Ot - hmq

[ramAnag]

Question as to whether you'd though of retiring to Spain.....you seem to enjoy the place. Personally I've never liked it...

Thought about it a while ago...even investigated some properties. Then grandchildren came along and she who it is wise to sometimes obey felt otherwise while Brexit finished it off.
Tbh I’m not so disappointed. I love the UK...just wish we could be more sensible, less domineering and sometimes learn from other countries.
This year the drive down the full length of Spain has reminded me of what a magnificently varied country it is but Andy had a point and down here in coastal Andalusia there do seem to be more restaurant ripoffs than usual. We may then be eating in more than usual but that’s no hardship given our location.

[SithHappens]

I thought we had a response already on energy prices ?

Anyway, not exactly ideal for an incoming PM to suddenly have the death of a monarch to contend with along with all the rules about periods of mourning that happened.

I think judge her on her actions in the coming weeks, perhaps her, or whomever comes to power next can review the rules on things like periods of mourning, oh yes and how long it takes to elect a new leader. Archaic (in my opinion) rules have led to a period of inactivity at a time we could Ill afford , it's not her fault but she or keir starmer, if he becomes leader one day, might try and review it so it doesn't happen again

[Geoff Parkstone]

It would be so much easier if the party had simply appointed a new leader the next day. As I recall there is a deputy leader always in place, so on that basis it should be a 5 minute job. However, party rules and democracy says that the party membership / union membership must have their say.

that would have been Dominic Raab, so I guess we are all thankful for the protracted process!

[Ramshank72]

It's alright, King Charlie is gonna sort **** out, no need for a PM now.

[MadAmster]

I thought we had a response already on energy prices ?

Anyway, not exactly ideal for an incoming PM to suddenly have the death of a monarch to contend with along with all the rules about periods of mourning that happened.

I think judge her on her actions in the coming weeks, perhaps her, or whomever comes to power next can review the rules on things like periods of mourning, oh yes and how long it takes to elect a new leader. Archaic (in my opinion) rules have led to a period of inactivity at a time we could Ill afford , it's not her fault but she or keir starmer, if he becomes leader one day, might try and review it so it doesn't happen again

Antiquated rules, indeed, Sith, not helped by the fact that the outgoing Leader of the Toraidh also happened to be the PM of the time. A party leader will always be elected by the membership. Pure logic. Raab should have taken over (not a position one would wish on the country) for the duration of the party election and then stepped down once the new party leader had been elected. Of course, that might mean that Raab would have been a lame duck PM as was Boris during the Toraidh election.

Should Starmer step down as leader of the Red Toraidh then Angela Rayner would take over until the election result was known. No added PM complications there.

Energy prices. We had our version of the State Opening of Parliament yesterday (always 3rd Tuesday in September) and, in King William Alexander's speech, he announced that from November 1st, taking average household usage as the base, the first 2500Kwh of electricity and 1400m3 of gas used would be charged at the price it was on Janaury 1st 2020, some 7 weeks prior to Putin invading Ukraine. In the short term, the difference would be paid by the government (taxpayer). Some time soon the EU will be announcing how much of the excessively obscene profits they will be taking off the gas and oil companies. The Dutch government will be reimbursed (fully?). From January 1st 2023 new price caps come into force. The gas and oil might get to keep some of their obscene and totally accidental excess profits but they will lose most of them.

What has Truss done? She will take £150Bn of the £170Bn excess profit to fund the crisis but the UK taxpayer will pay the gas and oil companies that back over the next 15 to 20 years. Not unsimilar to Sunak who, earlier this year, months after Starmer said a windfall tax should be applied, finally took some money off the G and O giants. However, in that "deal" he promised them tax breaks down the road which would see them regain more than they had just had taken off them.

In a fair world, when as many as 50% of the population is being plunged close to bankruptcy, I find that obscene. Profits they have NOT earned (the war in Ukraine is partly responsible, the free market has taken advantage and that is how these profits were generated) and should not IMO go into the pockets of the already obscenely wealthy.

They should now also be looking to take the utilities back into public control so the nation can profit from them.

[ramAnag]

Antiquated rules, indeed, Sith, not helped by the fact that the outgoing Leader of the Toraidh also happened to be the PM of the time. A party leader will always be elected by the membership. Pure logic. Raab should have taken over (not a position one would wish on the country) for the duration of the party election and then stepped down once the new party leader had been elected. Of course, that might mean that Raab would have been a lame duck PM as was Boris during the Toraidh election.

Should Starmer step down as leader of the Red Toraidh then Angela Rayner would take over until the election result was known. No added PM complications there.

Energy prices. We had our version of the State Opening of Parliament yesterday (always 3rd Tuesday in September) and, in King William Alexander's speech, he announced that from November 1st, taking average household usage as the base, the first 2500Kwh of electricity and 1400m3 of gas used would be charged at the price it was on Janaury 1st 2020, some 7 weeks prior to Putin invading Ukraine. In the short term, the difference would be paid by the government (taxpayer). Some time soon the EU will be announcing how much of the excessively obscene profits they will be taking off the gas and oil companies. The Dutch government will be reimbursed (fully?). From January 1st 2023 new price caps come into force. The gas and oil might get to keep some of their obscene and totally accidental excess profits but they will lose most of them.

What has Truss done? She will take £150Bn of the £170Bn excess profit to fund the crisis but the UK taxpayer will pay the gas and oil companies that back over the next 15 to 20 years. Not unsimilar to Sunak who, earlier this year, months after Starmer said a windfall tax should be applied, finally took some money off the G and O giants. However, in that "deal" he promised them tax breaks down the road which would see them regain more than they had just had taken off them.

In a fair world, when as many as 50% of the population is being plunged close to bankruptcy, I find that obscene. Profits they have NOT earned (the war in Ukraine is partly responsible, the free market has taken advantage and that is how these profits were generated) and should not IMO go into the pockets of the already obscenely wealthy.

They should now also be looking to take the utilities back into public control so the nation can profit from them.

Fine post, MA. Always, imo, good and useful to view things via the perspective of how other governments respond to situations.

Of course when the likes of you and I talk about ‘fairness’ others have been known to just dismiss it as a failure to understand the ‘law of supply and demand’. Unfortunately such ‘law’ is all too often nothing more than a contrivance allowing the ‘haves’ to profiteer and that cannot be allowed to happen where both people’s capacity to feed themselves and stay warm are concerned.

[Trickytreesreds]

Anyway...moving on. Caught occasional snippets of yesterday on the TV. We seem to do these things very well although it did seem an odd mix of pageantry and solemnity.

Maybe more to the point...can I now switch the news back on without everyone being dressed in black, and wearing their serious and solemn masks, and can we begin to reconsider our ‘new’ PM’s (remember her?) stance on such inconsequential matters as Ukraine, the cost of living crisis and how we’re going to afford to stay warm and move about?
Interesting thing down here...each time I’ve filled the car up with petrol that already costs a little less than in the UK they then give me some money back. I think it’s a Spanish government initiative and I haven’t worked it our precisely but it seems that what I pay on my card is about 5% less than the original pump price. Every little helps!

Couldn't agree more RA.
Perhaps the press can actually report things they like to suppress as a rule of thumb, without giving them a good reason not to, like the funeral.

Shock/ horror, racial hatred and pitched battles in a British city, that you can't blame on the white population
The records being smashed in the channel, with illegal immigration
Violence in Brighton between trans and womens rights groups.

Plenty of coverage on social media, but the main stream channels suppress it.
Even your petrol woes aren't covered either.

[ramAnag]

Couldn't agree more RA.
Perhaps the press can actually report things they like to suppress as a rule of thumb, without giving them a good reason not to, like the funeral.

Shock/ horror, racial hatred and pitched battles in a British city, that you can't blame on the white population
The records being smashed in the channel, with illegal immigration
Violence in Brighton between trans and womens rights groups.

Plenty of coverage on social media, but the main stream channels suppress it.
Even your petrol woes aren't covered either.

Not sure how much of that is quite true, Tricky...or that they’re MY ‘petrol woes’. All I commented on there was that the Spanish government appear to be giving motorists about 5% back at the point of sale. I was simply providing another perspective.

As for the rest...even down here I’d seen details, via the BBC, of the stupidity in Leicester apparently sparked off by a cricket match between India and Pakistan and I’ve seen plenty of coverage of those crossing the channel. Must admit I’d missed the Brighton stuff but then I’m not sure I’d give it any more attention than the battles between mods and rockers in the same city over half a century ago.

P.S. For clarification on the petrol thing. It’s not 5%...it’s 20 cents per litre that is immediately refunded to the motorist in Spain. My mistake.

[Andy_Faber]

Couldn't agree more RA.
Perhaps the press can actually report things they like to suppress as a rule of thumb, without giving them a good reason not to, like the funeral.

Shock/ horror, racial hatred and pitched battles in a British city, that you can't blame on the white population
The records being smashed in the channel, with illegal immigration
Violence in Brighton between trans and womens rights groups.

Plenty of coverage on social media, but the main stream channels suppress it.
Even your petrol woes aren't covered either.

To the credit of mainstream media the Leicester rumble between sheikhs and Muslims was covered, albeit not front line news, and to their further credit there was no finger pointing at white activists stirring it up.

[swaledale]

Not sure how much of that is quite true, Tricky...or that they’re MY ‘petrol woes’. All I commented on there was that the Spanish government appear to be giving motorists about 5% back at the point of sale. I was simply providing another perspective.

As for the rest...even down here I’d seen details, via the BBC, of the stupidity in Leicester apparently sparked off by a cricket match between India and Pakistan and I’ve seen plenty of coverage of those crossing the channel. Must admit I’d missed the Brighton stuff but then I’m not sure I’d give it any more attention than the battles between mods and rockers in the same city over half a century ago.

Ye gods rA, I do wish you wouldn't quote Thickys posts, it just confirms the extent of his utter stupidity!!

Not sure which media channels he watches/reads but the ones I follow have covered these matters - but of course for most mainstream channels the funeral overhype has drowned out most other news, thought that's how you flag shagging fascists wanted it?

Shock horror - other human beings of a different colour can act the same as white people? Wow would never have considered that Thicky!

There are no records being smashed in the channel - the numbers of unauthorised immigrants/asylum seekers (they can't be declared illegal until one has processed them, but I guess the principle of innocent until proven guilty doesn't apply in this case eh?) is much less than used to cross via train/lorry/etc. But hey don't let the facts get in the way of a scare story eh?

Quite how an altercation on a protest march between people who have differing views is big news is beyond me - happens all the time, (You should have seen some of the violent clashes on some protests marches I was on in the 70's!!) although of course other incidents might not fit the right wing culture war filter through which you like to consume your "news". Whereby a specific slant is given to situations in order to get the gammons frothing at the mouth!!

As for social media, oh dear, if Thicky haven't worked out thats an echo chamber for each group (left, right or centre to appear important) then I feel sorry for him!!