First of all, I want to thank Debbie and ‘Norman’ for keeping this site going last week while I was ill. Without their stepping into the breach INDEPENDENCE Daily would have been silent.
As for ‘news’ and reports in our MSM: I see that nothing has changed in the corridors of power and the newsrooms. There are some old white men whose comment pieces this morning are interesting, but otherwise? ‘Tis the same old same old. Checking out the ‘report’ on the headlines of this morning’s paper editions (link) I note with interest that there’s quite a difference between those and the online ones. For example, the Express screams in their print edition that there are ‘calls’ to fine patients for missed GP appointments which have cost the NHS £175m in the past 4 months. This has vanished from the online Express – I wonder why.
Let’s not ask why we patients can’t fine the NHS for all their cancelled appointments, for the waiting times, the dismal ambulance services. The answer is obvious: a bureaucracy is always right, those who need to use their services are always in the wrong and ought to stop complaining. This subject of overarching bureaucracies punishing us peasants when things go wrong is certainly noteworthy. It leads to the inevitable question which neither the eminent news editors nor their favourite opinion piece writers are asking. That question is “what the eff has this lot been doing since 2019?” Partying, WFH and having a good life on our backs – that’s what!
Take for example the report on scrapping EU Laws from the statue books. According to The Times, “Jacob Rees-Mogg calls for bonfire of EU rules to power Brexit innovations” (link, paywalled), only for them to write in the first sentence that Johnson ‘is planning’ to do this. Even if those civil serpents claim that they could only go to work on this ‘bonfire’ after the Treaty had been truly finalised in January 2021, that is a year and a half in which they could’ve achieved this. After all, weren’t those ‘Rolls Royce Mandarins’ diligently WFH?
Then there’s the energy crisis and the windfall tax. Roger Bootle in the DT observes that this tax is transforming Britain into a ‘handout state’ (paywalled link). He also points out that it smacks of playing party politics in the run-up to the by-elections next month. He does not ask why it was impossible for the Chancellor and the PM to reduce or scrap the taxes at least on household energy bills. It surely would make more economic sense than having more bureaucrats ‘working’ on making certain that the government largesse for which we all pay is going to the ‘deserving’, those who generally live on handouts already.
Obviously, those in the top income brackets can go on partying and WFH-ing , with ‘Teh State’ being the latest iteration of the former ‘Lady Bountifuls’ and of those who regarded it as their civic duty to give back to their communities, privately. Labour and all crypto-labourites have despised this attitude for generations.
However, every silver lining has a dark cloud. Even those segments of our society who clearly believe that inflation won’t hit them too hard, and that ‘Teh Poor’ can always go to foodbanks when groceries become too expensive, will suffer if the situation on the energy markets deteriorates further – windfall tax or not.
See the headline: “Millions warned of power cuts this winter” in The Times (link, paywalled). Such power cuts won’t affect just ‘Teh Poor’ but will hit the Audi Avenue denizens as well – or will they? Nameless Ministers have gossiped to The Times:
“The Times has been told that the government’s “reasonable” worst-case scenario, which has been drawn up by officials from across Whitehall, says that there could be widespread gas shortages if Russia goes further in cutting off supplies to the EU. A minister said the briefing suggested that electricity could have to be rationed for up to six million homes at the start of next year, mostly at peaks in the morning and evening. The curbs could last more than a month, causing energy prices to rise again and leaving GDP lower than forecast for years to come.“ (link, paywalled)
So which 6 million homes would that be? Note also that this is only ‘a scenario, but it’s good that we plebs are being warned! However, it was nearly a year ago there were numerous reports that our strategic gas reserves were practically empty, leading to the first home fuel price hike in October. The planned next hike was in place before the Ukrainian war kicked off. I’m sure the faceless, unnamed ‘ministers’ are glad that they can point their fingers elsewhere, being certain that nobody would ask about why they sat on their hands all those months.
And here’s the ‘fear porn’, the ‘reasoning’ why those blackouts are on the cards. It’s about the shortage of Russian gas on EU markets – thanks to EU sanctions, but don’t mention those – which would affect our gas supply. Yes, “we” only import 4% of ‘our gas’ from Russia, but we import far more from EU countries which have now sanctioned themselves and don’t receive Russian Gas. Clearly, our green policies are wonderful as long as we can import energy and don’t have to do the ‘dirty’ production ourselves. ‘Tis a nice sleigh-of-hands, now coming to bite us:
“The shortages would force Britain to implement its own gas emergency plans, which would lead to the closure of gas-fired power stations. Heavy industrial users of gas would also be told to stop using it. The closure of the plants would lead to a shortage of electricity, forcing the government, in effect, to ration. It would be turned off on weekdays at peak times in the morning, between 7am and 10am, and in the evenings, between 4pm and 9pm. Gas supply to homes would be unaffected.” (link, paywalled)
Are these ministers for real? No electricity means that home gas boilers also won’t run. So in the mornings and evenings it’s washing and shaving with cold water, it’s no cuppa for breakfast, no dinner to be cooked, never mind watching telly. Perhaps they believe that everybody will WFH anyway and thus stay in bed until the ‘leccy comes back on. And if anyone still thinks that surely Starmer would do better – well, do you want to buy this bridge I have stashed in my back garden?
While I agree with Lord Sumption who wrote in the DT yesterday that “Partygate is really about leadership, lies and the death of trust” (paywalled link), I humbly suggest that things have gone way beyond Partygate. How can we trust those who claim to govern us, who impose hardships and fines on us which don’t affect them? How can we trust those faceless ministers who take our money to give back a tiny amount to those whose votes they want? How can we trust a civil service which is looking after their own but not after the country as a whole? The MSM have long lost our trust, having become the mouthpiece of government and other, vested interests.
The outlook is grim: Westminster, the ‘loyal opposition’ included, is crushing the productive middle classes, excepting the Audi Avenue denizens. Since we’re into things Ukraine nowadays, let’s remember that there’s a historical example for this: the suppression and eradication of the kulaks under Stalin. ‘Levelling up’ is turning out to mean ‘levelling down’.
This is the end result of green policies combined with abysmal incompetence. It’s what ‘people’ want, though. It’s what they vote for. Crying and whimpering afterwards is futile.
https://petitions.senedd.wales/petitions/245171 I know this applies to Wales only, but please, if you are able, sign this petition opposing the recreation of 36 more useless people in an already top-heavy pointless place. These people have no shame. My thanks too for Debbie and Norman’s contributions and glad to see you back Viv.
Talking about WFH. Latest wheeze.
I’m hearing that some people have several of these WFH jobs simultaneously and hence gather in several salaries at once.
The energy problem has arisen because we did not start our “green” electricity sources soon enough. Only when fully implemented will we be immune to the activities of nasty foreigners.
The purpose of electricity cuts is twofold. It prevents us from using electricity and also gas. (Gas can’t be just turned off at source without causing massive disruption.) So if there’s a gas shortage, they’ll turn off electricity to prevent you using it.
None of the above will affect me. If you had been following my articles, you too would not be cold this Winter, regardless of what happens. If the war in Ukraine continues, energy shortages are inevitable.
We may be able to hold the EUSSR to ransom by landing gas in Milford Haven and sending it to Europe via the North Sea pipelines so filling their reserve gas storage facility through the Summer.
No doubt this is being negotiated right now.
“The energy problem has arisen because we did not start our “green” electricity sources soon enough. Only when fully implemented will we be immune to the activities of nasty foreigners.”
Except after dark and when the wind don’t blow. And you must know that hectares of solar panels, apart from wasting growing land, are hideously non-‘green’ in their source materials and manufacture, and eventual disposal. Likewise the whirling towers. And hydrogen doesn’t grow on trees: blue hydrogen uses more energy to produce from natural gas than simply using the gas direct; green hydrogen requires electricity, but don’t we need that electricity to power all those cars and everything else that is retrogressively going electric?
Not to mention upgrading infrastructure because the hydrogen molecule is way smaller than natural gas, needs a higher pressure network and could seep from the system (don’t mention the Hindenburg) if run on current pipes, and can degrade metal pipes over time. And that’s not just me: This from an article on the subject: “Unfortunately, because the physical and chemical properties of hydrogen differ significantly from those of natural gas, it is not possible to simply exchange natural gas for hydrogen in the existing natural gas system.”
Your obsessive repetition of the narrative is beyond satire. But at least we can rest easy that you are going to be cosy in the glow of your self-satisfaction.
And by the way, if we didn’t poke ‘nasty foreigners’ perhaps they wouldn’t retaliate by cutting off our gas.
There Is No Alternative to renewable primary fuels.
The Russians won’t be able to cut off our gas since we get very little from them. They WILL be able make it more expensive.
Only the terminally brain dead can’t see this.
Kiplings’ poem “The Beginnings” used to be a source of hope. But, it was written before multi-culturalism and ‘the long march through the institutions’. Soon, on current demographic trends, there will not be enough of us left to make a difference. “With long arrears to make good” is becoming ‘arrears too long to correct’.
When men can pretend to be women to gain access to female only spaces, such as hospital wards and prisons, to rape and assault, and can do so facilitated by the establishment, then a rota of power cuts (to us veterans of Heath’s three day week) is the least of our worries.
As I remarked to Mrs Yeoman at the weekend, there is an upside to being old. We will not live long enough to see the denouement of all this. Unfortunately, power cuts may prolong the agony as being cold can stimulate the immune system and less food can repair cell telomeres so that the combined effect is we will live slightly longer. An unfair fate when the will to live itself has been eroded by the end of the enlightenment to which we were once heirs.
But we must fight against it for as long as we are able to…
Hope you are feeling much better now Viv and many thanks to Norman and Debbie for taking the helm.
“ Westminster is crushing the productive middle classes”
At the UKIP conference last year a speaker posed the question “If UKIP cannot gain support at a time like we are experiencing now then how bad has it get?” Well, things have got worse. And still there is little sign of those of a centre Right outlook amongst the “productive middle classes “ having had enough of Doris’ medicine to do anything positive about the matter.
Jake………until UKIP say something that is relevant to the average man in the street, and more importantly says it loud enough, nothing much is going to change. Neil Hamilton is alright but the party needs a younger and more dynamic man at the helm rather somebody in the autumn or early winter of his life. Somebody who has the ability to get noticed and able to motivate the party machine. At the moment UKIP is like a car with no engine and only one wheel which is stuck in two feet of mud. Only one person I can think of who do all this, and he is wasting his time and capabilities presenting a programme on GB News…Need I say more.
Colin. I don’t think you have looked at the manifesto of late? Unlike you, I am not waiting for a white knight to emerge on a magnificent white charger to lead a new centre Right movement. But if people like you from up and down the country become members then, sooner rather than later, that charismatic person you speak of (no not Farage, he’s burnt his bridges) may note the groundswell of support and throw in his/her lot and lead the party.
Do remember young people have huge outgoings just to survive and thus a party leader needs a good living wage. UKIP nor any other centre Right challenger party to my knowledge is flush with money so a growing membership is vital to progress being made. Farage may well have left UKIP in the very early years without an MEPs salary and pension!!
And please Colin, will you kindly stop all this incessant railing for Doris to step down he is the best weapon we have to sow division and chaos in the Tories and thus attract new members to UKIP!!!
https://www.ukip.org/
It doesn’t matter what the UKIP manifesto contains because nobody is reading it apart from a few party members like you. You paint a picture that everything is going so swimmingly well in UKIP when in fact the contrary applies. You say Johnson’s antics attract new members to UKIP and I sincerely hope that he does, but unfortunately I will not be one of them until such time they start hitting a raw nerve and have a leader at the helm who will take them forward in a meaningful way. Perhaps you can enlighten me and the rest of us here how many new members have been attracted to UKIP in the past six months. I would like to hope that it numbers in the hundreds if not the thousands, but in reality is probably miles less than 50. I would like to think you will respond in a positive light, but whenever I ask these questions of you with regard to UKIP there is silence.
Colin I really don’t know how many new members have been recruited to UKIP due to the hapless Doris but you must agree he presents sufficient reasons for centre Right voters to say ‘enough is enough’. And surely Colin you don’t believe a new Tory leader would deliver traditional conservative policies, undo green blobbery, fix immigration, balance the budget, slash goverment spending etc?
UKIP do have candidates in the Tiverton and Honiton and Wakefield by elections next month. If you don’t like what UKIP has to offer then join another centreRight challenger party but for goodness sake get some skin in the game.
This is a depressing insight into the power of the swivel serpents, otherwise known as the Blob.
Thanks for that Ceri; I’ll pass it around.
Thanks Ceri. Two points to make. It was not only The Blob that was putting obstacles in the way of delivering the will of the people vis a vis Brexit a great deal of the Tory party were too. If the Blob has been a permanent obstacle to delivering policy this does not stop the Tories making manifesto promises that they know they will have great difficulty in delivering. They are, in my estimation, are as despicable as the Blob. How ironic that the only man in No 10 with the cojonnes to take on the Blob -Cummings – is shown the door! There is an equally and arguably more pernicious Blob that is present in the Tory party and as Peter Hitchens has said on many occasions, only the destruction of the Tory Party can save conservatism. Let us not be fooled by Gove, Smith and Davies pointing their fingers at the Blob, they seem to live quite comfortably in the Tory Blob.
Hi Jake. I concur. The Tories certainly try to play the victim card in this video. When we campaigned for Brexit little did we know that it was not just the EU we were taking on. That is small fry compared to the UN, WEF, UN….not to mention our dreadful MPs and swivel serpents..
JB- Cummings was fired (like Frosty, but he was fired twice!) wanting Brexit. Davis just quit. We still wait.
Those first two ‘could’ make a great pm + advisor team to get the cons show back on the road. But variously not electable, especially by the laughingly called ‘their own party’.
I can rarely see where the civil service ends and the bbc starts.
Oh, well must be off to my two diversity course . . .
Jake…….there is a major difference in what might happen and actual reality. I have tried to look up UKIP’s present membership numbers, but the only reference I can find is a 2020 one which stated less than 3,888….whatever that means. Even if the party has 4000 members the length and breadth of the country, it would mean that quite a sizeable percentage of their total membership would have to contest the 650 parliamentary seats to stand any chance of making a difference. I know of several people who are still members of UKIP in my old branch, but they are the people that never actually did anything. Never stood as an election candidate, never stood for a committee position, never helped out at election times, but more often than not were the people who did the moaning. And if that is replicated throughout the country, they don’t stand a hope in hell. Hopefully I am wrong…..
Just wait until the cold weather comes along with the cold dark nights, its only three weeks or so to the’ longest day’ and then the howls will be defening. Well the sheep can’t say they were not warned about what was going to happen , all I can say is the majority must like the prospect because they keep on voting for more and more punishment.
Yes, indeed – those who vote for establishment parties have fed the cancer of our corrupt political establishment. Let them look to themselves if they want someone to blame.