Richard Madin

A minimum wage of £15 would end my coffee shop, it would have to close, as would many other businesses. I’ll explain for the economically illiterate. Staff costs are currently half our costs, a £15 minimum wage is actually more than £15 an hour for the company, because you have to add: - 12.07% holiday - Sick pay - Maternity pay if and when required - National insurance - Pension contributions These costs would mean the shop loses money because remember, energy costs are up, rates are up, regulations are up. Now you can pass these costs onto the consumer - that would mean charging a lot more for coffee, people won’t pay it. The likes of Starbucks and Costa can, because they have economies of scale. The independent doesn’t. Now the little socialist will say well this is your fault, if you can’t run a business that can afford to pay its staff properly, but the little socialist has never run a business and does not understand the dynamics. Now I could pay some staff off and fill those hours myself or reduce us to one staff member during certain periods - but this proves the point that a minimum wage costs jobs. There was a time when these jobs were done by kids, perhaps on the weekend, paid a lower wage, no holiday and no silly employment rights. Perhaps they were even paid cash. The dynamic worked and small businesses like this could operate. It was also a great first job. Sadly now it isn’t worth employing entitlement youngsters at this level of pay. So alas, I don’t need the stress, the business would close, a number of jobs would be lost. Economics is about understanding these dynamics, no vibes. The cost of living is not solved through passing on inflation to the business, it is solved by ending high inflation and creating prosperity. This is what socialists don’t understand, they can’t create prosperity, they can only destroy it.

@maxman64349264 @KensingtonRoyal There is always an idiot on X these days. You are today's.

Wishing Charlotte a very happy 11th birthday! 🎂

The Green Party has complained about this cartoon of Zack Polanski by the The Times. They’re deeply unhappy with it. Whatever you do, do not repost!

@anntreneman A good read on today's Sheffield landscape. I think back to 1961 when I started working at Sheffield Newspapers. A very different city then, dominated by steelworks. Now happy in Buxton.

@symbosimbo @susie_dent Not a problem. In my day we said what we thought. No one took offence, unlike today. P.S. I am old. 😄

@dickmadin @susie_dent Sorry that was a bit rude, should have said older?

A question: what are the things you wish there was a word for? And have you come up with your own word to fill that gap?

@symbosimbo @susie_dent 👍

@dickmadin @susie_dent Old?

@piersmorgan Tell your mate it is "whisky", Piers.

Brilliant work, Your Majesty! 🥃 👏👏👏👏👏

@piersmorgan Maybe you didn't make yourself clear enough, Piers. 😄

Because he’s a moron.

@trussliz What a brilliant speech.

Love it

@JoumannaTV @piersmorgan Is he looking for the last time Arsenal won a trophy? ⚽️

Me when am asked when both sides will lift the Strait blockade

@serenawilliams It does seem cruel, lovely Ely Serena, but in the long term you are being kind by doing the right thing. ❤️

I told my daughter to go to bed. She did not therefore, she missed out on her sleep over. She cried. But what she did not know is I cried harder. I hate when she cries. 💔 Discipline sucks. But sometimes it’s important.

@TrungTPhan @piersmorgan Patience Personified Piers.

Piers staring at Russell then looking at the camera like Jim from The Office is sending me

@Petagna @afneil If you think that "windmills" and "solar panels" are free, and that we are not paying huge subsidies, then you are living in cloud cuckoo land.

@afneil However, as a source of electricity generation, renewables are going to be freely available to harness and for a much longer period of time going forward than the finitely available fossil fuels Andrew

You seem to be under the impression renewables are forever. Some of the early offshore wind farms have already been decommissioned and thousands more turbines will be decommissioned in the decade ahead. The North Sea is quite an unforgiving environment and 20 years of turbine life a reasonable assumption. After that they need to be dismantled or refurbished. Both options are expensive.

@piersmorgan Brilliant.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

@cynicalkind @afneil I think you will find that in the next 20-25 years most of the "windmills" will need replacing. Fossil fuels will be good for 30+years.

@afneil At least in another 20 years renewable will still be there, whereas, use once, fossil fuels won't be. Use some common sense.

Really? So why after 20 years of this policy are Danish households still paying some of the highest energy bills in the world? When will we ever reach your energy nirvana?

@afneil The salient aspect of our NHS is that it is not underfunded, but that is is totally mismanaged.

The difference in total health spend is not great — 11.1% GDP UK, 11.5% France. The French get more money into the system because, in addition to state spending, there’s a widely used mutuel voluntary insurance top up. Whereas NHS entirely taxpayer financed.

@nadhimzahawi @piersmorgan @PiersUncensored Keir Starmer wouldn't even dare to go on Blue Peter.

This is why @PiersUncensored is one of the best in the industry. I used to prepare hard for our head to head & almost no other Tory, especially not the leader would go on his morning show. 👇🏽