Farage has succeeded in grabbing the headlines. But there is a world going on elsewhere.
The war in the Gulf is still happening:
Jet fuel supplies are at risk:
The stock market is still a casino, designed for speculation and not for funding the economy:
Despite that, the Bank of England wants to make things worse by easing regulation:
And the Office for Budget Responsibility is as wedded as ever to the ideas that the household analogy is true, that bonds fund government, that the government can run out of money, that bond markets set interest rates, and can withdraw from the gilts market even though they cannot function without gilts, and so austerity must return:
We, then, still face a crash, brought about by war created by the far right and its politics of hate and grievance, which neoliberal dogma is already doing its very best to compound.
That is what we are up against.
It is worth remembering the scale of the problem we face, every now and again.
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“Burnt-ham warned of unsustainable finances “………because local gov is “pissing money” (a technical term) at private-parasitical-equity that has taken over many of the services previously provided @ low cost directly by local gov. Now, Private-vultures-r-us-equity under-provides & over-charges. Not that I would expect the ciphers & no-marks in the Office of Irresponsibility to note this aspect of life on the Septic isle. Any gov’ worthy of the name would undertake a large-scale eradication programme of PE (and quangos such as the Office of Nonsense) and get back to doing what any & all govs should do – provide directly the services that citizens have a right to expect. (note the word “right”).
Related: if Bin-face could articulate the above – he’d win by a land-slide against fart-rage.
Apologies for posting twice: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/08/andy-burnham-water-energy-nationalisation-utilities
As per usual the writers miss the core point: “Yet the key phrase, “more control”, can span a wide range of options from full nationalisation to simply a more muscular approach to regulation”. Regulation of monopolies (muscular or otherwise) can’t work due to information asymmetry – the regulated ALWAYS know more than the regulator. 46 years of “regulation” have proved this. The writers are too ill informed (or possibly too stupid) to understand this. Splitting National Grid into a government owned operations org whilst leaving the assets in the stock-listed company is a nod in the direction of this reality. Burnt-ham & his acolytes will not/cannot/do not understand this (or want to). Personally? I favour confiscation of all monopoly assets, I’d also bring criminal charges against the boards, top management and shareholders, dawn raids etc . I’d go after their lawyers as well (on the basis of taking part in & supporting organised crime). Seeing suits going to jail would be politically very very popular.
Much to agree with
I think I need a new radio. There was some idiot on the BBC early this morning effectively saying that the US had responded (not sure to what) in a reasonable and nuanced way, by only attacking southern Iran, so this cannot be considered a breach of the ceasefire! I have always believed that words mean what words say. Cease means to stop, fire, in this context means to shoot projectiles of some sort aimed at harming the enemy. A partial ceasefire is impossible.
I put the batteries back in, when I picked the radio up from the floor, and it seems to be working, for those who may have been concerned.
🙂
The looming Great Trump Depression is getting closer.
The west’s main stream media is toeing the line that the US/Israel war on Iran is not having an impact on the supply of materials critical for the world economy. Trump is saying its ok and of course he’s right.
The oil market is being manipulated by clever use of public statements like “gusher” by Trump and his cronies to “influence” the algorithms used by oil traders/hedge funds that scan the media and then use the information to set prices.
There is an utter disconnection between the amount of oil that is available and its true price. Everyone is looking at the futures market not the cost today of actually refining oil.
Be prepared for massive price hikes.
This use of programmes to hunt for ” words” that promote growth positivity etc is part of the reason that your YouTube hits are down.
What do we get in the UK? The usual garbage, public finances are in a mess, the UK is broke, the public sector is rubbish, but we must free the City institutions from regulation because they are facing unfair competition and give big subsidies to the private sector because otherwise they will move elsewhere. Oh and interest rates must go up to beat external price inflation.
The UK’s answer? More austerity. Which will hit the voters of Clacton harder than their ex MP.
It is not just the amount of oil available. It is the type Middle barrel distillates are what is required both for jet fuel and diesel. US has only enough reserves to last week’s
My personal view: Until the politicians know that they will be taken to taken to task about their neoliberal policies by the main media, I suspect little will change. This suggests to me that the media need to be persuaded to alter their habits when interviewing politicians and also when writing opinion pieces. But I cannot see an easy or straightforward way to do this.
Its interesting to read the reports from Russia
They seem to have serious fuel shortages thanks to the Ukrainians shifting from targeting storage facilities to refineries.
The Harvest will be starting soon and all those tractors and combines need diesel.
There will clearly be an impact on global refined fuel and grain supplies especially as Russia is a major exporter of refined products.
There could be hunger in Russia this winter
Why are normally sensible people getting things so horribly wrong, like for instance, completely misunderstanding the role of taxation in our economy?
My theory is that it’s always due to not really understanding the subject, while having an interest in it, sufficient to read newspaper columns which perpetuate the misunderstanding.
I am an expert on a very limited number of things by virtue of my education and occupations. I find that the media and many commentators who are used by the media usually make serious errors when talking about my very limited areas of expertise.
My conclusion is that it’s getting harder to access real expertise on a range of subjects. Instead, we get a lot of repetition of opinions which are essentially incorrect. Frustration.
Oddly, Jacqueline and I had this conversation last night. She started from medicine. Her question was, where have the experts gone? Her opinion, dumbing down is everywhere. I agree.