Next temporary leader of the Conservative Party PM

[btb]

Quote

To bring the stability & unity this country needs, the Conservative Party needs to unite behind a leader who can

- bring the different parts of the Party together

- assemble a Cabinet of all the talents

- win in ‘24 to keep SNP/Labour alliance out

Yeeeehaaaaa!

I can't decide which is worse "a Cabinet of all the talents" or going back to the "SNP/Labour alliance" - someone better tell Keir & Anas about the latter.

[Dan Steele]

3 minutes ago, btb said:

the "SNP/Labour alliance" - someone better tell Keir & Anas about the latter.

I'd love to think the pair of them are so petty that the SNP being placed before them is sending them into a total rage 

[Dawson Park Boy]

1 hour ago, WATTOO said:

You can only raise taxes if you have high wages and in Scotland just now the average salary is around £23k to £24k, however we still have a large percentage on much less than that.

The BBC and our Westminster politicians seem to think that a "poor wage" is around £35k, however they're all living in cloud cuckoo land.

Incidentally, the "Russia" excuse and Covid are quite convenient to mask the fact that this has been coming for years but we continually just kicked the can down the road by playing dumb and keeping interest rates at ridiculously low artificial rates, however it's now we have to pay the piper I'm afraid.

The Car leasing sector will be one of the first to crash and any Bank who's tied up in it will see major losses, it will then snowball from there and with the majority of the population having very little disposable income we'll see what's left of our broken retail sector crash and burn along with the construction industry which will only lead to extremely high unemployment.

Of course, we've not even started discussing the waves of strike action and general rage among the general population.....

 

Wouldn’t disagree with that.

The printing presses have been rolling since the last crash and it was inevitable that reality, at some point, would kick in.

Totally agree about PCP leases. A huge disaster awaiting coupled with higher mortgages.

The best bet now is to avoid debt, keep the old car running and hunker down.

Your point about Scotland is correct. Doesn’t have enough high earners which makes the case for independence even more stupid.

[Dawson Park Boy]

1 hour ago, welshbairn said:

 

 

‘ You can’t always get what you want’.

I think the words of that tune says it all.

[coprolite]

1 hour ago, WATTOO said:

You can only raise taxes if you have high wages and in Scotland just now the average salary is around £23k to £24k, however we still have a large percentage on much less than that.

The BBC and our Westminster politicians seem to think that a "poor wage" is around £35k, however they're all living in cloud cuckoo land.

Incidentally, the "Russia" excuse and Covid are quite convenient to mask the fact that this has been coming for years but we continually just kicked the can down the road by playing dumb and keeping interest rates at ridiculously low artificial rates, however it's now we have to pay the piper I'm afraid.

The Car leasing sector will be one of the first to crash and any Bank who's tied up in it will see major losses, it will then snowball from there and with the majority of the population having very little disposable income we'll see what's left of our broken retail sector crash and burn along with the construction industry which will only lead to extremely high unemployment.

Of course, we've not even started discussing the waves of strike action and general rage among the general population.....

 

Why would you need high wages to raise taxes? Obviously it would be less painful but it's not a pre-requisite. Now that the market discipline is back in the narrative, actual humans are going to need to brace themselves. 

 Your figure for average salaries seems about right but a bit on the low side. https://digitalpublications.parliament.scot/ResearchBriefings/Report/2022/3/9/ce765259-d82e-4db7-8ecf-802683f7e56b

Not sure where you're getting the £35k figure from but i've not heard that quoted as low pay. (although i did hear an mp, peter bottomley i think, complaining that £80k wasn't enough to live on). 

Outside London and the South East, Scotland has relatively better paid jobs than rUK. 

So even if the low paid can or will be spared any of the pain, it won't insulate Scotland. 

I'm not sure i share your view that interest rates were necessarily kept artificially low. They were what was needed for a low inflation environment. I'd say it's more that growth and employment were suppressed to keep inflation low and asset prices high. But the exact cause and effect is  less important than the facts of what happened. 

There's a straight line from Osborne's frankly lunatic austerity and brexit continuing through from brexit to basket case. 

I think you're right that a lot of retail is currently "zombie" status and will almost certainly take a final headshot shortly. 

People have been saying that car loans are the next subprime for about 8 years now, but they've been getting crazier. They're all neatly bundled into opaque securitisation vehicles just like a 2007 CDO would have been, for added domino rally effects.

Is it too late to start being a prepper? 

[Alert Mongoose]

10 minutes ago, coprolite said:

Outside London and the South East, Scotland has relatively better paid jobs than rUK. 

Wouldn't you have to exclude Edinburgh for that to be a valid comparison. Perhaps even Aberdeen though that may have dropped since the oil boom.

[Antlion]

32 minutes ago, Dawson Park Boy said:

 

Your point about Scotland is correct. Doesn’t have enough high earners which makes the case for independence even more stupid.

Whereas you found the case for Brexit - printed on the side of a bus - a masterclass in wisdom and intelligence.

[scottsdad]

2 hours ago, WATTOO said:

You can only raise taxes if you have high wages and in Scotland just now the average salary is around £23k to £24k, however we still have a large percentage on much less than that.

When looking at pay for all employees:

• At £26,007, Scotland has the third highest median gross annual salary of the nations and regions of the UK and it is higher than the UK figure.

• At £504, Scotland has the third highest median gross weekly pay of the nations and regions of the UK and it is the same as the UK figure.

• At £14.28, Scotland has the third highest median hourly pay excluding overtime of the nations and regions of the UK and it is higher than the UK figure

https://digitalpublications.parliament.scot/ResearchBriefings/Report/2022/3/9/ce765259-d82e-4db7-8ecf-802683f7e56b

[carpetmonster]

[welshbairn]

 

[carpetmonster]

Andrea Leadsom in 'no idea of concept of dignity' shocker

 

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, scottsdad said:

When looking at pay for all employees:

• At £26,007, Scotland has the third highest median gross annual salary of the nations and regions of the UK and it is higher than the UK figure.

• At £504, Scotland has the third highest median gross weekly pay of the nations and regions of the UK and it is the same as the UK figure.

• At £14.28, Scotland has the third highest median hourly pay excluding overtime of the nations and regions of the UK and it is higher than the UK figure

https://digitalpublications.parliament.scot/ResearchBriefings/Report/2022/3/9/ce765259-d82e-4db7-8ecf-802683f7e56b

it depends how you work the figures, however I tend to use my own benchmarking exercises via my Union involvement and the fact that I have access to salary guides across the financial sector. Edinburgh is also a blot on our figures as the salaries tend to be far higher in that one part of the country which skews our total figures.

I'd also look at the fact that many of our jobs in Scotland tend to be in low paid industries such as Retail, Hospitality, Finance and Insurance call centres / service centres, factory work, care sector and local Government.

The bottom line is that people simply aren't earning enough to put up taxes when Foodbank usage is at an all time high and personal Debt is increasing by the day. The ones who aren't living in total poverty will have little to no disposable income and any attempt to raise taxes is likely to result in anarchy.

The one option available is to reverse the NI cut which obviously hasn't taken affect as yet but anything else will be a huge political gamble that I can't see any Government winning, especially one that's such a shambles.

Irrespective, we're heading for major strike action across the board, business failures and a major recession, the likes of which most of us have never encountered.......

[coprolite]

38 minutes ago, Alert Mongoose said:

Wouldn't you have to exclude Edinburgh for that to be a valid comparison. Perhaps even Aberdeen though that may have dropped since the oil boom.

If you wanted a comparison excluding the wealthiest areas then yes.

Scotland does better than the whole UK figure though. I think that means that unless Edinburgh and Aberdeen outstrip London and SE then the rest of Scotland probably out earns the rest of England. 

These figures give a limited picture anyway so i'd not rely on them for anything more than very broad brushstokes. 

They're employee earnings so don't include self employed. Likes of Aberdeen or West Mids will have a lot of well paid "self employed" engineering contractors. Edinburgh and London lots of very well paid self employed partners in law, accountancy or architectural practices. The biggest number of self employed people throughout the country will be cash trades, taxis and hairdressers etc which aren't so well off, officially. 

Then there's variation in non-participation in the labour force. Anywhere with former coal mines will be adversely affected by this. If fewer people are working then average income for the population at a given level of average salary for employees will obviously be lower. 

If there's a reliable household income figure kicking about, that would give a better idea of welfare. 

Then there's price levels and purchasing power... 

[williemillersmoustache]

I'd have great difficulty in withdrawing with dignity if I were in her....

shoes. 

[Granny Danger]

Mordaunt used to be a magician’s assistant.

Don't be surprised if she’s got something up her sleeve.

[Hillonearth]

2 hours ago, Brother Blades said:

It’s all over bar the shouting, absolutely no way Penny is getting to 100. Very disappointed as this is the least hilarious outcome. The only real point & laugh opportunity is the red faced gammons in the Tory membership who will be apoplectic at not getting to reject a brown person, again. 

Yeah - anyone who got the 100 would have been a shoo-in had it gone to the Tory membership. Sunak seems to be wildly unpopular with the grassroots due to him having "stabbed Bowwis in the back".

And obviously the fact he's one of Them doesn't endear him to them either.

[Melanius Mullarkey]

Imagine Andrea Leadsom, was your manager.

I'd rather have Mark Mcghee tbh

[tamthebam]

26 minutes ago, Granny Danger said:

Mordaunt used to be a magician’s assistant.

Don't be surprised if she’s got something up her sleeve.

So what you're saying is Penny has something up her wizard's sleeve. 

Well, it's an interesting take on things I suppose. 

[Dawson Park Boy]

30 minutes ago, coprolite said:

If you wanted a comparison excluding the wealthiest areas then yes.

Scotland does better than the whole UK figure though. I think that means that unless Edinburgh and Aberdeen outstrip London and SE then the rest of Scotland probably out earns the rest of England. 

These figures give a limited picture anyway so i'd not rely on them for anything more than very broad brushstokes. 

They're employee earnings so don't include self employed. Likes of Aberdeen or West Mids will have a lot of well paid "self employed" engineering contractors. Edinburgh and London lots of very well paid self employed partners in law, accountancy or architectural practices. The biggest number of self employed people throughout the country will be cash trades, taxis and hairdressers etc which aren't so well off, officially. 

Then there's variation in non-participation in the labour force. Anywhere with former coal mines will be adversely affected by this. If fewer people are working then average income for the population at a given level of average salary for employees will obviously be lower. 

If there's a reliable household income figure kicking about, that would give a better idea of welfare. 

Then there's price levels and purchasing power... 

Regarding your union work, do you take into account the help given to households directly for energy or just the published inflation figures? Also, do you accept that everyone is going to be poorer due to macro- economic circumstances or is it all down to bargaining strength?

[Brother Blades]

Watching some public talking heads on TV, obviously they’re interviewing Tory inclined voters, but f**k me, they really are a different breed south of the border “bring back Boris, everybody was picking on him” Jesus wept. 
It’s all over apparently, i for one welcome our new billionaire overlord.