Maybe it’s just me, but Labour’s daily rumours, spin, counter-rumours and threats on all aspects of the Budget is getting annoying. Actually, it’s really annoying. The media has whipped the 30th October Budget up and it is now going to be a huge event. There will be Budget winners and losers……but it’s always been that way.
Multiply that annoyance by 50 and we are close to what really troubles me……the US Presidential election. Our media is already going full on 24 hours a day on The Trump v Harris showdown……and with good reason. This is the biggest economy in the world with the most important currency in the world and we are just about to hand the baton to a new leader for the next 4 years. And these two candidates are considered to be the best that 333 million American’s can find.
I am struggling to look on the light-hearted side of who gets in as they are just so important to UK prosperity on many levels. Why do you think Keir had dinner with The Trump this month……nobody does that through choice!
Let’s not be polite here……the issue is The Trump. It’s always The Trump. He’s the most extreme case study of just how strange someone can be if a combination of wealth and dark charisma means your behaviour goes unchecked for 78 years. The Trump has normalised chaos, false information and extreme behaviour.
When there was a second assassination attempt on The Trump this month, the global response was largely a shoulder shrug. The lack of surprise in the media was certainly noticeable. Within a couple of days The Sun’s homepage was leading with the big exclusive of M&S axing Percy Pig Phizzy Chews.
Now, I don’t want to show my age on this one but I remember when an assassination attempt on a world leader was a big deal……certainly bigger than M&S confectionary.
And just when you think things couldn’t get any more crazy, The Trump accused Haitian immigrants of eating cats and dogs in Ohio……causing multiple bomb threats and event cancellations.
Cue, more shoulder shrugging. We are punch drunk to his idiocy.
The clock is ticking and we are running out of time to stop the car crash. We have run out of time to look on the bright side. We’re just holding on, by our fingertips, until November……and my goodness it’s painful.
The Numbers
The big news was linked to the US, with significant data getting the cardigan wearers very excited (mine’s blue in case you were wondering).
Figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (there are only cardigan wearers that would even know that this existed) revealed that inflation had dropped to 2.5%, slightly below Wall Street forecasts. US inflation is now at a 3 year low.
UK inflation remained unchanged at 2.2% this month and it was no surprise that the Bank of England left the interest rate at 5%.
The September inflation figure is always an important number as it determines the increase in the State Pension. Wages have grown by 4%, higher than 2.2% inflation or 2.5% under the triple lock conditions. The State Pension is set to rise by £460 a year from April,.
However, the big news for us ‘cardiganers’ came from the Commission on the Future of Employment Support (it’s one of my top 3 commissions……it really is a cracker). Their report highlighted that the UK’s workforce is shrinking at the fastest rate in 40 years, costing the economy £25 billion a year and adding £16 billion of fiscal pressure to the public finances.
A 2 year analysis into the state of the workforce has found that 800,000 people have fallen out of the labour market since the Covid-19 pandemic, the largest employment drop since the 1980s, marking out the UK as having one of the worst economic inactivity problems in the developed world.
The report came the same week as the Institute for Fiscal Studies report that 3.9 million are on sickness benefits as Covid continues to take toll. 1 in 5 working age adults is claiming sickness benefits in some areas of the country and every local authority in England and Wales (bar one) has had a rise in claims since the pandemic. The number on sickness benefits has risen to 3.9 million people, up 38% in 4 years.
The UK is almost unique among wealthy countries in experiencing such a post-pandemic surge in sickness, with experts saying Covid may have hit the country’s ailing population and NHS harder.
You see Keir, it is quite an economic and fiscal puzzle you now have to unravel.
My own favourite number of the month……50……a certain special cardigan wearer may have reached a special birthday.
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Whilst The Trump has made a damn good fight for the award this month (he normally does), we don’t need to look too far in the UK to find our own helping of lunacy. The Trump of the Month Award for September 2024 is…… Keir Rodney Starmer.
Of all the things that were going to ‘cop it’ when Labour drew up its list to fund the £22 billion black hole (they conveniently didn’t know about until after they were elected), the Winter Fuel Payment would not have been on many peoples hit lists.
Hitting some of the most vulnerable and needy first just defies logic. Why start the hit list at low-income pensioners?
For the record, around 11.6 million people in just over 8 million households received the Winter Fuel Payment last winter at a total cost of £2 billion.
Labour MP after Labour MP trotted out in front of the media to claim how appalled they were at their party and leader. So appalled in fact that 53 Labour MPs opposed the cut in Winter Fuel Payment so strongly that they, er……abstained when it came to a vote and only one voted against.
WOW……just a single Labour MP voted against. Just one. There are no words. Respect to Jon Trickett. Morals before politics……how refreshing……how rare.
The vote passed by 120 in the end. It’s not hard when you’ve got a majority as big as they have. That’s Labour’s power for you……and we gave it to them.
The vote result came on the back of reports of Keir receiving all manner of freebies, from football and concert tickets, to accommodation and clothes from a variety of donors. Very interesting especially as Keir waxed lyrical about Tory culture of privilege and cronyism since being the Labour Party Leader.
Further investigation has shown that no MP has received more free gifts than Keir over the past 5 years. Given all we have lived through with BoJo’s Government, that’s an amazing statistic.
The Trump of the Month Award for September 2024 could only go to Free Gear Keir.
Shameful stuff.
Trump Lunacy Rating: 10 / 10
And Finally……
“History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”
Mark Twain
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