Making the news today....

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

More a case of what’s not really making the news (or at least not so much as it should.)

 

Has anybody noted the “changes” on their smart meter?

 

Shocking!  I can see real problems ahead of this is not addressed. 
 

CEO of energy company quoted as saying “...we’ve got more money than we know what to do with...”

 

Oh f*cking really!

[eggsarascal]

26 minutes ago, kevinjohnsonmbe said:

More a case of what’s not really making the news (or at least not so much as it should.)

 

Has anybody noted the “changes” on their smart meter?

 

Shocking!  I can see real problems ahead of this is not addressed. 
 

CEO of energy company quoted as saying “...we’ve got more money than we know what to do with...”

 

Oh f*cking really!

My ground rent has just gone up from £15/night to £20/night due to energy costs, before long I'll be better off renting a flat. But you know that won't be happening.

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

26 minutes ago, eggsarascal said:

My ground rent has just gone up from £15/night to £20/night due to energy costs, before long I'll be better off renting a flat. But you know that won't be happening.

I’m not the biggest fan of Sheila Fogerty on LBC, but she had a feature on last week where some charity bloke had been on a home visit and found a woman heating a tin of beans over a candle and making toast with a fork off the gas fire and too afraid to ask for help for fear of having kid taken away. 
 

Also mention that food banks are now rejecting donations that need cooking because folk can’t afford the gas / electric to cook meat & veg. 
 

This is the reality for some and I can’t help but think there really is a quantum shift in ‘compliance’ coming....

 

PS - there’s no sense at all coming out of any political party at present. Taxing energy companies is no good - that’ll just funnel money into government where it’ll be wasted. 
 

Solution - energy companies take the ‘pain’ out of profits, government remove / reduce VAT + other taxes paid by user and proper revisit of fracking. 

Edited April 3, 2022 by kevinjohnsonmbe

[eggsarascal]

8 minutes ago, kevinjohnsonmbe said:

I’m not the biggest fan of Sheila Fogerty on LBC, but she had a feature on last week where some charity bloke had been on a home visit and found a woman heating a tin of beans over a candle and making toast with a fork off the gas fire and too afraid to ask for help for fear of having kid taken away. 
 

Also mention that food banks are now rejecting donations that need cooking because folk can’t afford the gas / electric to cook meat & veg. 
 

This is the reality for some and I can’t help but think there really is a quantum shift in ‘compliance’ coming....

 

PS - there’s no sense at all coming out of any political party at present. Taxing energy companies is no good - that’ll just funnel money into government where it’ll be wasted. 
 

Solution - energy companies take the ‘pain’ out of profits, government remove / reduce VAT + other taxes paid by user and proper revisit of fracking. 

Yep, I heard the Fogerty feature, she's not too bad for a scouser! People will take to the streets if things don't change, this lot are that far out of touch with working folk that it boggles the mind. My only hope is, they don't get rid of Bojo.

[difflock]

5 minutes ago, kevinjohnsonmbe said:

I’m not the biggest fan of Sheila Fogerty on LBC, but she had a feature on last week where some charity bloke had been on a home visit and found a woman heating a tin of beans over a candle and making toast with a fork off the gas fire and too afraid to ask for help for fear of having kid taken away. 
 

Also mention that food banks are now rejecting donations that need cooking because folk can’t afford the gas / electric to cook meat & veg. 
 

This is the reality for some and I can’t help but think there really is a quantum shift in ‘compliance’ coming....

 

PS - there’s no sense at all coming out of any political party at present. Taxing energy companies is no good - that’ll just funnel money into government where it’ll be wasted. 
 

Solution - energy companies take the ‘pain’ out of profits, government remove / reduce VAT + other taxes paid by user and proper revisit of fracking. 

Kevin,

But OYFB.

What I see is roads still busy with cars NOT on needed runs, and coast roads and car parks stuffed full, pubs still busy, expensive carry out food galore, etc etc. 

Plus stupid expensive building sites in Portstewart still selling at 1.5M Quid.

No shuttered bookies shops either.

So if the better off keep getting better off and the feckless remain feckless there could actually be a reason for this.

And if our Politicans continue to pander to the feckless, to buy their votes, reassuring them that "it is not their fault", well perhaps iffen their great grandmother/grandmother/mother hadda kept their legs crossed more often it might not be.

 

It is simply HOW a lot of the population choose to spend their money.

The factory I work in a couple of days a week is a revealing example, workers talking of needing more hours, but also blithly relating about how they spent the weekend in a hotel(30 mile from where they live!), and planning to hire a camper van etc etc.

Plus the younger ones blowing about excessive drinking, taxies, tattoes, motorbikes, babies by multiple women/fathers etc etc etc.

Nevermind the woman on benefits with umpteen children.

It is simply unsustainable.

I am past caring how unpalatable this opinion is to some.

Marcus

[eggsarascal]

5 minutes ago, difflock said:

Kevin,

But OYFB.

What I see is roads still busy with cars NOT on needed runs, and coast roads and car parks stuffed full, pubs still busy, expensive carry out food galore, etc etc. 

Plus stupid expensive building sites in Portstewart still selling at 1.5M Quid.

No shuttered bookies shops either.

So if the better off keep getting better off and the feckless remain feckless there could actually be a reason for this.

And if our Politicans continue to pander to the feckless, to buy their votes, reassuring them that "it is not their fault", well perhaps iffen their great grandmother/grandmother/mother hadda kept their legs crossed more often it might not be.

 

It is simply HOW a lot of the population choose to spend their money.

The factory I work in a couple of days a week is a revealing example, workers talking of needing more hours, but also blithly relating about how they spent the weekend in a hotel(30 mile from where they live!), and planning to hire a camper van etc etc.

Plus the younger ones blowing about excessive drinking, taxies, tattoes, motorbikes, babies by multiple women/fathers etc etc etc.

Nevermind the woman on benefits with umpteen children.

It is simply unsustainable.

I am past caring how unpalatable this opinion is to some.

Marcus

Try to put your brain in gear before you open your mouth Marcus, the feral, feckless and long time useless have been around forever. This increase in energy costs is hitting decent working people, not just the above mentioned.

[difflock]

9 minutes ago, eggsarascal said:

Try to put your brain in gear before you open your mouth Marcus, the feral, feckless and long time useless have been around forever. This increase in energy costs is hitting decent working people, not just the above mentioned.

Eggs,

 I did, yes energy is getting stupid expensive, and since oil and gas are both a declining asset with ever increasing demands this situation will not change.  Unless nuclear and coal are brought back. Which will take years. And "renewables" rely on mucho fossil fuel to be installed, subsidized  and maintained. 

 And the Government did not help with QE!

Nor did the vastly expensive and unneeded overreaction to Covid.

Nor did the war in the Ukraine.

The difference with the feckless in the past compared to the present is they are now aided, abetted, excused  and encouraged by a sector of our political leadership, plus they create lucerative employment (taxpayer funded, natch) for those who "care" for them.

Here in N.I. it is probably worse, which means I see more examples of blatent abuse of the system, again aided abetted and encouraged by the politicans, for votes.

Which all costs those who work excessive taxes.

Tough.

 

[eggsarascal]

4 minutes ago, difflock said:

Eggs,

 I did, yes energy is getting stupid expensive, and since oil and gas are both a declining asset with ever increasing demands this situation will not change.  Unless nuclear and coal are brought back. Which will take years. And "renewables" rely on mucho fossil fuel to be installed, subsidized  and maintained. 

 And the Government did not help with QE!

Nor did the vastly expensive and unneeded overreaction to Covid.

Nor did the war in the Ukraine.

The difference with the feckless in the past compared to the present is they are now aided, abetted, excused  and encouraged by a sector of our political leadership, plus they create lucerative employment (taxpayer funded, natch) for those who "care" for them.

Here in N.I. it is probably worse, which means I see more examples of blatent abuse of the system, again aided abetted and encouraged by the politicans, for votes.

Which all costs those who work excessive taxes.

Tough.

 

So, you didn't then. The conversation is about rising energy costs that are hitting decent people, you, as always try to turn it around to people being feckless. You've now admitted that energy is getting stupid expensive. Go figure, Marcus.

[Deafhead]

1 hour ago, kevinjohnsonmbe said:

More a case of what’s not really making the news (or at least not so much as it should.)

 

Has anybody noted the “changes” on their smart meter?

 

Shocking!  I can see real problems ahead of this is not addressed. 
 

CEO of energy company quoted as saying “...we’ve got more money than we know what to do with...”

 

Oh f*cking really!

Frightening, I thought the meter must be malfunctioning. Oils bad enough at nearly £1 per litre.

[openspaceman]

59 minutes ago, kevinjohnsonmbe said:

Solution - energy companies take the ‘pain’ out of profits, government remove / reduce VAT + other taxes

In your dreams; no one wants to give up money least of all energy company profits it's an unexpected consequence of a sudden change where regulation is too slow to react.. In the same way covid drastically reduced or negated profits of all those businesses that lost their clientele during lockdown.

 

We have an economy that  rewards the successful  such that the less successful suffer and part of that is the money is no longer available for things the welfare state was designed to provide.

 

The welfare state came about because the catastrophic consequences of war moved the public vote towards co-operation, 75 years on the  economy has reverted further to competition and devil takes the hindmost.

 

As Marcus points out the moderately wealthy and upwards are hardly affected because the staples of homes, heating and food form a smaller part of their disposable income so they can continue to afford luxury goods like travel, holidays etc.

 

My problem with this is that those things tend to have increased global consequences.