The Scottish Currency Question
If I could have ten pence for every politician, who’s put forward his view on the question of what currency Scotland has if they vote for independence, i wouldn’t be just a rich man, but a very rich man.
Surely, the amount of energy expended by politicians, would power a reasonably-sized city like Glasgow.
All of these politicians are flying in the face of the new reality, which is starting to sweep the world. Just read this article on the web site; SmallBusiness.co.uk about the future of banking. Here’s the first paragraph.
I was recently invited onto Evan Davis’ BBC radio and TV show ‘The Bottom Line’ for a discussion on alternative finance. Alongside me was Zopa founder Giles Andrews, the founder of Zopa – a UK peer-to-peer lending platform, and Michael Joseph, the former CEO of Safaricom, which set up M-Pesa, a mobile payment system, in Kenya.
It is the last bit that is the most significant. It also says this about banking and particularly M-Pesa.
The day-to-day of banking is changing world-wide and banks are not the ones driving the innovation. For instance, by some measures, Starbucks is among the 200 largest banks by deposits in the US, having $3 billion on their in-store card in 2012. Both Google and Amazon are also talking about providing finance to users of their marketplaces. At the other end of the economic spectrum, 31 per cent of Kenyan GDP now flows through M-Pesa, which is so simple it can be operated on a very modest Nokia phone and has no physical bank branch presence.
So does it matter about whether an individual or a company has their bank account in pounds, dollars, euros, thistles or beans? It only matters to the individual concerned. As someone living in and spending most of his money in the UK, I would probably keep my account in pounds! Although switching to euros, should be just a choice on the account.
Unfortunately, this transparent and convenient system would be unacceptable to the banks, as they make so much money on currency conversion.
I do wonder, if my new-found liking for cash, may be a personal reaction to the greed of the banks. If I pay by cash in Carluccio’s, I can leave a tip easily. It also seems to get good service, as the staff in many restaurants know me and have the gluten-free menu ready immediately I walk in. It’s also faster to settle up and there is nothing worse than waiting to get away, whilst a dim waitress struggles with a credit card terminal.
So to me, in a few years time, the Scottish currency question will be irrelevant to most people and companies in Scotland. They will pay their taxes in whatever currency the Scottish government uses or is forced to use and keep their bank account in whatever is convenient for their lifestyle or business.
So let’s get going on research to capture all that hot air being spoken to generate lots of electricity.
Who Said This? – The Answer
Margaret Thatcher!
An article by Charles Clover, who would probably be described as an environmentalist, wrote the article in the Sunday Times entitled, “If only we still had Thatcher, the scientist and mother of cleaner energy”.
Or read this one in the Guardian or this one in the Independent.
But whatever, you say about Margaret Thatcher, she was a trained scientist and worked as one. Name another Prime Minister or President of any country, with those qualifications!
Margaret Thatcher’s Legacy
You could argue for years about Margaret Thatcher.
But it wasn’t what she did or didn’t do, that she leaves behind. In the course of history, there are only a few politicians, philosophers and sad to say despots and dictators, who have changed the world.
Margaret Thatcher showed that no rule or thought in traditional thinking is sacrosanct, when it comes to shaping the world. Since then we’ve seen lots of radical ideas work, that would have never even been thought of, had not Margaret Thatcher and a few others shown that you could do something different.
Would Tony Blair have been able to reform a Labour Party, stuck in the 1920s, without Margaret Thatcher showing what radical thinking could do? Or Ken Livingstone, reinvent himself, to make a comeback as the London Mayor. I suspect, if Margaret Thatcher hadn’t been a radical Prime Minister, we’d have had a succession of useless worthies in the last few years.
I’ll only give one example of where Margaret Thatcher ditched conventional thinking.
In 1982, conventional thinking, said that to attempt to retake the Falkland Islands after the Argentine invasion was utter madness, and many on all sides of the political spectrum said that to give the islands away was the best solution. How many people today, think that the decision to retake the islands was wrong? Not many I suspect! I’ve even met an Argentinian, who felt that we did his country a favour, by effectively getting rid of the evil dictatorship of General Galtieri.
Without Margaret Thatcher my life today would be very different.
After I had sold my first successful software; Pert7 to ADP, I received an offer to go to the United States to write a PERT system for a large US computer corporation.
How they got my number or the fact I’d sold out, I don’t know?
Soon after, I was approached to write a PERT system, which later became Artemis, so I turned the Americans down.
I suspect that if that hadn’t happened, I’d have eventually moved across the Atlantic, as it was just impossible to provide for a growing family with the tax rates, then in force.
i didn’t move, as neither C or myself could have ever lived abroad permanently.
But Margaret Thatcher’s Tax and other reforms enabled me to stay in the country of my birth. If tax rates were still as the eighty percent plus they were in the nineteen seventies, I doubt many of the brightest in the UK, would not have gone to where pastures were greener.
One aside here is a story from my accountant of the 1980s. A confirmed Socialist, he was not a supporter of Margaret Thatcher, but felt the tax reforms of the time were very good for the country. Although tax rates were lowered, her Chancellors were good at closing the myriad loopholes that had been developed by clever members of his profession. There may be a lesson here for today’s politicians, who need to both maximise the tax take and keep voters happy.
Mrs Thatcher: A Professional Woman
I never met Margaret Thatcher, although I should have done, solely because she got her priorities right.
A few months after we won our Queen’s Award, I went to Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen,several politicians and a few others, for a reception, which I described here. Each company incidentally sent three people.
Mrs. Thatcher was supposed to attend, but the Welsh Secretary died that evening and she had other more important things to sort out.
I’ve Found A Use For Ed Balls
I’ve got rather fed-up with the one-sided reporting on the tax changes, that come into force today. typical is this report on the BBC. The fact that the personal allowance threshold has been raised, is very much buried in the story.
So when it was announced that Ed Balls was going to be on BBC Radio 5 Live at 8:05, I decided that this was an ideal time to walk down the road and get my paper.
The proof of the value of these tax changes will not be in headlines designed to attract readers and votes, but in the amount of tax collected. Having heard Danny Alexander this morning, I think everybody is in for a surprise.
Labour Can’t Win If It’s On Mick Philpott’s Side
This is the headline on an opinion in The Times.
It’s full of good facts and is a must read.
George Osborne Must Be Getting Paranoid
Those on the Left, blame George Osborne for all the country’s troubles.
So he is under the attack in two major stories this morning.
In the first story, it’s Osborne’s comments about convicted manslaughterer; Mick Philpott.
Mr Osborne said a debate was needed about whether the state should “subsidise lifestyles like that”.
But shadow chancellor Ed Balls condemned Mr Osborne’s comments as “a cynical act of a desperate chancellor”
I have a feeling, that most voters in the UK, except those living on benefits with umpteen children would agree with Osborne. But then those in that group, probably wouldn’t have time to vote.
He is also brought to task, by getting into a car, that was illegally parked in a disabled space. Read about it here. It does appear he wasn’t driving,
But a Treasury source said Mr Osborne had been dropped off to buy lunch.
The unmarked police Land Rover was not driven by the chancellor at any point, added the source.
I bet Osborne wished he’d taken the train. But then, those that want to get him, had a go at him when he did.
He must be getting to dread, saying anything or going anywhere!
It seems as if the job of Chancellor of the Exchequer has taken over from that of Home Secretary, as the most vilified job in Government.
But then Theresa May has a great advantage over George Osborne, in that she can be spun for her dress sense, as she was in this double-page story in the Standard last night. George Osborne never got a headline like this.
Theresa May-nia: sharp-suited, well-heeled, the Home Secretary is on fighting form
Perhaps, he should wear a dress!
You Should Check Your Tweets
This cautionary tale of an MP, who tweeted a link to a porn site by mistake, should be read by anybody, who just retweets, stories, that they are told to.
At least, as I do all my blogging from my computer, I can check what I point to, before publishing.
Miliband Shows His True Colours
I have never been a fan of David Miliband. To me, he is one of those I would bar from Parliament, as he doesn’t appear to have done a real job in his life. Two many MPs on all sides of the house are just political time servers, who live off the fat of the land.
He was also one of the yes-men, who didn’t stop Gordon Brown’s disastrous policies, that led us into the state we’re in today.
So his first desertion to New York, is probably a good thing, as hopefully he’ll never get into another British Government. But then the Labour Party in recent years has shown a particular talent in bringing in their friends to important positions, despite past failures and indiscretions.
Incidentally, I can never understand, how anybody ever wants to work in the United States, because of that country’s adherence to the death penalty.
I suspect that his resignation from the board of Sunderland Football Club is just as much about practicalities, as about the appointment of Paolo di Canio as manager. Sunderland is a long way from New York.
The Circular Argument Over The Falklands
Whatever the Pope thinks about the Falklands is all fairly irrelevant, despite what was said in the my post about the Daily Mirror, as he has other more pressing problems.
In the end though, economic arguments will win through, so consider these facts.
Argentina’s economy is pretty much a basket case and with policies like nationalising oil companies as reported here, they are annoying possible supporters like Spain.
Spain too, would like to get rid of that irritant Gibraltar, but with their economic problems, they are not going to do anything rash in the area. Although, they do block various EU measures because of it. I think the Spanish are sensible enough to realise that British visitors are an important part of their economy.
The UK, is also a big destination for Spanish unemployed, where they are one of the bigger groups of immigrants.
And then there’s the Spanish enclaves on the coast of North Africa, which to Morocco are probably the same sort of irritant as Gibraltar is to Spain and the Falklands are to Argentina.
So the economy and the politics go round and round.
Throw in possible Scottish independence, which would be an encouragement to some parts of Spain, that yearn for independence and you have a big, interconnected mix.
You probably have two sensible players and one that has a reputation as a bit of an opportunist.
In some ways it’s rather sad what has happened to Argentina. Before the Second World War, it was much higher up the league of prosperity, than it is now. It just shows how bad government can ruin a country.
The Anonymous Widower 