the tory manifesto

london 5.56am 12C cloudy/rain friday 2017

daily mail article spelling out the tory manifesto. it is the only one to take note of as the tories will very likely win the election and what they say will matter. forget what the other parties say they want.

i am sure there will be parts of the manifesto we dontlike, but we cannot pick and choose, so when they win, they will implement all of it, whether for good or ill, time will tell. they intend to keep the foreign aid…(though they say some of it can be diverted to defense) so maybe that would help the defense bill. they will change the criteria for getting the aid too… so that might free up more money for defense if fewer countries fulfil the tougher criteria for aid. that might be the reason why they still keep it  when they are so willing to clobber the old for paying for their care.

there will be a huge cost for care for the old. maybe they realise it is not possible for the state(by which i mean the local councils, with the state compensating them for it) to bear all the burden for it, not even if they divert that 0.7% of gdp that is earmarked for foreign aid into it… and that the old has houses that should be used to bear some of the costs.

that bit of the manifesto that says leave the single market and custom union… that is a really bold one. that would mean rely only on World trade organisation tariffs… and what will happen to financial services if it cannot get full access to europe. that is a hell of a lot of customers there. unless the city of london provides a unique service, not available anywhere in the EU, so that they have to use london. in other words, the EU  have no choice but to use the city of london because of it’s financial clout.  the fear is that gradually expertise will move to europe, over time. and the city may lose its clout. but how much real is that fear? europe with its high tax rates to individuals, its high corporate rate to businesses, its lack of english as a common widely spoken and written way to talk to each other…is not very attractive to work in. ( i know, u in europe will say stop being so english centric. haha. but financial services are all done in english… i would say all the laws that pertain to it is in english, so u have to know english whether u like it or not. correct me if u know better…)

or the city will get to have so much reduced tax  on them by the govt , the govt being forced to keep tax on financial services so low just to undercut any services that wants to relocate to europe…

the EU intends to impose a robin hood tax on the stock market and financial services, and that might mean it is cheaper to do your business in london. as it is corporation tax will be 17%. only ireland is lower at 12.5%. (corporation tax rates in EU . germany and france are about 30%) many of the financial services may move to ireland to gain access to the EU whilst having such low business rates. even then the EU can impose a tax on it like they did with apple. though all of them wont be able to escape a robin hood tax , or any other taxes drummed up by the EU in a future date.

and no one really knows how much trade uk will make with the rest of the world once it is free of EU restrictions to trade with the rest of the world. it might really be so big, that it dwarfs the losses from leaving the EU.

i see there is no mention of whether we will continue to be subjected to EU law and EU court of justice.

they have left the bus freedom pass alone.  perhaps it is not really that costly… but then local councils pay that and it is not really a burden on the state. and the older that people get, it is used less or maybe council simply let the bus services deteriorate so much that buses dont run that much, and so reduce the incentive to take them. this has happened , so that the bus services are so cut down now, it has become a joke. not in london though. but london is special anyway, as the bus pass includes tubes and train, and trams. 

added. 10.49am 13.3C rain i was really surprised to see this , sweden have dropped assange rape investigation. after so many years, 5 yrs, they decide to stop it. assange is now free to walk out of the ecuador embassy. this comes when they came to london to interview him 6months ago about the rape allegations. why they could not have done that before… one would like to ask them. but i read this report that the police will still arrest him, because the original offense was he jumped bail. so it looks like he still cannot walk out of the embassy without risking arrest, though he might just do that and get it sorted out. it shows that the original arrest warrant by sweden is an overreaction… they have no grounds to arrest him other than the word of the women who accused him, on the strength of that to issue an arrest warrant sounds like a misuse of that. 

uk, business as usual

london 4.15pm friday 2015.

so the election is over, and the conservatives won, enough to form the govt without need for a coalition. that is what i wished for. i think this conservative govt have done rather well with the economy… i mean u just have to look to europe to see what a mess they have made of it, so i think they should be given another 5yrs.

the alternative is a labour coalition with the snp, with the snp tail wagging the dog and having a big say on affairs that concern england. i have a feeling that is what the english will not like,( i dont like it too) that is why there is this last minute surge to the conservatives and leading to an overall majority.

the daily mail earlier in the campaign did a strategic plan asking people to vote strategically if they want to prevent a labour win, and in england, i could see the lib dems will be the ones to suffer. so many areas where to vote to keep out labour, u have to shift your vote from lib dem to conservative. that is why the lib dems were decimated. to lose 50 MPs to end up with only 8 is devastating. and then when they say they will get into bed with the snp, i think that spells their death knell.

on another note, i went to the ‘A place in the sun’ exhibition at olympia with that free ticket they gave me. this time i thought i shall take the tube and use the special service they say they provide that runs from earls court to olympia. but it is bogus, there is no such service. instead they say they run a shuttle bus service to there, but there was no sign indicating any bus is coming … bad of them. there were quite a number of people waiting , all from out of town and confused like anything. i left them to wait for that shuttle and took the local bus instead. i think it would be better to take the tube to high st kensington and there take the number 9, or 10, to olympia. 

i am glad i did not have to pay for it as i think it is not worth it. haha. most of the people there were at the spain corner. i got my invite from the italian corner. they have a stall from a company selling villas in tuscany, which is way above most people’s budget. but also as i said to the lady minding the stall, the weather is too much like uk. haha.

there was a stall from a company selling villas in puglia, which is in the south so will be warmer, but they only sell villas, no apartments. i think for most of us looking for a holiday let, we are only interested in easy to maintain apartments.

i happen to browse their magazine, given to us as we enter. at the end of it i saw an article by their legal expert. entitled ‘Spanish purchase taxes with all the trappings’ and was aghast to read that the spanish council can ask u to pay backdated taxes based on the old price before the crash.

such a minefield that it puts me right off buying anywhere ever!!! (not that i am interested in buying anyway haha.

i think the best thing u can do is just pay for the holiday on a ad hoc basis… why bother to own the villa, just rent it for 2wks. also, if the referendum cause the uk to leave the EU, what will happen to those who bought property in europe?

one good thing with the conservative govt being reelected, the £ will keep being strong against the euro. (though there is still the promised referendum to stay in the EU or not that is promised us that might lead to a crash in the exchange rate, but that is in the future). 

i voted just now.

london 8am, 2015 thursday

i was struck by this thought as i waited my turn to be noted down. no one asked me for identification. all i need is the poll card sent to me. i asked what is there to stop someone else from taking my card and pretending to be me?  the person in charge there said because i have the poll card sent to my address.

i can see a way of someone jiggering the system, dont you? ah well, lets hope not, because in the marginal seats that might swing the vote.

i am in westminster and the city of london (it just goes to show how few people live in city of london and westminster to allow it to merge with westminster and only take one MP to represent us) and it is solidly conservative.

or rather, there are so few of us eligible to vote. the vast majority who live here are visitors, or rich people who buy as investments, or if they are do live here because they are rich they dont have the right to vote. or if they are british their second home is in london, their main voting residence is elsewhere in uk.

Energy price rise sparks new political row over power bills | Money | theguardian.com

Energy price rise sparks new political row over power bills | Money | theguardian.com.

I think labour’s ploy to win the next election by pandering to people’s desire to fix prices will backfire. not only that people might see it is to blame for the increased prices, but recognise it as a cheap ploy to bribe us to vote for them.

it will increase prices because it will encourage the utilities companies to raise prices more than warranted from now on ,as a safeguard  in case labour wins the next election when the prevailing price will be fixed.

They(the utilities companies) have nothing to lose and all to gain. if labour wins, then by raising the price of gas and electricity by more than warranted means the price at that time of election will have already taken into account the price freeze for 2yrs. And if labour fails to win the election, why then the companies get that extra profit . Either way, the public from now on will see higher price rises than if labour had not said so early that it will freeze prices.  it is a bad own goal by labour, but we the public is paying for it.

by giving notice of a price freeze so early before the elections, labour has lost the surprise element. Why give away your plans , you might ask. the only anaswer must be this price freeze is a political ploy by labour to appeal to the electorate. they are hoping to bribe the public to giving them votes.

Lets hope the public realise this, and not vote in labour, and then maybe the price rise will slow down after the elections as the companies realise there wont be a price freeze.

i think what anyone of us  savvy consumer can do is to cut the use of gas and electricity to the bone. and that means switch off the gas, and do not heat the house. that would be the extreme solution but can be done. who can do it you ask? well i am doing it. i know i am extreme , in that i dont have it on at all. but i do know of some who dont switch on the heating until well into jan, feb. or bring down the thermostat to 17C or less.

though if u are going to do that , lower the thermostat,  u might as well go the whole hog and switch it off. that pilot light can use up a lot of gas.

and dont forget the hot water boiler too. switch that off… boil a kettle instead. and have short electric showers.

however you do it, cut down the usage of gas and electricity drastically and you wont mind how much they raise the prices for you wont be affected.

if you only use gas for heating(and not for cooking too) , switch the gas off completely especially those who dont have a standing charge.

that is why i am rather amused at the fuss over the price rises, i can laugh because it does not affect me very much. when the cost of my electricity is £ 55  every quarter, a 10% rise is is only £5.50.

added 12.10.13

i am with british gas. i am pleased to see that even though they have increased the price, my bill has remained the same. how did i do it? because i have consistently reduced my usage, that is why.