2010 General Election

Well, that’s another General Election out of the way, and Britain seems to be in an even worse state than it was beforehand, if that indeed were possible. We have a hung Parliament, which is certainly not what the country needs at this moment.

Gordon Brown is still the Prime Minister, although not an elected one. Since becoming the Labour leader, there have been a couple of attempts to oust him, but those have fizzled out, although another attempted coup could be in the offing in the next few weeks. David Cameron, after becoming head of the Conservatives, reckoned that they should try and modernise their image if they really wanted to govern the country – well, they did change tack, and have won the most votes in the election, but not enough seats to give them a majority in the Commons. Some Tories will no doubt be wondering if he really is the man to be in charge of the Party. Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrats might have come out on top in the leaders’ debates which were televised over the past few weeks, but that popularity wasn’t translated into votes last night, which means that the media might have been impressed with his appearances, but the majority of the electorate weren’t. Again, how happy are the rank and file going to be with his leadership, and overall campaign strategy?

I would suggest that what is needed in Britain today is a leader, in whichever party, who has some moral fibre, and who can gather around him a team of advisors who want to be there for the overall good of the country, and not to boost their own egos and bank balances. In all successful organisations, there are competent leaders – take some successful football clubs as just one example. Think of Celtic, Liverpool, Manchester United – all very successful clubs while there was an able man at the helm. They had Jock Stein, Bill Shankley, Alex Ferguson respectively – men who surrounded themselves with good coaches, and player who worked together as a TEAM, which is very important.

Our democracy in Britain has proved to be one of the best forms of government over the years, but it stops being democratic when bills are being forced through by applying the party whip, when individual members are forced to toe the party line, often against their own wishes or beliefs, and especially their constituents’ wishes. Each member is elected by his constituents, and to serve them properly, he/she should vote according to the way that the majority of them would want him/her to vote. There is also a strong case to be made for proportional representation, as the number of seats that the Liberal Democrats manage to get are ridiculously low compared to the number of votes cast for them nationwide. I recall someone saying that the best form of government was dictatorship, combined with assassination for any dissenters, but fortunately we in the UK are rather more refined than that – so far.

On a lighter note, I’ve had a look a look at what some of the party leaders gorged themselves on, particularly at election time. In the 2 weeks leading up to the big day, Margaret Thatcher went in search of chooks, and ate 28 eggs a week, while Gordon Brown demolished 9 bananas a day, to make up for cutting KitKats and fizzy drinks out of his diet. Harold Wilson loved to cover his food with Worcestershire Sauce, but decided to be photographed with HP Sauce instead, so that he could be more readily identified as being one of the masses. Mind you, he’s the only man in the last 100 years to have won 4 General Elections, so there’s something to be said for carrying a bottle of it in the hip pocket. Winston Churchill, of course, preferred liquid sustenance, especially brandy and champagne, which he took every day, sometimes as early as breakfast time.

I’m now feeling peckish, so it’s down to the kitchen for HP covered eggs, followed by a couple of bananas, washed down by some sparkling wine – non-alcoholic, of course, as I’m waiting patiently for a call from No 10, so as to give the new incumbent some tips on cooking haggis and sheep's head broth.

Downward Spiral in UK Continues

At the moment, all areas of Britain are engulfed in debt − banks, government and people. The whole nation is being slowly strangled by it. Our national debt alone stands at a frightening £400 billion. But that figure – in itself abnormally high – is a drop in the ocean compared with the collective indebtedness of the banks now under effective government control. This is hardly breaking news, but what the Government is doing about it what should really alarm us.

Already another £250 billion of taxpayer’s money – YOUR money – has been pledged to prop up our failing banks. But it doesn’t seem to be working. Banks still refuse to lend. Everything’s ground to a halt. Shops are closing… there’s hardly any job vacancies… unemployment is surging... property values are falling...and at the same time, Britain’s debt curve is no longer a curve – it’s going straight up.

Why should this concern you? Your investments? Your retirement? Your savings? Very soon, every pound you have could be worth much less than it is at the moment. It’s no longer difficult to imagine the national debt doubling or even tripling as the banking crisis persists.

If the UK is moved to nationalise more – or even ALL – of our banks... in one  swoop it will dump another £4 TRILLION of debt on to the country’s balance sheet. It’s just about impossible for us to imagine what those figures mean… but think of it this way… Even if just a tiny percentage of those debts went bad due to recession... the financial burden on each and every one of us would be unthinkable...

The Government will probably do one of two things, (or even both) to avoid this outcome: 

1) Drastically hike up taxes to pay for the hefty debt burden... meaning LESS money in the bank for hardworking Britons...

2) Or print more money... sending inflation rocketing and sterling into meltdown. 

The last time we were this close to going bankrupt was in 1976...

Back then the Government only warded off an utter collapse of the entire economy by going begging to the International Monetary Fund for an emergency “bailout” loan. The following years were some of the worst in British economic history. Inflation soared... poverty skyrocketed... and every household in the UK was poorer for years to come. At most, we’re on the brink of repeating one of these scenarios, if not all three. It’s a potential timebomb that could explode in our faces at any moment.

You and your family’s standard of living is already squeezed by this recession. And if it hasn’t been yet, it could be very soon. Those are some of the facts --£154 million gets added to UK debt every 24 hours, over 1,400 are made unemployed, and the average house price has dropped by £100 every day since December 2007.

 How much money can a society borrow before it begins to have negative effects on our ability to borrow any more? When you get to the point that people won’t loan you any more money as a government, you’ve got a horrendous problem.

It seems to me that we are hurtling towards economic destruction…and much worse.

For Whom The Pell Tolls

I sometimes wonder if bosses in the UK and elsewhere DO actually live on the same planet as the rest of us. This week we have the Deputy Chief Executive of  the Royal Bank of Scotland, Gordon Pell, telling MPs on the Scottish Affairs Committee that 2,700 job losses were in the pipeline, despite an RBS spokesman later saying that no firm figures had been set. Mr Pell, who earns a paltry £908,000 a year, also sprang to the defence of Sir Freddie Goodwin, the former boss of RBS, saying that history would recognise the banker’s many skills, and the huge contribution he had made to Scotland. This Mr Pell was a member of the board during the disastrous takeover of ABM Amro, and admits that RBS expanded into areas that they didn’t understand. If he and his fellow board members didn’t understand things back then, I doubt if even a brain transplant would help him to understand anything nowadays either, apart from the number of zeros in his salary.

Not to be outdone in the stupidity ranks, Northern Rock carried on lending high risk 125% mortgages for six months after getting a multi-million bailout from the taxpayer. This was happening from September 2007 until February 2008, while the Treasury was pouring public money into the bank, and thousands of its depositors were queuing up to try and withdraw their money. In all, £1.8 billion was lent, although some of the loans had been made as a result of prior commitments. Some financial authorities had noted the need for further investigations into the bank’s lending, but the matter was not considered to be a priority by the Treasury. 

In America, the “retention bonuses” that were to be paid to executives of the failed firm AIG (arrogance, ignorance, greed, as one wit called them) has caused widespread anger and demonstrations. Much more serious for the US leaders was a statement issued by China’s Premier Wen Jiabao -- “We are very concerned about the economic developments in the U.S. economy.  We have lent a huge amount of money to the United States and of course we’re concerned about the security of our assets and, to be honest, I am a little bit worried.”   China is the largest holder of U.S. debt, passing Japan in September for that honour. The country now owns roughly $1 trillion in U.S. Treasuries and other government-backed bonds, or about $1 dollar for every $10 in U.S. debt. China’s key financial position means that as Washington borrows record amounts to spend us out of recession, Beijing’s economic power grows stronger. In effect, the Chinese leader now feels that he has the power, and the right, to tell the US President to cut down on America’s spending.  

With unemployment in Britain now over 2 million, it is shocking to hear that the Government is running a number of free courses to encourage companies to legally employ non-EU workers in the country. This is to cost £20,000, and is to be funded by the long suffering taxpayer. What on earth is wrong with recruiting people from the increasing number of British workers whose only chance of doing anything constructive nowadays is to sign their name in the nearest Job Centre.

Britain and Christian Values

 

The case concerning a community nurse, Caroline Petrie, who was suspended for offering to pray for one of her patients is bad enough, but it is only the tip of the iceberg, as far as this country of ours is concerned. She is one of thousands of Christian workers and those of other faiths for whom prayer is a normal daily part of their lives.  It is no surprise, of course, that The National Secular Society backed the suspension of Mrs Petrie. The group, which represents the interests of atheists, agnostics and other non-religious groups, said it was inappropriate for health workers to 'evangelise'. 

 

Britain, as a nation, has lost its sense of Christian values, morals, and ethics over the past few decades. We only have to look at the increase in abortions, murders, and other violent and drug/drink related crimes to realise that we have fallen a long way from the standards of a century ago.

 

People are elected to our Parliament, often ones with limited intellect, but who have the ability to deliver glib speeches when appealing to the electorate for votes. The public’s apathy at General Elections is partly to blame for allowing some of those unsuitable individuals into the Commons.  In the Lords last week, we were reminded again of how low Britain has sunk, with the Sunday Times newspaper revealing that four peers from the governing Labour Party, including two former ministers, had agreed to help undercover reporters posing as business lobbyists to obtain amendments for between £24,000 and £120,000 a year. One of them was even recorded, claiming that it was okay to do such deals in certain circumstances.

 

Only a couple of days after those revelations, I watched a senior citizen on TV, explaining that she could only afford to boil her kettle once a day, and that she used candles at night instead of electricity. She, and thousands like her, receive less per week than our MPs claim in expenses for one day. In fact, I wonder how many of those MPs, of all parties, are content with owning or renting just the one house. Not too many, I suspect. Maybe our leaders should heed the words in Proverbs Ch. 22 v 2 – "The rich and poor meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all.”

 

I have deliberately used the name “Britain” above without the “Great”, as we have lost the right to use that as a descriptive adjective nowadays.