nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqg0tuf634rz4suczwj7kgnecr6cyt0eu9xmp3sp0fku68mqehq4msas60lz Yes the Tories got the UK's reputation for the corruption well into overdrive but do we really think that with the current mob (sic) of Starmer and Streeting and Co. in power we are going to significantly move the corruption dial that much for the better?
reputations in such things are easily lost but hard to rebuild (even with a clear political intent, which currently is weak, at best)
Indeed, as we have discussed/noted before
If you are interested in how we might better understand the relations between taxation, levels of public spending as a proportion of GDP & the danger of Labour failing to improve experiences of public services, then you could read nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqdg36nmxp88c5fntkckz8q6el3576vtl6e30u4rht8zkzk20u7jhs29dwh5 post today.
His downbeat conclusion is that unless Labour really improves public services, it will need to campaign on (even more) unrelated tax promised, reinforcing a negative spiral in the public sector.
#economics #tax
https://mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2025/02/quantifying-continuing-uk-public.html
Not uncommon advice; the problem for the UK Govt. is actually this involves ceding some sovereign over the regulation of trade with none of the advantages of EU membership, indeed a common complaint in Norway about the arrangement.
As the UK continues to try & find a place outside the EU, and fails to understand how it (we) have corrupted & downgraded our 'soft power', another clue to how other nations see us is the failure to recover a better ranking in international perceptions of state corruption.
The UK used to rank daily in the top 10 & now languishes down at 20th place, perceptions that seemly still stem from the corruption of the Tories (and not just under Johnson).
#corruption #SoftPower
Ha ha, that would involve immigration, unless they all worked from home, of course....
ProfDJ's killer cuts for your streaming shuffle, No.43
Average White Band. Person to Person
Really the whole first side of AWB's debut LP could be (are!) killer cuts, but the stuttering funk of Person to Person just edges it. Some great vocals & a wonderful modulation in the bridge make this one of my favourite bits of blue eyed soul (funk). A group of Scots channelling James Brown & making something extraordinarily good always works for me!
#Music #KillerCuts #funk
Rafael Behr concludes that democracy's defences against Fascism built on a knowledge of how it played out last time are not only being ignored & obscured, they have become ineffective:
'the usual way of imparting [the lessons of history] has stopped working, which means – and I really want to be wrong about this – they will have to be relearned the hard way'
If so, things may get a hell of a lot worse before they even start to get a bit better... grim times!
#politics
Excellent news:
'Andrea Tucker has overturned the demand for £4,600 in carer’s allowance overpayments for alleged breaches in benefit rules'.
Tucker's tribunal case vindicates her claim the DWP misled her & abused her through a miscalculation of her working hours, which triggered a demand for a repayment of carers' allowance.
Now, the DWP needs to be bought under control & its abuse of unpaid carers halted...
#DWP #carers
For many years I wrote & research on intellectual property & in the end concluded that of all IPRs trademarks were those with the most social utility for consumers....
Its difficult to see what social utility is served by trying to wreck Banksy's trademark protection, other that to increase the ability of a greetings card company to see unauthorised goods.
Sure trademarks can be abused but here the only real issue is who owns Banksy's persona!
#trademark #IPRs
Aha, an interesting extra element to the development (pun intended) - makes sense; I'll be watching the vast increase in student housing in Lancaster to see if that is how it plays out... but certainly isn'r implausible
MPs on the Public Accounts Comm. have accused the HMRC as not being 'sufficiently curious' about the scope & range of tax evasion;
one interesting pointer is that before making online platforms liable for the VAT from overseas sellers the HMRC had estimated such evasion was costing around £300m a year; when imposed the tax take increased by £1.5bn (five times as much).
MPs rightly think this clearly demonstrates the HMRC underestimates evasion & needs to raise its game.
#tax #HMRC
h/t FT
Overall, there is rising budget deficit among English NHS Trusts, partly due to staffing costs (temporary & contract staff) driven by both the ongoing staff recruitment & retention problems, and the impact of strikes in 2025.
However, as the FT notes 'trusts with the steepest declines in their finances had on average significantly increased their expenditure on outsourcing care to the independent sector'!
The use of private health providers continues to drain the NHS of money!
#health #NHS
Ben Jennings on Nigel Farage's toxic influence on the UK politics of migration....
#migration #politics
How much is the milk is in your carton & how much is packaging & transport into the supermarket system?
in my local supermarket (Booths, self-proclaimed Waitrose of the North);
two pints of semi-skimmed this week was £1.35;
four pints, £1.65.
which might suggest (very roughly) £1 of every milk cartoon sold in the store is accounted for by transport & processing as opposed to 15p per pint of milk.
I know its not quite as simple as that... but striking nonetheless
#milk #economics
While we struggle with a continuing cost-of-living crisis, the billionaires are doing just fine... but this is driven by (largely) asset price inflation (rising prices of shares & property).
In the G7 the UK (Oxfam have concluded) has the highest proportion of billionaire wealth relative to the rest of the economy.... nothing at all to do with fifteen years of Tory Govt., I'm sure /s
To repair society the billionaires need to be taxed more - simples!
#inequality
Hurrah, the World Economic Forum is about to start in Davos...
Another annual meeting of out of touch executives & business owners claiming to be listening to invited speakers while networking & waiting for some glossy proposals intended to show that business is a force for good, and all problems would be easier solved is states would just support business, reduce their taxes & deregulate... so the innovators can save us.
Yup, more vacuous bollocks promoted by a supine media!
#WEF #Davos
Marina Hyde offers a worrying depiction of the political environment which Nigel Farage seems to have engineered fro himself:
#politics
