It’s going a bit Liz Truss for Donald Trump – politicalbetting.com
NEW ?A quick thread of charts showing how Trump’s economic agenda is going so far:1) US consumers are reacting very very negatively.These are the worst ratings for any US government’s economic policy since records began.
The difference was Trump won a nationwide election last year with a mandate to impose tariffs on imports, deport immigrants, cut the size of government and cut taxes, go to war on woke and reduce US intervention in foreign wars.
Truss never won a GE mandate in the UK for her slash taxes (while not axing the state) plans and as they were fiscally ill disciplined (there was no Truss DOGE to fund her tax cuts) crashed the markets even more than Trump has. It was Boris who won the 2019 GE not her and largely on a pro big state, not massive tax cuts as well as pro Brexit manifesto
'A Reform UK candidate has been suspended from the party after posts on social media revealed his support for serial sex abuser Jimmy Savile.
Stephen Hartley was listed as standing for Reform UK in the Banbury Hardwick ward, ahead of local elections to Oxfordshire County Council on 1 May.
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Hartley confirmed he posted in 2022 that Savile was a "working class hero" and said that he may have "forgotten" to disclose his X account to Reform UK.'
The difference was Trump won a nationwide election last year with a mandate to impose tariffs on imports, deport immigrants, cut the size of government and cut taxes go to war on woke and reduce US intervention in foreign wars.
That meme depicts someone sitting with a fire raging around them, but we are witnessing something more like clearing out the deadwood to make way for the green shoots. Forest maintenance rather than forest fire.
'A Reform UK candidate has been suspended from the party after posts on social media revealed his support for serial sex abuser Jimmy Savile.
Stephen Hartley was listed as standing for Reform UK in the Banbury Hardwick ward, ahead of local elections to Oxfordshire County Council on 1 May.
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Hartley confirmed he posted in 2022 that Savile was a "working class hero" and said that he may have "forgotten" to disclose his X account to Reform UK.'
I listened to the (relative to Leon) Centrist Dads in the car this morning, and I'm sure that they mentioned that someone had tweeted "Donald Trump is Liz Truss".
The difference was Trump won a nationwide election last year with a mandate to impose tariffs on imports, deport immigrants, cut the size of government and cut taxes go to war on woke and reduce US intervention in foreign wars.
Your point being?
It's rather harder to remove a politician with a popular mandate.
A 'bit' Liz Truss seems very generous as Truss was gone in 6 weeks and Trump has 4 years as a wrecking ball
Just spoken to two local Estate Agents who both said they have a large number of second homes coming into the market following Conwy's 150% uplift in council tax for all second homes
From yesterday. "U.S. companies cut 275,240 jobs in March, marking the highest number of layoffs since May 2020."
How many UK jobs will be cut this month by the NIEC increases?
Very few is my guess. It will primarily be passed on as reduced salaries and profits in the short term. At the bottom, wages for shelf stackers are still a bit higher than the new minimum wage, so I don't think you'll see a large increase in unemployment while that slack is still there.
That meme depicts someone sitting with a fire raging around them, but we are witnessing something more like clearing out the deadwood to make way for the green shoots. Forest maintenance rather than forest fire.
The difference was Trump won a nationwide election last year with a mandate to impose tariffs on imports, deport immigrants, cut the size of government and cut taxes go to war on woke and reduce US intervention in foreign wars.
Your point being?
It's rather harder to remove a politician with a popular mandate.
It doesn't seem to make much difference either way in the Tory party.
The difference was Trump won a nationwide election last year with a mandate to impose tariffs on imports, deport immigrants, cut the size of government and cut taxes go to war on woke and reduce US intervention in foreign wars.
A 'bit' Liz Truss seems very generous as Truss was gone in 6 weeks and Trump has 4 years as a wrecking ball
Just spoken to two local Estate Agents who both said they have a large number of second homes coming into the market following Conwy's 150% uplift in council tax for all second homes
Excellent. Turns out you can magic a bit of housing supply out of nothing if you tax property hoarders.
Impeachment would be difficult, unless he does something really crazy such as trying to "cancel" elections, but Congress can easily take away Trump's power to set Tariffs.
Congress is supposed to have this power under the Constitution, but voluntarily gave away the power to the President.
They'll still need a 2/3rd vote to override Trump's expected veto, but it is far easier to find the votes to do this. There are already 5 Senators in favour of this (McConnell, Murkowski, Collins, Rand Paul, Grassley).
I don't understand how reform isn't tanking totally in the polls. Reform want exactly what Trump is doing. Gut the state, cut all social services, privatise health care, tariffs and trade barriers, cut benefits.... Look where it is going for the USA. And I bet you the ones who would suffer under a reform regime are: low education, low income reform voters... it is so freaking mad. You would have to be mad to vote reform.
The only people in this country with a favourable opinion of Donald Trump are Reform supporters and it applies to about half of them. Quite a stat.
Realistically the closest thing we have to Trump in British politics is probably the Labour party: policies to favour workers over owners of capital, scepticism about free trade, control of borders.
Scepticism about free trade?!
The closest Labour have ever come to that was with the Mosely Memorandum in 1930-31 and, 45 years later, the Alternative Economic Strategy. Both were rightly given short shrift by the leadership.
Otherwise, there was the period in late 1945 when, yes, a siege economy was considered - but only as a last resort in the event of not being able to negotiate what became the Anglo-American Loan. I don't think anyone ever saw it as being desirable!
You'll note that the Wilson government ridiculed Maxwell's "I'm Backing Britain" even at a time when British politics was at its most dirigiste, and the Mélenchonism-lite idea of Progressive Protection didn't get much of a hearing even at the height of Corbynism.
The reality is that Labour have been more consistently pro-free trade than even the Liberals (who wavered in the 1920s & 50s).
Trump's actions are nowhere close to being near the mainstream of UK politics.
I don't understand how reform isn't tanking totally in the polls. Reform want exactly what Trump is doing. Gut the state, cut all social services, privatise health care, tariffs and trade barriers, cut benefits.... Look where it is going for the USA. And I bet you the ones who would suffer under a reform regime are: low education, low income reform voters... it is so freaking mad. You would have to be mad to vote reform.
The only people in this country with a favourable opinion of Donald Trump are Reform supporters and it applies to about half of them. Quite a stat.
Realistically the closest thing we have to Trump in British politics is probably the Labour party: policies to favour workers over owners of capital, scepticism about free trade, control of borders.
Scepticism about free trade?!
The closest Labour have ever come to that was with the Mosely Memorandum in 1930-31 and, 45 years later, the Alternative Economic Strategy. Both were rightly given short shrift by the leadership.
Otherwise, there was the period in late 1945 when, yes, a siege economy was considered - but only as a last resort in the event of not being able to negotiate what became the Anglo-American Loan. I don't think anyone ever saw it as being desirable!
You'll note that the Wilson government ridiculed Maxwell's "I'm Backing Britain" even at a time when British politics was at its most dirigiste, and the Mélenchonism-lite idea of Progressive Protection didn't get much of a hearing even at the height of Corbynism.
The reality is that Labour have been more consistently pro-free trade than even the Liberals (who wavered in the 1920s & 50s).
Trump's actions are nowhere close to being near the mainstream of UK politics.
1964: Britain imposes 15% import tax to back Pound
I don't understand how reform isn't tanking totally in the polls. Reform want exactly what Trump is doing. Gut the state, cut all social services, privatise health care, tariffs and trade barriers, cut benefits.... Look where it is going for the USA. And I bet you the ones who would suffer under a reform regime are: low education, low income reform voters... it is so freaking mad. You would have to be mad to vote reform.
The only people in this country with a favourable opinion of Donald Trump are Reform supporters and it applies to about half of them. Quite a stat.
Realistically the closest thing we have to Trump in British politics is probably the Labour party: policies to favour workers over owners of capital, scepticism about free trade, control of borders.
Scepticism about free trade?!
The closest Labour have ever come to that was with the Mosely Memorandum in 1930-31 and, 45 years later, the Alternative Economic Strategy. Both were rightly given short shrift by the leadership.
Otherwise, there was the period in late 1945 when, yes, a siege economy was considered - but only as a last resort in the event of not being able to negotiate what became the Anglo-American Loan. I don't think anyone ever saw it as being desirable!
You'll note that the Wilson government ridiculed Maxwell's "I'm Backing Britain" even at a time when British politics was at its most dirigiste, and the Mélenchonism-lite idea of Progressive Protection didn't get much of a hearing even at the height of Corbynism.
The reality is that Labour have been more consistently pro-free trade than even the Liberals (who wavered in the 1920s & 50s).
Trump's actions are nowhere close to being near the mainstream of UK politics.
'A Reform UK candidate has been suspended from the party after posts on social media revealed his support for serial sex abuser Jimmy Savile.
Stephen Hartley was listed as standing for Reform UK in the Banbury Hardwick ward, ahead of local elections to Oxfordshire County Council on 1 May.
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Hartley confirmed he posted in 2022 that Savile was a "working class hero" and said that he may have "forgotten" to disclose his X account to Reform UK.'
That meme depicts someone sitting with a fire raging around them, but we are witnessing something more like clearing out the deadwood to make way for the green shoots. Forest maintenance rather than forest fire.
Nevertheless, the whole premise of bilateral trade deficits is fundamentally dumb, as even you must acknowledge.
If country A sells natural gas to country B which sells fertilizer to country C which sells food to country A, then you can have a perfectly balanced trade triangle.
(Indeed: something similar happens in the real world. The US runs a trade surplus with Brazil, which runs a trade surplus with Japan, which runs a trade surplus with the US.)
If you've only got one week, for Uzbekistan, do 2 nights in Tashkent (but minimise your time, via early/late high speed trains) and do 2 nights in Bukhara and 3 in Samarkand
It is a magnificent destination. Even if the food is poor-to-bad (which it is - stick to kebabs, chicken thighs and hearty local red wines)
I don't understand how reform isn't tanking totally in the polls. Reform want exactly what Trump is doing. Gut the state, cut all social services, privatise health care, tariffs and trade barriers, cut benefits.... Look where it is going for the USA. And I bet you the ones who would suffer under a reform regime are: low education, low income reform voters... it is so freaking mad. You would have to be mad to vote reform.
The only people in this country with a favourable opinion of Donald Trump are Reform supporters and it applies to about half of them. Quite a stat.
Realistically the closest thing we have to Trump in British politics is probably the Labour party: policies to favour workers over owners of capital, scepticism about free trade, control of borders.
Scepticism about free trade?!
The closest Labour have ever come to that was with the Mosely Memorandum in 1930-31 and, 45 years later, the Alternative Economic Strategy. Both were rightly given short shrift by the leadership.
Otherwise, there was the period in late 1945 when, yes, a siege economy was considered - but only as a last resort in the event of not being able to negotiate what became the Anglo-American Loan. I don't think anyone ever saw it as being desirable!
You'll note that the Wilson government ridiculed Maxwell's "I'm Backing Britain" even at a time when British politics was at its most dirigiste, and the Mélenchonism-lite idea of Progressive Protection didn't get much of a hearing even at the height of Corbynism.
The reality is that Labour have been more consistently pro-free trade than even the Liberals (who wavered in the 1920s & 50s).
Trump's actions are nowhere close to being near the mainstream of UK politics.
1964: Britain imposes 15% import tax to back Pound
That's not unusual at the time. Us dutiable imports were charged at around 12 - 13% (and their then economy was far more competitive than the then UK).
'A Reform UK candidate has been suspended from the party after posts on social media revealed his support for serial sex abuser Jimmy Savile.
Stephen Hartley was listed as standing for Reform UK in the Banbury Hardwick ward, ahead of local elections to Oxfordshire County Council on 1 May.
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Hartley confirmed he posted in 2022 that Savile was a "working class hero" and said that he may have "forgotten" to disclose his X account to Reform UK.'
Tweeting positively about Jimmy Savile seems an easy trap to avoid. What next,a hagiography of Fred and Rose West?
Oh, who hasn’t done something like this inadvertently? Only the other day I accidentally posted a story on Insta eulogising the Moors Murderers. I’m sure many on here have similar stories to tell.
'A Reform UK candidate has been suspended from the party after posts on social media revealed his support for serial sex abuser Jimmy Savile.
Stephen Hartley was listed as standing for Reform UK in the Banbury Hardwick ward, ahead of local elections to Oxfordshire County Council on 1 May.
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Hartley confirmed he posted in 2022 that Savile was a "working class hero" and said that he may have "forgotten" to disclose his X account to Reform UK.'
'A Reform UK candidate has been suspended from the party after posts on social media revealed his support for serial sex abuser Jimmy Savile.
Stephen Hartley was listed as standing for Reform UK in the Banbury Hardwick ward, ahead of local elections to Oxfordshire County Council on 1 May.
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Hartley confirmed he posted in 2022 that Savile was a "working class hero" and said that he may have "forgotten" to disclose his X account to Reform UK.'
Impeachment would be difficult, unless he does something really crazy such as trying to "cancel" elections, but Congress can easily take away Trump's power to set Tariffs.
Congress is supposed to have this power under the Constitution, but voluntarily gave away the power to the President.
They'll still need a 2/3rd vote to override Trump's expected veto, but it is far easier to find the votes to do this. There are already 5 Senators in favour of this (McConnell, Murkowski, Collins, Rand Paul, Grassley).
Under virtually any other administration, Trump would have already - in two months - committed multiple impeachable actions. He's gone way beyond Nixon, never mind Clinton.
'A Reform UK candidate has been suspended from the party after posts on social media revealed his support for serial sex abuser Jimmy Savile.
Stephen Hartley was listed as standing for Reform UK in the Banbury Hardwick ward, ahead of local elections to Oxfordshire County Council on 1 May.
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Hartley confirmed he posted in 2022 that Savile was a "working class hero" and said that he may have "forgotten" to disclose his X account to Reform UK.'
Tweeting positively about Jimmy Savile seems an easy trap to avoid. What next,a hagiography of Fred and Rose West?
There's always that nice Mr. Hitler.
I had a friend who defected from the Tories to UKIP around the time you did, he concluded that David Cameron wasn’t wrong about the fruitcakes observation.
Apparently a 2015 UKIP candidate had previously posted on Facebook that Harold Shipman was a national treasure who deserves a posthumous pardon for ridding us of expensive burdens on the state when that money could be spent on tax cuts.
'A Reform UK candidate has been suspended from the party after posts on social media revealed his support for serial sex abuser Jimmy Savile.
Stephen Hartley was listed as standing for Reform UK in the Banbury Hardwick ward, ahead of local elections to Oxfordshire County Council on 1 May.
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Hartley confirmed he posted in 2022 that Savile was a "working class hero" and said that he may have "forgotten" to disclose his X account to Reform UK.'
Tweeting positively about Jimmy Savile seems an easy trap to avoid. What next,a hagiography of Fred and Rose West?
There's always that nice Mr. Hitler.
I had a friend who defected from the Tories to UKIP around the time you did, he concluded that David Cameron wasn’t wrong about the fruitcakes observation.
Apparently a 2015 UKIP candidate had previously posted on Facebook that Harold Shipman was a national treasure who deserves a posthumous pardon for ridding expensive burdens on the state when that money could be spent on tax cuts.
To be fair, my colleague Dr Shipman and Nurse Letby were ahead of their time with assisted dying.
'A Reform UK candidate has been suspended from the party after posts on social media revealed his support for serial sex abuser Jimmy Savile.
Stephen Hartley was listed as standing for Reform UK in the Banbury Hardwick ward, ahead of local elections to Oxfordshire County Council on 1 May.
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Hartley confirmed he posted in 2022 that Savile was a "working class hero" and said that he may have "forgotten" to disclose his X account to Reform UK.'
Tweeting positively about Jimmy Savile seems an easy trap to avoid. What next,a hagiography of Fred and Rose West?
There's always that nice Mr. Hitler.
I had a friend who defected from the Tories to UKIP around the time you did, he concluded that David Cameron wasn’t wrong about the fruitcakes observation.
Apparently a 2015 UKIP candidate had previously posted on Facebook that Harold Shipman was a national treasure who deserves a posthumous pardon for ridding us of expensive burdens on the state when that money could be spent on tax cuts.
Ahead of his time - see Canada and the steady extension of the right to die.
'A Reform UK candidate has been suspended from the party after posts on social media revealed his support for serial sex abuser Jimmy Savile.
Stephen Hartley was listed as standing for Reform UK in the Banbury Hardwick ward, ahead of local elections to Oxfordshire County Council on 1 May.
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Hartley confirmed he posted in 2022 that Savile was a "working class hero" and said that he may have "forgotten" to disclose his X account to Reform UK.'
Tweeting positively about Jimmy Savile seems an easy trap to avoid. What next,a hagiography of Fred and Rose West?
There's always that nice Mr. Hitler.
I had a friend who defected from the Tories to UKIP around the time you did, he concluded that David Cameron wasn’t wrong about the fruitcakes observation.
Apparently a 2015 UKIP candidate had previously posted on Facebook that Harold Shipman was a national treasure who deserves a posthumous pardon for ridding us of expensive burdens on the state when that money could be spent on tax cuts.
Impeachment would be difficult, unless he does something really crazy such as trying to "cancel" elections, but Congress can easily take away Trump's power to set Tariffs.
Congress is supposed to have this power under the Constitution, but voluntarily gave away the power to the President.
They'll still need a 2/3rd vote to override Trump's expected veto, but it is far easier to find the votes to do this. There are already 5 Senators in favour of this (McConnell, Murkowski, Collins, Rand Paul, Grassley).
'A Reform UK candidate has been suspended from the party after posts on social media revealed his support for serial sex abuser Jimmy Savile.
Stephen Hartley was listed as standing for Reform UK in the Banbury Hardwick ward, ahead of local elections to Oxfordshire County Council on 1 May.
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Hartley confirmed he posted in 2022 that Savile was a "working class hero" and said that he may have "forgotten" to disclose his X account to Reform UK.'
Tweeting positively about Jimmy Savile seems an easy trap to avoid. What next,a hagiography of Fred and Rose West?
There's always that nice Mr. Hitler.
I had a friend who defected from the Tories to UKIP around the time you did, he concluded that David Cameron wasn’t wrong about the fruitcakes observation.
Apparently a 2015 UKIP candidate had previously posted on Facebook that Harold Shipman was a national treasure who deserves a posthumous pardon for ridding us of expensive burdens on the state when that money could be spent on tax cuts.
Ahead of his time - see Canada and the steady extension of the right to die.
This is what the Registan in Samarkand looks like at night
You have a kebab-heavy dinner in a nearby restaurant with no idea and then, rather tipsy on ok local red wines (about £3 a bottle) you walk out and - if your guide is clever (as ours was) - this is your first introduction to the city
It’s as close as you can get to hallucinating, in modern travel, without taking psychedelics. And it really does look like that. Even in high season
And HYUFD, whilst his comparison is in all other respects rather stupid, is right that he has a mandate and a fairly united party, so he is likely to ride this out.
I don't understand how reform isn't tanking totally in the polls. Reform want exactly what Trump is doing. Gut the state, cut all social services, privatise health care, tariffs and trade barriers, cut benefits.... Look where it is going for the USA. And I bet you the ones who would suffer under a reform regime are: low education, low income reform voters... it is so freaking mad. You would have to be mad to vote reform.
The only people in this country with a favourable opinion of Donald Trump are Reform supporters and it applies to about half of them. Quite a stat.
Realistically the closest thing we have to Trump in British politics is probably the Labour party: policies to favour workers over owners of capital, scepticism about free trade, control of borders.
Scepticism about free trade?!
The closest Labour have ever come to that was with the Mosely Memorandum in 1930-31 and, 45 years later, the Alternative Economic Strategy. Both were rightly given short shrift by the leadership.
Otherwise, there was the period in late 1945 when, yes, a siege economy was considered - but only as a last resort in the event of not being able to negotiate what became the Anglo-American Loan. I don't think anyone ever saw it as being desirable!
You'll note that the Wilson government ridiculed Maxwell's "I'm Backing Britain" even at a time when British politics was at its most dirigiste, and the Mélenchonism-lite idea of Progressive Protection didn't get much of a hearing even at the height of Corbynism.
The reality is that Labour have been more consistently pro-free trade than even the Liberals (who wavered in the 1920s & 50s).
Trump's actions are nowhere close to being near the mainstream of UK politics.
1964: Britain imposes 15% import tax to back Pound
A bit weird to point to that in isolation, as it was first legislated for by the previous Tory govt in 1963, a move that was itself an extension of the 1961 scheme. It was Labour who in 1966 finally abandoned all attempts to protect sterling in that way.
Plenty of other countries were doing similar things at the time too - hence the need for GATT, etc.
Nigel Farage has spent the last decade licking the arse of a man who is now making millions of Britons poorer while having made all of us far less safe. It really should not be beyond the wit of his political rivals to make this point relentlessly.
Robin Brooks @robin_j_brooks · 48m Safe haven buying of the Dollar is kicking in. You can't see it in Euro or Yen, which are up as carry trades funded out of these currencies have been stopped out. But you can see it across EM in currencies like the Brazilian Real, which is now selling off as global stocks fall...
Nigel Farage has spent the last decade licking the arse of a man who is now making millions of Britons poorer while having made all of us far less safe. It really should not be beyond the wit of his political rivals to make this point relentlessly.
Indeed. Labour need to hammer this every single day from now until 2028/9.
Farage is Britain Trump and he wants DOGE and all the attendant madness of a "reformation" and "clear out" etc etc.
Nigel Farage has spent the last decade licking the arse of a man who is now making millions of Britons poorer while having made all of us far less safe. It really should not be beyond the wit of his political rivals to make this point relentlessly.
Indeed. Labour need to hammer this every single day from now until 2028/9.
Farage is Britain Trump and he wants DOGE and all the attendant madness of a "reformation" and "clear out" etc etc.
If the Tories had not been so supportive of Trump this would be an absolute gift for them. They could be doing the full Ed Davey.
The difference was Trump won a nationwide election last year with a mandate to impose tariffs on imports, deport immigrants, cut the size of government and cut taxes go to war on woke and reduce US intervention in foreign wars.
Your point being?
Truss never won a national election unlike Trump
She won a national election of Conservative Party members.
Indeed, this is the only sort of national election that our party leaders get to stand in.
the emperor’s favorite concubine fired one of his top internal security officers while rumors abound that the household eunuch has lost the emperors favor
Nigel Farage has spent the last decade licking the arse of a man who is now making millions of Britons poorer while having made all of us far less safe. It really should not be beyond the wit of his political rivals to make this point relentlessly.
That may put 75% of the country off him. If they break 25/25/15/10 however.....
Nigel Farage has spent the last decade licking the arse of a man who is now making millions of Britons poorer while having made all of us far less safe. It really should not be beyond the wit of his political rivals to make this point relentlessly.
Indeed. Labour need to hammer this every single day from now until 2028/9.
Farage is Britain Trump and he wants DOGE and all the attendant madness of a "reformation" and "clear out" etc etc.
If the Tories had not been so supportive of Trump this would be an absolute gift for them. They could be doing the full Ed Davey.
You mean they could be twatting around on a hobby horse and have Matthew Parris calling for their resignation?
Analysts warn Apple faces difficult choices ahead, potentially needing to raise U.S. hardware prices by approximately 30% to offset the tariff impact or accept significant hits to its profit margins.
I don't understand how reform isn't tanking totally in the polls. Reform want exactly what Trump is doing. Gut the state, cut all social services, privatise health care, tariffs and trade barriers, cut benefits.... Look where it is going for the USA. And I bet you the ones who would suffer under a reform regime are: low education, low income reform voters... it is so freaking mad. You would have to be mad to vote reform.
The only people in this country with a favourable opinion of Donald Trump are Reform supporters and it applies to about half of them. Quite a stat.
Realistically the closest thing we have to Trump in British politics is probably the Labour party: policies to favour workers over owners of capital, scepticism about free trade, control of borders.
Scepticism about free trade?!
The closest Labour have ever come to that was with the Mosely Memorandum in 1930-31 and, 45 years later, the Alternative Economic Strategy. Both were rightly given short shrift by the leadership.
Otherwise, there was the period in late 1945 when, yes, a siege economy was considered - but only as a last resort in the event of not being able to negotiate what became the Anglo-American Loan. I don't think anyone ever saw it as being desirable!
You'll note that the Wilson government ridiculed Maxwell's "I'm Backing Britain" even at a time when British politics was at its most dirigiste, and the Mélenchonism-lite idea of Progressive Protection didn't get much of a hearing even at the height of Corbynism.
The reality is that Labour have been more consistently pro-free trade than even the Liberals (who wavered in the 1920s & 50s).
Trump's actions are nowhere close to being near the mainstream of UK politics.
1964: Britain imposes 15% import tax to back Pound
EARLY in 1964, it began to be clear that Britain, which for several years had maintained an approximate equilibrium in her international balance of payments—that is, the amount of money she had annually sent outside her borders had been about equal to the amount she had taken in—was running a substantial deficit. Far from being the result of domestic depression in Britain, this situation was the result of overexuberant domestic expansion; business was booming, and newly affluent Britons were ordering bales and bales of costly goods from abroad without increasing the exports of British goods on anything like the same scale. In short, Britain was living beyond her means.
I do feel they could have phrased that headline better. He is a sitting MSP but now a former Tory. Really, just "Tory MSP Jamie Greene defects to Lib Dems" would work.
I don't understand how reform isn't tanking totally in the polls. Reform want exactly what Trump is doing. Gut the state, cut all social services, privatise health care, tariffs and trade barriers, cut benefits.... Look where it is going for the USA. And I bet you the ones who would suffer under a reform regime are: low education, low income reform voters... it is so freaking mad. You would have to be mad to vote reform.
The only people in this country with a favourable opinion of Donald Trump are Reform supporters and it applies to about half of them. Quite a stat.
Realistically the closest thing we have to Trump in British politics is probably the Labour party: policies to favour workers over owners of capital, scepticism about free trade, control of borders.
Scepticism about free trade?!
The closest Labour have ever come to that was with the Mosely Memorandum in 1930-31 and, 45 years later, the Alternative Economic Strategy. Both were rightly given short shrift by the leadership.
Otherwise, there was the period in late 1945 when, yes, a siege economy was considered - but only as a last resort in the event of not being able to negotiate what became the Anglo-American Loan. I don't think anyone ever saw it as being desirable!
You'll note that the Wilson government ridiculed Maxwell's "I'm Backing Britain" even at a time when British politics was at its most dirigiste, and the Mélenchonism-lite idea of Progressive Protection didn't get much of a hearing even at the height of Corbynism.
The reality is that Labour have been more consistently pro-free trade than even the Liberals (who wavered in the 1920s & 50s).
Trump's actions are nowhere close to being near the mainstream of UK politics.
1964: Britain imposes 15% import tax to back Pound
EARLY in 1964, it began to be clear that Britain, which for several years had maintained an approximate equilibrium in her international balance of payments—that is, the amount of money she had annually sent outside her borders had been about equal to the amount she had taken in—was running a substantial deficit. Far from being the result of domestic depression in Britain, this situation was the result of overexuberant domestic expansion; business was booming, and newly affluent Britons were ordering bales and bales of costly goods from abroad without increasing the exports of British goods on anything like the same scale. In short, Britain was living beyond her means.
Just to add: one of the things you realise when you read the chapter, is that current account and balance of payments issue are almost always the result of excessive domestic consumption. And it's why higher interest rates, which encourage people to save rather than to borrow and spend, are the first line of defence.
The problem is that the US doesn't want to do that.
“Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. economy was likely to face a period of higher prices and weaker growth…because of larger-than-anticipated tariff hikes announced by President Trump.”
This site is (understandably) united in condemning this Tarrify Trumpsterfuck
Perhaps someone needs to raise a counter-argument. Why? Because I recall a similar chorus of scorn and disdain from non-Brits when we voted for Brexit. And nearly all of these opinions were spectacularly ill-informed, eg I would hear liberal Americans saying "why the fuck have you cut yourself off from your major market" and when I pointed out to them the huge democratic flaws in the EU they not only didn't understand, they didn't even have the first idea. "What, your supreme court sits in a different country, and speaks a different language, and you don't vote for the people that make the laws??!
etc etc ETC
So is it possible Trump is doing a Brexit. ie something that makes sense in American terms, but the rest of us simply don't "get", and maybe never will?
I am merely throwing up the idea. Because, to me these tariffs look like madness - even if they are just some bluff designed to get better terms for USA Inc - they have caused hideous instability which will not be forgotten
So is it possible Trump is doing a Brexit. ie something that makes sense in American terms, but the rest of us simply don't "get", and maybe never will?
Yes, these tariffs make exactly as much sense as Brexit
From yesterday. "U.S. companies cut 275,240 jobs in March, marking the highest number of layoffs since May 2020."
How many UK jobs will be cut this month by the NIEC increases?
Jobs won't be cut because the impact will be felt by companies that use part time workers.
So the reality will be that workers get fewer hours and if people leave fewer people will be employed to take over the work with the extra hours being given that existing workers.
This site is (understandably) united in condemning this Tarrify Trumpsterfuck
Perhaps someone needs to raise a counter-argument. Why? Because I recall a similar chorus of scorn and disdain from non-Brits when we voted for Brexit. And nearly all of these opinions were spectacularly ill-informed, eg I would hear liberal Americans saying "why the fuck have you cut yourself off from your major market" and when I pointed out to them the huge democratic flaws in the EU they not only didn't understand, they didn't even have the first idea. "What, your supreme court sits in a different country, and speaks a different language, and you don't vote for the people that make the laws??!
etc etc ETC
So is it possible Trump is doing a Brexit. ie something that makes sense in American terms, but the rest of us simply don't "get", and maybe never will?
I am merely throwing up the idea. Because, to me these tariffs look like madness - even if they are just some bluff designed to get better terms for USA Inc - they have caused hideous instability which will not be forgotten
Are we missing something?
Hard to see how it could be wise. Nobody understands economics though, so hard to be sure.
So is it possible Trump is doing a Brexit. ie something that makes sense in American terms, but the rest of us simply don't "get", and maybe never will?
Yes, these tariffs make exactly as much sense as Brexit
They are both fucking insane
Welcome to the team, at last...
You are an abject moron. I will mourn the day I ever join a team that includes a first order twat like you, so nah
This site is (understandably) united in condemning this Tarrify Trumpsterfuck
Perhaps someone needs to raise a counter-argument. Why? Because I recall a similar chorus of scorn and disdain from non-Brits when we voted for Brexit. And nearly all of these opinions were spectacularly ill-informed, eg I would hear liberal Americans saying "why the fuck have you cut yourself off from your major market" and when I pointed out to them the huge democratic flaws in the EU they not only didn't understand, they didn't even have the first idea. "What, your supreme court sits in a different country, and speaks a different language, and you don't vote for the people that make the laws??!
etc etc ETC
So is it possible Trump is doing a Brexit. ie something that makes sense in American terms, but the rest of us simply don't "get", and maybe never will?
I am merely throwing up the idea. Because, to me these tariffs look like madness - even if they are just some bluff designed to get better terms for USA Inc - they have caused hideous instability which will not be forgotten
Are we missing something?
Hard to see how it could be wise. Nobody understands economics though, so hard to be sure.
Everyone wants there to be a grand scheme behind all of this but the terrible truth is that extremely stupid people are in charge and they have a fanatical devotion to wrong, childlike concepts of society and economics cooked up by right wing radio hosts in order to sell tainted dietary supplements
This site is (understandably) united in condemning this Tarrify Trumpsterfuck
Perhaps someone needs to raise a counter-argument. Why? Because I recall a similar chorus of scorn and disdain from non-Brits when we voted for Brexit. And nearly all of these opinions were spectacularly ill-informed, eg I would hear liberal Americans saying "why the fuck have you cut yourself off from your major market" and when I pointed out to them the huge democratic flaws in the EU they not only didn't understand, they didn't even have the first idea. "What, your supreme court sits in a different country, and speaks a different language, and you don't vote for the people that make the laws??!
etc etc ETC
So is it possible Trump is doing a Brexit. ie something that makes sense in American terms, but the rest of us simply don't "get", and maybe never will?
I am merely throwing up the idea. Because, to me these tariffs look like madness - even if they are just some bluff designed to get better terms for USA Inc - they have caused hideous instability which will not be forgotten
Are we missing something?
Hard to see how it could be wise. Nobody understands economics though, so hard to be sure.
Try
That's my point
Have a go
We're having a collective and almighty go at Trumpism - doesn't matter at all what I think, we're going to see.
Interesting theory by one of our sons who called round this afternoon that it is Trump and his cohorts deliberate intention to collapse the world's markets and at a time of his choosing he and his associates will buy back billions of dollars of stock and then announce easing of sanctions and pocket the gain
He then rinses and repeats the exercise at will and the question then is
If you've only got one week, for Uzbekistan, do 2 nights in Tashkent (but minimise your time, via early/late high speed trains) and do 2 nights in Bukhara and 3 in Samarkand
It is a magnificent destination. Even if the food is poor-to-bad (which it is - stick to kebabs, chicken thighs and hearty local red wines)
Did you go to the mosque where Genghis Khan proclaimed to the local elite:
“I am the punishment of God. If you had not committed such sins, God would not have sent such a punishment as I.”
Fortunately for them, he was more keen on ransom than massacre, on this occasion.
This site is (understandably) united in condemning this Tarrify Trumpsterfuck
Perhaps someone needs to raise a counter-argument. Why? Because I recall a similar chorus of scorn and disdain from non-Brits when we voted for Brexit. And nearly all of these opinions were spectacularly ill-informed, eg I would hear liberal Americans saying "why the fuck have you cut yourself off from your major market" and when I pointed out to them the huge democratic flaws in the EU they not only didn't understand, they didn't even have the first idea. "What, your supreme court sits in a different country, and speaks a different language, and you don't vote for the people that make the laws??!
etc etc ETC
So is it possible Trump is doing a Brexit. ie something that makes sense in American terms, but the rest of us simply don't "get", and maybe never will?
I am merely throwing up the idea. Because, to me these tariffs look like madness - even if they are just some bluff designed to get better terms for USA Inc - they have caused hideous instability which will not be forgotten
Are we missing something?
Hard to see how it could be wise. Nobody understands economics though, so hard to be sure.
Try
That's my point
Have a go
We're having a collective and almighty go at Trumpism - doesn't matter at all what I think, we're going to see.
This site is (understandably) united in condemning this Tarrify Trumpsterfuck
Perhaps someone needs to raise a counter-argument. Why? Because I recall a similar chorus of scorn and disdain from non-Brits when we voted for Brexit. And nearly all of these opinions were spectacularly ill-informed, eg I would hear liberal Americans saying "why the fuck have you cut yourself off from your major market" and when I pointed out to them the huge democratic flaws in the EU they not only didn't understand, they didn't even have the first idea. "What, your supreme court sits in a different country, and speaks a different language, and you don't vote for the people that make the laws??!
etc etc ETC
So is it possible Trump is doing a Brexit. ie something that makes sense in American terms, but the rest of us simply don't "get", and maybe never will?
I am merely throwing up the idea. Because, to me these tariffs look like madness - even if they are just some bluff designed to get better terms for USA Inc - they have caused hideous instability which will not be forgotten
Are we missing something?
The world will adjust. The issue is how long that will take, how much pain there will be in the meantime and whether it is worth it. Trump and his cohorts have a deep seated conviction about the absolute power of the US to dictate to the rest of the world and that the world will fall into line. So, all this makes total sense to them as they believe the US will withstand and in the end it will lead to a lower deficit, lower taxes and a stronger American economy. Whether they are right or entirely deluded is what is now in play.
Nigel Farage has spent the last decade licking the arse of a man who is now making millions of Britons poorer while having made all of us far less safe. It really should not be beyond the wit of his political rivals to make this point relentlessly.
Indeed. Labour need to hammer this every single day from now until 2028/9.
Farage is Britain Trump and he wants DOGE and all the attendant madness of a "reformation" and "clear out" etc etc.
That would be an implicit criticism of Trump, who Labour have been pretending to adore for the last three months or so though. How can they creditably do so? They can hardly say "We all slagged him off eight years ago when in opposition, then sucked up to him & said sorry last month, but now we've changed our minds again" can they?
"The UK's choice for the next ambassador to the US, Lord Peter Mandelson, has described his previous criticism of Donald Trump as "ill-judged and wrong".
Speaking in an interview with US broadcaster Fox News, he said the new US president had won "fresh respect" from him, adding he was "quite confident" Trump would approve of his appointment.
As part of the process Lord Mandelson's credentials have to be presented to Trump, which the president is reportedly expected to agree to.
In previous years, Lord Mandelson has described Trump as "reckless" and "a bully".
In an interview with an Italian journalist in 2019, he described Trump as "reckless and a danger to the world".
This followed a 2018 interview with the Evening Standard where he described Trump as "a bully".
But he told Fox News, external: "I made those remarks six years ago in 2019, led rather along this by an Italian journalist... it was a time in Britain by the way with very fraught politics and there was high emotion about many things in Britain at that time.
"I consider my remarks about President Trump as ill-judged and wrong."
They've done an impressive job getting so many candidates, but even the more established parties let in absolute dullards, racists, and maniacs from time to time, so they definitely won't have screened all of them out.
Comments
"U.S. companies cut 275,240 jobs in March, marking the highest number of layoffs since May 2020."
Which suggests they might have a go at fixing the next election.
Truss never won a GE mandate in the UK for her slash taxes (while not axing the state) plans and as they were fiscally ill disciplined (there was no Truss DOGE to fund her tax cuts) crashed the markets even more than Trump has. It was Boris who won the 2019 GE not her and largely on a pro big state, not massive tax cuts as well as pro Brexit manifesto
Reform party suspends candidate for pro-Jimmy Savile tweets -
https://bsky.app/profile/stevepeers.bsky.social/post/3llyranxzjk2m
Stephen Hartley was listed as standing for Reform UK in the Banbury Hardwick ward, ahead of local elections to Oxfordshire County Council on 1 May.
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Hartley confirmed he posted in 2022 that Savile was a "working class hero" and said that he may have "forgotten" to disclose his X account to Reform UK.'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2xey4m2ygo
Especially if there isn't one
*RUBIO SAYS `MARKETS WILL ADJUST' TO US TARIFFS
evidently to the downside. SPX futures down 4% at the moment
https://x.com/kgreifeld/status/1908120689283830055
They are adjusting price expectations in light of future economic performance.
Just spoken to two local Estate Agents who both said they have a large number of second homes coming into the market following Conwy's 150% uplift in council tax for all second homes
Rather than their own personal platform they projected onto his nonsense.
Congress is supposed to have this power under the Constitution, but voluntarily gave away the power to the President.
They'll still need a 2/3rd vote to override Trump's expected veto, but it is far easier to find the votes to do this. There are already 5 Senators in favour of this (McConnell, Murkowski, Collins, Rand Paul, Grassley).
A supranational bank would sidestep the European Commission, involve the British, and allow defense-spending off the balance sheet.
https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-eu-defense-fund-arms-investment-procurement/
The closest Labour have ever come to that was with the Mosely Memorandum in 1930-31 and, 45 years later, the Alternative Economic Strategy. Both were rightly given short shrift by the leadership.
Otherwise, there was the period in late 1945 when, yes, a siege economy was considered - but only as a last resort in the event of not being able to negotiate what became the Anglo-American Loan. I don't think anyone ever saw it as being desirable!
You'll note that the Wilson government ridiculed Maxwell's "I'm Backing Britain" even at a time when British politics was at its most dirigiste, and the Mélenchonism-lite idea of Progressive Protection didn't get much of a hearing even at the height of Corbynism.
The reality is that Labour have been more consistently pro-free trade than even the Liberals (who wavered in the 1920s & 50s).
Trump's actions are nowhere close to being near the mainstream of UK politics.
https://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/27/archives/britain-imposes-15-import-tax-to-back-pound-us-sympathetic-but.html
If country A sells natural gas to country B which sells fertilizer to country C which sells food to country A, then you can have a perfectly balanced trade triangle.
(Indeed: something similar happens in the real world. The US runs a trade surplus with Brazil, which runs a trade surplus with Japan, which runs a trade surplus with the US.)
My piece on bilateral trade balances is well worth a watch - https://youtu.be/4kDJDOLkQAs?si=P72fxcqJ8Yo1fZcK
If you've only got one week, for Uzbekistan, do 2 nights in Tashkent (but minimise your time, via early/late high speed trains) and do 2 nights in Bukhara and 3 in Samarkand
It is a magnificent destination. Even if the food is poor-to-bad (which it is - stick to kebabs, chicken thighs and hearty local red wines)
Us dutiable imports were charged at around 12 - 13% (and their then economy was far more competitive than the then UK).
But the rules don't apply to him. For now.
Apparently a 2015 UKIP candidate had previously posted on Facebook that Harold Shipman was a national treasure who deserves a posthumous pardon for ridding us of expensive burdens on the state when that money could be spent on tax cuts.
This is what the Registan in Samarkand looks like at night
You have a kebab-heavy dinner in a nearby restaurant with no idea and then, rather tipsy on ok local red wines (about £3 a bottle) you walk out and - if your guide is clever (as ours was) - this is your first introduction to the city
It’s as close as you can get to hallucinating, in modern travel, without taking psychedelics. And it really does look like that. Even in high season
@internethippo.bsky.social
Deals Genius relegated to begging other people to save him from his own actions
https://bsky.app/profile/internethippo.bsky.social/post/3llyphgh3722r
And HYUFD, whilst his comparison is in all other respects rather stupid, is right that he has a mandate and a fairly united party, so he is likely to ride this out.
Plenty of other countries were doing similar things at the time too - hence the need for GATT, etc.
Yeah so I guess it makes sense that he bankrupted a bunch of casinos
It would match Trump posting a video that says he is crashing the markets on purpose
@robin_j_brooks
·
48m
Safe haven buying of the Dollar is kicking in. You can't see it in Euro or Yen, which are up as carry trades funded out of these currencies have been stopped out. But you can see it across EM in currencies like the Brazilian Real, which is now selling off as global stocks fall...
https://x.com/robin_j_brooks
‘Long Live Democracy’: Millions in Seoul celebrate Yoon’s ouster
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/society/20250404/long-live-democracy-millions-in-seoul-celebrate-yoons-ouster
Farage is Britain Trump and he wants DOGE and all the attendant madness of a "reformation" and "clear out" etc etc.
Indeed, this is the only sort of national election that our party leaders get to stand in.
the emperor’s favorite concubine fired one of his top internal security officers while rumors abound that the household eunuch has lost the emperors favor
@kentindell.bsky.social
Let's play another round of "Byzantium Or America!" For ten points..
https://bsky.app/profile/kentindell.bsky.social/post/3llypo3zmbk2m
I just introduced the Delete DOGE Act, which – you guessed it – would defund DOGE.
https://x.com/RepSaraJacobs/status/1907951825707311282
These are the top 4:
Japan: $1.1 trillion
China: $759 billion
United Kingdom: $723 billion
Luxembourg: $424 billion
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yp8gee2peo
MacRumours website
https://carriere.ro/uploads/simplex/Business-Adventures_-Twelve-John-Brooks-1 (13).pdf
EARLY in 1964, it began to be clear that Britain, which for several years had maintained an
approximate equilibrium in her international balance of payments—that is, the amount of money she had annually sent outside her borders had been about equal to the amount she had taken in—was running a substantial deficit. Far from being the result of domestic depression in Britain, this situation was the result of overexuberant domestic expansion; business was booming, and newly affluent Britons were ordering bales and bales of costly goods from abroad without increasing the exports of British goods on anything like the same scale. In short, Britain was living beyond her means.
The problem is that the US doesn't want to do that.
Fed chairman pierces Trump reality distortion field:
“Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. economy was likely to face a period of higher prices and weaker growth…because of larger-than-anticipated tariff hikes announced by President Trump.”
https://x.com/jimsciutto/status/1908195207746609337
Perhaps someone needs to raise a counter-argument. Why? Because I recall a similar chorus of scorn and disdain from non-Brits when we voted for Brexit. And nearly all of these opinions were spectacularly ill-informed, eg I would hear liberal Americans saying "why the fuck have you cut yourself off from your major market" and when I pointed out to them the huge democratic flaws in the EU they not only didn't understand, they didn't even have the first idea. "What, your supreme court sits in a different country, and speaks a different language, and you don't vote for the people that make the laws??!
etc etc ETC
So is it possible Trump is doing a Brexit. ie something that makes sense in American terms, but the rest of us simply don't "get", and maybe never will?
I am merely throwing up the idea. Because, to me these tariffs look like madness - even if they are just some bluff designed to get better terms for USA Inc - they have caused hideous instability which will not be forgotten
Are we missing something?
They are both fucking insane
Welcome to the team, at last...
So the reality will be that workers get fewer hours and if people leave fewer people will be employed to take over the work with the extra hours being given that existing workers.
That's my point
Have a go
Everyone wants there to be a grand scheme behind all of this but the terrible truth is that extremely stupid people are in charge and they have a fanatical devotion to wrong, childlike concepts of society and economics cooked up by right wing radio hosts in order to sell tainted dietary supplements
https://bsky.app/profile/ianboudreau.com/post/3llw3gfmvws2g
This follows on precisely from Signalgate, the lesson of which is these guys are morons. There is no plan. They have no clue.
They are not playing chess. They are not playing checkers.
They are eating the pieces off the board...
Midterms will be shite, and floaters will perhaps abstain, but there's an awful lot that will fight to the death in the Fuhrerbunker.
One CNBC commentator called it a “kindergarten-level understanding” of international trade.
https://x.com/thedailybeast/status/1907828241303248910
If that's your level...
(And stop being pointlessly aggressive)
He then rinses and repeats the exercise at will and the question then is
Who is to stop him ?
“I am the punishment of God. If you had not committed such sins, God would not have sent such a punishment as I.”
Fortunately for them, he was more keen on ransom than massacre, on this occasion.
Brings back memories of Brexit.
First of all we had promises that there would be amazing deals and lower prices on day one.
Then, it was 'short term pain for long term gain.'
Finally, with opinion having turned against it, it became 'it wasn't done properly' America, that's coming next.
https://bsky.app/profile/dirktherabbit.bsky.social/post/3llytxpxsx222
Also @Scott_xP really IS a ludicrous moron
I can, perhaps relatedly, recommend the Chateau Denovie Moldovan Saperavi in the poshest supermarket in Almaty, Kazakhstan
FTSE closes with worst drop since the pandemic. Trump is literally proving worse for the global economy than a killer virus.
https://x.com/DPJHodges/status/1908200294657179860
"The UK's choice for the next ambassador to the US, Lord Peter Mandelson, has described his previous criticism of Donald Trump as "ill-judged and wrong".
Speaking in an interview with US broadcaster Fox News, he said the new US president had won "fresh respect" from him, adding he was "quite confident" Trump would approve of his appointment.
As part of the process Lord Mandelson's credentials have to be presented to Trump, which the president is reportedly expected to agree to.
In previous years, Lord Mandelson has described Trump as "reckless" and "a bully".
In an interview with an Italian journalist in 2019, he described Trump as "reckless and a danger to the world".
This followed a 2018 interview with the Evening Standard where he described Trump as "a bully".
But he told Fox News, external: "I made those remarks six years ago in 2019, led rather along this by an Italian journalist... it was a time in Britain by the way with very fraught politics and there was high emotion about many things in Britain at that time.
"I consider my remarks about President Trump as ill-judged and wrong."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyek73ly70o