HS2 -Great for The North

HS2-Great for the North Living in the North you know that HS2 will bring huge economic benefits to the weak economies of the northern regions. Justification is the same principle as Cross Rail which reduces the time from the City to Heathrow to ½ hour creating improved economic benefits. The improved communications of HS2 will do the same for the weak northern regions. Southerners are against HS2 because they would prefer that the money is spent in their regions for their benefit keeping all the wealth of this country in their hands. Environmentalist are selfishly against anything which improves the lives of the majority of the urban population of this country and if they had had their way we wouldn’t even have decent railways or roads! Well nearly decent! There is a social aspect. All the best brains educated and brought up in the North gravitate to the South seeking the best jobs, again detrimental to the northern weak economies and its social fabric. HS2 may just alleviate this for future generations.

English Cricket-KP for Captain!

English Cricket What can you say! We played below par and won in the summer and even worse in Australia and were slaughtered. Trott has been a key player for several years now but why did they not deal with his problem sooner. Fans wondered why his form suddenly went and now we know, so it was bad management selecting him for the winter series. Compton was not given a good run compared with others and none of his replacements have done as well. Cook’s individual performance as Captain has suffered when he is under pressure and if the openers are regularly failing to do their job there is little chance of the run scorers at 4, 5 and 6 being able to perform to par. Even Swann quit on tour so he must have gone to Australia knowing that he was at or close to the end. In a few words a lot of ‘bad management here’! In any other sport both the Captain and Manager would have resigned and the fact that they haven’t indicates to many fans that English cricket is still run by the ‘old buggers from a distant era. IPL is another example. Here the top players in the world compete and our players are excluded from being eligible for the full tournament. How can we compete effectively in the one day formats if our old and young players are not getting this competitive experience. Is it because it is run by Indians and not Englishmen and our ‘old buggers’ miss read the appeal of T/20!-T/20 is not cricket!!! Like it or not there is only one player with the cricket brain to be Captain. Yes, KP and from all reports the young guns at Surrey and in the England camp get on well with him. But he would have to be Captain of all three formats and English Cricket would have to allow all of our players the time to play IPL.

Miliband & The Banks

Miliband & the Banks Miliband has no experience of an SME dealing with a Bank:-professional politician who has never had a proper job!. Since I started in business in 1969, the ‘only’ times it has been easy for SME’s to obtain finance has been near or at the top of the ‘Booms’. The last one under Labour and Mr Balls! At all other times the business proposal has had to be good, with security, to raise finance from Banks. So asking Banks to lend willy-nilly to SME’s is courting disaster yet again! We have just come through the post boom criticism of Banks for lending rashly and now Miliband want s them to do it again! As we all move to ‘on line banking’ the most important service from the Banks is a good and secure web site not a Bank on every corner. And for new entrants to the personal banking sector the emphasis will be on line. Changing Banks on line is surely relatively easy so that is perhaps one aspect which needs tidying up. Making the big guys sell their poor performing branches to buyers who do not really want them, will only encourage them to look elsewhere for their domicile and business growth! I see in the news that employees of Goldman Sachs are already queuing up to leave!

Welfare Cap of £26000

Welfare Cap of £26,000 The cap of £26000 is supported by 73% of the population and reducing it to £20000 would have the same support. As we recover from the recession there is no doubt that sympathy for the Welfare Brigade has evaporated. The consensus of opinion of young and old is that the Welfare Brigade should ‘get on their bike’ and find work! The Channel 4 programme illustrates the exploitation. Welfare is for those who ‘cannot work’ not those who will not or even those who exploit the system by having lots of children. Child benefit was brought in after the War to encourage the population to have children and as a policy it has long since reached its sell by date Reforming welfare is a difficult task but essential. We pay our politicians to solve these issues!

Duggan

Duggan Don’t hear a lot of sympathy for Duggan. They say that he was a leader of a gang who lived by the gun. Good or bad leaders are usually clever people, so it is reasonable to assume that Duggan knew the risks he was taking. The biggest of course ‘live by the gun, die by the gun’. The Police are not perfect by any imagination but there is no reason why they should put their lives at risk when dealing with criminals whom live by the gun Many will have sympathy for the family but from all reports, Duggan took the ‘risks’ and this time the odds were against him! But why does it take so long for this to be finalised. After a Police shooting the inquiry should be quick so that these highly trained police can get on with their job of protecting the public from armed criminals

Who causes the floods?

Who cause the floods? Is it a result of climate change? Yes of course it is! But is it man made or just the natural cycles of nature I grew up taught that climate is continually changings and that is the nature of our planet. My grandchildren are taught that it is our own fault! They ask: why have you wrecked our planet Grandpa? How do I answer that? Well first recycling is sensible .An industry has grown up around climate change with so many vested interests making lots of money that like it or not we are stuck with it. It is fashionable to be a supporter of the concept So I am evasive in my answer as it does no good to try to persuade a youngster to go against the conventions of the time. No good marks for arguing against the teachers views! Just have to hope that eventually common sense will prevail My generation have created a world whereby my grandchildren have more opportunities for an enjoyable and productive life than any previous one The Climate Change lobby supported by the ‘establishment’ will one day soon I hope have to face up to reality that they are not supported by the majority! In the same way as the ‘establishment’ now has to face up to the reality that ‘the Immigration Lobby’ got it wrong and the people are now ‘calling for change’

Overseas Aid

Overseas Aid Why should overseas aid remain protected from cuts? Charity begins at home! Public debate needed on this issue and full disclosure of the profits made by those who handle the overseas aid!

A Year of Hard Truths: 2014

A Year of Hard Truths: 2014 Renewing the Pensioners Pledge! The first part: maintaining the State Pension is essential and I do not see any problem making our children work longer before the receive it. They have an increasing life expectancy and will be healthier in their late sixties than we are so capable of working longer. Many will want to! But the free TV licence, Winter Fuel allowance and free bus passes are different. Naturally those who live on a state pension should continue to receive them. But those who are above this level perhaps not. The cost is circa £4b and there is I suggest other priorities. Could perhaps this money be used to cover the cost of ‘of the care we will need in our old age’. Having to sell your home to cover the cost of care during the last years of your life is ‘very unpopular’! How often do you hear ‘ I’ve worked hard and saved all my life only to end that life being discriminated against and my savings taken away from me. Whilst those who have not or, being truthful, those who were unable to save, get a state subsidy So far politicians have not adequately dealt with the issue and the feeling in my generation is that money is ‘still unlimited’ for welfare of immigrants and shirkers, and Foreign Aid but not us! Charity should begin at home

Housing Bubble

Housing Bubble One of the benefits of the improvement of the housing market ‘outside London and the south’ is that many of my generation will now be able to downsize. The last few years have been very frustrating with the stagnant market. And this will increase the supply of family houses on the market The other benefits, for everyone, is that an active market facilitates an easier movement of labour. The Help to Buy Scheme another bonus: it seems to me that the critics are generally those people who are nicely set in their lives pontificating about the plusses and minuses of a buoyant housing market, when the rest of the population working their way up the ladder of prosperity find it great! Agree that supply needs increasing. Solution is easy: relax the old Green Belt so houses can be built where people want to live and reduce the regulations, which restricts smaller builder’s entering the market to compete with the big guys. Planning has become an unacceptable ‘burden on society’

RSPCA-attacked over 'Political' prosecutions

RSPCA-attacked over ‘Political prosecutions’ My generation grew up respecting this former great institution. Most of us would always put our hands in our pockets to find a penny to give to their collection. But no more, as over the years we have seen it taken over by political activist who have used this former great charity as a platform for their own brand of liberalism! Time for it to return to its roots and stop being the Royal Society for the Protection of Foxes! Unfortunately the RSPCA is not alone in this change in perspective!