ps  have you any idea how many islamic writers contribute to the gruniad

I made a mental note of what odds I'd offer that if orioles gave a view he'd be up for changing the law once again to elevate certain sections of the community above others. I won't say what the odds were for fear of being an after timer.

I'm happy to champion the cause of Anglicanism too; not just our Muslim overlords.

What I find odd about the statement is that, as far as I'm aware, religious and racially aggravated offences are already on the books - notwithstanding a raft of statutes addressing the problem.

Quite why our glorious leader, leading us to the sunlit uplands of a socialist paradise (virgins to be respected) felt it necessary to drive home the point is a mystery. Although I confess I haven't read whatever this particular bout of pant soiling is about, so it may be he didn't say anything remotely sinister or confusing.

Quite why our glorious leader, leading us to the sunlit uplands of a socialist paradise (virgins to be respected) felt it necessary to drive home the point is a mystery.

VOTES.

I wouldn't be so presumptious. At least not until your abdication is official.

C'est "soi-disant" mon vieux

MILLIBAND MAYHEM



I’m not entirely sure that my blood pressure will take much more. The protracted battle of my football team to avoid relegation is bad enough, but the regular outpourings of bilge (and I use the term in a caring way)  from Mr Miliband is taking things to a whole new level. His latest idea over the weekend,  is to crack down on ‘rogue landlords’ by imposing a cap on rent increases during a tenancy, expanding tenant rights and extending the minimum letting period to three years.

Now I have to state a vested interest here. I have a relatively large number of private rental properties, but most economists do not, and they are pretty much unanimously agreed on one thing – rent controls are destructive. In a 1990 poll of 464 economists published in the  American Economic Review, 93 percent agreed, that “a ceiling on rents reduces the quantity and quality of housing available”. There is agreement on this from both right and left….from Nobel Prize winners Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek  from the right and their  fellow Nobel laureate Gunnar Myrdal, an important architect of the Swedish Labour Party’s welfare state, from  the left. Myrdal said, “Rent control has in certain Western countries constituted, maybe, the worst example of poor planning by governments lacking courage and vision.” His fellow Swedish socialist economist  Assar Lindbeck asserted, “In many cases rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city – except for bombing.”

Economists have shown that rent control diverts new investment, which would otherwise have gone to rental housing, and that it leads to housing deterioration, fewer repairs, and less maintenance. For example, Paul Niebanck found that 29 percent of rent-controlled houses in the United States had  deteriorated, but only 8 percent of the uncontrolled units were in such a state of disrepair. Joel Brenner and Herbert Franklin cited similar statistics for England and France.

None of this is of any interest or concern to Mr Miliband  of course, who it seems is prepared to go to any lengths to be seen to be hammering groups  who he thinks we (the electorate) perceive to be the bad guys.  It doesn’t matter that it won’t help anyone, and will actually cause damage. It might play well to  the electorate, and somehow that’s enough.

Let me give you a different perspective on what it means to be a private landlord in the UK in 2015.

Now I said at the outset that I had a vested interest in this. Well I do…and then again, I don’t. You see I have never increased the rent for anyone living in any of my properties (not even by the rate of inflation) and I have never asked anyone to leave at any time, who was paying their rent and not causing a problem for neighbours, I’m not sure who these ‘rogue landlords’  are who Miliband is demonising in order to attract the populist vote, but they’re not characters that I’ve ever come into contact with. All the landlords I know (and I know a lot) are just like me – they just want a decent tenant who pays the rent on time, looks after the property reasonably well and doesn’t annoy the neighbours. If they get that, then all the landlords I know would be  happy for them to  stay as long as they like and  keep paying the same rent. Three years…pah! Stay for ten if you like…longer!

What they get though…and Miliband and his ilk won’t  even acknowledge this…is a fair proportion of deadbeats who don’t pay, wreck the place, upset the neighbours and then disappear leaving behind arrears and a big refurbishment bill. If you offered me £1 for every bad tenant and £100 for every bad landlord, I’d take the former every time and know that I’d come out considerably richer by making that choice. And yet I’ve not heard any talk about ‘rogue tenants’. No votes in it, you see.

The people Milibands new policy will hit most are the accidental landlords  – home owners who have been unable to sell their house and so have rented it out for a period of time. Currently they’re able to rent out  for 6 months at a time, thereby affording them flexibility should an opportunity to sell come along. The new policy would rob them of that flexibility, and probably tip the balance away from renting being a viable option. So a policy which economists agree is destructive, will also cause hardship to hard working home owners (I think I’m getting the hand of this political BS now!) and further reduce the supply of good quality housing to renters.

Miliband cares nothing about the economic impact of his policies, just so long as they  resonate politically to the hard-of-thinking. Take the proposed clampdown on non-dom’s – wealthy individuals living in the UK but treated differently for tax purposes. “It’s not fair!” goes up the cry from Labour, and millions subscribing to the politics of envy, cheer their approval. Maybe it isn’t fair, but here’s the thing…these people aren’t here for the weather, they have the luxury of being able to live anywhere, and if you make life difficult for them , they will simply up-sticks and move elsewhere.

So what? Well when they go, they’ll take their businesses and their  money with them (so there’s no tax to be garnered anyway) and when that happens, all the people who are making money from serving their  needs whilst they’re here, will be looking elsewhere for equally lucrative employment. It may well be a long search, and while that’s going on, these people aren’t paying tax either.

The entire Miliband/Labour rhetoric has been focussed on demonising the wealthy and extolling ways in which they can be parted from their money. But here’s what’s interesting…the top 0.5% of earners in the UK already pay more tax than the bottom 55% combined. Like their non-dom counterparts, many of these big contributors have the  wherewithal to live and work anywhere they choose.  And if you make it too uncomfortable for them, where they choose to live and work will not be the UK.

Countless studies have showed that over-taxing the wealthy always  results in a fall in the overall tax take. Those affected either move away, exhibit satisficing behaviour or avoid tax in other ways. So again, the only arguments for taxing the wealthy more beyond a certain point, (and that point would seem to have been reached)  are political rather than economic. We need to look after high earners, not vilify them. They’re already paying more than their fair share. If they decide to stop doing that – and they can – who will make up the shortfall?

Probably the most worrying aspect of what we’ve seen thus far in the election campaign, is Milibands approach to wealth creation. If he has an approach to it (other than ignoring it) I’ve yet to see it. He hasn’t mentioned it – not once. The whole narrative has been focussed upon dividing up a pie which already exists rather than increasing the size of the pie for everyone, and helping those who want to do a bit of baking for themselves.  As a business owner or entrepreneur it’s hard to escape the perception that Miliband et al view you as a greedy chancer who deserves to be milked of your ill-gotten gains as quickly and comprehensively as possible. They don’t appear to see you as a  creator of wealth, employment and tax revenue which filters down throughout the economy at all.

It’s unclear where Miliband thinks the money comes from that he wants to re-distribute so readily, or what he thinks will happen when those currently making it decide that it’s no longer worth the hassle,  or  indeed that doing it somewhere else might bring better rewards.

Up until now Miliband seems to be getting away with all of this, and he’s getting away with it for a very simple reason – large swathes of the population are more inclined towards dragging others down to their level than they are towards aspiring to climb to the heights themselves. They are more concerned with seeing others lose than they are in seeing themselves win. They are more interested in making others poorer than they are in making themselves richer. To many, dragging others down  feels just as good as hauling themselves up. And it’s a lot less effort. Especially when Ed is promising to do it for you.

Miliband knows all this of course (despite any impressions to the contrary, he isn’t stupid) and is playing on it for all its worth, Will it work? Well we’ll all know for sure on May 8th.   The uneducated and ill-informed part of the electorate can perhaps be forgiven for succumbing to their base instincts, but Miliband can’t be forgiven for playing to them and putting his own political success over economic expediency and efficiency. He knows rent controls will be detrimental, he knows hitting non-doms will be damaging and he knows putting up taxes for high earners will  be counter-productive. But winning votes trumps all of that to him.

As I write this, we’re about 10 days from the election, and the most likely outcome appears to be a Miliband-led minority Labour government propped up by Jimmy Krankies younger sister and her cronies who don’t want to be part of the UK at all. If that doesn’t fill you with dread, you’re probably reading the wrong newsletter.
Twitt
This entry was posted in Blog on April 27, 2015 by admin.
Post navigation
← Mobile Manicures With A Twist Just Between Friends →
41 thoughts on “Miliband Mayhem”

    Ben Wibaut
    April 27, 2015 at 3:02 pm

    Here here, well said!!
    Reply ↓   
        Geoffrey Williams
        April 27, 2015 at 4:19 pm

        Very well said and put.
        I find all this labour stuff frightening.
        let’s hope sense prevails! !
        An admirer Geoffrey
        Reply ↓   
        John Foster
        April 27, 2015 at 4:34 pm

        Mustn’t knock the Milliband too much as he represents the best chance the Tories have for re-election, and every utterance of his should by rights help our cause. However the GPB have a history of shooting themselves in the foot and the politics of envy may yet give us the worst possible result, in which case god help us all. At 81 I am frankly glad I will have only a few more years to put up with the mess this country is in already. It’s my children and grandchildren I worry for. In a few decades there will be a majority of voting Muslims in UK and believe me, Allah will certainly NOT help us. What a prospect.
        Reply ↓   
        Stephen Desbonne
        April 28, 2015 at 10:16 am

        This is an opener!. Very well said!. Thank’s.
        Reply ↓   
    George Brooks
    April 27, 2015 at 3:03 pm

    Best thing you have ever written . Why let the people who hate us ,rule us.?
    Regards George
    Reply ↓   
    Dave Ritchie
    April 27, 2015 at 3:09 pm

    I a m amazed that it appears that so many do not see through Milibands stance and it proves that appealing to the politics of envy gets votes.
    It is so obvious that to carry on the good reparation work that has been happening in the last 5 years is the way to go.
    I am hoping that the reason at the moment is that traditional labour voters are embarrassed to change their normal vote and I hope that in the privacy of the voting booth they decide to vote conservative and keep the progress moving on
    Reply ↓   
    David Hill
    April 27, 2015 at 3:15 pm

    You are so right. The problem being the electorate must have been controlled in such a manner that they are brainwashed.

    How comes nobody remembers the mess the last socialist government left the country in?
    The mess they have started in the Middle east has no where near peaked yet, yet all forgotten…..

    I don’t blame the labour party, they are simply winging it. No, I blame the people stupid enough to vote them in over and over again.

    No different to what they did after the 2nd world war…..voted Churchill out and replaced him with the socialist.

    Socialism has invaded every area of public life such as Schools, hospital and the civil service. These people are educating the young to believe the lies they tell. And yes, a socialist government will get in and yet again fund bureacrasy to make sure a number stay in these positions.

    After Labour and the SNP form a government, would the last person to leave the country, kindly switch off the lights please…
    Reply ↓   
    Ted
    April 27, 2015 at 3:19 pm

    The shortage of lettings is due to Maggy giving right to buy at crazy prices people who can afford too should buy private housing not council or association houses.
    Reply ↓   
    Andy Young
    April 27, 2015 at 3:21 pm

    Great blog Post, and so very ‘spot on’ with your observation and possible outcomes.

    God help the majority of the populace who aspire to greater things, if this Blair Clone, ‘Red Ed’ and his cronies get into power with the help of the SNP who seek to bring Scotland out of the UK!

    Hopefully, the voting population (or at least those who are working in some capacity), will see through his weasel words, and vote accordingly!

    … My fingers are crossed!
    Reply ↓   
    MICHAEL R
    April 27, 2015 at 3:28 pm

    As ever, John – on the button.
    Reply ↓   
    GORDON
    April 27, 2015 at 3:28 pm

    mr labour leader says he is a geeke will promise anything then create a balls up

    IF Labour and the SNP form a government, would the last person to leave the country, kindly switch off the lights please…
    Reply ↓   
    Terry Fennell
    April 27, 2015 at 3:39 pm

    Agree entirely John.
    Ihaave always thought of Labour as the Party of the Shirker!
    Reply ↓   
    IAN
    April 27, 2015 at 3:39 pm

    You’ve said it all – well nearly: regarding the proposed mansion tax – who will decide whether a property is worth say £2,000,001 or £1,999,999 when assessing the band? A bunch of w….kers in the Valuation Office Agency who will need to hire even more staff to give extra aggravation to the market. It will probably cost more to collect than it will take in, and just piss off the wealthy who may well just up sticks.
    Reply ↓   
        John Harrison
        April 27, 2015 at 3:46 pm

        Absolutely, and although I live in the north, I can see that this tax is grossly unfair to people who live in London, and have done so for years. Two million pounds does indeed buy you a mansion where I live, but it’s nothing more than a regular family home in many parts of the capital. What this policy would also do is artificially distort the property market so that anything in the £2 million to £2.5 million range becomes unsaleable.
        Reply ↓   
    Sue
    April 27, 2015 at 3:50 pm

    John you are absolutely spot on !!
    Reply ↓   
    Julian B
    April 27, 2015 at 3:53 pm

    Absolutely right John. The way I see it, if your one of those people who blames everyone but themselves for the situation they are in who looks at those who have wealth with disdain and hatred then you will probably vote labour. On the other hand if you take control of your own life, without blaming others and are prepared to get off your backside and make a difference, aspire to be wealthy and do what it takes then you vote conservative.
    Miliband also wants a minimum wage of £8, I work with loads of small businesses who employ staff at the minimum wage. An increase to this level will add £30K a year to some of these businesses, how the hell do they afford that??
    Reply ↓   
        Brian
        April 28, 2015 at 7:54 am

        My father taught me to appreciate the fact when the boss bought a new ‘Roller’ as that meant the company was doing well and my job looked safer. He also said that it should give me the aspiration to get one myself.
        He was a socialist who had fought for this country for 6 years but believed the working man had an obligation to ‘Give a good days work for a good days pay’ he would turn in his grave to see Milliband and his
        cronies ruining a once proud if not always wise movement.
        I am 75 years of age have run several companies employed lots of mainly decent hard working people only to see the economy and the country ruined by the Blairs, Scargills, Hattons Crows etc. A good example of there thinking : ‘ Let us get more people to university’ . Very good. But rather than raise the standard of education they lower the difficulty of the exam to allow more under qualified students studying stupid degrees in ridiculous subjects and flooding the market with unemployable ”up themselves” people who think hard work is for others. But they needn’t worry if the two Eds get in because the state will subsidise them to travel on so called gap years and to fanny around until they finally wake up smell the coffee and have to earn a living . Where do they go into POLITICS.
        Reply ↓   
    John Angell
    April 27, 2015 at 3:59 pm

    Twice in my lifetime a socialist administration has wrecked the British economy. In Harold Wilson’s day the top rate of tax was 97.5%. This had two unintended consequences. Wealthy people hired expensive accountants to prove that they didn’t owe any tax at all, and anybody with any get-up-and-go simply got-up-and-went. It was called the Brain Drain. America, Canada, Australia and other parts of the world eagerly accepted the brightest people we had to offer. Most of them didn’t come back.

    Now Ed Balls is the shadow chancellor, and he was Gordon Brown’s right-hand man. I have never been able to decide if that note: “There’s no money left” was supposed to be boasting or apologising. Whichever, more of the same extravagance that the last socialist government employed will simply render null and void all the efforts we have made to get back on our feet.

    We can only hope all the polls and pundits have got it wrong.
    Reply ↓   
        Alan.S
        April 27, 2015 at 11:02 pm

        Ah Yes, I remember it well. With Wilson and Callaghan in the 60s & 70′s I really could not afford to stay here with 18% mortgage rates etc and emmigrated.I went from average UK (2 up 2 down) to average in Africa (3 bed detached, 2 cars and able to live on my salary so my wife really could stay at home when we had kids. Blair & Brown screwed it again but PLEASE NOT A MILLIBAND AS WELL
        Reply ↓   
    Kev Cooper
    April 27, 2015 at 4:06 pm

    I could almost understand the Labour numpties promoting class war if it weren’t for the fact they’re as privileged as the “Tory boys” from the view point of most of the electorate. I want kids to grow up wanting to be successful and wealthy, not sitting on their arse hating those who’ve made it.
    The Labour party have enabled a shirking class whose aspiration seems to stretch no further than owning two Rottweilers rather than one. Still it keeps Milliband, Mr & Mrs Balls et al in cushy jobs.
    Reply ↓   
    Mike
    April 27, 2015 at 4:10 pm

    Bang on the button John! This needs to reach a wider audience.
    Reply ↓   
    jeff newton
    April 27, 2015 at 4:29 pm

    With only 10 days to go it requires a well known presenter like Andre Marr to tell the country the true facts of reality like John has rightly pointed out – without any particular bias to any political party but a realist quoting facts like 0.5%of population pay more than 55% of the bottom earners – but this would need someone from the treasury non political to confirm these facts. There must be some non political spokesman from the treasury who can confirm these statements and not idealogical claims. Surely someone knows someone who can do it ?
    Reply ↓   
        David Hill
        April 27, 2015 at 5:37 pm

        Andrew Marrs is a raving Leftie….!
        Reply ↓   
    Roy Aylmer
    April 27, 2015 at 4:46 pm

    You are spot on, as usual John; when will you stand for PM?
    Joking aside, did you see that Blair crawled out of the woodwork last week to join the hustings
    He said we cannot have a vote on whether we stay in the EU in case the electorate vote the wrong way.
    He should know all about the electorate voting the wrong way when they elected him 3 times
    Reply ↓   
    Richard Whelan
    April 27, 2015 at 6:01 pm

    A very good article exposing the myths of a man who will say anything to gain power. There are only nine days to go and obviously the result sane hard working people need is a Cameron led Conservative government; no coalition, an overall majority. Will we get it? Well the betting seems to point to the Conservatives gaining the most seats, but without a majority, so it’s up to the floaters, lets hope they come good on the day.
    Reply ↓   
    Ian Platt
    April 27, 2015 at 6:04 pm

    To vote Labour in May can be a purely emotional rather than logical decision.

    The problem with Labour’s rant about Zero Hours contracts, quite apart from them representing a mere 2% of employment contracts, is that what is demonstrated is that so few of Labour’s leaders have ever managed a business, or for some even had a proper job.

    Any savvy employer will balance the hours worked by a number of employees so that over 12 weeks no employee works “regular” hours, they will be deliberately employed individually on erratic hours. Probably many workers will then be worse off. The employer will pay much the same hours overall as before.

    Just as the freezing of domestic fuel prices was, and is, counter productive it shows naivety. Another example, student fees helping the better off students and their families. Ed Miliband says he will be happy to pay £3,000 per year mansion tax, but to bring in £2.5 billion it will have to be £23,000, how out of touch can you get and probably costing more to collect than it brings in and in addition a 50p top tax rate will reduce overall tax take from the £150,00+ earners, all these examples show an inability to exercise rigour in examining policy proposals.

    Just last week I froze my Gas & Electricity prices into the second half of 2016, saving myself £250+ per annum, without Ed’s help.

    I’m not sure that any of them credit the electorate with any intelligence but we certainly have had enough of being treated as stupid.

    This latest wheeze on Rents is another example of Labour’s short term populist policies designed to treat us all as uncomprehending idiots.

    My problem is I have a Labour MP, who is a decent man and a hard working constituency MP, compared with his arrogant female Tory predecessor. Both were unfortunately Lobby fodder, so the only option is to vote for Mr Farage. He should be inspired by the “Wee Hinny in the Helmet Hair” who looks as if she is creating a political earthquake in Scotland. Maybe It can be done in England even at this late hour. At least that would be hilarious. We all need a good laugh and the left wing bias of the BBC and Channel 4,is not enough, even if it is risible.
    Ian
    Reply ↓   
    Anthony Neville
    April 27, 2015 at 6:15 pm

    Congratulations on a great blog post. I do not think Labour will ever, ever understand that the more you take from the productive members of society, the less productive they become. It saddens me that our country is heading towards a culture of take, take, take, from a culture that in the main used to be give, give, give. John F Kennedy used to quote: Ask not what your country can do for you – but what you can do for your country. We can only hope that there are enough sensible people at the coming election to ruin Miliband’s chances of becoming Prime Minister – and prevent him ever putting into effect such disastrous policies.
    Reply ↓   
    Alan Newton
    April 27, 2015 at 7:28 pm

    Well, yes I do agree with your points overall. However, the Tories and New Labour are just different shades of grey to me. You have to have fairness in a British society to make it work. People are too cynical and bloody minded in this country to pedastalise any politicians and when they do the ‘worship’ doesn’t last very long – just look at the public attitude to Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair these days. George Osborne has made some glaring errors, the Bedroom Tax being one particularly unfair ‘attack’ on poorer members of society and the Child Benefit fiasco being another, and really there are a number of factors which have enabled the economy to improve the way it has over the time of this government and those factors have had very little to do with Osborne’s economic policy. People see the Tories as looking after their own and it shows a weakness in the Tory leadership when they don’t overcome this attitude. Public perception of political actions is absolutely everything, in my opinion and neither Cameron nor Osborne seem to have come to grips with this. The Scottish referendum was a blinding example of how badly they handle things – panic stations a week before the referendum and that panic was blatently obvious to everyone. Cameron and Hague have run an abysmally weak election campaign and what they haven’t done is convince the good old British public that they’d be a better choice because they are actually fairer to people than Labour. In many respects, they don’t deserve to win and, to be honest, I’m pretty sure that we’ll end up with a Labour government in a couple of weeks. The best thing then would be a failure of that government and a new election in a few months and hopefully the Tories might just get their act together for that one. I hope!!
    Reply ↓   
        John Harrison
        April 27, 2015 at 8:00 pm

        Agree that the tory campaign has been poor. However, I don’t see this as NEW Labour. At least Blair understood the need to embrace enterprise and business. This just feels like old Labour…business is the enemy to be stamped on and milked. Anyone whose achieved anything needs dragging back into the pack.
        Reply ↓   
            Alan Newton
            April 27, 2015 at 10:01 pm

            Replying to John: Yes, I do agree with what you say but, to me, the Tories just don’t get their messages across very well. Cameron started his working life in public relations and advertising but he certainly hasn’t developed this into something usable in politics. Personally, I think Labour, New and Old, have been disastrous for this country and not only in terms of business and the economy. I’m not sure that I agree with you about Blair because it was his government which enabled a, shall I say it, corrupt banking system. Obviously Osborne has made a reasonable job of things but he still presents a toffs image. They’ll just have to reinvent themselves to get the message over to the British public. I’ll tell you now that had I been involved in designing this campaign I would have been a lot more empathetic to the ordinary people of this country rather than just going on a Labour bashing exercise. If people think they are being addressed personally, then they listen. If you want to see how it’s done, look at how Boris Johnson got to be Mayor of London – despite his background he struck a chord with the working classes of London. I live in a middle class area in the North East of England. Most of my neighbours (and friends) are now classed as middle class but came from working class backgrounds. They still, however, vote Labour. Why? Because they don’t believe a word the Tories say and they still identify with Labour despite the barmy policies.
            Reply ↓   
        John Harrison
        April 27, 2015 at 8:00 pm

        Agree that the tory campaign has been poor. However, I don’t see this as NEW Labour. At least Blair understood the need to embrace enterprise and business. This just feels like old Labour…business is the enemy to be stamped on and milked. Anyone whose achieved anything needs dragging back into the pack.
        Reply ↓   
    Ralph
    April 27, 2015 at 8:21 pm

    Ted, the council tenant who ops to purchase his council house is still a council tenant owning his own house. The proceeds will go to building a replacement council house for a future tenant. Simple two families housed.
    Reply ↓   
    David Lean
    April 27, 2015 at 9:16 pm

    Good article John, this is why I’m voting for the only party with commoon-sense policies, namely UKIP

    David
    Reply ↓   
        Paul O'Neill
        April 28, 2015 at 7:59 am

        Thanks David for your vote, its appreciated.

        pp Ed Miliband.
        Reply ↓   
    Stephen C. Wilde
    April 28, 2015 at 1:06 am

    I knew before I read it you’d be a true blue torie rear end licker! the conservatives are only for the well off and sitting pretty, Labour is my only hope being on a VERY love income, I need the bedroom tax reversed for a start…….labour has compassion for the lesser people, smarmy Cameron only loves and boosts the rich!
    Reply ↓   
        Paul O'Neill
        April 28, 2015 at 8:04 am

        Labour complains about the so-called ‘bedroom tax’ but ignores the 250,000 families condemned to live in bedsits and further 1.8 million families stuck on housing waiting lists. It’s not right to make families wait for years for a house that’s big enough, while other households on benefits can live in homes that are too big for their needs at no extra cost. This policy is already starting to help these people and there are exemptions to protect tenants with special requirements.

        Labour let house building fall to the lowest levels since the 1920′s but not once has Labour apologised for this mess.
        Reply ↓   
        John Harrison
        April 28, 2015 at 8:53 am

        That’s quite a common perception Stephen, which is kind of what I was talking about. The truth though, is that the Tories have been very good at extracting tax revenues from high earners, and this group now contribute a higher proportion to the exchequer than was ever the case under Labour. They seem to have achieved this through economic expediency…balancing off levels of taxation with incentive retention, encouraging enterprise and welcoming wealthy individuals from overseas. What they haven’t done, is impose politically motivated rules and levies simply to appease the less well off.
        Reply ↓   
    John Borrow
    April 28, 2015 at 8:35 am

    A good blog John.
    A very important and quite frightening point, that is never aired on television, is the speed at which the Muslim nation in Britain are increasing. Perhaps it’s not politically correct to mention it, but someone needs the balls to say it. The way things are going we will become a Muslim majority in the not too distant future. This isn’t scaremongering, the facts speak for themselves. The native Britain has on average 1.6 children, whereas the Asian population has an average of 4.1, if you do the maths you will find this to be true. Churches are empty and falling in to disrepair while Mosques are filled and springing up at an alarming rate. Voting for another left wing government will only serve to speed this up. If UKIP were to present themselves in a more genteel way and explain their policies with less confrontation perhaps they could have more say in future governments. Personally, I can’t complain as I never vote. I look after my affairs so that the outcome of elections has no effect on me whoever wins. I just find it so sad that the country I love, that my father gave his life for, doesn’t seem to be English anymore.
    Reply ↓   
    Brian
    April 28, 2015 at 9:45 am

    Well, if I wasn’t depressed before, I am now! The prospect of Labout in power is a dismal one and you have hit the nail on the head, John – thanks for a great post.
    I can’t understand this 3 year rental thing: as a small-time landlord I would be happy for someone to stay 3 years if they pay on time and are decent people. That doesn’t need legislation – it’s landlords who need protection from unscrupulous tenants that need protecting – and that applies as much to councils and housing associations too!
    Reply ↓   
    Arnold Dearing
    April 28, 2015 at 10:19 am

    Well said John, however am I the only person in the UK REALLY listening to what that Aussie Marxist who runs the Green Party is saying. They are now nothing to do with going “green” but a far, far left party who must have come from Militant or the Trotskyist Workers Party (being from the soviet republic of South Yorkshire you will know all about them).
    The “Green” Party wish to scrap all Horse Races and Greyhound races, build about a zillion houses, re-nationalise the railways, re-introduce Council Houses, raise benefits. “Restore the NHS” whatever that means and worst of all bring most industry into public ownership.
    These people are dangerous if not totally nuts. Why have the press been silent, why has TV ignored them.
    If you don’t believe me – read their manifesto, its scary.
    Reply ↓   
        John Harrison
        April 28, 2015 at 10:33 am

        Suspect they get ignored for the same reason as the bloke ranting on a park bench…because they’ve got absolutely zero chance of putting any of it into practice. We don’t have the same luxury with Miliband.