The Blind Pig

@MrMBrown The debate should be about what budget spending is to be cut and by how much, not which taxes are to be raised. Tax rates (on all taxes) are way past the top of the Laffer curve.

ITV report that HMT believe OBR f'casts will necessitate £30bln in tax hikes at the Budget Comprises £20bln from productivity downgrade, £5bln from failure to cut welfare spending & £5bln from higher debt interest costs

@MarcherReborn More importantly, have the wine merchants made their Autumn deliveries?!

Just had 1000lts of oil and the 1T of logs delivered - another ton next week. C’mon Autumn, do your worst 🍁🍂🍁💨💨

@AllisonPearson Take your pick, Allison. There’s 417 and more to go at ….. gov.uk/government/org…

How many quangos could be closed down without anyone noticing?

@FensecLtd @dili909 @Peston Meanwhile ….. telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/…

@dili909 @Peston Ed will bring back his Ed Stone. RIPStarmer.

The prime minister’s first choice to take over Angela Rayner’s housing and local government responsibilities was Ed Miliband, but he refused to leave energy and climate change. This appears to have been the one part of the reshuffle that didn’t quite go Starmer’s way. I discuss on Rest is Money with Steph open.spotify.com/episode/73Stvb… podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the…

@MarcherReborn A superb choice but mind the acid reflux!

@BlindPig321 Thatcher’s Cloudy Cider

Tikka beans on toast. The American mind can’t even begin to understand this. (Yes, I am home alone)

“The British people are now in the absurd position of having their own money used by the state to outbid them in the housing market so that the state can prioritise people who break our laws” mattgoodwin.org/p/the-absurd-r…

That sad and pathetic blue line is what pro-EU types want to bind the United Kingdom to. There is no economic growth to be won from a closer relationship with the European Union - only our country’s subjugation to Brussels’ anti-sovereignty, anti-growth diktats.

We led the world in Atomic power and now is the time to lead on SMR. If the Government do not seize this opportunity they truly are idiots working against us. 24/7 base load energy on tap (not fickle unreliable windmills and Chinese solar) RR GB SMR

Hi @Ed_Miliband. Look how much UK gas prices have fallen since the April energy price cap was introduced. From £1.42/therm to 89p. That's a 37% decrease. Will the Jul-October price cap be lowered, and when it is, will you explain that this is because of "global gas prices"?

📊 "Who in their right mind is going to start a business in Britain?" @TomClougherty highlights the entrepreneurial disincentives created by implementing wealth taxes on top of existing tax structures.

Numerous Prime Ministers and countless Home Secretaries have done nothing but spout slogans whilst these illegal crossings continue unabated. The only conclusion to be drawn is that it is being done on purpose….. Uniparty policy

Chart of the Day 🤔 "Labour isn't working" The #UK is a clear outlier on private sector #jobs in the S&P Global PMIs, where the #employment index has slumped since last summer and especially since the #Budget 👇 ps. the 'Employment Rights Bill' won't help either.

The UK has 20% less available electricity than in 2005. Our productivity, growth and living standards have stagnated over the same period. Maybe those things are connected #NetZero bloomberg.com/news/newslette…

The myth that the green energy transition is inevitable and will make cheap electricity for everyone is one of the most dangerous self-delusions of the global elite. From my latest newsletter: us5.campaign-archive.com/?u=40608ac9388… Sign up: us5.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=40…

You can have high power prices with low renewables, but can't have low power prices with high renewables.

You work hard, you're successful, you earn money, you get old, you want to pass those rewards to your children. What happens? It gets taxed, massively. AGAIN. I say scrap inheritance tax for EVERYONE.

All this talk from the Govt about defending Ukraine being essential for national security and the Govt *at the same time* ships in another 500 unvetted foreign males, no doubt mainly from Islamic countries, *in a single day*. Who's had enough of the handwringing and excuses about the failure to protect *our own borders*?

The only person who needs to learn something is you, Julia. Here is the crucial - and basic - reason behind the war. Russia moors its Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, Crimea, and has done so for 300 years. The engineering of NATO membership for Ukraine began at the NATO Bucharest Summit of 2008. If successful, this meant US warships moored in Sevastopol, something Russia could never accept, just as America would never accept Chinese warships moored in Pearl Harbour. In addition, Sevastopol is Russia's only warm-water port. All the rest freeze in the winter, rendering the Russian Navy ice-bound and vulnerable/useless. Clearly, CLEARLY, Russia could not accept losing Sevastopol. And thus - post Bucharest 2008 - began the events leading to Maidan 2014, Russia seizing Crimea and the war in 2022. Another crucial point, Julia, is your apparent ignorance as to how the war is going. It was actually over within weeks of it starting, see maps below. By June 2022 Russia had seized control of eastern Ukraine, which is all it wanted because it provided a land bridge to Sevastopol and Crimea. The Russians dug-in behind five defensive lines and have remained there ever since even as brave Ukrainian soldiers were killed in their hundreds-of-thousands trying to breach the lines whilst wicked journalists in the West lied about Ukrainian successes and Russian defeats. You are part of this wicked, criminal lie, Julia. Look at the two maps below, June 2022 and Feb 2025. The maps don't lie, Julia, unlike you.