Another Brexit vision sadly turns out to be a mirage:
3 December 2020:
The government has unveiled plans to ban the export of live animals for slaughter and fattening.
The proposals form part of an eight-week consultation, launched by Defra secretary George Eustice in England and Wales on Thursday (3 December), seeking views on how to better protect animal welfare during transport.
“We are committed to improving the welfare of animals at all stages of life. Today marks a major step forward in delivering on our manifesto commitment to end live exports for slaughter,” said Mr Eustice.
“Now that we have left the EU, we have an opportunity to end this unnecessary practice. We want to ensure that animals are spared stress prior to slaughter.”
Rishi Sunak’s government has ditched a bill that would effectively have banned the export of live farmed animals for fattening and slaughter.
In a statement to the House of Commons on Thursday 25 May, Defra farming minister Mark Spencer confirmed the government was dropping the Kept Animals Bill.
Mr Spencer told MPs that while animal welfare “has been a key priority of the government”, the legislation “risked being extended far beyond the original commitments in the manifesto”.
But he insisted the government would be “taking forward measures in the Kept Animals Bill individually during the remainder of this parliament”.
The Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation said it was disappointed by the government’s decision to drop the bill.
I am really puzzled by this. I am guessing the CS killed this as they seem to be running the show these days. Presumably they couldn't bear a positive Brexit story.
More likely a sop to the farmers, kicked in the teeth by Brexit promises.
If there is one group of producers that deserve to be kicked in the teeth, it's our subsidy-gobbling, low productivity farmers. We should go for free trade in food, and ignore their special pleading..
No, we should be supporting our farmers and British food properly as the French and Americans back their farmers
But “we” are not though. This Tory governments tariff shredding FTAs are destroying farming incomes, and whole niche UK industries and companies, where jobs and livelihoods are all interlinked reliant on each other.
Daft thing for you to post considering this hopelessly confused and incompetent government doing the very opposite.
The only FTAs of any significance we have now we didn't in the EU are with Australia and New Zealand and there are plenty of opportunities for British farmers to expand exports there too
Wrong.
fears for firms at risk from cheap imports, that worker protections and economic security are being neglected, that wider opportunities to improve trade performance are being missed, the ‘net zero’ climate promise undermined, also, that the government is weakening its own hand in negotiations.
In other words Business and Trade under this Tory government is utter shambles
I come from farming family. Farming industry knows if you cut tarrifs you are actually cutting farming incomes, is the truth.
in this report there’s a billion dollar UK industry at stake, and levelling up jobs to protect, and that’s the main purpose for applying tariffs in the first place isn’t it - protect our industries and our workers and their incomes? And are pesticides limits and control not important too?
You tried to portray this government as standing up for Britain, BJ4BW etc - the mounting evidence and the truth is very opposite to what you spun.
Why do you think you are behind and heading for a bloodbath? It’s the betrayal.
Well we have technically increased barriers for EU farm products to the UK, the only tariff barriers removed on farming imports post Brexit the EU hasn't already removed are from Australia and NZ as mentioned
The betrayal of UK being lined up by Tory politicians in secret trade deals in the previous post completely passed you by?
Okay. We’ll move on - haven’t nearly finished with you yet. And on that betrayal fact in posts above, yet more betrayal, upon betrayal - I don’t know what came over you yesterday, early finish, tie off, drinking in the sun - you resurrected an old poll, changed it from a 1% Tory lead to a big one, and tried to tie it into to Sunak’s successful nimby policy versus Starmer’s unpopular sending bulldozers into the green belt. Did you not?
Sunak’s short termist self serving “we are now the party defending privilege, go get into habit of voting for another party if aspiration is what you need” nimby policies are utter disaster for the Tory party - that’s why every Tory MP wants to stand on Starmer’s house building policy. That’s unspun truth isn’t it?
We now have more trade barriers on farming products imported to the UK than before Brexit as the EU is a far bigger exporter to the UK than Australia and NZ as you know.
As you also well know the Redfield bluewall poll last week is the ONLY bluewall poll to have had the Tories ahead since Sunak became PM and coincidentally comes after Starmer's proposals to build on the greenbelt
You have supported a closet socialist who wants to control the price of milk. You should be deeply ashamed.
Well if that helps a pensioner or family on a low income at the moment due to the cost of living good on him.
I am a conservative, not a laissez-faire libertarian, sometimes conservatives do intervene in the economy when required. That does not make them socialist, it seems you and Truss don't understand the difference
Our food prices are some of the lowest in the world, because we have such a competitive free market in food - it is a huge success story that evidently Sunak doesn’t like, because he seems to want to stick his useless state beak into it.
To *genuinely* help people, you increase the supply of milk, you don't introduce a national milk comittee to try to control the price of milk, probably forcing people out of the dairy industry, probably making the whole situation far worse - we've already seen Sunak's handiwork on the energy industry, forcing companies to abandon North Sea Oil altogether. Truss, if you remember, was frustrated by solar panels all over agricultural land - she genuinely wanted to increase the supply of British food which would have resulted in lower prices. Sunak is happy to subsidise 'rewilding' and offer farmers lump sums to leave the industry. That's how much he actually wants to help with the cost of food.
This is an absolute disaster and your defence of it is cringeworthy.
Food prices in the UK are currently rising at a rate of 19%, the highest in 45 years.
Sometimes the free market alone doesn't work well enough not least due to the disruption of the Ukraine war and impact on food and drink prices (Ukraine and Russia being huge sources of global grain) we cannot rapidly increase the number of cows we have in Britain as quickly as required to bring prices down nor provide enough feed for them given the current disruption
Rishi is a traitor and I question his Britishness.
Rishi Sunak will ask stores to cap basic food prices
No 10 in discussions with supermarkets over French-style approach to cost of living crisis
Downing Street is drawing up plans for retailers to introduce price caps on basic food items such as bread and milk to help tackle the rising cost of living, The Telegraph can disclose.
Rishi Sunak’s aides have started work on a deal with supermarkets akin to an agreement in France in which the country’s major retailers charge the “lowest possible amount” for some essential food products.
The move would amount to the biggest attempt to manage supermarket prices since controls established by Edward Heath in 1973. However, No 10 insists that any action by retailers would be voluntary.
It comes amid growing concern in government about sustained pressure on household finances from inflation and the rising cost of borrowing.
A Treasury source said: “Food inflation is much more resilient and difficult to get rid of than we anticipated.”
What the actual fuck type of Tory is he even PRETENDING to be? The supermarkets do a far better job of keeping down food prices than your shit Government would ever do. Leave food the FUCK ALONE. Ministry of Bananas is meant to be a joke ffs.
Will someone please get rid (politically) of this utter clown and release him to this glittering Silicone Valley career he believes is ahead of him please.
I have actually been going thru the NatCon YouTube's. Some are unexpectedly good (JRM, Goodwin) some are not. But they were mostly on culture issues, and only a few (JRM!) seemed to have an underlying theory of how an economy works. Which makes me think: have the Conservatives, being now dominated by rich citizens of nowhere and consumed with the Culture War, simply forgotten how to run an economy? I'm beginning to think that they just don't know how to do it.
There's a fairly good grasp of economics within the Tory Party I think, though there's definitely an ideological split between the Trussites (let financial services rip, more immigration) and the Red wallers (less immigration, more levelling up). The issue is the upper echelons have been totally captured by the nutso Davos agenda, which frankly if you saw a Bond villain try to implement, you'd be cheering when Bond threw a toaster in his bath. It's that bad. Remember even Jeremy Hunt actually thinks Corporation Tax should be at 15%. But in office he's whacked it up to 25%.
I am not so familiar with the "nutso Davos agenda" as I should be. If I understand correctly, it involves things like 15-minute cities, little/no international travel for tourism, no limits on immigration, everything rented, nothing owned, no physical media, no cash, everything tracked, big on green values, lots of happy little hive workers on the internet and screens whilst the extraordinarily rich make all the decisions. Serfdom for the 21st century. Is this near enough or have I got confused?
Another Brexit vision sadly turns out to be a mirage:
3 December 2020:
The government has unveiled plans to ban the export of live animals for slaughter and fattening.
The proposals form part of an eight-week consultation, launched by Defra secretary George Eustice in England and Wales on Thursday (3 December), seeking views on how to better protect animal welfare during transport.
“We are committed to improving the welfare of animals at all stages of life. Today marks a major step forward in delivering on our manifesto commitment to end live exports for slaughter,” said Mr Eustice.
“Now that we have left the EU, we have an opportunity to end this unnecessary practice. We want to ensure that animals are spared stress prior to slaughter.”
Rishi Sunak’s government has ditched a bill that would effectively have banned the export of live farmed animals for fattening and slaughter.
In a statement to the House of Commons on Thursday 25 May, Defra farming minister Mark Spencer confirmed the government was dropping the Kept Animals Bill.
Mr Spencer told MPs that while animal welfare “has been a key priority of the government”, the legislation “risked being extended far beyond the original commitments in the manifesto”.
But he insisted the government would be “taking forward measures in the Kept Animals Bill individually during the remainder of this parliament”.
The Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation said it was disappointed by the government’s decision to drop the bill.
I am really puzzled by this. I am guessing the CS killed this as they seem to be running the show these days. Presumably they couldn't bear a positive Brexit story.
More likely a sop to the farmers, kicked in the teeth by Brexit promises.
If there is one group of producers that deserve to be kicked in the teeth, it's our subsidy-gobbling, low productivity farmers. We should go for free trade in food, and ignore their special pleading..
No, we should be supporting our farmers and British food properly as the French and Americans back their farmers
But “we” are not though. This Tory governments tariff shredding FTAs are destroying farming incomes, and whole niche UK industries and companies, where jobs and livelihoods are all interlinked reliant on each other.
Daft thing for you to post considering this hopelessly confused and incompetent government doing the very opposite.
The only FTAs of any significance we have now we didn't in the EU are with Australia and New Zealand and there are plenty of opportunities for British farmers to expand exports there too
Wrong.
fears for firms at risk from cheap imports, that worker protections and economic security are being neglected, that wider opportunities to improve trade performance are being missed, the ‘net zero’ climate promise undermined, also, that the government is weakening its own hand in negotiations.
In other words Business and Trade under this Tory government is utter shambles
I come from farming family. Farming industry knows if you cut tarrifs you are actually cutting farming incomes, is the truth.
in this report there’s a billion dollar UK industry at stake, and levelling up jobs to protect, and that’s the main purpose for applying tariffs in the first place isn’t it - protect our industries and our workers and their incomes? And are pesticides limits and control not important too?
You tried to portray this government as standing up for Britain, BJ4BW etc - the mounting evidence and the truth is very opposite to what you spun.
Why do you think you are behind and heading for a bloodbath? It’s the betrayal.
Well we have technically increased barriers for EU farm products to the UK, the only tariff barriers removed on farming imports post Brexit the EU hasn't already removed are from Australia and NZ as mentioned
The betrayal of UK being lined up by Tory politicians in secret trade deals in the previous post completely passed you by?
Okay. We’ll move on - haven’t nearly finished with you yet. And on that betrayal fact in posts above, yet more betrayal, upon betrayal - I don’t know what came over you yesterday, early finish, tie off, drinking in the sun - you resurrected an old poll, changed it from a 1% Tory lead to a big one, and tried to tie it into to Sunak’s successful nimby policy versus Starmer’s unpopular sending bulldozers into the green belt. Did you not?
Sunak’s short termist self serving “we are now the party defending privilege, go get into habit of voting for another party if aspiration is what you need” nimby policies are utter disaster for the Tory party - that’s why every Tory MP wants to stand on Starmer’s house building policy. That’s unspun truth isn’t it?
We now have more trade barriers on farming products imported to the UK than before Brexit as the EU is a far bigger exporter to the UK than Australia and NZ as you know.
As you also well know the Redfield bluewall poll last week is the ONLY bluewall poll to have had the Tories ahead since Sunak became PM and coincidentally comes after Starmer's proposals to build on the greenbelt
You have supported a closet socialist who wants to control the price of milk. You should be deeply ashamed.
Well if that helps a pensioner or family on a low income at the moment due to the cost of living good on him.
I am a conservative, not a laissez-faire libertarian, sometimes conservatives do intervene in the economy when required. That does not make them socialist, it seems you and Truss don't understand the difference
Our food prices are some of the lowest in the world, because we have such a competitive free market in food - it is a huge success story that evidently Sunak doesn’t like, because he seems to want to stick his useless state beak into it.
To *genuinely* help people, you increase the supply of milk, you don't introduce a national milk comittee to try to control the price of milk, probably forcing people out of the dairy industry, probably making the whole situation far worse - we've already seen Sunak's handiwork on the energy industry, forcing companies to abandon North Sea Oil altogether. Truss, if you remember, was frustrated by solar panels all over agricultural land - she genuinely wanted to increase the supply of British food which would have resulted in lower prices. Sunak is happy to subsidise 'rewilding' and offer farmers lump sums to leave the industry. That's how much he actually wants to help with the cost of food.
This is an absolute disaster and your defence of it is cringeworthy.
Food prices in the UK are currently rising at a rate of 19%, the highest in 45 years.
Sometimes the free market alone doesn't work well enough not least due to the disruption of the Ukraine war and impact on food and drink prices (Ukraine and Russia being huge sources of global grain) we cannot rapidly increase the number of cows we have in Britain as quickly as required to bring prices down nor provide enough feed for them given the current disruption
Actually global cereal prices are going down, as are global food commodity prices in general:
https://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/foodpricesindex/en/ "» The FAO Cereal Price Index averaged 136.1 points in April, down 2.4 points (1.7 percent) from March and as much as 33.5 points (19.8 percent) below its value one year ago. A decline in world prices of all major grains outweighed an increase in rice prices month-on-month. International wheat prices declined by 2.3 percent in April to their lowest level since July 2021, principally driven by large exportable availabilities in the Russian Federation and Australia. Favourable crop conditions in Europe, along with an agreement at the end of April allowing Ukrainian grains to transit through the European Union countries that had imposed import restrictions on grain from Ukraine earlier in the month, also contributed to the overall softer tone in markets. World maize prices also fell, by 3.2 percent in April, mostly driven by higher seasonal supplies in South America as harvesting continued and favourable prospects point to a record output in Brazil."
But do go on and try to convince me how Sunak getting our famously efficient and effective Government machinery involved in this is going to help - let's hope they bring the same panache to this that they do to our word beating provision of healthcare.
I did, including that you have even a passing interest in it.
I read it through. Miss Smug, but she did get the figures. My own understanding though is they may look like old duffers, but they have been playing season after season all their lives so arn’t as useless as they first appear.
I don’t sense a difficult situation developing as yet. However when things got to Truss levels before it smoked out, smoked out not caused, an inherent issue with pensions, so it’s impossible to say nothing will happen as other weaknesses may lurk out there.
However something else happening on top of this placing even more pressure on the system - a problem with a bank, or with the FSCS (Sunak’s palace built on sand and iffy cronyism) catch the markets eye, and the threshold for help needed and coming out the woodwork, grows.
In It’s A Wonderful Life, there was nothing wrong with their loans for homes building society, but based on rumour of liquidity problems, investors withdrew, it crashed.
On the other hand it’s in the governments power to send signals to the markets to calm them - what little growth we had this week, signal to the markets we will cast it into the volcano to pacify their Gods
Wait! Rowing in behind higher interest rates, flagging the cutting of state support, and intimating preference for a recession is exactly what Hunt has already been doing all week. He’s already on the market soothing case isn’t he?
Andrew Neil: Tanking the economy to keep Sunak's promise on inflation is mad…
Of course it's mad. These people need to be given their marching orders pronto, as some of us have been saying since day 1.
No, it’s going for growth and fuelling longer inflation that’s crazy, as it’s far more damaging option. Andrew Neil is wrong.
I am still waiting for that list of the benefits of recession from you.
I gave it to you.
It kills the bad dose of inflation. It’s as simple as that, there is no choice. You are totally unable to go for growth and heat economy up whilst suffering a bad dose of inflation, without finding yourself in a car driving to an airport taking you to IMF to beg for money to pay your bills, but the situation is so bad already you need to turn the car around and go back to the desk. It’s as simple as that. You want growth? You want to go for growth? You just can’t whilst you have this long period of inflation in your system. You pull those growth levers, the thing makes an ugly noise and will break.
You have just the one option, there are no other options.
Another Brexit vision sadly turns out to be a mirage:
3 December 2020:
The government has unveiled plans to ban the export of live animals for slaughter and fattening.
The proposals form part of an eight-week consultation, launched by Defra secretary George Eustice in England and Wales on Thursday (3 December), seeking views on how to better protect animal welfare during transport.
“We are committed to improving the welfare of animals at all stages of life. Today marks a major step forward in delivering on our manifesto commitment to end live exports for slaughter,” said Mr Eustice.
“Now that we have left the EU, we have an opportunity to end this unnecessary practice. We want to ensure that animals are spared stress prior to slaughter.”
Rishi Sunak’s government has ditched a bill that would effectively have banned the export of live farmed animals for fattening and slaughter.
In a statement to the House of Commons on Thursday 25 May, Defra farming minister Mark Spencer confirmed the government was dropping the Kept Animals Bill.
Mr Spencer told MPs that while animal welfare “has been a key priority of the government”, the legislation “risked being extended far beyond the original commitments in the manifesto”.
But he insisted the government would be “taking forward measures in the Kept Animals Bill individually during the remainder of this parliament”.
The Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation said it was disappointed by the government’s decision to drop the bill.
I am really puzzled by this. I am guessing the CS killed this as they seem to be running the show these days. Presumably they couldn't bear a positive Brexit story.
More likely a sop to the farmers, kicked in the teeth by Brexit promises.
If there is one group of producers that deserve to be kicked in the teeth, it's our subsidy-gobbling, low productivity farmers. We should go for free trade in food, and ignore their special pleading..
No, we should be supporting our farmers and British food properly as the French and Americans back their farmers
But “we” are not though. This Tory governments tariff shredding FTAs are destroying farming incomes, and whole niche UK industries and companies, where jobs and livelihoods are all interlinked reliant on each other.
Daft thing for you to post considering this hopelessly confused and incompetent government doing the very opposite.
The only FTAs of any significance we have now we didn't in the EU are with Australia and New Zealand and there are plenty of opportunities for British farmers to expand exports there too
Wrong.
fears for firms at risk from cheap imports, that worker protections and economic security are being neglected, that wider opportunities to improve trade performance are being missed, the ‘net zero’ climate promise undermined, also, that the government is weakening its own hand in negotiations.
In other words Business and Trade under this Tory government is utter shambles
I come from farming family. Farming industry knows if you cut tarrifs you are actually cutting farming incomes, is the truth.
in this report there’s a billion dollar UK industry at stake, and levelling up jobs to protect, and that’s the main purpose for applying tariffs in the first place isn’t it - protect our industries and our workers and their incomes? And are pesticides limits and control not important too?
You tried to portray this government as standing up for Britain, BJ4BW etc - the mounting evidence and the truth is very opposite to what you spun.
Why do you think you are behind and heading for a bloodbath? It’s the betrayal.
Well we have technically increased barriers for EU farm products to the UK, the only tariff barriers removed on farming imports post Brexit the EU hasn't already removed are from Australia and NZ as mentioned
The betrayal of UK being lined up by Tory politicians in secret trade deals in the previous post completely passed you by?
Okay. We’ll move on - haven’t nearly finished with you yet. And on that betrayal fact in posts above, yet more betrayal, upon betrayal - I don’t know what came over you yesterday, early finish, tie off, drinking in the sun - you resurrected an old poll, changed it from a 1% Tory lead to a big one, and tried to tie it into to Sunak’s successful nimby policy versus Starmer’s unpopular sending bulldozers into the green belt. Did you not?
Sunak’s short termist self serving “we are now the party defending privilege, go get into habit of voting for another party if aspiration is what you need” nimby policies are utter disaster for the Tory party - that’s why every Tory MP wants to stand on Starmer’s house building policy. That’s unspun truth isn’t it?
We now have more trade barriers on farming products imported to the UK than before Brexit as the EU is a far bigger exporter to the UK than Australia and NZ as you know.
As you also well know the Redfield bluewall poll last week is the ONLY bluewall poll to have had the Tories ahead since Sunak became PM and coincidentally comes after Starmer's proposals to build on the greenbelt
You have supported a closet socialist who wants to control the price of milk. You should be deeply ashamed.
Well if that helps a pensioner or family on a low income at the moment due to the cost of living good on him.
I am a conservative, not a laissez-faire libertarian, sometimes conservatives do intervene in the economy when required. That does not make them socialist, it seems you and Truss don't understand the difference
Our food prices are some of the lowest in the world, because we have such a competitive free market in food - it is a huge success story that evidently Sunak doesn’t like, because he seems to want to stick his useless state beak into it.
To *genuinely* help people, you increase the supply of milk, you don't introduce a national milk comittee to try to control the price of milk, probably forcing people out of the dairy industry, probably making the whole situation far worse - we've already seen Sunak's handiwork on the energy industry, forcing companies to abandon North Sea Oil altogether. Truss, if you remember, was frustrated by solar panels all over agricultural land - she genuinely wanted to increase the supply of British food which would have resulted in lower prices. Sunak is happy to subsidise 'rewilding' and offer farmers lump sums to leave the industry. That's how much he actually wants to help with the cost of food.
This is an absolute disaster and your defence of it is cringeworthy.
Food prices in the UK are currently rising at a rate of 19%, the highest in 45 years.
Sometimes the free market alone doesn't work well enough not least due to the disruption of the Ukraine war and impact on food and drink prices (Ukraine and Russia being huge sources of global grain) we cannot rapidly increase the number of cows we have in Britain as quickly as required to bring prices down nor provide enough feed for them given the current disruption
Actually global cereal prices are going down, as are global food commodity prices in general:
https://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/foodpricesindex/en/ "» The FAO Cereal Price Index averaged 136.1 points in April, down 2.4 points (1.7 percent) from March and as much as 33.5 points (19.8 percent) below its value one year ago. A decline in world prices of all major grains outweighed an increase in rice prices month-on-month. International wheat prices declined by 2.3 percent in April to their lowest level since July 2021, principally driven by large exportable availabilities in the Russian Federation and Australia. Favourable crop conditions in Europe, along with an agreement at the end of April allowing Ukrainian grains to transit through the European Union countries that had imposed import restrictions on grain from Ukraine earlier in the month, also contributed to the overall softer tone in markets. World maize prices also fell, by 3.2 percent in April, mostly driven by higher seasonal supplies in South America as harvesting continued and favourable prospects point to a record output in Brazil."
But do go on and try to convince me how Sunak getting our famously efficient and effective Government machinery involved in this is going to help - let's hope they bring the same panache to this that they do to our word beating provision of healthcare.
So on that very chart you linked to global food prices still 29 points above where it was in 2020 and cereals a whopping 33 points higher and sugar almost double the price at a huge 70 points higher.
Another Brexit vision sadly turns out to be a mirage:
3 December 2020:
The government has unveiled plans to ban the export of live animals for slaughter and fattening.
The proposals form part of an eight-week consultation, launched by Defra secretary George Eustice in England and Wales on Thursday (3 December), seeking views on how to better protect animal welfare during transport.
“We are committed to improving the welfare of animals at all stages of life. Today marks a major step forward in delivering on our manifesto commitment to end live exports for slaughter,” said Mr Eustice.
“Now that we have left the EU, we have an opportunity to end this unnecessary practice. We want to ensure that animals are spared stress prior to slaughter.”
Rishi Sunak’s government has ditched a bill that would effectively have banned the export of live farmed animals for fattening and slaughter.
In a statement to the House of Commons on Thursday 25 May, Defra farming minister Mark Spencer confirmed the government was dropping the Kept Animals Bill.
Mr Spencer told MPs that while animal welfare “has been a key priority of the government”, the legislation “risked being extended far beyond the original commitments in the manifesto”.
But he insisted the government would be “taking forward measures in the Kept Animals Bill individually during the remainder of this parliament”.
The Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation said it was disappointed by the government’s decision to drop the bill.
I am really puzzled by this. I am guessing the CS killed this as they seem to be running the show these days. Presumably they couldn't bear a positive Brexit story.
More likely a sop to the farmers, kicked in the teeth by Brexit promises.
If there is one group of producers that deserve to be kicked in the teeth, it's our subsidy-gobbling, low productivity farmers. We should go for free trade in food, and ignore their special pleading..
No, we should be supporting our farmers and British food properly as the French and Americans back their farmers
But “we” are not though. This Tory governments tariff shredding FTAs are destroying farming incomes, and whole niche UK industries and companies, where jobs and livelihoods are all interlinked reliant on each other.
Daft thing for you to post considering this hopelessly confused and incompetent government doing the very opposite.
The only FTAs of any significance we have now we didn't in the EU are with Australia and New Zealand and there are plenty of opportunities for British farmers to expand exports there too
Wrong.
fears for firms at risk from cheap imports, that worker protections and economic security are being neglected, that wider opportunities to improve trade performance are being missed, the ‘net zero’ climate promise undermined, also, that the government is weakening its own hand in negotiations.
In other words Business and Trade under this Tory government is utter shambles
I come from farming family. Farming industry knows if you cut tarrifs you are actually cutting farming incomes, is the truth.
in this report there’s a billion dollar UK industry at stake, and levelling up jobs to protect, and that’s the main purpose for applying tariffs in the first place isn’t it - protect our industries and our workers and their incomes? And are pesticides limits and control not important too?
You tried to portray this government as standing up for Britain, BJ4BW etc - the mounting evidence and the truth is very opposite to what you spun.
Why do you think you are behind and heading for a bloodbath? It’s the betrayal.
Well we have technically increased barriers for EU farm products to the UK, the only tariff barriers removed on farming imports post Brexit the EU hasn't already removed are from Australia and NZ as mentioned
The betrayal of UK being lined up by Tory politicians in secret trade deals in the previous post completely passed you by?
Okay. We’ll move on - haven’t nearly finished with you yet. And on that betrayal fact in posts above, yet more betrayal, upon betrayal - I don’t know what came over you yesterday, early finish, tie off, drinking in the sun - you resurrected an old poll, changed it from a 1% Tory lead to a big one, and tried to tie it into to Sunak’s successful nimby policy versus Starmer’s unpopular sending bulldozers into the green belt. Did you not?
Sunak’s short termist self serving “we are now the party defending privilege, go get into habit of voting for another party if aspiration is what you need” nimby policies are utter disaster for the Tory party - that’s why every Tory MP wants to stand on Starmer’s house building policy. That’s unspun truth isn’t it?
We now have more trade barriers on farming products imported to the UK than before Brexit as the EU is a far bigger exporter to the UK than Australia and NZ as you know.
As you also well know the Redfield bluewall poll last week is the ONLY bluewall poll to have had the Tories ahead since Sunak became PM and coincidentally comes after Starmer's proposals to build on the greenbelt
You have supported a closet socialist who wants to control the price of milk. You should be deeply ashamed.
Well if that helps a pensioner or family on a low income at the moment due to the cost of living good on him.
I am a conservative, not a laissez-faire libertarian, sometimes conservatives do intervene in the economy when required. That does not make them socialist, it seems you and Truss don't understand the difference
Our food prices are some of the lowest in the world, because we have such a competitive free market in food - it is a huge success story that evidently Sunak doesn’t like, because he seems to want to stick his useless state beak into it.
To *genuinely* help people, you increase the supply of milk, you don't introduce a national milk comittee to try to control the price of milk, probably forcing people out of the dairy industry, probably making the whole situation far worse - we've already seen Sunak's handiwork on the energy industry, forcing companies to abandon North Sea Oil altogether. Truss, if you remember, was frustrated by solar panels all over agricultural land - she genuinely wanted to increase the supply of British food which would have resulted in lower prices. Sunak is happy to subsidise 'rewilding' and offer farmers lump sums to leave the industry. That's how much he actually wants to help with the cost of food.
This is an absolute disaster and your defence of it is cringeworthy.
Food prices in the UK are currently rising at a rate of 19%, the highest in 45 years.
Sometimes the free market alone doesn't work well enough not least due to the disruption of the Ukraine war and impact on food and drink prices (Ukraine and Russia being huge sources of global grain) we cannot rapidly increase the number of cows we have in Britain as quickly as required to bring prices down nor provide enough feed for them given the current disruption
Actually global cereal prices are going down, as are global food commodity prices in general:
https://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/foodpricesindex/en/ "» The FAO Cereal Price Index averaged 136.1 points in April, down 2.4 points (1.7 percent) from March and as much as 33.5 points (19.8 percent) below its value one year ago. A decline in world prices of all major grains outweighed an increase in rice prices month-on-month. International wheat prices declined by 2.3 percent in April to their lowest level since July 2021, principally driven by large exportable availabilities in the Russian Federation and Australia. Favourable crop conditions in Europe, along with an agreement at the end of April allowing Ukrainian grains to transit through the European Union countries that had imposed import restrictions on grain from Ukraine earlier in the month, also contributed to the overall softer tone in markets. World maize prices also fell, by 3.2 percent in April, mostly driven by higher seasonal supplies in South America as harvesting continued and favourable prospects point to a record output in Brazil."
But do go on and try to convince me how Sunak getting our famously efficient and effective Government machinery involved in this is going to help - let's hope they bring the same panache to this that they do to our word beating provision of healthcare.
“But do go on and try to convince me how Sunak getting our famously efficient and effective Government machinery involved in this is going to help”
That’s a very easy one to answer actually.
For the last two months at least, UK businesses have put up prices by more than their costs have risen - the latest data for April shows input prices were up by 3.9%, while output prices increased by 5.4%.
Another Brexit vision sadly turns out to be a mirage:
3 December 2020:
The government has unveiled plans to ban the export of live animals for slaughter and fattening.
The proposals form part of an eight-week consultation, launched by Defra secretary George Eustice in England and Wales on Thursday (3 December), seeking views on how to better protect animal welfare during transport.
“We are committed to improving the welfare of animals at all stages of life. Today marks a major step forward in delivering on our manifesto commitment to end live exports for slaughter,” said Mr Eustice.
“Now that we have left the EU, we have an opportunity to end this unnecessary practice. We want to ensure that animals are spared stress prior to slaughter.”
Rishi Sunak’s government has ditched a bill that would effectively have banned the export of live farmed animals for fattening and slaughter.
In a statement to the House of Commons on Thursday 25 May, Defra farming minister Mark Spencer confirmed the government was dropping the Kept Animals Bill.
Mr Spencer told MPs that while animal welfare “has been a key priority of the government”, the legislation “risked being extended far beyond the original commitments in the manifesto”.
But he insisted the government would be “taking forward measures in the Kept Animals Bill individually during the remainder of this parliament”.
The Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation said it was disappointed by the government’s decision to drop the bill.
I am really puzzled by this. I am guessing the CS killed this as they seem to be running the show these days. Presumably they couldn't bear a positive Brexit story.
More likely a sop to the farmers, kicked in the teeth by Brexit promises.
If there is one group of producers that deserve to be kicked in the teeth, it's our subsidy-gobbling, low productivity farmers. We should go for free trade in food, and ignore their special pleading..
No, we should be supporting our farmers and British food properly as the French and Americans back their farmers
But “we” are not though. This Tory governments tariff shredding FTAs are destroying farming incomes, and whole niche UK industries and companies, where jobs and livelihoods are all interlinked reliant on each other.
Daft thing for you to post considering this hopelessly confused and incompetent government doing the very opposite.
The only FTAs of any significance we have now we didn't in the EU are with Australia and New Zealand and there are plenty of opportunities for British farmers to expand exports there too
Wrong.
fears for firms at risk from cheap imports, that worker protections and economic security are being neglected, that wider opportunities to improve trade performance are being missed, the ‘net zero’ climate promise undermined, also, that the government is weakening its own hand in negotiations.
In other words Business and Trade under this Tory government is utter shambles
I come from farming family. Farming industry knows if you cut tarrifs you are actually cutting farming incomes, is the truth.
in this report there’s a billion dollar UK industry at stake, and levelling up jobs to protect, and that’s the main purpose for applying tariffs in the first place isn’t it - protect our industries and our workers and their incomes? And are pesticides limits and control not important too?
You tried to portray this government as standing up for Britain, BJ4BW etc - the mounting evidence and the truth is very opposite to what you spun.
Why do you think you are behind and heading for a bloodbath? It’s the betrayal.
Well we have technically increased barriers for EU farm products to the UK, the only tariff barriers removed on farming imports post Brexit the EU hasn't already removed are from Australia and NZ as mentioned
The betrayal of UK being lined up by Tory politicians in secret trade deals in the previous post completely passed you by?
Okay. We’ll move on - haven’t nearly finished with you yet. And on that betrayal fact in posts above, yet more betrayal, upon betrayal - I don’t know what came over you yesterday, early finish, tie off, drinking in the sun - you resurrected an old poll, changed it from a 1% Tory lead to a big one, and tried to tie it into to Sunak’s successful nimby policy versus Starmer’s unpopular sending bulldozers into the green belt. Did you not?
Sunak’s short termist self serving “we are now the party defending privilege, go get into habit of voting for another party if aspiration is what you need” nimby policies are utter disaster for the Tory party - that’s why every Tory MP wants to stand on Starmer’s house building policy. That’s unspun truth isn’t it?
We now have more trade barriers on farming products imported to the UK than before Brexit as the EU is a far bigger exporter to the UK than Australia and NZ as you know.
As you also well know the Redfield bluewall poll last week is the ONLY bluewall poll to have had the Tories ahead since Sunak became PM and coincidentally comes after Starmer's proposals to build on the greenbelt
You have supported a closet socialist who wants to control the price of milk. You should be deeply ashamed.
Well if that helps a pensioner or family on a low income at the moment due to the cost of living good on him.
I am a conservative, not a laissez-faire libertarian, sometimes conservatives do intervene in the economy when required. That does not make them socialist, it seems you and Truss don't understand the difference
Our food prices are some of the lowest in the world, because we have such a competitive free market in food - it is a huge success story that evidently Sunak doesn’t like, because he seems to want to stick his useless state beak into it.
To *genuinely* help people, you increase the supply of milk, you don't introduce a national milk comittee to try to control the price of milk, probably forcing people out of the dairy industry, probably making the whole situation far worse - we've already seen Sunak's handiwork on the energy industry, forcing companies to abandon North Sea Oil altogether. Truss, if you remember, was frustrated by solar panels all over agricultural land - she genuinely wanted to increase the supply of British food which would have resulted in lower prices. Sunak is happy to subsidise 'rewilding' and offer farmers lump sums to leave the industry. That's how much he actually wants to help with the cost of food.
This is an absolute disaster and your defence of it is cringeworthy.
Food prices in the UK are currently rising at a rate of 19%, the highest in 45 years.
Sometimes the free market alone doesn't work well enough not least due to the disruption of the Ukraine war and impact on food and drink prices (Ukraine and Russia being huge sources of global grain) we cannot rapidly increase the number of cows we have in Britain as quickly as required to bring prices down nor provide enough feed for them given the current disruption
Actually global cereal prices are going down, as are global food commodity prices in general:
https://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/foodpricesindex/en/ "» The FAO Cereal Price Index averaged 136.1 points in April, down 2.4 points (1.7 percent) from March and as much as 33.5 points (19.8 percent) below its value one year ago. A decline in world prices of all major grains outweighed an increase in rice prices month-on-month. International wheat prices declined by 2.3 percent in April to their lowest level since July 2021, principally driven by large exportable availabilities in the Russian Federation and Australia. Favourable crop conditions in Europe, along with an agreement at the end of April allowing Ukrainian grains to transit through the European Union countries that had imposed import restrictions on grain from Ukraine earlier in the month, also contributed to the overall softer tone in markets. World maize prices also fell, by 3.2 percent in April, mostly driven by higher seasonal supplies in South America as harvesting continued and favourable prospects point to a record output in Brazil."
But do go on and try to convince me how Sunak getting our famously efficient and effective Government machinery involved in this is going to help - let's hope they bring the same panache to this that they do to our word beating provision of healthcare.
So on that very chart you linked to global food prices still 29 points above where it was in 2020 and cereals a whopping 33 points higher and sugar almost double the price at a huge 70 points higher.
Andrew Neil: Tanking the economy to keep Sunak's promise on inflation is mad…
Of course it's mad. These people need to be given their marching orders pronto, as some of us have been saying since day 1.
No, it’s going for growth and fuelling longer inflation that’s crazy, as it’s far more damaging option. Andrew Neil is wrong.
I am still waiting for that list of the benefits of recession from you.
I gave it to you.
It kills the bad dose of inflation. It’s as simple as that, there is no choice. You are totally unable to go for growth and heat economy up whilst suffering a bad dose of inflation, without finding yourself in a car driving to an airport taking you to IMF to beg for money to pay your bills, but the situation is so bad already you need to turn the car around and go back to the desk. It’s as simple as that. You want growth? You want to go for growth? You just can’t whilst you have this long period of inflation in your system. You pull those growth levers, the thing makes an ugly noise and will break.
You have just the one option, there are no other options.
Has the penny dropped yet?
No, because you haven't provided anything to support your argument except dodgy analogies. It's a question of faith with you - that's witch doctorey, not economics.
Texas Tribune - Texas AG Ken Paxton impeached, suspended from duties; will face Senate trial
The House voted 121-23 to suspend the attorney general and refer him to the Senate for trial on charges of bribery, abuse of office and obstruction. It was the first such impeachment since 1975.
Defying a last-minute appeal by former President Donald Trump, the Texas House voted overwhelmingly Saturday to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton, temporarily removing him from office over allegations of misconduct that included bribery and abuse of office.
The vote to adopt the 20 articles of impeachment was 121-23.
The stunning vote came two days after an investigative committee unveiled the articles — and two days before the close of a biennial legislative session that saw significant right-wing victories, including a ban on transgender health care for minors and new restrictions on public universities’ diversity efforts.
Andrew Neil: Tanking the economy to keep Sunak's promise on inflation is mad…
Of course it's mad. These people need to be given their marching orders pronto, as some of us have been saying since day 1.
No, it’s going for growth and fuelling longer inflation that’s crazy, as it’s far more damaging option. Andrew Neil is wrong.
I am still waiting for that list of the benefits of recession from you.
I gave it to you.
It kills the bad dose of inflation. It’s as simple as that, there is no choice. You are totally unable to go for growth and heat economy up whilst suffering a bad dose of inflation, without finding yourself in a car driving to an airport taking you to IMF to beg for money to pay your bills, but the situation is so bad already you need to turn the car around and go back to the desk. It’s as simple as that. You want growth? You want to go for growth? You just can’t whilst you have this long period of inflation in your system. You pull those growth levers, the thing makes an ugly noise and will break.
You have just the one option, there are no other options.
Has the penny dropped yet?
No, because you haven't provided anything to support your argument except dodgy analogies. It's a question of faith with you - that's witch doctorey, not economics.
Top 350 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, showed average profit margins increased from 5.7% in the first half of 2019 to 10.7% in the first half of 2022. The four global giant agribusiness corporations that dominate crucial crops such as grains – ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus, saw profits shoot up 255% in 2021. The world’s top 10 semiconductor manufacturers made £44bn profit between them, 96% more than in 2019.
For the last two months at least, UK businesses have put up prices by more than their costs have risen - the latest data for April shows input prices were up by 3.9%, while output prices increased by 5.4%.
One reason companies continue to hold or increase prices higher than costs, and get away with it even as energy and raw material costs fall away is the buffer government has provided households with - it disguised the degree of the Greedflation which has been going on.
Let us not forget, this very kind largesse our government handed us, has been paid for from the largest ever tax take we have given them, and the huge borrowing we will all have to pay back in future. It was not them being generous to us, it was our money. Nor forgetting the way they chose to do it - expensive, poorly targeted and regressive Energy Price Guarantee was never the only option available to government to assist households.
Where ultimately has this taxation and borrowed money kindly given to us actually ended up? Straight through our household budgets into the pockets of those using crisis and smokescreens to racketeer.
It means, LuckyGuy, all the way through this last few years (until hopefully about 15 seconds from now the penny drops with you) you have been continually mugged without even realising it.
And it’s left you saying to the government “no, don’t do anything about it. I don’t want to see you taking action and doing something about it.”
Re: impeachment of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, note that fellow Republicans control the state House of Representatives in Austin, AND that a majority of GOP representatives voted to impeach the crooked son of a bitch.
Despite fact that fellow crook and SOB, Donald Trump, told them not to.
Andrew Neil: Tanking the economy to keep Sunak's promise on inflation is mad…
Of course it's mad. These people need to be given their marching orders pronto, as some of us have been saying since day 1.
No, it’s going for growth and fuelling longer inflation that’s crazy, as it’s far more damaging option. Andrew Neil is wrong.
I am still waiting for that list of the benefits of recession from you.
I gave it to you.
It kills the bad dose of inflation. It’s as simple as that, there is no choice. You are totally unable to go for growth and heat economy up whilst suffering a bad dose of inflation, without finding yourself in a car driving to an airport taking you to IMF to beg for money to pay your bills, but the situation is so bad already you need to turn the car around and go back to the desk. It’s as simple as that. You want growth? You want to go for growth? You just can’t whilst you have this long period of inflation in your system. You pull those growth levers, the thing makes an ugly noise and will break.
You have just the one option, there are no other options.
Has the penny dropped yet?
No, because you haven't provided anything to support your argument except dodgy analogies. It's a question of faith with you - that's witch doctorey, not economics.
Top 350 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, showed average profit margins increased from 5.7% in the first half of 2019 to 10.7% in the first half of 2022. The four global giant agribusiness corporations that dominate crucial crops such as grains – ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus, saw profits shoot up 255% in 2021. The world’s top 10 semiconductor manufacturers made £44bn profit between them, 96% more than in 2019.
For the last two months at least, UK businesses have put up prices by more than their costs have risen - the latest data for April shows input prices were up by 3.9%, while output prices increased by 5.4%.
One reason companies continue to hold or increase prices higher than costs, and get away with it even as energy and raw material costs fall away is the buffer government has provided households with - it disguised the degree of the Greedflation which has been going on.
Let us not forget, this very kind largesse our government handed us, has been paid for from the largest ever tax take we have given them, and the huge borrowing we will all have to pay back in future. It was not them being generous to us, it was our money. Nor forgetting the way they chose to do it - expensive, poorly targeted and regressive Energy Price Guarantee was never the only option available to government to assist households.
Where ultimately has this taxation and borrowed money kindly given to us actually ended up? Straight through our household budgets into the pockets of those using crisis and smokescreens to racketeer.
It means, LuckyGuy, all the way through this last few years (until hopefully about 15 seconds from now the penny drops with you) you have been continually mugged without even realising it.
And it’s left you saying to the government “no, don’t do anything about it. I don’t want to see you taking action and doing something about it.”
Looking at any one year can be extremely misleading. If profits were £100 in one year, £10 the next, and then £50 the year after, then growth would have been down 90%, then up 400%.
And commodity margins are always highly volatile. Companies wouldn't invest in bad times, if they weren't allowed to profit in good.
Andrew Neil: Tanking the economy to keep Sunak's promise on inflation is mad…
Of course it's mad. These people need to be given their marching orders pronto, as some of us have been saying since day 1.
No, it’s going for growth and fuelling longer inflation that’s crazy, as it’s far more damaging option. Andrew Neil is wrong.
I am still waiting for that list of the benefits of recession from you.
I gave it to you.
It kills the bad dose of inflation. It’s as simple as that, there is no choice. You are totally unable to go for growth and heat economy up whilst suffering a bad dose of inflation, without finding yourself in a car driving to an airport taking you to IMF to beg for money to pay your bills, but the situation is so bad already you need to turn the car around and go back to the desk. It’s as simple as that. You want growth? You want to go for growth? You just can’t whilst you have this long period of inflation in your system. You pull those growth levers, the thing makes an ugly noise and will break.
You have just the one option, there are no other options.
Has the penny dropped yet?
No, because you haven't provided anything to support your argument except dodgy analogies. It's a question of faith with you - that's witch doctorey, not economics.
Top 350 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, showed average profit margins increased from 5.7% in the first half of 2019 to 10.7% in the first half of 2022. The four global giant agribusiness corporations that dominate crucial crops such as grains – ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus, saw profits shoot up 255% in 2021. The world’s top 10 semiconductor manufacturers made £44bn profit between them, 96% more than in 2019.
For the last two months at least, UK businesses have put up prices by more than their costs have risen - the latest data for April shows input prices were up by 3.9%, while output prices increased by 5.4%.
One reason companies continue to hold or increase prices higher than costs, and get away with it even as energy and raw material costs fall away is the buffer government has provided households with - it disguised the degree of the Greedflation which has been going on.
Let us not forget, this very kind largesse our government handed us, has been paid for from the largest ever tax take we have given them, and the huge borrowing we will all have to pay back in future. It was not them being generous to us, it was our money. Nor forgetting the way they chose to do it - expensive, poorly targeted and regressive Energy Price Guarantee was never the only option available to government to assist households.
Where ultimately has this taxation and borrowed money kindly given to us actually ended up? Straight through our household budgets into the pockets of those using crisis and smokescreens to racketeer.
It means, LuckyGuy, all the way through this last few years (until hopefully about 15 seconds from now the penny drops with you) you have been continually mugged without even realising it.
And it’s left you saying to the government “no, don’t do anything about it. I don’t want to see you taking action and doing something about it.”
Looking at any one year can be extremely misleading. If profits were £100 in one year, £10 the next, and then £50 the year after, then growth would have been down 90%, then up 400%.
And commodity margins are always highly volatile. Companies wouldn't invest in bad times, if they weren't allowed to profit in good.
Has there been zero Greedinflation, taking advantage of the crisis situations at all in your opinion?
If you answer yes some, to what degree is it perpetuating inflation, making life difficult for governments and household budgets?
Re: impeachment of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, note that fellow Republicans control the state House of Representatives in Austin, AND that a majority of GOP representatives voted to impeach the crooked son of a bitch.
Despite fact that fellow crook and SOB, Donald Trump, told them not to.
Impeaching the AG presumably won't affect their power, since I would guess they get to pick any replacement, and/or their control of the state generally means it won't matter.
So unfortunately it's a display of principle, but probably only because there's little political cost for them?
What's stranger is Trump's weighing in if the outcome looked set.
Re: impeachment of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, note that fellow Republicans control the state House of Representatives in Austin, AND that a majority of GOP representatives voted to impeach the crooked son of a bitch.
Despite fact that fellow crook and SOB, Donald Trump, told them not to.
Impeaching the AG presumably won't affect their power, since I would guess they get to pick any replacement, and/or their control of the state generally means it won't matter.
So unfortunately it's a display of principle, but probably only because there's little political cost for them?
What's stranger is Trump's weighing in if the outcome looked set.
Think you are missing most of the significance, let alone the nuances, of the impeachment of a powerful statewide Republican officeholder, in state controlled at state level by Republicans.
An officeholder who was just re-elected in 2022, and who has made supporting Trump 1000% (and attacking Biden as Wokemaster-in-Chief). And whom Trump in return has backed with vigor.
You are correct, in that Republicans will still control the AGs office in Lone Star State, even if Paxton is convicted by State Senate - which under Texas Constitution requires 2/3 vote.
Stay tuned for further developments. One thing anyway is clear: the MAJORITY of GOP state reps in Austin voted to impeach, at potential risk to their political careers and ambitions from MAGA backlash.
Andrew Neil: Tanking the economy to keep Sunak's promise on inflation is mad…
Of course it's mad. These people need to be given their marching orders pronto, as some of us have been saying since day 1.
No, it’s going for growth and fuelling longer inflation that’s crazy, as it’s far more damaging option. Andrew Neil is wrong.
I am still waiting for that list of the benefits of recession from you.
I gave it to you.
It kills the bad dose of inflation. It’s as simple as that, there is no choice. You are totally unable to go for growth and heat economy up whilst suffering a bad dose of inflation, without finding yourself in a car driving to an airport taking you to IMF to beg for money to pay your bills, but the situation is so bad already you need to turn the car around and go back to the desk. It’s as simple as that. You want growth? You want to go for growth? You just can’t whilst you have this long period of inflation in your system. You pull those growth levers, the thing makes an ugly noise and will break.
You have just the one option, there are no other options.
Has the penny dropped yet?
No, because you haven't provided anything to support your argument except dodgy analogies. It's a question of faith with you - that's witch doctorey, not economics.
Top 350 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, showed average profit margins increased from 5.7% in the first half of 2019 to 10.7% in the first half of 2022. The four global giant agribusiness corporations that dominate crucial crops such as grains – ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus, saw profits shoot up 255% in 2021. The world’s top 10 semiconductor manufacturers made £44bn profit between them, 96% more than in 2019.
For the last two months at least, UK businesses have put up prices by more than their costs have risen - the latest data for April shows input prices were up by 3.9%, while output prices increased by 5.4%.
One reason companies continue to hold or increase prices higher than costs, and get away with it even as energy and raw material costs fall away is the buffer government has provided households with - it disguised the degree of the Greedflation which has been going on.
Let us not forget, this very kind largesse our government handed us, has been paid for from the largest ever tax take we have given them, and the huge borrowing we will all have to pay back in future. It was not them being generous to us, it was our money. Nor forgetting the way they chose to do it - expensive, poorly targeted and regressive Energy Price Guarantee was never the only option available to government to assist households.
Where ultimately has this taxation and borrowed money kindly given to us actually ended up? Straight through our household budgets into the pockets of those using crisis and smokescreens to racketeer.
It means, LuckyGuy, all the way through this last few years (until hopefully about 15 seconds from now the penny drops with you) you have been continually mugged without even realising it.
And it’s left you saying to the government “no, don’t do anything about it. I don’t want to see you taking action and doing something about it.”
Looking at any one year can be extremely misleading. If profits were £100 in one year, £10 the next, and then £50 the year after, then growth would have been down 90%, then up 400%.
And commodity margins are always highly volatile. Companies wouldn't invest in bad times, if they weren't allowed to profit in good.
Has there been zero Greedinflation, taking advantage of the crisis situations at all in your opinion?
If you answer yes some, to what degree is it perpetuating inflation, making life difficult for governments and household budgets?
"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest." Adam Smith
Capitalism works because it turns out that allowing people to make a profit is a motivating factor. There is no greater way to encourage greater supply (and therefore lower prices) than allowing firms to make money.
If you want to soften the blow of higher commodity prices (whether gas, electricity or food), then give money directly to people, and allow them to spend it as they please.
Andrew Neil: Tanking the economy to keep Sunak's promise on inflation is mad…
Of course it's mad. These people need to be given their marching orders pronto, as some of us have been saying since day 1.
No, it’s going for growth and fuelling longer inflation that’s crazy, as it’s far more damaging option. Andrew Neil is wrong.
I am still waiting for that list of the benefits of recession from you.
I gave it to you.
It kills the bad dose of inflation. It’s as simple as that, there is no choice. You are totally unable to go for growth and heat economy up whilst suffering a bad dose of inflation, without finding yourself in a car driving to an airport taking you to IMF to beg for money to pay your bills, but the situation is so bad already you need to turn the car around and go back to the desk. It’s as simple as that. You want growth? You want to go for growth? You just can’t whilst you have this long period of inflation in your system. You pull those growth levers, the thing makes an ugly noise and will break.
You have just the one option, there are no other options.
Has the penny dropped yet?
No, because you haven't provided anything to support your argument except dodgy analogies. It's a question of faith with you - that's witch doctorey, not economics.
Top 350 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, showed average profit margins increased from 5.7% in the first half of 2019 to 10.7% in the first half of 2022. The four global giant agribusiness corporations that dominate crucial crops such as grains – ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus, saw profits shoot up 255% in 2021. The world’s top 10 semiconductor manufacturers made £44bn profit between them, 96% more than in 2019.
For the last two months at least, UK businesses have put up prices by more than their costs have risen - the latest data for April shows input prices were up by 3.9%, while output prices increased by 5.4%.
One reason companies continue to hold or increase prices higher than costs, and get away with it even as energy and raw material costs fall away is the buffer government has provided households with - it disguised the degree of the Greedflation which has been going on.
Let us not forget, this very kind largesse our government handed us, has been paid for from the largest ever tax take we have given them, and the huge borrowing we will all have to pay back in future. It was not them being generous to us, it was our money. Nor forgetting the way they chose to do it - expensive, poorly targeted and regressive Energy Price Guarantee was never the only option available to government to assist households.
Where ultimately has this taxation and borrowed money kindly given to us actually ended up? Straight through our household budgets into the pockets of those using crisis and smokescreens to racketeer.
It means, LuckyGuy, all the way through this last few years (until hopefully about 15 seconds from now the penny drops with you) you have been continually mugged without even realising it.
And it’s left you saying to the government “no, don’t do anything about it. I don’t want to see you taking action and doing something about it.”
Looking at any one year can be extremely misleading. If profits were £100 in one year, £10 the next, and then £50 the year after, then growth would have been down 90%, then up 400%.
And commodity margins are always highly volatile. Companies wouldn't invest in bad times, if they weren't allowed to profit in good.
Has there been zero Greedinflation, taking advantage of the crisis situations at all in your opinion?
If you answer yes some, to what degree is it perpetuating inflation, making life difficult for governments and household budgets?
"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest." Adam Smith
Capitalism works because it turns out that allowing people to make a profit is a motivating factor. There is no greater way to encourage greater supply (and therefore lower prices) than allowing firms to make money.
If you want to soften the blow of higher commodity prices (whether gas, electricity or food), then give money directly to people, and allow them to spend it as they please.
“He took off his shirt and showed off his freemarket guns and capitalist abs. Wowzer.” MoonRabbit diary entry.
I agree, a fair profit. Of course I do. But when it is more than fair, it’s greed, cashing in on crisis, exploiting suffering, continued actions perpetuating inflation pain on governments and households - still no intervention from Chancellor Robert?
on subject of Luton, I expect that either Luton play all games elsewhere - Milton Keynes - or a playoff between best placed relegated Premiership team (Leeds?) and Coventry. Or is tgat too logical?
Andrew Neil: Tanking the economy to keep Sunak's promise on inflation is mad…
Of course it's mad. These people need to be given their marching orders pronto, as some of us have been saying since day 1.
No, it’s going for growth and fuelling longer inflation that’s crazy, as it’s far more damaging option. Andrew Neil is wrong.
I am still waiting for that list of the benefits of recession from you.
I gave it to you.
It kills the bad dose of inflation. It’s as simple as that, there is no choice. You are totally unable to go for growth and heat economy up whilst suffering a bad dose of inflation, without finding yourself in a car driving to an airport taking you to IMF to beg for money to pay your bills, but the situation is so bad already you need to turn the car around and go back to the desk. It’s as simple as that. You want growth? You want to go for growth? You just can’t whilst you have this long period of inflation in your system. You pull those growth levers, the thing makes an ugly noise and will break.
You have just the one option, there are no other options.
Has the penny dropped yet?
No, because you haven't provided anything to support your argument except dodgy analogies. It's a question of faith with you - that's witch doctorey, not economics.
Top 350 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, showed average profit margins increased from 5.7% in the first half of 2019 to 10.7% in the first half of 2022. The four global giant agribusiness corporations that dominate crucial crops such as grains – ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus, saw profits shoot up 255% in 2021. The world’s top 10 semiconductor manufacturers made £44bn profit between them, 96% more than in 2019.
For the last two months at least, UK businesses have put up prices by more than their costs have risen - the latest data for April shows input prices were up by 3.9%, while output prices increased by 5.4%.
One reason companies continue to hold or increase prices higher than costs, and get away with it even as energy and raw material costs fall away is the buffer government has provided households with - it disguised the degree of the Greedflation which has been going on.
Let us not forget, this very kind largesse our government handed us, has been paid for from the largest ever tax take we have given them, and the huge borrowing we will all have to pay back in future. It was not them being generous to us, it was our money. Nor forgetting the way they chose to do it - expensive, poorly targeted and regressive Energy Price Guarantee was never the only option available to government to assist households.
Where ultimately has this taxation and borrowed money kindly given to us actually ended up? Straight through our household budgets into the pockets of those using crisis and smokescreens to racketeer.
It means, LuckyGuy, all the way through this last few years (until hopefully about 15 seconds from now the penny drops with you) you have been continually mugged without even realising it.
And it’s left you saying to the government “no, don’t do anything about it. I don’t want to see you taking action and doing something about it.”
Looking at any one year can be extremely misleading. If profits were £100 in one year, £10 the next, and then £50 the year after, then growth would have been down 90%, then up 400%.
And commodity margins are always highly volatile. Companies wouldn't invest in bad times, if they weren't allowed to profit in good.
Has there been zero Greedinflation, taking advantage of the crisis situations at all in your opinion?
If you answer yes some, to what degree is it perpetuating inflation, making life difficult for governments and household budgets?
"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest." Adam Smith
Capitalism works because it turns out that allowing people to make a profit is a motivating factor. There is no greater way to encourage greater supply (and therefore lower prices) than allowing firms to make money.
If you want to soften the blow of higher commodity prices (whether gas, electricity or food), then give money directly to people, and allow them to spend it as they please.
“He took off his shirt and showed off his freemarket guns and capitalist abs. Wowzer.” MoonRabbit diary entry.
I agree, a fair profit. Of course I do. But when it is more than fair, it’s greed, cashing in on crisis, exploiting suffering, continued actions perpetuating inflation pain on governments and households - still no intervention from Chancellor Robert?
In my opinion, there has to be instances where net effect of government intervention will be beneficial enough, and not undermine the basically free character of the capitalist type system such as Adam Smith supported, in order to justify it.
Some examples. Especially if there is a state security angle, which arguably in this instance there is - and to protect justice and other important public institutions necessary for the benefit of all of society. Also by securing the government and nations households wealth, without which we can’t have the infrastructure necessary for any type of free market capitalist country to function let alone flourish.
Everyone on earth casts a shadow, and it reminds us there cannot be good without evil. If people don’t remember this when reading or quoting the great humanist Adam Smith, they are likely doing this anti slaver, progressive and liberal thinker, a disservice.
The original Horse was Leon too, Not much doubt about it in hindsight.
How you manage to find time to earn a living Leon whilst playing games with so many PB avatars, I can only put down to you having discovered the optimum combination of drugs.
No, I'm Leon!
No, not Spartacus, it’s that Thing film set in Antarctica, where they all eye each other nervously over who’s the fake person.
“The atomic bomb is necessary to defend western values”
Enoch Powell:
“No! We do not fight for values, I would fight for this country, even if we had a communist government”
Thatcher:
“Nonsense, Enoch, If I send British Troops abroad, it will be to defend our values”
Powell:
“No, Prime minister, values exist in a transcendental realm, beyond space and time, they can be neither fought for, nor destroyed”
Enoch’s point was: you ultimately fight for your land and your people, not some ideology, or ephemeral values.
Uncomfortably, I find myself muttering “Enoch woz right” …..!
Who can really believe that? Enoch was a fucking idiot. Of course you fight for values. If this country got a fascist government I'd cheerfully pick up a gun and fight* it. If this country got attacked by a fascist enemy, I'd pick up a gun and fight* for it.
Who here would really fight for fascism if that fascism was under the union flag?
*I'm not saying I'd be any good, but fuck me I'd try.
Some people think we've got one now. Would you support an armed insurrection?
Conversely, would you fight on behalf of the country if it were to have a genuinely fascist government ?
Andrew Neil: Tanking the economy to keep Sunak's promise on inflation is mad…
Of course it's mad. These people need to be given their marching orders pronto, as some of us have been saying since day 1.
No, it’s going for growth and fuelling longer inflation that’s crazy, as it’s far more damaging option. Andrew Neil is wrong.
I am still waiting for that list of the benefits of recession from you.
I gave it to you.
It kills the bad dose of inflation. It’s as simple as that, there is no choice. You are totally unable to go for growth and heat economy up whilst suffering a bad dose of inflation, without finding yourself in a car driving to an airport taking you to IMF to beg for money to pay your bills, but the situation is so bad already you need to turn the car around and go back to the desk. It’s as simple as that. You want growth? You want to go for growth? You just can’t whilst you have this long period of inflation in your system. You pull those growth levers, the thing makes an ugly noise and will break.
You have just the one option, there are no other options.
Has the penny dropped yet?
No, because you haven't provided anything to support your argument except dodgy analogies. It's a question of faith with you - that's witch doctorey, not economics.
Top 350 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, showed average profit margins increased from 5.7% in the first half of 2019 to 10.7% in the first half of 2022. The four global giant agribusiness corporations that dominate crucial crops such as grains – ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus, saw profits shoot up 255% in 2021. The world’s top 10 semiconductor manufacturers made £44bn profit between them, 96% more than in 2019.
For the last two months at least, UK businesses have put up prices by more than their costs have risen - the latest data for April shows input prices were up by 3.9%, while output prices increased by 5.4%.
One reason companies continue to hold or increase prices higher than costs, and get away with it even as energy and raw material costs fall away is the buffer government has provided households with - it disguised the degree of the Greedflation which has been going on.
Let us not forget, this very kind largesse our government handed us, has been paid for from the largest ever tax take we have given them, and the huge borrowing we will all have to pay back in future. It was not them being generous to us, it was our money. Nor forgetting the way they chose to do it - expensive, poorly targeted and regressive Energy Price Guarantee was never the only option available to government to assist households.
Where ultimately has this taxation and borrowed money kindly given to us actually ended up? Straight through our household budgets into the pockets of those using crisis and smokescreens to racketeer.
It means, LuckyGuy, all the way through this last few years (until hopefully about 15 seconds from now the penny drops with you) you have been continually mugged without even realising it.
And it’s left you saying to the government “no, don’t do anything about it. I don’t want to see you taking action and doing something about it.”
Looking at any one year can be extremely misleading. If profits were £100 in one year, £10 the next, and then £50 the year after, then growth would have been down 90%, then up 400%.
And commodity margins are always highly volatile. Companies wouldn't invest in bad times, if they weren't allowed to profit in good.
Has there been zero Greedinflation, taking advantage of the crisis situations at all in your opinion?
If you answer yes some, to what degree is it perpetuating inflation, making life difficult for governments and household budgets?
"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest." Adam Smith
Capitalism works because it turns out that allowing people to make a profit is a motivating factor. There is no greater way to encourage greater supply (and therefore lower prices) than allowing firms to make money.
If you want to soften the blow of higher commodity prices (whether gas, electricity or food), then give money directly to people, and allow them to spend it as they please.
“He took off his shirt and showed off his freemarket guns and capitalist abs. Wowzer.” MoonRabbit diary entry.
I agree, a fair profit. Of course I do. But when it is more than fair, it’s greed, cashing in on crisis, exploiting suffering, continued actions perpetuating inflation pain on governments and households - still no intervention from Chancellor Robert?
In my opinion, there has to be instances where net effect of government intervention will be beneficial enough, and not undermine the basically free character of the capitalist type system such as Adam Smith supported, in order to justify it.
Some examples. Especially if there is a state security angle, which arguably in this instance there is - and to protect justice and other important public institutions necessary for the benefit of all of society. Also by securing the government and nations households wealth, without which we can’t have the infrastructure necessary for any type of free market capitalist country to function let alone flourish.
Everyone on earth casts a shadow, and it reminds us there cannot be good without evil. If people don’t remember this when reading or quoting the great humanist Adam Smith, they are likely doing this anti slaver, progressive and liberal thinker, a disservice.
PS. And his Christianity clearly influenced his thinking.
“The atomic bomb is necessary to defend western values”
Enoch Powell:
“No! We do not fight for values, I would fight for this country, even if we had a communist government”
Thatcher:
“Nonsense, Enoch, If I send British Troops abroad, it will be to defend our values”
Powell:
“No, Prime minister, values exist in a transcendental realm, beyond space and time, they can be neither fought for, nor destroyed”
Enoch’s point was: you ultimately fight for your land and your people, not some ideology, or ephemeral values.
Uncomfortably, I find myself muttering “Enoch woz right” …..!
Who can really believe that? Enoch was a fucking idiot. Of course you fight for values. If this country got a fascist government I'd cheerfully pick up a gun and fight* it. If this country got attacked by a fascist enemy, I'd pick up a gun and fight* for it.
Who here would really fight for fascism if that fascism was under the union flag?
*I'm not saying I'd be any good, but fuck me I'd try.
Powell existed in a transcendental realm, beyond mere sanity. (He was nuts.)
The original Horse was Leon too, Not much doubt about it in hindsight.
How you manage to find time to earn a living Leon whilst playing games with so many PB avatars, I can only put down to you having discovered the optimum combination of drugs.
No, I'm Leon!
No, not Spartacus, it’s that Thing film set in Antarctica, where they all eye each other nervously over who’s the fake person.
Kurt Russell's best film.
And we're all wondering about you now.
That’s the remake. I’ve seen the original early 50s film, and it’s just as good.
Andrew Neil: Tanking the economy to keep Sunak's promise on inflation is mad…
Of course it's mad. These people need to be given their marching orders pronto, as some of us have been saying since day 1.
No, it’s going for growth and fuelling longer inflation that’s crazy, as it’s far more damaging option. Andrew Neil is wrong.
I am still waiting for that list of the benefits of recession from you.
I gave it to you.
It kills the bad dose of inflation. It’s as simple as that, there is no choice. You are totally unable to go for growth and heat economy up whilst suffering a bad dose of inflation, without finding yourself in a car driving to an airport taking you to IMF to beg for money to pay your bills, but the situation is so bad already you need to turn the car around and go back to the desk. It’s as simple as that. You want growth? You want to go for growth? You just can’t whilst you have this long period of inflation in your system. You pull those growth levers, the thing makes an ugly noise and will break.
You have just the one option, there are no other options.
Has the penny dropped yet?
No, because you haven't provided anything to support your argument except dodgy analogies. It's a question of faith with you - that's witch doctorey, not economics.
Top 350 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, showed average profit margins increased from 5.7% in the first half of 2019 to 10.7% in the first half of 2022. The four global giant agribusiness corporations that dominate crucial crops such as grains – ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus, saw profits shoot up 255% in 2021. The world’s top 10 semiconductor manufacturers made £44bn profit between them, 96% more than in 2019.
For the last two months at least, UK businesses have put up prices by more than their costs have risen - the latest data for April shows input prices were up by 3.9%, while output prices increased by 5.4%.
One reason companies continue to hold or increase prices higher than costs, and get away with it even as energy and raw material costs fall away is the buffer government has provided households with - it disguised the degree of the Greedflation which has been going on.
Let us not forget, this very kind largesse our government handed us, has been paid for from the largest ever tax take we have given them, and the huge borrowing we will all have to pay back in future. It was not them being generous to us, it was our money. Nor forgetting the way they chose to do it - expensive, poorly targeted and regressive Energy Price Guarantee was never the only option available to government to assist households.
Where ultimately has this taxation and borrowed money kindly given to us actually ended up? Straight through our household budgets into the pockets of those using crisis and smokescreens to racketeer.
It means, LuckyGuy, all the way through this last few years (until hopefully about 15 seconds from now the penny drops with you) you have been continually mugged without even realising it.
And it’s left you saying to the government “no, don’t do anything about it. I don’t want to see you taking action and doing something about it.”
Looking at any one year can be extremely misleading. If profits were £100 in one year, £10 the next, and then £50 the year after, then growth would have been down 90%, then up 400%.
And commodity margins are always highly volatile. Companies wouldn't invest in bad times, if they weren't allowed to profit in good.
Has there been zero Greedinflation, taking advantage of the crisis situations at all in your opinion?
If you answer yes some, to what degree is it perpetuating inflation, making life difficult for governments and household budgets?
"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest." Adam Smith
Capitalism works because it turns out that allowing people to make a profit is a motivating factor. There is no greater way to encourage greater supply (and therefore lower prices) than allowing firms to make money.
If you want to soften the blow of higher commodity prices (whether gas, electricity or food), then give money directly to people, and allow them to spend it as they please.
“He took off his shirt and showed off his freemarket guns and capitalist abs. Wowzer.” MoonRabbit diary entry.
I agree, a fair profit. Of course I do. But when it is more than fair, it’s greed, cashing in on crisis, exploiting suffering, continued actions perpetuating inflation pain on governments and households - still no intervention from Chancellor Robert?
In my opinion, there has to be instances where net effect of government intervention will be beneficial enough, and not undermine the basically free character of the capitalist type system such as Adam Smith supported, in order to justify it.
Some examples. Especially if there is a state security angle, which arguably in this instance there is - and to protect justice and other important public institutions necessary for the benefit of all of society. Also by securing the government and nations households wealth, without which we can’t have the infrastructure necessary for any type of free market capitalist country to function let alone flourish.
Everyone on earth casts a shadow, and it reminds us there cannot be good without evil. If people don’t remember this when reading or quoting the great humanist Adam Smith, they are likely doing this anti slaver, progressive and liberal thinker, a disservice.
PS. And his Christianity clearly influenced his thinking.
Smith was never a free marketeer anyway, but rather an observer of markets well aware of their abuses along with their uses.
The Adam Smith Institute unfairly gave him a bad name.
Judge orders psych evaluation for woman charged in Michigan synagogue attack https://eu.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2023/05/27/randi-nord-court-hearing-evaluation/70260372007/ Nord faces a felony charge of ethnic intimidation and a misdemeanor charge of malicious destruction of a building in the April 28 antisemitic vandalism of a Royal Oak synagogue, Woodward Avenue Shul, where a Nazi symbol and the phrase "AZOV" was spray painted on its wall. Nord told police she was trying to pin blame for the attack on Ukraine by trying to implicate Azov, a militia in Ukraine some have said has neo-Nazi beliefs.
Nord is also charged in the March 15 arson of a Scientology center in Farmington Hills. ..
...Nord lived for two years in Serbia and then returned to Michigan in March, Royal Oak Detective Dan Pelletier testified earlier this month. Her family has said she made violent threats to them and was homeless, Pelletier said. She also has traveled to Yemen and Turkey and wanted to foment a war in Hamtramck by importing weapons from Turkey, Ukraine and Russia, Pelletier said.
Pelletier said Nord told him: "I'm trying to commit a slew of hate crimes and blame all of them on Azov battalion.'"
He testified "Nord explained that she was blaming Azov, 'so that everybody gets pissed at that the United States is involved in Ukraine.' She stated 'I'm trying to get everybody scared and trying to get everybody hyped up.' ... Nord said her goal was, 'pretty much trying to foment a war in a lot of ways.'"...
The original Horse was Leon too, Not much doubt about it in hindsight.
How you manage to find time to earn a living Leon whilst playing games with so many PB avatars, I can only put down to you having discovered the optimum combination of drugs.
No, I'm Leon!
No, not Spartacus, it’s that Thing film set in Antarctica, where they all eye each other nervously over who’s the fake person.
Kurt Russell's best film.
And we're all wondering about you now.
That’s the remake. I’ve seen the original early 50s film, and it’s just as good.
Carpenter's version - which isn't a remake, but rather a more sympathetic adaptation of 'Who Goes There ?' - is better, IMO.
Re: impeachment of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, note that fellow Republicans control the state House of Representatives in Austin, AND that a majority of GOP representatives voted to impeach the crooked son of a bitch.
Despite fact that fellow crook and SOB, Donald Trump, told them not to.
Impeaching the AG presumably won't affect their power, since I would guess they get to pick any replacement, and/or their control of the state generally means it won't matter.
So unfortunately it's a display of principle, but probably only because there's little political cost for them?
What's stranger is Trump's weighing in if the outcome looked set.
Think you are missing most of the significance, let alone the nuances, of the impeachment of a powerful statewide Republican officeholder, in state controlled at state level by Republicans.
An officeholder who was just re-elected in 2022, and who has made supporting Trump 1000% (and attacking Biden as Wokemaster-in-Chief). And whom Trump in return has backed with vigor.
You are correct, in that Republicans will still control the AGs office in Lone Star State, even if Paxton is convicted by State Senate - which under Texas Constitution requires 2/3 vote.
Stay tuned for further developments. One thing anyway is clear: the MAJORITY of GOP state reps in Austin voted to impeach, at potential risk to their political careers and ambitions from MAGA backlash.
I don't think I did miss the nuance. They wouldn't have done if they thought it would hurt them much, and they will no doubt ignore much worse if it would.
It's still good they did it but they shouldn't get medals for not being cowardly.
Comments
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65682243
Sometimes the free market alone doesn't work well enough not least due to the disruption of the Ukraine war and impact on food and drink prices (Ukraine and Russia being huge sources of global grain) we cannot rapidly increase the number of cows we have in Britain as quickly as required to bring prices down nor provide enough feed for them given the current disruption
Keep failing to meet migration target, so keep drawing attention to the fact we are unable to cut migration target? Really?
It really is the shit that keeps on shitting.
https://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/foodpricesindex/en/
"» The FAO Cereal Price Index averaged 136.1 points in April, down 2.4 points (1.7 percent) from March and as much as 33.5 points (19.8 percent) below its value one year ago. A decline in world prices of all major grains outweighed an increase in rice prices month-on-month. International wheat prices declined by 2.3 percent in April to their lowest level since July 2021, principally driven by large exportable availabilities in the Russian Federation and Australia. Favourable crop conditions in Europe, along with an agreement at the end of April allowing Ukrainian grains to transit through the European Union countries that had imposed import restrictions on grain from Ukraine earlier in the month, also contributed to the overall softer tone in markets. World maize prices also fell, by 3.2 percent in April, mostly driven by higher seasonal supplies in South America as harvesting continued and favourable prospects point to a record output in Brazil."
But do go on and try to convince me how Sunak getting our famously efficient and effective Government machinery involved in this is going to help - let's hope they bring the same panache to this that they do to our word beating provision of healthcare.
Will gilt yields/prices stabilise?
However something else happening on top of this placing even more pressure on the system - a problem with a bank, or with the FSCS (Sunak’s palace built on sand and iffy cronyism) catch the markets eye, and the threshold for help needed and coming out the woodwork, grows.
In It’s A Wonderful Life, there was nothing wrong with their loans for homes building society, but based on rumour of liquidity problems, investors withdrew, it crashed.
On the other hand it’s in the governments power to send signals to the markets to calm them - what little growth we had this week, signal to the markets we will cast it into the volcano to pacify their Gods
Wait! Rowing in behind higher interest rates, flagging the cutting of state support, and intimating preference for a recession is exactly what Hunt has already been doing all week. He’s already on the market soothing case isn’t he?
Luckyguy, can you tell us what proportion of current inflation is caused by Greedinflation? 20%? 50 or more?
It kills the bad dose of inflation. It’s as simple as that, there is no choice. You are totally unable to go for growth and heat economy up whilst suffering a bad dose of inflation, without finding yourself in a car driving to an airport taking you to IMF to beg for money to pay your bills, but the situation is so bad already you need to turn the car around and go back to the desk. It’s as simple as that. You want growth? You want to go for growth? You just can’t whilst you have this long period of inflation in your system. You pull those growth levers, the thing makes an ugly noise and will break.
You have just the one option, there are no other options.
Has the penny dropped yet?
But keep on with your argument that the free market is working out fine at present and those on low incomes should just ride it out with no government asssistance!
https://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/foodpricesindex/en/
That’s a very easy one to answer actually.
For the last two months at least, UK businesses have put up prices by more than their costs have risen - the latest data for April shows input prices were up by 3.9%, while output prices increased by 5.4%.
However we appear to riding the good ship market fixing socialism? 😧
Texas Tribune - Texas AG Ken Paxton impeached, suspended from duties; will face Senate trial
The House voted 121-23 to suspend the attorney general and refer him to the Senate for trial on charges of bribery, abuse of office and obstruction. It was the first such impeachment since 1975.
Defying a last-minute appeal by former President Donald Trump, the Texas House voted overwhelmingly Saturday to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton, temporarily removing him from office over allegations of misconduct that included bribery and abuse of office.
The vote to adopt the 20 articles of impeachment was 121-23.
The stunning vote came two days after an investigative committee unveiled the articles — and two days before the close of a biennial legislative session that saw significant right-wing victories, including a ban on transgender health care for minors and new restrictions on public universities’ diversity efforts.
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/27/ken-paxton-impeached-texas-attorney-general/
Addendum - There were also 5 state reps who did NOT cast a vote on impeachment
> 2 present not voting
> 2 absent, excused
> 1 absent
For the last two months at least, UK businesses have put up prices by more than their costs have risen - the latest data for April shows input prices were up by 3.9%, while output prices increased by 5.4%.
One reason companies continue to hold or increase prices higher than costs, and get away with it even as energy and raw material costs fall away is the buffer government has provided households with - it disguised the degree of the Greedflation which has been going on.
Let us not forget, this very kind largesse our government handed us, has been paid for from the largest ever tax take we have given them, and the huge borrowing we will all have to pay back in future. It was not them being generous to us, it was our money. Nor forgetting the way they chose to do it - expensive, poorly targeted and regressive Energy Price Guarantee was never the only option available to government to assist households.
Where ultimately has this taxation and borrowed money kindly given to us actually ended up? Straight through our household budgets into the pockets of those using crisis and smokescreens to racketeer.
It means, LuckyGuy, all the way through this last few years (until hopefully about 15 seconds from now the penny drops with you) you have been continually mugged without even realising it.
And it’s left you saying to the government “no, don’t do anything about it. I don’t want to see you taking action and doing something about it.”
Despite fact that fellow crook and SOB, Donald Trump, told them not to.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/27/23739913/chatgpt-ai-lawsuit-avianca-airlines-chatbot-research
And commodity margins are always highly volatile. Companies wouldn't invest in bad times, if they weren't allowed to profit in good.
If you answer yes some, to what degree is it perpetuating inflation, making life difficult for governments and household budgets?
So unfortunately it's a display of principle, but probably only because there's little political cost for them?
What's stranger is Trump's weighing in if the outcome looked set.
An officeholder who was just re-elected in 2022, and who has made supporting Trump 1000% (and attacking Biden as Wokemaster-in-Chief). And whom Trump in return has backed with vigor.
You are correct, in that Republicans will still control the AGs office in Lone Star State, even if Paxton is convicted by State Senate - which under Texas Constitution requires 2/3 vote.
Stay tuned for further developments. One thing anyway is clear: the MAJORITY of GOP state reps in Austin voted to impeach, at potential risk to their political careers and ambitions from MAGA backlash.
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/27/ken-paxton-texas-house-impeachment-vote/
Capitalism works because it turns out that allowing people to make a profit is a motivating factor. There is no greater way to encourage greater supply (and therefore lower prices) than allowing firms to make money.
If you want to soften the blow of higher commodity prices (whether gas, electricity or food), then give money directly to people, and allow them to spend it as they please.
I agree, a fair profit. Of course I do. But when it is more than fair, it’s greed, cashing in on crisis, exploiting suffering, continued actions perpetuating inflation pain on governments and households - still no intervention from Chancellor Robert?
Some examples. Especially if there is a state security angle, which arguably in this instance there is - and to protect justice and other important public institutions necessary for the benefit of all of society. Also by securing the government and nations households wealth, without which we can’t have the infrastructure necessary for any type of free market capitalist country to function let alone flourish.
Everyone on earth casts a shadow, and it reminds us there cannot be good without evil. If people don’t remember this when reading or quoting the great humanist Adam Smith, they are likely doing this anti slaver, progressive and liberal thinker, a disservice.
And we're all wondering about you now.
(He was nuts.)
The Adam Smith Institute unfairly gave him a bad name.
https://eu.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2023/05/27/randi-nord-court-hearing-evaluation/70260372007/
Nord faces a felony charge of ethnic intimidation and a misdemeanor charge of malicious destruction of a building in the April 28 antisemitic vandalism of a Royal Oak synagogue, Woodward Avenue Shul, where a Nazi symbol and the phrase "AZOV" was spray painted on its wall. Nord told police she was trying to pin blame for the attack on Ukraine by trying to implicate Azov, a militia in Ukraine some have said has neo-Nazi beliefs.
Nord is also charged in the March 15 arson of a Scientology center in Farmington Hills. ..
...Nord lived for two years in Serbia and then returned to Michigan in March, Royal Oak Detective Dan Pelletier testified earlier this month. Her family has said she made violent threats to them and was homeless, Pelletier said. She also has traveled to Yemen and Turkey and wanted to foment a war in Hamtramck by importing weapons from Turkey, Ukraine and Russia, Pelletier said.
Pelletier said Nord told him: "I'm trying to commit a slew of hate crimes and blame all of them on Azov battalion.'"
He testified "Nord explained that she was blaming Azov, 'so that everybody gets pissed at that the United States is involved in Ukraine.' She stated 'I'm trying to get everybody scared and trying to get everybody hyped up.' ... Nord said her goal was, 'pretty much trying to foment a war in a lot of ways.'"...
The book gave me nightmares as a kid.
It's still good they did it but they shouldn't get medals for not being cowardly.
The BBC did a radio dramatisation of "Who goes there" in (I think) the Noughties. A Youtube copy is below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcn9Z0xrQhA
https://archive.org/details/BBC_Chillers/01+2002-01-24+Who+Goes+There+[by+John+W+Campbell].mp3