SUMMER SIZZLERS

The act of doing, stops you doing all the other things you want to be doing instead of the things you need to be doing, so I end up carrying around all these blog ideas in my head and have no time to put them to paper. So excuse me if I unload them all here in shorthand:


INDIAN PICKLE

So Local Borough Council Leader Cllr David Mackintosh has been freeloading it in India courtesy of the Council Tax payer accompanying Local Gov Minister Eric Pickles on a Trade delegation where apparently he also carried the torch for SEMLEP or NEP?

He's behind you! stand up straight David and try not to look swivel eyed

Well I will resist the temptation of rubbishing all such trips as if well planned and focused then they can reap rewards. I remember visiting China with the SESAME network whilst in Parliament to secure a £1m+ telecommunications trade deal for Northamptonshire in the late 1990's albeit I still paid my own air fares and expenses.

But the timing of the trip during what are ever more challenging economic circumstances does warrant some questioning after all who was it who made the following insightful pronouncement back in 2003

"At a time when pensioners are scrimping and saving to pay their council tax it is outrageous that councillors are going on foreign freebies. They should show some solidarity with taxpayers and pay towards these trips."


So did the Mack pay his way? or was it an Indian Pickle take away? answers on a poppadom please....



BLOOD ON HIS HANDS

Foreign Secretary William Hague was quick to deflect any blame for the recent murderous atrocity which took place on the streets of Woolwich away from Britain's Foreign Policy and of course there will always be some truth to the suggestion that evil men are evil men whatever their self acclaimed cause.

But Britain's continued military involvement in Iraq, and in Aghanistan and our complete denial of Israeli crimes in Palestine do support the Al Quida recruiters and make it far easier for those who want to preach hate to do so.

Hague in my mind has always been a fool, ever since his schoolboy address to Tory Party Conference during Thatcher's early years, but even I was shocked by this mans recent ridiculous decision with David Camerons blessing to support the arming of Jihadists and Al Quida elements within the Syrian rebel forces.

The photograph of  Michael Adebelajo standing in a London Street holding a machete with blood stained hands was sickening to look at, equally though photographs published on the internet of a jihadi rebel in Syria chopping up and indeed eating a Syrian army soldier it seemed were not gruesome enough to dissuade Hague from pushing ahead with his policy to send arms to such warped individuals 

And why we are so intent in shepherding in to Syria a regime ruled by Islamic extremists and Al Quida factions it is beyond me? and it seems has also bought condemnation from even from many of his own Tory MP's! 

The UK government has attempted in recent days to differentiate between “extremist” rebels in Syria linked to the Al-Qaeda group Jabhat al Nusra and the so-called “moderate” Free Syrian Army militants. The kind of “moderate” freedom fighters who as pointed out above like to cut out the hearts of their slain enemy and devour them live on camera whilst proclaiming verbally to do so in Allahs name!  

Hagues baffoon like actions and Britain's continued meddling in the affairs of the Middle East with little thought to the fallout will continue to make things substantially worse both at home and abroad

THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER

Regular readers of my blog will have laughed along with me at the ever more Labour Friendly optimistic comments from a regular reader who hides under the pseudonym "Castle Ward Mafia"

One of my favourite comments from him/her from recent posts was the quote:

"From the people I know in the party locally things are going well"

This of course was just before Cllr Ifty Choudary crossed the floor to the Tory's and Cllr Beverley Mennell left to join UKIP

Even I am surprised at how long Labours woes have continued to pile up since I left the Party 6 years ago and so I thought I would make it clear for all, that the latest troubles have nothing to do with me!

I in fact now get fed up of people saying "since you left" or  proclaim "you should come back"

The reason I left 6 years ago was that the party was corrupt right to it's regional Core, a local party full of fixers and an unhealthy majority of wannabees who will do and say anything to get either themselves elected into office and power or bitch and complain to the regional Office about other Party members who they see as their rivals.

Meanwhile Ed Milliband statement yesterday on Benefit caps and any Labour Government sticking to current Government spending rules effectively pronounced a new three party coalition at Westminster, why wait for an election? why not now all merge into one big capitalist friendly party of national government in the interests of the uber rich?

Political Compass: based on 2010 manifesto's

I said recently how happy I am now in the Green Party, its still true, I have comrades again, I go to meetings where we discuss how we can all work collectively to achieve the ambitions we jointly hold. We laugh, we debate issues in a respectful and educational manner, and we are a party where even those at the very top have not forgotten the importance of those in local party groups.

I don't know where the Local Labour Party is going next, (probably not very far until Sally Keeble leaves the scene) but I just want to make it clear that frankly my dears I don't give a damn.

Last week the Green Party's Leader Natalie Bennett phoned me at home and we had a helpful discussion over local party matters, the elections, what support the national party can give us in here in Northampton and we discussed other matters of a personal nature more of which I will announce to you as soon as I am able. But for now for me and my new found green friends:

"Things can only get better"

DEMOCRACY RECYCLED

Northampton Borough Council's fall from grace, its place in Local Governance as a friend to Northampton has been on the wain for some time, and democracy within the organisation has been eroded year on year since the turn of the century.

But even I was surprised this week to see how low its value in local democracy has fallen.

I attended Spring Boroughs Residents Association last Tuesday to say goodbye, I am no longer their elected County Cllr and wanted to leave the stage clear for my successor, no moans, no regrets, the electorate (or at least 19% of them) had spoken. At Borough and County level the area now has Labour Cllrs to speak up for them. Or at least they would do if the Cllrs continued to have a role to play!

Joe Joyce the excellent Residents Association Chair updated us on the story of the two  "Vanishing
Recycling Nodes" on the estate which seemed to disappear overnight leaving local residents with nowhere to drop off their recycled materials.

Over 80% of local residents do not have cars and the recycling nodes were very popular, so popular that when I was the Borough Cllr I had to lobby the Council to secure a twice weekly collection as the nodes were constantly overflowing.

PEOPLE WERE RECYCLING THEIR WASTE!

THE NUMBER OF REFUSE SACKS COLLECTED PLUMMETED.

THE COST OF LANDFILL TAX TO COUNCIL WAS REDUCED.

So who took them away? and why? Well Joe got no answers from his three Labour Borough Cllrs on the estate, they knew even less, Cllr Winston Strachan it seemed at least asked the question but got no answer! only a vague promise that someone from Enterprise rather than the Council would phone him and they didn't

NBC recycling your vote for you

But Joe persevered, and come up trumps, by mistake it was leaked to him in an email that the decision to remove and not replace them had been taken by the "Spring Boroughs Multi Agency Group"

Now excuse me for being a tad Anglo Saxon with my language, but who the f*ck are the 'Spring Borough's Multi Agency Group" when they are at home?

It seems that this group of self selected unelected officers from a number of Authorities including the Borough Council, the County Council and the Police are now taking all decisions on local services themselves, without troubling the elected, nor consulting with the electorate.

So why bother with elections at all now? Democracy is dead, OFFICIAL rubber stamped by the Local Multi Agency Group, no doubt coming to a street near you too soon if not already in situ.

You may wish to write to your local Councillor, but then again why bother? they have no power? they take no decisions? They are not even told what is going on on their patch, and when they ask questions they are ignored!

Likewise in Ethel Street we have a children's play area which has now been locked for over 6 months, where the Councillors it seems have no say or input as to why it was closed and when it will reopen?
Perhaps I should contact my local Multi Agency Group for some answers? If only I knew who they were

Meanwhile all Cllrs Borough and County can now officially stand down from duty 80% of your electorate couldn't be bothered to vote, less than 10% voted for you and the Council you were elected to doesn't need you any more, other than as window dressing and as a scapegoat and defensive wall between the public and those who are really making the decisions!

IT'S THE ECONOMY STUPID (part three) AROUND THE WORLD

In this 3rd and final part of our plain English guide to state we are all in we look beyond the UK's shores and identify that he banking crisis of 2008 hit not only the UK, Europe and the US, its aftershocks were felt across the globe, China and India's economies for example may still be growing faster than anyone Else's at present but if their continued growth is to be maintained then they need a market for their goods they are producing abroad and if the rest of the world is in recession and no one is buying those goods then that will have its own negative impact. This "world view" of the economic troubles facing citizens around the globe is also accompanied by a series of infographics which I hope assist with the explanations to enlarge on any diagram just click it

But before we can make total sense of what the current crisis is doing to the economies of different countries and how it affects us here in the UK we have to understand where we as a country sit at the table as a player, and also where we are expected to be in future years based on current and historical growth. In the UK this is critical because as you will see from the infographic below the UK economy is due to contract sharply irrespective of any current downturn.  So irrespective of the recession we are already facing an expected drop in our wealth and position as China and India and others take their place at the top of the manufacturing league.

But Britain's real fragility is only really exposed in its totality when you compare the contraction in our own growth and income with a much broader set of countries including those outside of the top ten above. This next chart therefore shows just how close Cameron and Clegg's cuts without growth programme has put us in comparison with those economies like Greece, Ireland and Italy which are presently close to collapse.

 

 Are you worried yet? well you should be as thanks to Cameron's go it alone stance in Europe we are isolated even further and unlike those in the Euro Zone we have no one to bail us out if the market takes a run on the pound.


The next nettle for us to grasp is how big is the UK's debt when measured against other countries in the world, and what do the credit reference organisations (see below) think about our ability to being able to pay the money back? Just like individuals having a credit reference record, so do countries and the biggest credit reference company to rate countries is a company called Standard and Poor's, ironic really when you consider that our banks seem to have no standards and their actions are making us all poor! Anyhow a reduction in your rating, (ratings go from AAA+ to C-)  just as with any individual makes it more difficult for the country to borrow more money which then pushes up the interest rate that they will have to pay to borrow, which in turn increases the GDP to debt ratio which ends up with Standard and Poor reducing the rating even further, in other words the banks make the debt ridden countries pay more for their borrowing because they say the risk is higher which in turn effects their rating which pushes the interest rate up even further and they go round and round in circles until they can/t afford to borrow from the banks at all, at which time they are in need of a hand out from the IMF (International Monetary Fund) or the European Central Bank. This next graphic is very revealing in not only showing you the ratings but also in understanding who is close the edge and who could be next for the vultures in the City to circle around

As you can see the UK's debt as a % of it GDP (what we earn) is very high at 83% and rising but it is nowhere near some of our other competitors. Ireland and Italy and of course Greece all with 100% + GDP/Debt ratios have all seen runs on their economy recently and have all faced and still may face financial meltdown. All have lost their (A) ratings and have been downgraded to B's and yet Japan which owes a massive 229% of its GDP still hangs on to an A rating (albeit AA-) so why is this?

Well Standards and Poor's take into account a Countries growth projections, and Japan is still seen as a good bet in terms of its manufacturing base, It is also worth noting that the above figures are also based on earlier 2011 forecasts predicting the UK growth figure way above the actual achieved. In reality because the current government are now planning to borrow even more than the last Labour Government planned to borrow if elected, due to increases in welfare payments and a period of flat growth, we now risk the UK's rating also being downgraded.

Standard and Poor's have in fact hinted at a rating downgrading of all countries within the Eurozone, which seems crazy given that there is a vast gulf between the performance of say the Greek and Italian economies when compared with say the German economy, but their excuse is that Germany and others may have to pay more towards any bailout of Greece or Italy and therefore their rating as well as the ratings of more indebted countries also has to be altered.

In other words a butterfly flaps it's wings in Athens and the aftershock is felt all the way over in in Berlin. It is in this context that David Cameron's disastrous walk out at the recent Euro summit last week. simply adds more fuel to the pessimistic forecasters who will now say that without all 27 countries committed to a Euro rescue plan the markets will not be satisfied. the markets then of course say they are not satisfied as they make money out of each and every crisis and the whole merry go round continues. One question of course for David Cameron and the UK is that if we are not going to be there to help back up the Euro in its hour of need then who will come to our aid if there is a run on the pound? also as most of our import and export markets are within the Eurozone then what happens to the British Economy if the Euro goes belly up?

My old comrade Dennis Skinner was right to call Cameron a plonker in the Commons last Wednesday but you have to wonder how foolish the PM must have felt having issued such a ridiculous ultimatum to the other 26 countries. I imagine a David Cameron stood at the door of the meeting room saying "Give me what I want or I will walk" "Au Revoir" and "Aud Weidershen" came the reply "and shut the door as you leave" This followed by "Call me Dave" walking very slowly down the corridor shouting "I mean it, I won't be back" to sounds of cheers coming from behind the now closed door. I imagine he was even asking the airline staff in the departure lounge whether or not anyone had phoned to call him back.

Whatever the truth about those fateful non negotiations, we have now as a country have put the Euro even more at risk, and as a consequence potentially damaged not just the latest Euro rescue plan but also massively weakened our position with our biggest trading partners.

And that's enough bad news for one day and where I will leave it for now, but I do hope this short series has informed and assisted people to get their heads around the core issues surrounding the world recession and also where the UK sits.

I also hope the graphs and infographics have helped, they are all up to date and where possible I have provided the source in order that you can check for yourself the data, but the most frequent comment I hear from people is that they just can't get their heads around the figures and the size of say a billion pounds or how one debt compares with another, so I have saved you my final infographic to give you a comparative view.

The billion pound o gram was produced back in 2009 by the guardian after the banking crisis had first hit in the year before. The deficit between what we earned and spent was £175bn, but how does that compare with say how much we spend a year on trident or the cost of Local Government across the UK well below you have the answer in scale. So now you know that political manipulation by the current government in reducing Local Government spending by a few % here and there is but a drop in the ocean when compared with the cost of bailing out the banks which caused the crisis in the first place. More on the billion pound o gram can be found here http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2009/nov/27/billion-pound-gram-inormation-beautiful#_