"It is not simply the result of ‘outside forces’ and foreign competition" 🎯
As you know, LSO, I don't have any friends, but even the right wing ones (and I expect it from the Guardian reading ones, god love 'em) are blaming Trump for EVERYTHING that's wrong with our economy. It seems to have escaped their notice that we are supposed to have someone in this country whose job description is very specifically and exclusively - Sort Out The UK Economy.
I don't blame Trump for everything that is wrong with our economy but I do think the tariffs will be a disaster for us and for the Americans once they kick in.
The point of the article is to highlight how the supposed damage of these tariffs (which are shrinking daily) pales in comparison to the suicidal policies of our own government.
I’m a free market guy. Generally anyway. But it’s funny how we’re told Trump will crash our economy, while Net Zero, the most idiotic government policy in history, oh hang on, I’ve just remembered Covid, will lead to a vibrant economy full of ‘high paying green jobs’. It nonsense.
There’s something to be said for tarrifs and taxing tat that is made with cut price labour and ends up in landfill. At some point the collective credit card with which we just buy and buy more stuff will max out.
Hey! Ragged, you said you were swapping to that left wing rag called The Times! Old habits die hard, eh?
Free trade benefits low wage / slave labour economies at the expense of workers' rights economies. Surely you support Trump bringing back manufacturing jobs to the US?
Do you think tariffs will bring manufacturing jobs back? Or do you think it will just cost American shoppers a lot of money and make it more expensive for Chrysler to make cars in Michigan?
And is the UK one of those slave labour economies that you are talking about?
1. Yes the UK is partly a slave labour economy - all those illegals and the Turkish barbers, nail bars, curry houses, car washes, back street factories etc etc don't give their 'employees' pay slips with tax and NI deducted. I used to live in an area where the big houses had sheds and summerhouses for the imported staff to live in and one neighbour was actually prosecuted for keeping a real slave.
2. The manufacturing jobs ARE flooding back to the States from Mexico and China.
3. The consumer society is not one I endorse so maybe some things need to be more expensive, looked after and not replaced every 5 minutes. The fashion industry employs designers to keep changing fashion for a reason and Apple keeps 'updating' its products for a reason.
1. OK. I object to the Turkish Barbers who cut my hair and the Koreans who file my nails, too. I doubt that the tariffs will help them much, though. We don't export Turkish Barbers or Korean nail-filers.
2. The internet says it will take months and years for the manufacturing jobs from Mexico to grow back — assuming that Americans still want to work in factories.
China is different. Americans will have to get their cheap knickers and string vests from Vietnam now.
3. I am with you on cutting down on consumer goods. I haven't bought anything except food and beer (from Bristol!) in the seven years since we came back from America. My wife still buys her cheap knickers from China, though.
Well done on no.3 - my adult children are very good at shopping in charity shops for their clothes - second hand knickers are not appealing though, I'm with your wife on that!
Funny coincidence, Bettina, but I just sent my cancellation to the Guardian (again) this morning. I managed to stay away for several months last time but they tempted me back. I am gone for good this time!
They are sneaky, I know! I cancelled my Telegraph subscription a few years ago, but I still sneak a look now and again (via my ex-husband's log in - but shh, don't tell anyone!)
Come on. Reeves isn't bright enough to have come up with this on her own.
Some numbskull in the Treasury spotted this "loophole" many years ago and they've finally found a Chancellor stupid enough to think it's a good idea.
It's the same as Brown and IR35. The Treasury had been gunning for small independent consultants for years, because, as we know everyone who goes into business on their own only does it to dodge tax (what other reason could there be when you could get a cushy job in the Civil Service?). Brown was dim enough to put it into action.
You’re right Ian. There have been quite a few examples of these numbskulls falling into Treasury elephant traps. Removing the Winter Fuel Allowance being another one I think.
Britain would now be a land flowing with milk and honey if only the ignorant voters hadn’t declined their electoral offers! Mea culpa - I’m one of those to blame.
Cannibalising oneself! Such an extreme strategy of self-destruction seems to me to be exactly this government's intentions. Once again, you have hilariously hit the nail on the head! As for cheap shoddy Chinese imports, it would be nice to be able to buy things that don't fall apart within weeks ....
My granddaughter uses shein, the tat gets used for a few weeks then loses interest in it and goes onto something new and different, it's a good job it's cheap.
First, a little "correction" - civil servants don't get new IPhones. My other half currently has an iPhone 7. Same with the ipads, laptops etc. They are reconditioned in the main, rarely do we get new. So I doubt very much they are on ebay and an ex-govt computer is no good to anyone because of the encryption - you can't get into them unless you are a govt employee. It's how they are set up. They aren't your regular laptop, ipad etc.
Gordon Brown - responsible for minimum wage. A laudable idea. But it drove wages down, instead of up. Because employers decided to pay staff the minimum. And no more. Retail staff used to be well paid until the minimum wage came in. Now retailers operate with skeleton staff, and becoming fewer. Waitrose are not replacing staff who leave and M&S has got rid of a pay grade to cut costs. Due to the nic hike. Well done, Rachel from accounts 🙄
Hey Toffee. Thanks for the clarification. Though I can’t believe they are just ‘losing’ that many. It makes no sense.
Unless maybe they are just ‘second phones’ in which case if they can’t look after them they shouldn’t have them. You can’t lose a computer or phone that’s permanently attached to your office desk.so maybe we should get them back working in the same building -just a mad idea I know! 🤔
I’m torn on the minimum wage. People are underpaid as it is. So they need some kind of safety net/floor.
Call me a mad capitalist, but I think the goal would be to create an environment where there was a booming economy (growth maybe Rachel 🤔) where companies competed for workers in an open marketplace by offering decent wages . And the socialist command economy faded into the background……
Ah the old wfh chestnut....it would be so easy if we all lived close to where we work but thanks to Blair and Brown, we don't anymore. They started the local office closure programme in 2008, moving to (eventually) 13 regional centres. One for NI. One for Wales. Two for the whole of Scotland. One (Bristol) for the South West etc. The carrot for staff to stay and avoid mass compulsory redundancies was wfh 3 days a week. Then in 2021 they went back on this agreement and its now 3 days in the office pro rata for part time staff. Some of us had 5 hour round trip commutes by public transport (there's no commuter parking at these new buildings, can't have people DRIVING to work!), some even longer. Most of our staff are meeting the requirements. There's a small minority who won't but you get folk like that in every workplace in my experience.
Yes I often have to make a five hour round trip for work. Not that I hate it tbh. But I used to be able just to jump on my bike or the tube and be there in twenty minutes!
I WFH most of the time, but it is simply not as productive as office work in most cases. Most other countries went back after covid, we literally went in the other direction. No wonder our productivity is so low. Much lower than France for example.
Hybrid working was always the plan for the civil service, both due to the distance and location of the hubs, and the fact there simply is not enough desk space in the offices for everyone to be there at once. It had nothing to do with covid. Plans were drawn up in 2008.
Okay I give up, your too funny and sharp for me to not subscribe, despite hating standing orders ! . Seeing as I can't even bear to read the telegraph anymore it seems substack offers some refuge from the tides of idiocy.
Thank you Nick. Very much appreciate your support!
The Telegraph is weird. The paper itself seems to have lost it, but the comment section is still strong. I also think Michael Deacon has really grown into his role. Anyway it’s so cheap now, why not? I keep telling them I’m going to cancel my subscription and they keep dropping the price! Thanks again.
Hello LSO, while I normally agree with your analysis, I have to disagree with the start of today's musing.
Closing the £135 loophole that Shein/Temu etc exploit to avoid import duty and VAT is important because it helps the competitiveness of UK retailers. UK retailers that employ people, have shops that are part of communities and generally contribute to the UK economy. Trying to protect the businesses that you are taxing is generally positive.
As you say, this one small gesture of playing-field levelling might be akin to throwing a small rubber ring after putting some large (business rates, National insurance, regulatory shaped) holes in the hull of UK retail, but it is helpful nonetheless.
The problem is that as I say in the piece, they say they want to ‘save the high street’ but their every policy is contributing to its decline. They are using this loophole as an excuse.
Literally the only difference this will make, will be to increase prices for British shoppers. It won’t affect Shein etc. it won’t save the high st. Hard up Brits will end up with less money. And the government will have more of our cash to waste.
Online shopping definitely affects British retail. But the government response should be to make it cheaper and easier to open shops. And cheaper and easier to employ shop workers. And cheaper and easier to drive down the high st. This won’t help. It just allows the government to pretend it’s ’doing something’.
But thanks for commenting. To be honest I expected more commentators to share your view.
Closing the loophole will transfer (a very small) amount of economic value from Shein/Temu to UK retail. At the moment Shein/Temu avoid a lot of charges that allow them to undercut local companies. Making them pay a fair amount of tax is helpful.
The principle here is that if you are going to tax the UK economy to death, at least tax everyone fairly.
As you say, this would be less of an issue if taxes weren't sky high.
Maybe Dan. But I don’t think the solution to sky high taxes is even more taxes. If they want to ‘even the playing field’ ( they don’t, they want to increase tax revenue) then lower them for everyone, especially hard pressed retailers.
I can appreciate why retailers find it galling. But I don’t actually think getting rid of this exemption will materially help their cause.
I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree on this one. 👍
Outrageous. I’m closer to upgrading. When I read the title I thought you were talking about the U.S. glad you weren’t. I would like to support you once in a while but I don’t know the pound dollar conversion. Sounds like this Reeves is a cunt. I hope she is. Take care.
Thanks Michael. Buy Me A Coffee is a great way for a one off support. Whether it’s for me or anyone else. I think the conversion rate is pretty fair. But whatever. Thanks for coming. All the best.
I always look forward to your posts, LSO. I always get a good laugh and a great appreciation for someone pointing out the obvious mistakes of politicians that so many just accept - putting them in a box of nothing I can do about.
Sometimes though I get depressed and alarmed about the state of affairs and the lack of concern of the consequences of such destructive decisions.
It occurred to me this morning that you, through you writing,
remind me of an English modern day Mark Twain.
In years to come your collective work could be used to study the slow destruction of a once great nation, as it details the daily absurdities of politicians slow boiling citizen frogs as they claim moral superiority.
I would buy you tons of coffee if I had not been hacked and robbed by, what I am convinced but have no hard evidence, by Shein and Temu. I never purchased anything but my daughter does. She was hacked and by association I was.
Most of what she bought was junky, cheap but crap.
Being a libertarian, I believe most taxation is theft by threat of jail, for politicians to spend your money on whatever They deem acceptable. For example the things you have been listing.
But…. If China wants to do business in America or England or anywhere in the world I take issue with them evading our taxes to prop up their own communist country. Then buying our land our ports our colleges and our politicians.
By the way, do you think that was a bag of coke? They sure looked shady.
Prediction for future
Low Status Quotes in libraries along side quotes from Mark Twain!
Ha ha thats about the most flattering thing anyone has ever said to me Deirdre. Thanks! But I’m not kidding myself.
I’m not convinced by Shein and Temu, parcels regularly arrive at my house, and for the most part, it all seems junk. Their customer service also seems non existent. But my point is, governments shouldn’t get on their high horse about it, and then insist on a cut. It’s exactly like the ‘Congestion Charge” in London and other cities. ‘Pollution is terrible and kills kids’. (Nope. London pollution is tiny for such a huge city) ‘But if you pay me £15 it’s magically OK.’
As ever it’s the same double standard. It’s terrible that *poor* people are buying stuff from China. 😱 But our upper class Universities make bank on Chinese money, and that’s a brilliant export. 👍
Do you mean the tissue thing? I just think it was a tissue. I don’t know what goes on behind the scenes. But I just think Macron is all about the public image and this was a grubby reminder of humanity, which is why he looked embarrassed. They get up to plenty mischief without us having to invent it. That’s my take anyway.
The beauty, the gem, the diamond in the rough of Mark Twain was that he spoke for the Everyman. He said the things most people thought but were unable to articulate, especially with humor, wit and common sense truths. His talent and keen observations are why his quotes are still repeated. Just saying, don’t change a thing.
*the thing about Temu is China is cheating in back door ways. And they are cheating everyone to gain the trade system. And they get away with it. The thing with poor girls buying cheap clothes is most likely they are buying loads of them racking up debt they can’t afford and maybe, perhaps giving up personal financial information in the doing. Like Trump said kids don’t need thirty dolls.
*the bag of coke. I have watched that dozens of time and I find it hilarious on so many levels.
There is very little chance of proving what it was - tissue OR coke. So I am open either way. I spent many years reviewing videos looking for retail theft, customers and employees. Those three especially Macron look shifty as hell. After a decade of the likes of these politicians using rumors and innuendos against anyone who does not tow their party line, I take great pleasure in watching this video and speculating despite the knowing it is all unprovable.
I think Starmer and Macron are competing for who can provoke the most bizarre scandal. Not sure who’s winning at the moment, but I believe it’s Starmer’s turn again.
"It is not simply the result of ‘outside forces’ and foreign competition" 🎯
As you know, LSO, I don't have any friends, but even the right wing ones (and I expect it from the Guardian reading ones, god love 'em) are blaming Trump for EVERYTHING that's wrong with our economy. It seems to have escaped their notice that we are supposed to have someone in this country whose job description is very specifically and exclusively - Sort Out The UK Economy.
Guardian reader here, Bettina!
I don't blame Trump for everything that is wrong with our economy but I do think the tariffs will be a disaster for us and for the Americans once they kick in.
The point of the article is to highlight how the supposed damage of these tariffs (which are shrinking daily) pales in comparison to the suicidal policies of our own government.
I’m a free market guy. Generally anyway. But it’s funny how we’re told Trump will crash our economy, while Net Zero, the most idiotic government policy in history, oh hang on, I’ve just remembered Covid, will lead to a vibrant economy full of ‘high paying green jobs’. It nonsense.
There’s something to be said for tarrifs and taxing tat that is made with cut price labour and ends up in landfill. At some point the collective credit card with which we just buy and buy more stuff will max out.
Ha yes Martin. Look at the deficit. I think we maxed out that credit card long ago. The government just keeps applying for a new one. 🤣
Oh, I understand. I was just responding to Bettina’s idea that Guardian readers are “blaming Trump for EVERYTHING that's wrong with our economy.”
I like to blame our politicians for some of it too!
Au contraire - my point was that even the Telegraph readers are blaming Trump! No escape from TDS.
You watch… in a few short years, they will be saying that the people who supported him are the ones with TDS.
Hey! Ragged, you said you were swapping to that left wing rag called The Times! Old habits die hard, eh?
Free trade benefits low wage / slave labour economies at the expense of workers' rights economies. Surely you support Trump bringing back manufacturing jobs to the US?
Do you think tariffs will bring manufacturing jobs back? Or do you think it will just cost American shoppers a lot of money and make it more expensive for Chrysler to make cars in Michigan?
And is the UK one of those slave labour economies that you are talking about?
1. Yes the UK is partly a slave labour economy - all those illegals and the Turkish barbers, nail bars, curry houses, car washes, back street factories etc etc don't give their 'employees' pay slips with tax and NI deducted. I used to live in an area where the big houses had sheds and summerhouses for the imported staff to live in and one neighbour was actually prosecuted for keeping a real slave.
2. The manufacturing jobs ARE flooding back to the States from Mexico and China.
3. The consumer society is not one I endorse so maybe some things need to be more expensive, looked after and not replaced every 5 minutes. The fashion industry employs designers to keep changing fashion for a reason and Apple keeps 'updating' its products for a reason.
1. OK. I object to the Turkish Barbers who cut my hair and the Koreans who file my nails, too. I doubt that the tariffs will help them much, though. We don't export Turkish Barbers or Korean nail-filers.
2. The internet says it will take months and years for the manufacturing jobs from Mexico to grow back — assuming that Americans still want to work in factories.
China is different. Americans will have to get their cheap knickers and string vests from Vietnam now.
3. I am with you on cutting down on consumer goods. I haven't bought anything except food and beer (from Bristol!) in the seven years since we came back from America. My wife still buys her cheap knickers from China, though.
Well done on no.3 - my adult children are very good at shopping in charity shops for their clothes - second hand knickers are not appealing though, I'm with your wife on that!
Funny coincidence, Bettina, but I just sent my cancellation to the Guardian (again) this morning. I managed to stay away for several months last time but they tempted me back. I am gone for good this time!
(I still read the Times every day)
They are sneaky, I know! I cancelled my Telegraph subscription a few years ago, but I still sneak a look now and again (via my ex-husband's log in - but shh, don't tell anyone!)
That's how The Guardian got me back! They won't get me this time.
Come on. Reeves isn't bright enough to have come up with this on her own.
Some numbskull in the Treasury spotted this "loophole" many years ago and they've finally found a Chancellor stupid enough to think it's a good idea.
It's the same as Brown and IR35. The Treasury had been gunning for small independent consultants for years, because, as we know everyone who goes into business on their own only does it to dodge tax (what other reason could there be when you could get a cushy job in the Civil Service?). Brown was dim enough to put it into action.
You’re right Ian. There have been quite a few examples of these numbskulls falling into Treasury elephant traps. Removing the Winter Fuel Allowance being another one I think.
That is a class A rant! Very well done
Thanks OceanRat 🙏
A fantastic read. Reducing the Labour-mismanaged economy to a black comedic farce is the only way to go. Kudos !
Thank you Tim!
Next thing you know, Rachel Reeves will be snorting cocaine on a train with the Prime Minister and the president of France.
Verizon says that number is no longer in service.
I don't do WhatsApp.
Download what?
Excellent!
Terrible choices made by stupid people.
Thats a great line, would have made a great title for this accurate piece.
Oh and Jo Rewarded For Failure Swinson.. to give her full title😅
I’d completely forgotten about her Ludloff. She was going to be Prime Minister you know!! 🤪
The periodic evergreen delusion of Lib Dem leaders. Remember David “Go Back To Your Constituencies And Prepare For Government” Steel?
✊The best prime ministers we never had. 🤣
Britain would now be a land flowing with milk and honey if only the ignorant voters hadn’t declined their electoral offers! Mea culpa - I’m one of those to blame.
Ha ha me too! I’m an idiot!
😂😂😂
Cannibalising oneself! Such an extreme strategy of self-destruction seems to me to be exactly this government's intentions. Once again, you have hilariously hit the nail on the head! As for cheap shoddy Chinese imports, it would be nice to be able to buy things that don't fall apart within weeks ....
Thanks alexei. 👍
Yes. There doesn’t seem to be a Chinese word for ‘Guarantee’.
My granddaughter uses shein, the tat gets used for a few weeks then loses interest in it and goes onto something new and different, it's a good job it's cheap.
First, a little "correction" - civil servants don't get new IPhones. My other half currently has an iPhone 7. Same with the ipads, laptops etc. They are reconditioned in the main, rarely do we get new. So I doubt very much they are on ebay and an ex-govt computer is no good to anyone because of the encryption - you can't get into them unless you are a govt employee. It's how they are set up. They aren't your regular laptop, ipad etc.
Gordon Brown - responsible for minimum wage. A laudable idea. But it drove wages down, instead of up. Because employers decided to pay staff the minimum. And no more. Retail staff used to be well paid until the minimum wage came in. Now retailers operate with skeleton staff, and becoming fewer. Waitrose are not replacing staff who leave and M&S has got rid of a pay grade to cut costs. Due to the nic hike. Well done, Rachel from accounts 🙄
Hey Toffee. Thanks for the clarification. Though I can’t believe they are just ‘losing’ that many. It makes no sense.
Unless maybe they are just ‘second phones’ in which case if they can’t look after them they shouldn’t have them. You can’t lose a computer or phone that’s permanently attached to your office desk.so maybe we should get them back working in the same building -just a mad idea I know! 🤔
I’m torn on the minimum wage. People are underpaid as it is. So they need some kind of safety net/floor.
Call me a mad capitalist, but I think the goal would be to create an environment where there was a booming economy (growth maybe Rachel 🤔) where companies competed for workers in an open marketplace by offering decent wages . And the socialist command economy faded into the background……
Ah the old wfh chestnut....it would be so easy if we all lived close to where we work but thanks to Blair and Brown, we don't anymore. They started the local office closure programme in 2008, moving to (eventually) 13 regional centres. One for NI. One for Wales. Two for the whole of Scotland. One (Bristol) for the South West etc. The carrot for staff to stay and avoid mass compulsory redundancies was wfh 3 days a week. Then in 2021 they went back on this agreement and its now 3 days in the office pro rata for part time staff. Some of us had 5 hour round trip commutes by public transport (there's no commuter parking at these new buildings, can't have people DRIVING to work!), some even longer. Most of our staff are meeting the requirements. There's a small minority who won't but you get folk like that in every workplace in my experience.
Yes I often have to make a five hour round trip for work. Not that I hate it tbh. But I used to be able just to jump on my bike or the tube and be there in twenty minutes!
I WFH most of the time, but it is simply not as productive as office work in most cases. Most other countries went back after covid, we literally went in the other direction. No wonder our productivity is so low. Much lower than France for example.
Hybrid working was always the plan for the civil service, both due to the distance and location of the hubs, and the fact there simply is not enough desk space in the offices for everyone to be there at once. It had nothing to do with covid. Plans were drawn up in 2008.
Oh gawd not another one.....well there's zero sarcasm, so I know you're not Low Status Opinions. Don't contact me again. Ever.
Okay I give up, your too funny and sharp for me to not subscribe, despite hating standing orders ! . Seeing as I can't even bear to read the telegraph anymore it seems substack offers some refuge from the tides of idiocy.
Thanks mate
Nick
Thank you Nick. Very much appreciate your support!
The Telegraph is weird. The paper itself seems to have lost it, but the comment section is still strong. I also think Michael Deacon has really grown into his role. Anyway it’s so cheap now, why not? I keep telling them I’m going to cancel my subscription and they keep dropping the price! Thanks again.
Hello LSO, while I normally agree with your analysis, I have to disagree with the start of today's musing.
Closing the £135 loophole that Shein/Temu etc exploit to avoid import duty and VAT is important because it helps the competitiveness of UK retailers. UK retailers that employ people, have shops that are part of communities and generally contribute to the UK economy. Trying to protect the businesses that you are taxing is generally positive.
As you say, this one small gesture of playing-field levelling might be akin to throwing a small rubber ring after putting some large (business rates, National insurance, regulatory shaped) holes in the hull of UK retail, but it is helpful nonetheless.
Fair enough Dan.
The problem is that as I say in the piece, they say they want to ‘save the high street’ but their every policy is contributing to its decline. They are using this loophole as an excuse.
Literally the only difference this will make, will be to increase prices for British shoppers. It won’t affect Shein etc. it won’t save the high st. Hard up Brits will end up with less money. And the government will have more of our cash to waste.
Online shopping definitely affects British retail. But the government response should be to make it cheaper and easier to open shops. And cheaper and easier to employ shop workers. And cheaper and easier to drive down the high st. This won’t help. It just allows the government to pretend it’s ’doing something’.
But thanks for commenting. To be honest I expected more commentators to share your view.
All the best and hopefully see you next time.
Closing the loophole will transfer (a very small) amount of economic value from Shein/Temu to UK retail. At the moment Shein/Temu avoid a lot of charges that allow them to undercut local companies. Making them pay a fair amount of tax is helpful.
The principle here is that if you are going to tax the UK economy to death, at least tax everyone fairly.
As you say, this would be less of an issue if taxes weren't sky high.
Maybe Dan. But I don’t think the solution to sky high taxes is even more taxes. If they want to ‘even the playing field’ ( they don’t, they want to increase tax revenue) then lower them for everyone, especially hard pressed retailers.
I can appreciate why retailers find it galling. But I don’t actually think getting rid of this exemption will materially help their cause.
I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree on this one. 👍
It is not more taxes, it is charging all companies the same tax.
I fully agree that it definitely isn't the solution.
Outrageous. I’m closer to upgrading. When I read the title I thought you were talking about the U.S. glad you weren’t. I would like to support you once in a while but I don’t know the pound dollar conversion. Sounds like this Reeves is a cunt. I hope she is. Take care.
Michael
Thanks Michael. Buy Me A Coffee is a great way for a one off support. Whether it’s for me or anyone else. I think the conversion rate is pretty fair. But whatever. Thanks for coming. All the best.
I will 🙂.
Hello! This really is me. LSO.
BEWARE!!
There's a scammer going around.
He pretended to be my friend Dominic Frisby yesterday. And today he's pretending to be me. It’s grim and annoying.
Obvs. I would never ask you to sign up for anything.
He's blocked me so it's super hard to block him!!
Since I can’t even see his comments here.
Please block and report him for me. You’d be doing me a big favour. Thanks!!
Anyway. I shall persevere.
ATB
I always look forward to your posts, LSO. I always get a good laugh and a great appreciation for someone pointing out the obvious mistakes of politicians that so many just accept - putting them in a box of nothing I can do about.
Sometimes though I get depressed and alarmed about the state of affairs and the lack of concern of the consequences of such destructive decisions.
It occurred to me this morning that you, through you writing,
remind me of an English modern day Mark Twain.
In years to come your collective work could be used to study the slow destruction of a once great nation, as it details the daily absurdities of politicians slow boiling citizen frogs as they claim moral superiority.
I would buy you tons of coffee if I had not been hacked and robbed by, what I am convinced but have no hard evidence, by Shein and Temu. I never purchased anything but my daughter does. She was hacked and by association I was.
Most of what she bought was junky, cheap but crap.
Being a libertarian, I believe most taxation is theft by threat of jail, for politicians to spend your money on whatever They deem acceptable. For example the things you have been listing.
But…. If China wants to do business in America or England or anywhere in the world I take issue with them evading our taxes to prop up their own communist country. Then buying our land our ports our colleges and our politicians.
By the way, do you think that was a bag of coke? They sure looked shady.
Prediction for future
Low Status Quotes in libraries along side quotes from Mark Twain!
Ha ha thats about the most flattering thing anyone has ever said to me Deirdre. Thanks! But I’m not kidding myself.
I’m not convinced by Shein and Temu, parcels regularly arrive at my house, and for the most part, it all seems junk. Their customer service also seems non existent. But my point is, governments shouldn’t get on their high horse about it, and then insist on a cut. It’s exactly like the ‘Congestion Charge” in London and other cities. ‘Pollution is terrible and kills kids’. (Nope. London pollution is tiny for such a huge city) ‘But if you pay me £15 it’s magically OK.’
As ever it’s the same double standard. It’s terrible that *poor* people are buying stuff from China. 😱 But our upper class Universities make bank on Chinese money, and that’s a brilliant export. 👍
Do you mean the tissue thing? I just think it was a tissue. I don’t know what goes on behind the scenes. But I just think Macron is all about the public image and this was a grubby reminder of humanity, which is why he looked embarrassed. They get up to plenty mischief without us having to invent it. That’s my take anyway.
Lovely to hear from you
The beauty, the gem, the diamond in the rough of Mark Twain was that he spoke for the Everyman. He said the things most people thought but were unable to articulate, especially with humor, wit and common sense truths. His talent and keen observations are why his quotes are still repeated. Just saying, don’t change a thing.
*the thing about Temu is China is cheating in back door ways. And they are cheating everyone to gain the trade system. And they get away with it. The thing with poor girls buying cheap clothes is most likely they are buying loads of them racking up debt they can’t afford and maybe, perhaps giving up personal financial information in the doing. Like Trump said kids don’t need thirty dolls.
*the bag of coke. I have watched that dozens of time and I find it hilarious on so many levels.
There is very little chance of proving what it was - tissue OR coke. So I am open either way. I spent many years reviewing videos looking for retail theft, customers and employees. Those three especially Macron look shifty as hell. After a decade of the likes of these politicians using rumors and innuendos against anyone who does not tow their party line, I take great pleasure in watching this video and speculating despite the knowing it is all unprovable.
I think Starmer and Macron are competing for who can provoke the most bizarre scandal. Not sure who’s winning at the moment, but I believe it’s Starmer’s turn again.
Ha. He does look shifty as hell! But I think that is just his Standard Operating Procedure.
I no longer wish to hear the opinion of anyone who hasn’t already concluded that it needs to be burned and rebuilt from ashes, all of it.