New report on the chasm between the US & Israel’s end game: “Israel is pursuing a scorched-earth campaign of regime change, which isn't our goal,” says senior admin official. “Bibi wants to wreck Iran’s economy & decimate its energy infrastructure. Trump wants to keep it intact”
Commentary on here seem pretty quiet about the economic impact of the war in Iran.
PB, too, has been successfully hijacked by Farage’s ability to set the media agenda.
It's pretty simple. If the war isn't over soon, it's pretty likely the world economy will see an oil and gas shock without real precedent. It could make the 70s look like a blip.
And the UK economy will be screwed for another decade (at least).
If it's over by next week, then we might be fine.
Or not.
Trump casually threatens to use nuclear weapons to end the war "in two seconds" while sitting right next to the Prime Minister of Japan—the only country to ever suffer an atomic bombing. The host calls him a complete sociopath. https://x.com/FurkanGozukara/status/2034797512712753489
Unusual take - the atomic bombs on Japan saved hundreds of thousands of lives.
Is that an "Unusual take"?
In the context that use of nuclear weapons is seen as horrific, I think it is.
Hang on - justified or not it comfortably fits the category of horrific events in history.
“Prometheus stole fire from the Gods and gave it to Man. For this, he was chained to a rock and tortured for Eternity.”
The King's visit must be off now. Calling our military "cowards" is the ultimate insult to our military's leader. Trump must know the effect it will have and probably doesn't care.
I doubt Trump would be that bothered anyway now if one of King George III's descendants boycotts the US independence anniversary celebrations he will host as President of the US Republic
New report on the chasm between the US & Israel’s end game: “Israel is pursuing a scorched-earth campaign of regime change, which isn't our goal,” says senior admin official. “Bibi wants to wreck Iran’s economy & decimate its energy infrastructure. Trump wants to keep it intact”
Trump really should have checked what Israel's end game was before joining in.
I wonder when it will dawn on him that he isn't going to be remembered the way he wanted to be...
Let us not forget that every time inflation spikes, the pensioners are given a budget-destroying increase under the triple lock.
If the Government have any sense they will finally axe that now, as they should have done after the last election which they won without the grey vote.
So they won't.
You still need some grey vote to get elected .
Unless there’s a cross party agreement to get rid of the triple lock then I don’t see it going anytime soon .
There’s no point being in government, if you can’t take a decision some people will not like. The triple lock has to go.
Politically risky, 65% of voters overall want to definitely or probably keep the triple lock, just 11% to scrap it.
Even 38% of Labour voters definitely want to keep the triple lock and 42% of UK voters overall want to definitely keep the triple lock
People want lots of things that are unwise, unaffordable, or unattainable. Sometimes, leadership means saying “I want, doesn’t get.”
Not if it means political suicide, Labour might be able to get away with means testing the triple lock but not scrapping it altogether
They will have no choice and many more unpopular decisions beckon
The days of overborrowing and overspending are simply over
They do, Starmer would be dumped for Rayner in 5 minutes if he tried scrapping the triple lock with Reeves and he knows it, no political leader could get away with it except maybe Polanski as most of his voters are under 35. However like Corbyn the Greens are pledged to keep the triple lock and will just hammer the rich and business and high earners with tax instead to pay for it
You need to wake up
Everybody is going to be poorer and that is across society
I am not even thinking of labour's internal battles -10 year gilts are closing in on 5.00 %
It doesn't matter what gilts do, no Labour leader will commit political suicide by scrapping the triple lock, indeed no leader of any political party has said they will not increase the state pension at least in line with inflation
Trump: "Without USA, NATO IS A PAPER TIGER! Now that the fight is Militarily WON, with very little danger for them, they complain about high oil prices they are forced to pay, but don’t want to help open the Strait of Hormuz. So easy for them to do, with so little risk. COWARDS, & we will REMEMBER!"
If its really easy with no risk why don't the US just get on with it themselves? Who do you think you are kidding Mr Trump?
Arguably the US is the biggest geopolitical beneficiary of major economic disruption. They are unusually self-sufficient.
High oil prices are really good for energy companies in Texas, but they don't do much for the denizens of Detroit.
It must be a very small list of countries that benefit overall from an oil/gas crisis. And a number of those can't now export them anyway.
I assume Norway is doing very well.
One or two countries making hay while the world suffers reminds me of that Vincent Price film The Masque of the Red Death. He gets his chips eventually. Can't keep the horror at bay. It seeps in.
I was just commenting how fortunate our daughter is to have completed her divorce [ amicable], sold the family home and bought her own home close to us all before this happened..
The prospects for the house market must be dire especially if we see sustained and prolonged interest rate rises together with increased energy, food and living costs
I really do not think the public have woken up yet to just how serious this is
I have the impression India and Pakistan shelling each other on a weekly if not Daily basis.
When you look at it, neighbours are not very neighbourly. India Pakistan, Greece Turkey, Scotland Ireland Wales v England. The bad bit is lives of minorities - not just “no dogs and no Irish” signs in windows when looking for a bed for the night, but gunman who have murdered minorities being installed as President’s and Prime Ministers.
Why can’t people love their neighbours and love their minorities?
Sultan Ahmad Baheen, former Afghan ambassador to China, suggested that the Pakistani attacks coincided with the 2026 Iran war to minimize international attention on the airstrikes. He claimed that "Pakistan does not want a fully stable and independent Afghanistan" in the long term, but rather a political landscape in Kabul that remains dependent on Islamabad.
A depraved and possibly dying old dotard with no moral sense is cultivating a sense of grievance. This is not going to end well, although old bone spurs couldn't really be less prepared for a successful war, he is still able to cause planet level chaos. We will need to keep very cool heads to stop this turning into a total catastrophe.
Let us not forget that every time inflation spikes, the pensioners are given a budget-destroying increase under the triple lock.
If the Government have any sense they will finally axe that now, as they should have done after the last election which they won without the grey vote.
So they won't.
You still need some grey vote to get elected .
Unless there’s a cross party agreement to get rid of the triple lock then I don’t see it going anytime soon .
There’s no point being in government, if you can’t take a decision some people will not like. The triple lock has to go.
Politically risky, 65% of voters overall want to definitely or probably keep the triple lock, just 11% to scrap it.
Even 38% of Labour voters definitely want to keep the triple lock and 42% of UK voters overall want to definitely keep the triple lock
People want lots of things that are unwise, unaffordable, or unattainable. Sometimes, leadership means saying “I want, doesn’t get.”
Not if it means political suicide, Labour might be able to get away with means testing the triple lock but not scrapping it altogether
They will have no choice and many more unpopular decisions beckon
The days of overborrowing and overspending are simply over
They do, Starmer would be dumped for Rayner in 5 minutes if he tried scrapping the triple lock with Reeves and he knows it, no political leader could get away with it except maybe Polanski as most of his voters are under 35. However like Corbyn the Greens are pledged to keep the triple lock and will just hammer the rich and business and high earners with tax instead to pay for it
You need to wake up
Everybody is going to be poorer and that is across society
I am not even thinking of labour's internal battles -10 year gilts are closing in on 5.00 %
Let us not forget that every time inflation spikes, the pensioners are given a budget-destroying increase under the triple lock.
If the Government have any sense they will finally axe that now, as they should have done after the last election which they won without the grey vote.
So they won't.
You still need some grey vote to get elected .
Unless there’s a cross party agreement to get rid of the triple lock then I don’t see it going anytime soon .
There’s no point being in government, if you can’t take a decision some people will not like. The triple lock has to go.
Politically risky, 65% of voters overall want to definitely or probably keep the triple lock, just 11% to scrap it.
Even 38% of Labour voters definitely want to keep the triple lock and 42% of UK voters overall want to definitely keep the triple lock
People want lots of things that are unwise, unaffordable, or unattainable. Sometimes, leadership means saying “I want, doesn’t get.”
Not if it means political suicide, Labour might be able to get away with means testing the triple lock but not scrapping it altogether
Political suicide is preferable to national suicide. The triple lock is a waste of money, which transfers money from poorer people to richer people.
If we wish to avoid a government bent on revenge socialism, we have to give younger people a better deal.
usual bollox on here, not all pensioners are rich, young people should get out and work. The millions of idlers on dole and pretendy illness crew need to get their benefits cut seriously , that is a real waste of money, and cut the huge largesse spent on illegal immigrants. All those deserve a kicking far more than your average pensioner.
Commentary on here seem pretty quiet about the economic impact of the war in Iran.
PB, too, has been successfully hijacked by Farage’s ability to set the media agenda.
It's pretty simple. If the war isn't over soon, it's pretty likely the world economy will see an oil and gas shock without real precedent. It could make the 70s look like a blip.
And the UK economy will be screwed for another decade (at least).
If it's over by next week, then we might be fine.
On the bright side it presumably helps significantly with climate change?
That depends on the reaction. If governments bankrupt themselves in a futile attempt to subsidise fossil fuels and the economy craters, then there won't be the public or private investment capital for renewables, etc, to transition away from fossil fuels.
The issue isn’t going to be the price of energy it’s going to be the availability of energy - because if 20% of the world’s energy is no longer available we need to reduce energy usage to offset the reduced supply.
High prices solve high prices
Demand destruction, and in the longer term new sources, will come but the govt needs to not just print cash and throw money at lt for everyone. Subsidise the genuinely needy.
When it comes to energy high prices don’t solve high prices, for a lot of things the price would just have to be paid and other things cut to cover the additional expenditure.
Energy is remarkably price inelastic - but it is true that energy usage would go down over time, if the factory / pub closes the building doesnt need heat or lighting - and that’s where the reduction would be coming from
"When it comes to energy high prices don’t solve high prices".... so everything I learnt about capitalism is a lie?
Price inelasticity means that people have to get to work, they have to get food delivered etc. So high prices don’t decrease demand immediately by a lot.
So in the short term, you get lots of inflation.
What happens, if it persists, is that substitutes are bought in. But changing from an ICE car to EV takes time and money. So the process is over the medium and longer term.
This is GCSE economics.
Also when the price of electricity is set by the price of Gas as is often the case in the UK - the EV I’m planning to buy this weekend may not be that much cheaper
What are you thinking of getting ? Some very attractive pricing on sensible 2nd hand EVs at the moment.
Something from the VW (Cupra / Skoda / Ford) family but can’t work out what.
I quite like the Capri but it’s a bit long given that my go to for a decade was a Mini but I need more range than a mini.
I did nearly get a lease Smart Brabus in January but the lease deal had gone by the time I made my mind up
The other option is Renault but you don’t get the 30-40% discounts you get with an ex demonstrator Ford / VW / Cupra
I'm leasing an enyaq at the moment. I like it the most out of all the VW group offerings based on the same platform. More sensible controls than the VW ID cars. Elroq basically the same with a smaller shorter boot and slightly lower spec .
I'm an owner director so leasing through company is a no brainer for me. If you are in a similar position there are very cheap lease deals on enyaqs still ...
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/ce84073mr06t
Buttering us up.
https://x.com/usf_army/status/2034972662502465759
The next war could look very different to the current one, let alone the last one.
New report on the chasm between the US & Israel’s end game:
“Israel is pursuing a scorched-earth campaign of regime change, which isn't our goal,” says senior admin official. “Bibi wants to wreck Iran’s economy & decimate its energy infrastructure. Trump wants to keep it intact”
I wonder when it will dawn on him that he isn't going to be remembered the way he wanted to be...
Outside of the playground it simply doesn't work - Iran is not our war and we should be emphasising that it's Trump's mess to fix..
The prospects for the house market must be dire especially if we see sustained and prolonged interest rate rises together with increased energy, food and living costs
I really do not think the public have woken up yet to just how serious this is
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When are you signing up 😆
How long before your blaming Rachel from Accounts.
I'm an owner director so leasing through company is a no brainer for me. If you are in a similar position there are very cheap lease deals on enyaqs still ...