Wednesday, 30 March 2011
The Big Society!
Big Society? I am so confused, if we have a government who wants to be smaller in terms of its involvement in society, then how can it champion a cause called Big Society? Is government now not part of our society? Perhaps it should be called Little Brother, or Littler Brother? Or perhaps, Parliment now Irrelevant in Serving Society Poor, as the EU now rules the UK anyway? Coffee break over, back to work ;-)
The brighter side!
Looking on the bright side for a moment. Across from me there is an almost dead tree. A small bird has found a hole in it and seems to be about to set up home in there.
Morale of the story? Dead wood is not always useless!
Morale of the story? Dead wood is not always useless!
Monday, 21 March 2011
#FuelDuty2High
Try this to really get into the politicians. Use the power of twitter to do this.
@Your MP's Name @nick_clegg @number10gov I have just filled up with £XX of fuel. This is my protest at #FuelDuty2High
You can of course use their email address or facebook page. Once they get their little Blackberries chirping away every 2 minutes they will soon get the message and inconvenience them and put it at the top of their agenda. Or you can sit on your arse and complain about it, then you deserve high fuel prices because you left it to someone else.
@Your MP's Name @nick_clegg @number10gov I have just filled up with £XX of fuel. This is my protest at #FuelDuty2High
You can of course use their email address or facebook page. Once they get their little Blackberries chirping away every 2 minutes they will soon get the message and inconvenience them and put it at the top of their agenda. Or you can sit on your arse and complain about it, then you deserve high fuel prices because you left it to someone else.
Thursday, 17 March 2011
Basic economics is beyond the Shadow Chancellor
After watching Ed Balls on Newsnight last night (16th March 2011) I have to come to the conclusion that basic economics is beyond the Shadow Chancellor.
He basically said that, you don't try to pay off your mortgage in 4 years you pay it off over 20 or so. Very good Ed and quite correct. However, as shadow chancellor I would expect him to know that the deficit is what we are adding to our mortgage. The "mortgage" UK PLC has is £trillions, (those boom years of 1997 - 2008 and record tax take? blown it and a few billion more!) UK PLC are currently on an interest only mortgage and the interest on the original mortgage is adding each and every year by the amount of the deficit.
To put it into Ed speak. It is like having a maxed out credit card and not even making the minimum payments to cover the interest being charged, therefore the debt goes up.
He basically said that, you don't try to pay off your mortgage in 4 years you pay it off over 20 or so. Very good Ed and quite correct. However, as shadow chancellor I would expect him to know that the deficit is what we are adding to our mortgage. The "mortgage" UK PLC has is £trillions, (those boom years of 1997 - 2008 and record tax take? blown it and a few billion more!) UK PLC are currently on an interest only mortgage and the interest on the original mortgage is adding each and every year by the amount of the deficit.
To put it into Ed speak. It is like having a maxed out credit card and not even making the minimum payments to cover the interest being charged, therefore the debt goes up.
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
Wake up call!
After my ranting and raving over the last week or so I have been given the biggest reality slap you could imagine. Someone I do not know is on Twitter and has 6-12 months to live as he has been diagnosed with cancer. He has a wife and 2 kids aged 2 and 7.
So my rant and rave over FuelDuty2High is put into perspective. I will be here in another 12 months able to complain about anything. This guys wife and kids will have only memories.
So my rant and rave over FuelDuty2High is put into perspective. I will be here in another 12 months able to complain about anything. This guys wife and kids will have only memories.
Monday, 14 March 2011
Have you seen the price of fuel lately?
Once again today I have filled up with diesel and seen prices from 133.9 to 143.9 a litre on the A1. I am sure many more people will have driven past these same signs as me and unlike me done precisely sod all about it. The politicians must be stunned that they are getting away with raking in all this extra VAT and fuel duty with barely a whimper from Joe Public. It is against this background HMRC Tax Thieves (aka The Treasury) are deciding what to tax more in the upcoming budget. All I can say is if we carry on as we have been, as passive doormats we will get what we deserve in the budget. So either put up a fight or shut the F8%$ up about FuelDuty2High. Good citizens of the UK, show the politicians who are running this country, that you can make a difference! Goodnight!
Saturday, 12 March 2011
FuelDuty2High
Here is a short version of an earlier blog re #FuelDuty2High
1: Put fuel in your car.
2: Send the following message "Just filled up with £XX of Petrol/Diesel. This is my protest at FuelDuty2High" to your local MP. If you feel the need, No10, David Cameron and Nick Clegg too.
3: Use either facebook page or twitter or email to send the message.
4: Pat yourself on the back for a job well done!
Repeat each time you fill up.
Original Blog is here: http://whystartatthebeginning.blogspot.com/2011/03/fuel-duty-protest-will-twitter-facebook.html
1: Put fuel in your car.
2: Send the following message "Just filled up with £XX of Petrol/Diesel. This is my protest at FuelDuty2High" to your local MP. If you feel the need, No10, David Cameron and Nick Clegg too.
3: Use either facebook page or twitter or email to send the message.
4: Pat yourself on the back for a job well done!
Repeat each time you fill up.
Original Blog is here: http://whystartatthebeginning.blogspot.com/2011/03/fuel-duty-protest-will-twitter-facebook.html
Monday, 7 March 2011
Reasons to cut fuel duty #FuelDuty2High
If a business buys fuel it is an allowable business expense, which means that the HMRC loses tax revenue. If there was a reduction of 30-40p per litre then the business would not be able to offset 30-40p per litre against tax, therefore HMRC tax take will rise.
Not convinced yet?
If fuel duty is cut the immediate effect on inflation is downwards, so the current concern about high inflation and so the higher cost of living is gone.
Still to be convinced?
If the cost of fuel is lowered, then there is more cash in your pocket, which means you can reduce your debt, spend a little, thereby boosting the economy.
There is no downside to a reduction in fuel duty do not let the smoke and mirrors of government try to convince you otherwise. My smoke and mirrors make much more sense ;-)
If you want to know how to protest see my original blog, here http://bit.ly/e1PZPZ
Not convinced yet?
If fuel duty is cut the immediate effect on inflation is downwards, so the current concern about high inflation and so the higher cost of living is gone.
Still to be convinced?
If the cost of fuel is lowered, then there is more cash in your pocket, which means you can reduce your debt, spend a little, thereby boosting the economy.
There is no downside to a reduction in fuel duty do not let the smoke and mirrors of government try to convince you otherwise. My smoke and mirrors make much more sense ;-)
If you want to know how to protest see my original blog, here http://bit.ly/e1PZPZ
Friday, 4 March 2011
UKIP win in Barnsley. Why & How
Last night in Barnsley something very strange happened, UKIP came 2nd, which in practice means 1st as it was always going to be a Labour hold.
What is more interesting is the Lib Dem vote crashed. This should be a lesson to MP's who promise something and do not deliver. In this instance Clegg decided power was more important than Lib Dem principles. Well done to UKIP, you have stood for what you believe in all along without compromise, in the murky world of politics that makes you the winners.
What is more interesting is the Lib Dem vote crashed. This should be a lesson to MP's who promise something and do not deliver. In this instance Clegg decided power was more important than Lib Dem principles. Well done to UKIP, you have stood for what you believe in all along without compromise, in the murky world of politics that makes you the winners.
Thursday, 3 March 2011
Fuel Duty Protest, Will Twitter & Facebook be the tool?
The fuel price is crippling everyone, small businesses and families are struggling as it is, but the crazy policy of hitting fuel duty as a one stop shop, to fix a countries problems has to stop.
Here is my suggestion. Each time you fill up, or indeed whenever you feel like it, tweet, email or facebook your local MP, No10, the Treasury, etc etc.with the following message "filled up with £XX of petrol/diesel, this is my protest about the unfair duty on fuel". They will eventually be flooded with tweets, emails, posts etc. No10 twitter @Number10gov Please comment your own MP twitter / email etc below.
If 100,000 people tweet or facebook the 600 or so MP's, official tweet and facebook pages, they will fill very quickly with our message, that means 60,000,000 single messages possibly out there. If you send two then 120,000,000. Starts to get interesting! If an MP is getting so much "noise" they will abandon the tweet, facebook thing, thereby cutting off.... their fuel, which is publicity for what they are wanting to say!
I am new to this tweet thing so not sure how it can be made to cascade through other tweets. The more tech savvy I am sure can fix that. The past protests like go slow on motorways or boycotting fuel companies, do not work, as that does not affect politicians. What will hurt them is if as soon as they try to speak about what they want, they are asked about fuel duty. Radio talk shows are something which should be targetted. MP's want to talk about their latest policy, but crash it and ask a standard question, "do they think that the cost of fuel duty is too high? If they say "no", then it shows they are out of step with public opinion and they are not representing their constituents views. If they say "yes", then ask what they are doing about it. Radio talk shows work on controversy, so if the host thinks they are going to get an MP on the rack they will go with it. If every time an MP tries to speak they get drowned out with our message, which is "the cost of fuel duty is too high" the penny will quickly drop. A government can only govern if it can gets its message across to the people. As the Middle East has shown, if the people stop listening and start their own agenda the politicians have to fall into line. So I will leave it in your hands, excuse me I am off to tweet my local MP!
Here is my suggestion. Each time you fill up, or indeed whenever you feel like it, tweet, email or facebook your local MP, No10, the Treasury, etc etc.with the following message "filled up with £XX of petrol/diesel, this is my protest about the unfair duty on fuel". They will eventually be flooded with tweets, emails, posts etc. No10 twitter @Number10gov Please comment your own MP twitter / email etc below.
If 100,000 people tweet or facebook the 600 or so MP's, official tweet and facebook pages, they will fill very quickly with our message, that means 60,000,000 single messages possibly out there. If you send two then 120,000,000. Starts to get interesting! If an MP is getting so much "noise" they will abandon the tweet, facebook thing, thereby cutting off.... their fuel, which is publicity for what they are wanting to say!
I am new to this tweet thing so not sure how it can be made to cascade through other tweets. The more tech savvy I am sure can fix that. The past protests like go slow on motorways or boycotting fuel companies, do not work, as that does not affect politicians. What will hurt them is if as soon as they try to speak about what they want, they are asked about fuel duty. Radio talk shows are something which should be targetted. MP's want to talk about their latest policy, but crash it and ask a standard question, "do they think that the cost of fuel duty is too high? If they say "no", then it shows they are out of step with public opinion and they are not representing their constituents views. If they say "yes", then ask what they are doing about it. Radio talk shows work on controversy, so if the host thinks they are going to get an MP on the rack they will go with it. If every time an MP tries to speak they get drowned out with our message, which is "the cost of fuel duty is too high" the penny will quickly drop. A government can only govern if it can gets its message across to the people. As the Middle East has shown, if the people stop listening and start their own agenda the politicians have to fall into line. So I will leave it in your hands, excuse me I am off to tweet my local MP!
Express.co.uk - Home of the Daily and Sunday Express | UK News :: Get Britain out of the EU now
Express.co.uk - Home of the Daily and Sunday Express | UK News :: Get Britain out of the EU now
So the government decides that once again they know best. That we the people know jack and we should not be allowed to comment on EU membership. If the argument is there why we should be in, then make it and let us decide. If they cannot make that argument then they need to take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror!
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