diable rouge

Perhaps a good time to revisit your 'farewell' post... When I first read your 'farewell' message a few days ago, it was actually the second line that grabbed my attention the most, in particular the parachute analogy, as it reminded me that while you've been extoling the virtues of Brexit and that it's a long-term, min 10 year plan, you've always had the safety net of holding an Australian passport as well as your EU one. Now that you've had to 'pull the ripcord', perhaps one day you'll understand why those of us who haven't such safety nets and have had their plans/right to live/work/retire in the EU taken away by Brexit, hold such grievances towards Brexit and those that support it...

As all my well learned remainers friends often ask... What specific policy announcement in the mini-Budget could the UK government have NOT announced prior to brexit? Answer.... they could have made exactly the same set of announcements prior to brexit, so how was this a 'brexit economics' budget. Because brexit supporting politicians were behind it?... Were it not for Brexit* the mini-budget wouldn't have made it past a Tufton St sponsored big tent event at a Tory Party conference, let alone into Kwarteng's red briefcase. Brexit is the enabler, just as it has been for the despicable Rwanda policy or for the NIP Bill. Are you seriously telling me that a Bill that will intentionally break a binding trade agreement and international law would've been put before parliament pre-Brexit? Not on your nelly. These things have happened as a direct consequence of the Brexit we ended up with, it's processes and what it's ushered in politically under the Brexit umbrella. This mini-budget was very much the economic manifestation of the need to conjure some kind of 'Brexit dividend' to sell to the masses. *Just to reiterate, I'm referring to the hard Brexit we ended up with. Had it been, say, a Norway style deal, then we wouldn't be having this discussion because we would have far more serious and sensible politicians in charge, together with membership of the SM and the actual economic growth that brings. I get why you want to try and dissociate Brexit from this debacle, but the bottom line is that the majority of people won't have even have heard of supply side reforms let alone know what they are, and when it comes to the next GE they will simply ask themselves ''Am I better off than before, did this Brexit Gov deliver what it promised?'' Because this is a Brexit Gov no matter how you try and paint it otherwise. Johnson rode into Downing Street on the back of Brexit, so a lot of what they say and do, especially economically and and how that affects people's prosperity, will inevitably be related back to Brexit...

55 Tufton Street....

If someone truly knows the markets they will know that the markets look at things dispassionately. It didn't matter how well the mini-budget was commed, because the slickest of presentations couldn't hide that there was a circa £70 billion fiscal black hole. To the markets it also didn't matter whether the tax cuts were for the richest or poorest, because to them it was a simple case of 'bad housekeeping' i.e. economic/financial incompetence. The party that many people see as being the most competent in handling the economy, showed economic/financial ineptitude on a scale that would make a Corbyn Gov blush, and the markets reacted accordingly. One shouldn't be surprised at such blame-gaming, Brexit itself was built on this sense of 'otherness', that it was someone else's fault i.e. demonising the EU, pesky foreigners etc. So why should Brexit economics be any different. For ''That's not my Brexit'', now read ''That's not my Brexit economics''...

A reminder that there are midweek games, starting with a couple tonight...

Ah, the good ol' 'bad comms', I'd already noticed that Julian Jessop & Gerard Lyons et al have tried playing that particular card while frantically trying to row back to save their 'reputations' Larry the Cat talks more sense...

Another one to add to the 'this hasn't aged well' collection...

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that a Brexit apologist shouldn't mention it as having cost implications and a major reason why we're in this mess. The origin of our current malaise was the Brexit referendum. Charitably, it was a risky bet on a radical shift in our long-established and reasonably successful economic and geopolitical model and the bet has been lost. What we are seeing now is government by sunk-cost fallacy. The mini-budget provided us with the result of when Brexit 'economics' (which includes trickle down economics that you have personally extolled on here) meets reality, and the subsequent real-time costs therein to the nation's wealth, not to mention how it has trashed further our standing in the world. The Singapore on Thames fantasists of the IEA and ERG finally met the reality of actual free-markets and were embarrassingly wiped-out in days. The shit didn't just hit the fan, it hit them square on in the face. A busted flush. Switch the lights off on your way out chaps. Project Fear = Project Reality, the inevitable consequence of 6 years of clapping and cheering the ignoring of rules-based orders, the trashing of parliamentary norms and precedents, undermining the peace process in Northern Ireland and the stability of the Union, the creation of an internal wall of red tape for British business to navigate at extra cost, and so on and so on. And like the involuntary twitches of a dying body, they even clapped and cheered in the aftermath of Kwarteng's statement, one final denial of realty for old time's sake. That they would even attempt an economic experiment like this while the country is going through such crises should make even the most ardent Brexiter question them. But here they are, still denying it, still sticking their head in the sand, still blaming it on 'a Remainer plot'. Meanwhile, back in realty, the rest of us are left with picking-up the bill with a maxed-out credit card that's just been declined...

Libertarian free-trade deregulation low-tax economics. Thoughts and prayers go out to the secretly funded think-tanks at this difficult time. No flowers please...

Friday night game plus Brucie Bonus mid-week games. Week 10 fixtures... Friday 14th October Brentford v Brighton & Hove Albion Saturday 15th October Leicester City v Crystal Palace Fulham v AFC Bournemouth Wolverhampton Wanderers v Nottingham Forest Tottenham Hotspur v Everton Sunday 16th October Aston Villa v Chelsea Leeds United v Arsenal Manchester United v Newcastle United Southampton v West Ham United Liverpool v Manchester City Tuesday 18th October Brighton & Hove Albion v Nottingham Forest Crystal Palace v Wolverhampton Wanderers Wednesday 19th October AFC Bournemouth v Southampton Brentford v Chelsea Liverpool v West Ham United Newcastle United v Everton Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur Thursday 20th October Fulham v Aston Villa Leicester City v Leeds United

Week 9 points... Week 9 table...

Bizarre seeing Truss being more sensible and progressive re European relations, while simultaneously being her usual; batshit crazy when it comes to domestic/economic issues. Is she an undercover Lib Dem agent?...

Predict Addict have got the World Cup Group fixtures up, so I'll set-up another EDF Mini-League and give out the details of how to join. Only 6 weeks to go!...

Week 9 fixtures... Saturday 8th October AFC Bournemouth v Leicester City Chelsea v Wolverhampton Wanderers Manchester City v Southampton Newcastle United v Brentford Brighton & Hove Albion v Tottenham Hotspur Sunday 9th October Crystal Palace v Leeds United West Ham United v Fulham Arsenal v Liverpool Everton v Manchester United Monday 10th October Nottingham Forest v Aston Villa

Week 8 points... Week 8 table...

The Labour Party 'forced' the country into having Gordon Brown as PM without a GE, so it's disingenuous to paint this as solely a 'Tory thing'. However, there is clearly a problem when a replacement PM takes a completely new direction of travel like we're seeing with Truss, going against what they stood for at a GE. Not only does Truss not have mandate to do these things from the country, she doesn't even have a mandate from her own MPs. Rightly or wrongly, we don't have a written constitution to prevent something like this happening, instead relying on MPs to 'do the right thing'. The whole parliamentary process needs overhauling including the House of Lords and the ''First Past the Post'' voting system...

Rats in the sack latest.... Widespread dismay at the fact that 3 years of work has effectively been put on hold. No one asked for this. C4 sale, online safety, BBC licence feee review - all signed off by cabinet all ready to go, all stopped. If Liz wants a whole new mandate, she must take to the country. - Nadine Dorries

Cat, please spare us the ''I know 100's of people'' anecdotes. I'm surprised that with this large social network of yours, who all happily divulge their intimate financial details to you, that you can find the time to bless the EDF with your presence...

In theory, but the reality is that these high earners employ 'creative accountants' (tax deductible) and via tax avoidance schemes this revenue is just as likely to end up in an off-shore fund than the Treasury's coffers. What the Tufton St lot don't understand is the 'politics' of all this, it's seen as intrinsically unfair, a 'reverse Robin Hood tax', and today's Telegraph headline about the Gov prepared to cut benefits in real terms will feed into that narrative. And that's before we even get the full details of the ginormous spending cuts needed to fund this plan i.e. Austerity 2.0...

Week 8 fixtures... Saturday 1st October Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur AFC Bournemouth v Brentford Crystal Palace v Chelsea Fulham v Newcastle United Liverpool v Brighton & Hove Albion Southampton v Everton West Ham United v Wolverhampton Wanderers Sunday 2nd October Manchester City v Manchester United Leeds United v Aston Villa Monday 3rd October Leicester City v Nottingham Forest

What we're seeing, once again, is what happens when this extreme version of Brexit eventually meets reality. The UK has now become a petri dish for the fantasy libertarian economics of the IEA et al while the rest of the world looks on aghast. It's no longer a cult, it's become a deathcult. All self-inflicted, all totally unnecessary, all consumed at the altar of Brexit...

Kwarteng on borrowed time...

Call me a cynic, but something tells me this post isn't going to age well...

Also a huge difference as to how the borrowed money would be spent. I'm guessing tax breaks for the wealthy and removing the cap on banker's bonuses wouldn't have been top priorities for those opposed to austerity...