced. One by one, the major consulting firms are all starting to cut the number of people they employ.

For the British economy, that is likely to be especially bad news. Depending on the metric used, the consulting industry generates between £14bn and £20bn in annual revenues in this country and also accounts for close to £6bn a year in exports.

Globally, it is estimated to be worth more than $500bn (£378bn) a year. It provides training for tens of thousands of new graduates every year, giving them the first rung on the ladder in a business career. If it starts to decline significantly, that will impact the entire British economy.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/06/21/accentures-crash-shows-the-consultancy-racket-is-finished/ (£££)

Classic broken window fallacy. I can’t see how this isn’t absolutely brilliant news for the economy in the long run, while appreciating that there will be some short term costs.

Consider tax advisory - that only exists because of the mad complexity of the tax system and the need for experts to guide a firm through it. If you can circumvent those costs via either AI or, better, a simpler system, that’s a good thing.

We can only hope that many of the graduates who might have been employed by consultancies get employed by the businesses who previously used the consultancy instead. If so, they may well contribute more to UK plc. I wouldn't overstate it though. My son graduated last year and most of his friends are working for either consultancy firms or quant firms.

I find this kind of question fascinating, and I think economic history proves that it’s impossible to predict. What industries will be borne from massive but intermittent electricity generation? If 50% of the UK’s service economy gets supplanted by AI, what’s everyone going to do?

At the top end, you’ll still have some consultants in the same way 1% of the population are still farmers. But otherwise…

I share your interest and lack of certainty about what the future holds. I think that AI and automation are more likely to destroy more jobs than they create and full employment may very soon become unattainable, if it is not already.

The key breakthroughs I see are in driving and care. If white van/delivery man is replaced then full employment is gone forever. If we get used to the idea that machines can provide care and company for our elderly and disabled so much work is going to disappear. Higher up the pay scale more jobs will survive but there will still be many fewer than there are today. How such a system produces an adequate surplus to provide even our current standard of living is still unclear to me.

I don’t think lack of employment is an issue as long as returns to labour overall remain a significant percentage of output (or capital is shared more equally).

Remember that something like 50% of the gains from productivity growth in the 20th century was absorbed by better standards of living. 5 day week, 9 to 5, holidays etc etc. One thing I’m fairly certain of is a 3/4 day week standard by the time I retire.

You can have it now.

Problem is public sector parasites expect it for five days full time pay but they can do the same work in four days.

Lazy bastards simply string out the work.

That betrays a complete ignorance of how productivity growth materialises - and explains why we have such a problem with it in UK.

If a worker can produce the same in 4 days what previously was done in 5, then they shouldn’t get a pay cut for not working on the Friday. Frankly they should get a pay rise to recognise their innovation.

If they can do the same work in four days they currently do in five they are lazy and stringing the work out.

It’s hardly innovation. They’re doing the same job with no different tools or resources just putting more effort in

If they can do in four days the work of five give them more

Typical useless public sector leech. The world owes you a living and a good salary.

This is just incoherent. Of course they would string the work out if they are forced to come in for 5 days a week.

You’re not unique though - presenteeism is embedded and going to be very difficult to eradicate.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/heat-mortality-monitoring-report-england-2025/heat-mortality-monitoring-report-england-2025

Note that they are talking about episodes where the mean temperature hit… 22 and a bit degrees

And they were noticing deaths in the statistics.

The conclusion that care homes should have air-con is astonishingly obvious

Everywhere should. The government should offer some kind of incentive for domestic houses to install solar panels + aircon as a package.

solar panels + heat pumps please

Heat pumps are shit though.

Solar panels are ok but I dropped £12k on them, and it shaved a bit off my bill but not enough.

Both of those statements show how poor your judgement is.

My judgement is about 1,000 times better than yours and I'm a million times more successful than you.

So fuck off and shut up.

Get a grip casino. You can consider the merits of a technology in isolation without turning it into a culture war.

Do air source heat pumps work? Absolutely. Are they worth ripping out an existing gas central heating system? Definitely not. I haven't ripped mine out and I am a big supporter of the technology - too expensive, not worth it.

There will come a time though when it is worth it.

It's not a culture war.

I'm not convinced of the cost-benefit analysis.

Change my mind.

As heat source grows in popularity like Stamps and pipelines in the North Sea, the cost of distribution will fall on fewer and fewer customers until the cost and benefit of a system that runs on Electricity not Oil or Gas, will make them alternatives incrasingly more expensive.

Peter.

You have been warned and told multiple times.

I'm not reading or engaging with any of your posts until you stop it.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/heat-mortality-monitoring-report-england-2025/heat-mortality-monitoring-report-england-2025

Note that they are talking about episodes where the mean temperature hit… 22 and a bit degrees

And they were noticing deaths in the statistics.

The conclusion that care homes should have air-con is astonishingly obvious

Everywhere should. The government should offer some kind of incentive for domestic houses to install solar panels + aircon as a package.

solar panels + heat pumps please

Heat pumps are shit though.

Solar panels are ok but I dropped £12k on them, and it shaved a bit off my bill but not enough.

Both of those statements show how poor your judgement is.

My judgement is about 1,000 times better than yours and I'm a million times more successful than you.

So fuck off and shut up.

Get a grip casino. You can consider the merits of a technology in isolation without turning it into a culture war.

Do air source heat pumps work? Absolutely. Are they worth ripping out an existing gas central heating system? Definitely not. I haven't ripped mine out and I am a big supporter of the technology - too expensive, not worth it.

There will come a time though when it is worth it.

It's not a culture war.

I'm not convinced of the cost-benefit analysis.

Change my mind.

I'd think SKS would want to withdraw for a while to lick his wounds and recover. It isn't as though he willingly made way for a successor. Expecting him to turn up at Cabinet like a former owner become a guest seems a bit of a stretch.

I did note that Burnham could keep Cooper at the Foreign Office for a bit then Starmer takes over, so it doesn't have to be immediate.

Starmer is far more likely to end up at NATO in my opinion

Dear God, no, he'd be awful. He should never be in an important job that involves people's lives. He's a lawyer. Let him go back to that. He can charge a lot of money for doing things that are checked by others, constrained by the law, overseen by a judge, and assessed by a jury. That way he will cause minimum damage.