The Sun Does It Again!
You can always rely on The Sun to be funny on Election Day.
They sum him up like this.
- Terrorists’ Friend
- Useless On Brexit
- Destroyer Of Jobs
- Enemy Of Business
- Massive Tax Hikes
- Puppet Of Unions
- Nuclear Surrender
- Ruinous Spending
- Open Immigration
- Marxist Extremist
The front page is very much in the tradition of the notorious It’s The Sun Wot Won It front page of 1992.
Incidentally, if Jeremy Corbyn were to become Prime Minister, he would be only the second one, who’d divorced. The first was the Duke of Grafton in 1769. But the Duke was only divorced once.
Launch Of Crossrail Trains Pushed Back By TfL
The title of this post is the title of this article in Rail Technology Magazine.
The story I heard from staff, was that more miles need to be accumulated on the trains and that squares with what is said in the article.
But I do wonder if Sadiq Khan has pushed the launch back until after the election, so that politicians he doesn’t agree with can use the trains as a photo opportunity.
Kissing The Innovators Goodbye!
I was part of a team that started a high-tech business n the UK in 1977 at the age of thirty.
James Callaghan was Prime Minister and tax rates were higher than they are today.
In 1984, the business was sold for $128,000,000.
So what advice would I give to my thirty-year-old son, daughter, grandchild, niece or nephew, thinking of starting a high-tech business today?
He or she would in one way be very different to me, in that by the age of thirty.
- I’d probably only been abroad twice and wasn’t very savvy about how to survive in a foreign country.
- Now the average thirty-year-old has probably done around a hundred foreign trips.
Due to a broader spectrum of nationalities in the UK today, a group thinking of starting a business would be less white middle-class than we were.
So whereas, we had to start the business in the UK, unless perhaps we wanted to relocate to the US, which I wouldn’t have done, even if I’d known how much money we would realise, so many factors, like the Internet, cheap air travel, better language skills, the easier availability of money, good support services and welcoming governments mean you can start a high-tech business virtually anywhere.
These factors also mean Brexit isn’t a disaster for the high-tech start-up.
If you are a UK-focused start-up perhaps dealing with something that is very UK specific, Brexit will only effect you if the economy goes bust.
If you are selling a world-wide product, the Internet means Brexit is irrelevant or will be in a couple of years.
But who wins the General Election is.
A May victory will probably mean things will carry on as before with a probability upwards of sixty-per-cent, as history teaches us, that in times of unexpected crisis that the UK just keeps calm and carries on.
Consider.
- Corbyn and his cronies are so Consevative in their thinking.
- Of all our industries, the NHS is probably our most Conservative.
- A lot of innovation is disruptive, which destroys existing methods, restrictive practices and industries, but improves employment and quality of life.
- Good ideas, make their inventors lots of money and they usually desire to keep it.
As an example, what would happen if a revolutionary product came along, that saved the NHS billions of pounds a year, but cut staff by 100,000?
It would never be introduced and if it was, the inventors would be driven out of the country by Corbyn’s proposed high taxation.
So after the disastrous Brexit, a Corbyn victory would probably be equally disastrous for innovation and innovators in the UK.
The Labour Party’s Fantasy Economics
Today, the Labour Party has added a rail fare cap to their list of give-aways to all and sundry.
In the 1970s, I was asked to do a programming job for the Chief Management Accountant of a major clearing bank, who are still trading successfully, so my work didn’t toss them down the toilet.
I programmed a system, so that the Bank could work out how much every one of their management functions would cost. The program could be run so that the Bank could see how much say a pay rise for staff would add to the cost of clearing a cheque, in all of their branches. As you can imagine costs were very variable and the reasons for some of the high costs in some branches appeared in the tabloid newspapers.
It was fascinating and three things happened.
- I learned a tremendous amount about the way bankers and accountants look at figures, which I put to good use in Artemis
- I learned a lot about the way bankers think.
- But above all, I gained a good friend, which was sadly cut short by the Chief Management Accountant’s early death from cancer, We regularly celebrated our fruendship in Mother Bunches Wine Bar.
I also decided to move my Bank Account to the Bank and by luck, I was introduced to a Bank Manager, who played a large part in my life.
- He became Metier’s Bank Manager and helped us to be the success we were.
- He went on to be Business Banking Director of the Bank.
- He loaned me the money to buy my first Porsche and then introduced me to the joys of owning a Lotus.
- But as with the Chief Management Accountant, we became firm friends and put the world to rights in many convivial lunches.
Sadly, he died a few days before C.
These two friends taught me a lot about banking.
But I remember one conversation with the Bank Manager in particular.
We were talking about lending millions of pounds to companies, with strong Chilean, Israeli and South African ownership links. He said they were always difficult and risky because of the politics and determined individuals involved, but you satisfied this risk by adding a percentage or two to the deal.
Since then I have been involved in both a small finance company and Zopa; the peer-to-peer lender, as an investor, and the same principles apply.
Just as they do when the banks are lending to countries with dodgy finances.
So what makes the Labour Party think that they any sane Banker will fund their socialist fantasies, by loaning them billions at zero or low rates?
Welcome To The Corbyn Comedy Channel
The leaking of the Draft Labour Manifesto is to my mind, proof, if it were needed, that the current Labour Party can’t be trusted to organise a piss-up in a brewery.
I have only read summaries, but most of the policies show such a disregard for the rules of economics, taxation and politics, that it could have been written by someone with Monty Python’s grasp of comedy.
The Female Of The Species Is More Deadly Than The Male
The title of this post is from a poem by Rudyard Kipling, but could the 2017 General Election be a rerun of the 1983 General Election, where Margaret Thatcher gave Michael Foot, the order of the boot?
Jeremy Corbyn is actually two years younger than Michael Foot was at the 1983 General Election, which was incidentally when he was elected for the first time.
At the 1983 General Election Margaret Thatcher was in her late-fifties and now Theresa May is in her early-sixties.
I think that humorists and cartoonists will be having a good election, drawing comparisons.
Thatcher won her biggest victory in the Falklands, so will May win her victory in the Brexit negotiations?
I certainly feel that far outposts like the Falklands and Gibraltar could figure in this election.
Labour Alienates The Jews And Drivers And Owners Of Diesel Vehicles
I come from mixed Jewish/Huguenot lines and my philosophy is probably humanist, although I’m a confirmed atheist.
But if I’m wrong, finding Heaven could be a bonus when I die!
This article on the BBC is entitled Labour ruling ‘fails Jewish community’, says Chief Rabbi.
Individuals, like Livingstone have no place in an inclusive political party.
This article on the BBC is entitled Date announced for London ultra low emission zone.
I am not against the ultra low emission zone, just the way that it is being brought in unilaterally in London.
We need ultra low emission zones all over the country and there is many things we can do.
- Cross-city railways and trams.
- More hybrid and electric buses when they are available at an affordable cost.
- Park-and-ride facilities.
- Trucks should be more environmentally and cyclist friendly.
- Grants will probably be needed to scrap older diesel vehicles and invest in new trucks and buses.
The one thing that is right is to bring in the zone in 2019, which will be just after the Central London section of Crossrail has opened.
There needs to be measures from Central Government, but as ever, staying in power comes first.
I have a feeling that London’s ultra low emission zone will not be good for Sadiq Khan in London, as it’s going to cause inconvenience for many in London.
Jeremy Corbyn On Brexit
Replying to Theresa May’s announcement of Article 51, Jeremy Corbyn gave a speech that was probably nine month’s late. If he had been so anti-Brexit last summer, perhaps the result of the Referendum would have been different.
Shooting The Messenger
This article on the BBC is entitled White House bans certain news media from briefing. This is said.
The White House has barred several major broadcasters and newspapers from attending an informal press briefing.
The BBC, CNN, the New York Times and others were excluded from an audience with Press Secretary Sean Spicer, with no reason given.
If you don’t like the messenger, perhaps they’ve not the problem, but what the message might be.
Recent stories on the BBC web site include.
- Mexico Warns US Over Border Wall Funding
- India Shocked Over US Bar Shooting
- Trump Aid Pressed FBI On Russia Reports
- Caithlyn Jenner To Donald Trump “Call Me!”
But those who voted for Trump think he’s right.
Supporters thought that about Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Saddam Hussein, Qaddafi and Hitler.
Politicians should be wary of being selective with the messages they will accept.
Especially, when you consider that many English speakers throughout the world, get their American world news as it effects them from the BBC or CNN and not from Trump TV!
Fake News – The Zinoviev Letter
My father told me all about the Zinoviev Letter, which was written around the time of the 1924 General Election and published in the Daily Mail.
He certainly knew all about the letter, but I doubt he was anything to do with its production, as he’d only have been twenty at the time.
But in the 1920s and 1930s he moved in left-wing Tory political circles, so he probably knew the truth, even if all he told me was the basic story, you can now read on Wikipedia.
The Zinoviev letter would certainly be considered Fake News today.
The Anonymous Widower 