Reading about the hike to energy bills of 54% makes me wonder if the wheels have come off all aspects of fiscal infrastructure. Systemically, it seems the Treasury has given up.
You can’t pass on a 54% rise to people who can’t afford it. It’s too much. Lots of people won’t be able to pay it and many more will take Edwina Currie’s caring advice from 30 years ago to simply knit a bobble hat. By putting this through they are not going to get the money. It’s nuts.
In the old days, actuaries would be deployed to wrestle with an issue like this and come up with some way of handling it but perhaps the government has run out of goodwill. In any complex field of economic management, you can’t throw a price rise like this at people and expect them to pay it when you know a lot of them can’t. It’s very much a last resort. This leads me to think that the Government has lost the support of the civil service.
I had a similar theory about the last year or so of Trump. Routine logistics became harder and gaffe after gaffe happened because he was actively disliked by his team. No provable sabotage – just an overall lack of care.
When you lose the trust and goodwill of the administration team, it’s very much time to go.
Vulpes Vulpes says
Dishy Rishi (worried frown): You know, BJ, I’m worried, I think we will have a difficult autumn and winter at this rate; passing on the consequences of our lack of forward fiscal management, at the same time as cutting the benefits of millions, won’t win us any fans.
The Goveatron (pout, pout) – thinks Maybe I should quietly rejoin the NUJ and start putting nice comments about Kier out on my Twitter feed? Wonder what the Labour Party subs cost these days?
BJ (flicks back blond quiff): No worries, Rishy baby, we’ll crash and burn over the finances, blame the Russians and the EU for everything, then take five years off somewhere nice and sunny while Kier’s team clear it up as best they can. If they’re lucky they’ll get a second run at it and we’ll enjoy another half decade with our feet up. By then the great unwashed will have forgotten all about this debacle, and a few flag wavings and jolly well pointing at the odd firm that’s survived Brexit in a reasonable way and we’ll be BACK! New wallpaper all over again for whoever moves in with me at the PM Pad. Cheer up old son!
Dishi Rishi (all smiles): – thinks Yes, and by then I’ll be in charge of the Tory Tank and I’ll run right over you, you incompetent twat.
The Goveatron (pout, pout) – thinks Hmmmm. Can I afford to wait that long or should I start quietly sliding to the left again right now? frowns
fentonsteve says
The last time a clanger of this proportion was dropped it was the Poll Tax. Which is usually suffixed with Riots.
Last year, wary of rising energy prices, we turned the thermostat down by one degree and made the Offsprings switch off lights when they left a room. Our gas and leccy bills have just arrived and we used roughly 25% less of each over the six months of winter. The price has still gone up, though.
As part of the garage conversion building project, I bought more Rockwool than it needed for that and put another 7 inches of insulation in the house loft, so there’s now the original 10″ (per building regulations) + 7″ I installed 10 years ago + another 7″ I installed recently (a horrible job, pay someone else to do it).
Diminishing returns, I expect, but I don’t know what more I can do – solar panels are expensive enough as it is and, because we live in a Conservation Area, we’d need to pay extra for planning permission before installing them.
Alias says
The Tories like Trump want to leave everything to the Market to sort out. No need for the Civil Service really. Starmer would need ideas to sort out problems like this. Sadly this is something he lacks.
Jaygee says
Well he certainly wasn’t short of an opinion on Will Smith the other day.
Alias says
Our journalists are totally in touch with what the public want to know.
garyt says
Hardly surprising if the civil service have given up on this bunch of chancers & spivs on the back of some of the rhetoric from tory ‘thinkers’ over the last few years regarding ‘the blob’ (as Cummings referred to the CS when at Education with the Gove creature).
Uncle Wheaty says
Never a better time to vote LibDem!
Twang says
Just won a district and county seat in a local by election. Yay!
What I can say having done a fair bit of canvassing is Tory voters are either even ruder and more defiant than usual (a minority) or looking very green about the gills and thinking they’ll sit them next one out. I’m rubbing my hands at the thought of carnage in May.
hubert rawlinson says
My BiL is canvassing today for the LDs and to regain his seat in the locals. Though I don’t think there are many tories in his part of London. I’ll ask how it’s going.
Tiggerlion says
I doff my cap to you, Twang. Now you are in charge, what are you going to do?
Twang says
I didn’t win them personally. Our local party did.
Tiggerlion says
How disappointing. You’d be great.
Moose the Mooche says
James Johnson’s polling doesn’t make very good reading for Conservatives. He’s not talking to Labour voters* btw
*God rot them, scum of the earth that they are
Martin Hairnet says
After reading that harrowing medical tale from @Barry-Blue the other day, fiscal infrastructure is not the only aspect of UK society that seems to be unravelling. Your own comments BC on the excellent attention you received after your positive covid test shows the kind of care a health service should aspire to. Other countries manage to do things far, far better.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Tell me about it. My last monthly “electric” bill was about twelve quid. And when we need the AC that can double. Add a fiver for the water, maybe a couple quid for gas bottle, and you start to be grateful for no rates, no poll tax, and cheap food.
Twang says
Back to the OP, I work in a company stuffed with actuaries and they are incapable of any practical thought about anything. Their main pleasure appears to be one upping each other on who knows Excel best. It pains me to say it but the French are probably right, if you want things done, get engineers.
fentonsteve says
As a Professional (small ‘p’ in my case) Engineer, I routinely see other people making blindingly obvious mistakes and wonder why/how they thought it could have ever worked.
Mrs F tells me my brain is wired up differently to most people. I’m coming to the conclusion that most people are just wrong and/or stupid.
Because of corporate box-ticking, I have to read process improvement books every year. Every one is the same – full of stating the bleedin’ obvious. To me, anyhow.
Chrisf says
As another trained engineer, for many years I have told anyone that will listen that if they are not sure what to study, do an engineering degree. You don’t necessarily have to want a career in engineering, but the foundation learning it gives is unsurpassed – logical reasoning, problem solving etc etc. I also argue that a fair proportion of the worlds top CEOs were also once engineers…….
Black Celebration says
It’s a very ego-driven occupation. Pleasant, easy-going actuaries can be thin on the ground.
Getting pricing agreed for a company’s staff life insurance policy is like interviewing Hunter S Thompson.
Chrisf says
I had a good friend at Uni who went on to be an actuary (after a maths degree). She always said that actuaries had the reputation for being the career that those who found accountancy too exciting went into….. but, that they made a shit load of money. Not sure of that’s still the case (the excitement, not the money).