Spartacus

I'm mighty confused DR You seem to be making two contradicting statements "Tax cuts benefit the wealthiest more than the poorest." and "Tax rises hit the poorest more than the wealthiest." Cut it and the poor don't get the full benefit, raise it and the poor are impacted more. Forgive me for asking, but with taxes what's the solution because you seem to be saying damned if we do damned if we don't? My personal view is that if you encourage businesses to start or grow by offering tax advantages rather then penalties, the end result is that they need more staff, generate more income and even with a tax advantage, pay more to HMRC. Of course, this changes with larger companies who play the global taxation game, but in principle for SMEs growth and lower taxes are beneficial and these benefits trickle down to the general population in the form of lower prices and jobs.

Making it dangerous for the blind, elderly or disabled is not exactly "teething problems" 🤔

Just saw this on twitter Interesting view on the consultation

Anyone seen him yet ? 😜

BBC News - Dumped e-bikes causing accidents for blind people https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-62794829

Will this thread expire tomorrow when BJ officially steps down? Will it morph into another title? Or will it remain and just become a PM bashing thread regardless of who's in charge? "Curious and Curiouser" said Alice

I could be wrong, but from what I read the far east bought gas on the futures market 6 to 12 months ago thus tying up any extra capacity in the system to shore up their exit from covid and a return to manufacturing. Sadly, with a privatised market here and in parts of Europe, that didn't happen as there was a failure globally to predict what was about to happen I agree, the solution needs cross party working but equally it needs a global response to what is happening at home and abroad. We aren't the only country in this situation however the summer recess obviously didn't help nor did the whole fiasco over choosing a new leader which could have been compressed by weeks. The solution isn't simple nor is it solely in the UKs remit alone as its a global crisis, despite the impression our media gives.

Strange week The G7 announced a gas price cap to stop Russia dictating the price of gas swiftly followed by Gazprom announcing the indefinite cloure of Nord Stream 1 "due to a leak" Meanwhile Russia appeared to be burning off excess gas at one of their drilling platforms . The Far East has bought a lot of gas at a fixed long term futures price which ties up production for this winter at least which also has a knock on effect on the global gas prices. What's the next steps that can be taken to keep global gas prices from spiralling even higher in the short to medium term ?

If you do want to sell home cooked food then read this first as it tells you all you would need to consider. It even applies if you are giving food away on a regular basis that is home cooked. https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/starting-a-food-business-from-home

Also came across this, whilst not ED, it is just around the corner and reinforces what residents in East Dulwich have experienced https://newsfromcrystalpalace.wordpress.com/2022/08/31/blocked-off-roads-report-shows-massive-increases-in-car-traffic-on-lambeth-ltn-boundary-roads/ No idea on the validity of the data but makes fascinating reading.

Interesting and whilst mentioned before, this Southwark news story puts the debate between councillors and TfL into perspective. https://southwarknews.co.uk/news/like-a-red-rag-to-a-bull-emails-reveal-council-feared-impact-of-dulwich-ltn-report/

Came across this article today talking about a £2.5 million study into the effects of cannabis on the brain. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv25ex5e30lo Can you imagine the conversation "I want to do a study on the human brain" "Okay how much do you need?" "£2.5 million" "Okay what are you going to spend it on?" "DRUGS MAN"

It's looking very much like the EU are starting to do just that, let's hope other governments, including ours, can join the discussion BBC News - EU faces awful winters without gas cap - minister https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-62710522

Could be any number of reasons Cat sitting in a funny pose under the car Or Something amusing about the car that he wanted to capture Or Just liked the shape for a photo Jumping to conclusions, whilst potentially correct, could also be wrong and without asking the photographer I guess its impossible to know the real reason but I guess speculation is all we have left 😉

Billy, the issue here is that they are offering two options One way buses Or Two way buses That's as close to a referendum as we seem to get In terms of the recent election, it was obviously ABC (anything but Conservatives) after the scandle of central government and our councillors could have stood on any agenda including building on estate green space and still won. My issue isn't that I didn't get my way on something but that time and time again they ask a question then wiggle out when they don't get the answer they wanted which makes consultations baseless and a tick box exercise rather then listening to what people actually are saying.

Thanks DR Interesting reading, however it seems to miss part of the issue that the big oil and gas companies supplying the retail suppliers are profiteering on the rise in global prices, caused partly by demand as the economy reopened and partly by the war in Ukraine. It talks about windfall taxes on them but that alone won't stop global wholesale prices rising. There needs to be some constructive thinking on how to globally, short term, reduce wholesale prices which then reflect in domestic and business bills. Long term the reliance on gas to produce energy obviously needs to be reduced. Whilst I can arm chair speculate, I'm not in power (yet, Wha Ha Ha Ha 🧐) and globally governments seem to be tinkering around the edges and not tackling the real problem, high wholesale prices spured on by oil and gas companies taking advantage of the situation.

It would be interesting to see how similar data on cycling was captured and in which area to verify if the stats presented by the council reflect reality or not.

The latest thinking from Scottish Power is that the government should loan them £100bn so that they can freeze energy bills now and the loan is repaid over the next 20 or so years through bills. BBC News - Scottish Power's £100bn plan to freeze energy bills for two years https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-62645441 Let's think about this, saddling consumers now and in the future with a share of the £100bn debt for 20 plus years where there is no guarantees that in 2 years energy prices will be lower then they are today A classic robbing Peter to pay Paul scenario. At the same time, the big gas extraction companies will still see excessive profits from the current situation at our and our government backed loans expense. This is not a solution but a case of locking us into fuel poverty for longer. The solution needs to remove the emphasis on the gas extraction companies making a profit out of a crisis whilst allowing energy prices to return to a more sustainable level. Maybe even nationalising them again and controlling how much they sell gas for thus reducing the global race to the highest price as other companies will struggle to sell at higher prices. In all things wholesale buyers look for best not worst price and if someone is offering a lower price they will gravitate towards it thus pulling other companies prices down.🤔 Might be a bit simplistic but somethings gotta give

So what's the point? Another tick box exercise for the council, ignoring any results they don't want to see? It's about time this council is held to account and listens to what residents actually want and stop predetermining what the outcome should be and fudging consultations to suit.

Ganapati is always close to the true southern Indian taste.

I believe the term is lout as in "Lycra Louts" not warrior The issue is a small minority of city cyclists who give others a bad reputation (speeding, jumping lights and so on) which is why there is a proposal to look at how to control that small minority. Years ago we could go as fast as we wanted in our cars, then on Thursday morning June 1964, British rally driver Jack Sears reached 185 mph on the M1 motorway. Tabloids at the time had a field day, citing this as dangerous driving. From 22nd December 1965, the UK government trialled a 70mph limit on all motorways. In 1967 this became an official law. Question is, with roads being increasingly shared by cycles, cars and pedestrians will something similar occur where a huge outcry causes a knee jerk reaction?

Got to love that this is currently the first post below the ad for "Butter and Crust" bread delivery service 😋

There was a quick mention (blink and it was gone) article yesterday about potential price discounts for avoiding peak use. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62626908.amp If implemented It's a sugar coated pill to swallow as it really means that peak usage will be charged at a higher rate. Who decides when peak usage is? Currently its muted as 5pm till 8pm (when everyone has returned from work, cooking their supper and unwinding with a soap or similar) Are they now looking at controlling when we eat our evening meal and if everyone avoids peak times above then will peak time be extended ? Peak billing has been around for years for business (retail contract billing takes a measurement every 30 minutes) but for domestic use it has all sorts of issues including a record of when you appear to be in or out by your energy usage, all good unless the information is hacked then it gives criminals access to your daily routine. Equally if prices are higher during the day to encourage us to free electricity up for business use, what about housebound, home workers or school holidays where daytime usage may not be avoidable ? Theses schemes aren't for the benefit of the consumer , don't let them sleep walk you into higher charges for washing your smalls When I clap my hands 👏, WAKE UP before its too late 😅

I guess the best "united front to the public" would be to hold their hands up and say "we got it wrong, how can we work together to fix it"

Let's hope that they can stay out of trouble as the picture houses are a valuable local resource where they exist. Until there is news either way, this is potentially just rumourmilling at the moment and best way to stop things like this happening is to use our local resources otherwise any closure could be justified.