The budget

What do you mean Urmstongran, giving the other nations their proportion of the budget allocation is not largesse, we pay our taxes to the UK Government too you know?

No Casdon, you must be humble and be happy to accept whatever Mr Sunak decides to give you.

True Casdon my apologies, I phrased that badly. But if you paid into it the dividends (pro-rata) are yours. Why wouldn’t Alegrias’ husband want Scotland to enjoy their share?

We have a thing in Scotland, the Angel's Share.

Is it like that? Slainte.

My Scottish stepfather calls it ‘the barman’s nip’.

Scotland will spend it Alegrias. Of course it will,
Sorry if it makes you cross.

No, we're planning to stuff it under the mattress and keep it for the glorious day we get independence.

Sorry if that makes you cross

The barman's nip goes into the barman. The Angel's Share just evaporates into the ether.

So you would decline the money then would you Alegrias ?

If your views are representative of the majority of Scots then great. I am sure we in England could make good use of it.

Just to move away from Scotland for a bit (but still keeping it in mind), have I missed the comments on the Institute for Fiscal Studies warning that the Budget will leave the average worker almost £13,000 a year worse off by the mid-2020s? I've heard on programmes today that it's saying inflation and tax increases would cause ‘real pain’ for households but not that actual figure which I find quite shocking.

JenniferEccles

So you would decline the money then would you Alegrias ?

If your views are representative of the majority of Scots then great. I am sure we in England could make good use of it.

Oh, grow up.

(Sorry PippaZ, I needed to get that off my chest.)

Just been half watching Question Time, something I have avoided doing for quite a while but have started dipping into occasionally. It crossed my mind that this business about short haul flights is just click bait to divert attention away from other things in the budget. Or maybe the government really didn’t realise what a stupid thing it was to put into the budget prior to COP26 . Is it really just part of levelling up (!) as was pointed out by the government spokesperson? When my blood pressure started to rise at the comment by the uber rich banker guy that it was good that poor people were having to pay more in energy bills as that WAS a way of tackling climate change, I turned the sound off and went back to reading my book…..

I've just seen the odd clip, and some comments, on twitter, Maybee. Did a tory panelist really say that the economy was more important than climate change?

I missed that bit. But it wouldn’t surprise me! I may try to watch it all on iplayer tomorrow.

So precisely what should Sunak have done to satisfy all the whingers?

Germanshepherdsmum

So precisely what should Sunak have done to satisfy all the whingers?

Does that include all the Conservative back benchers who don't like the higher taxes and spending on public services (apart from the fizz drinking, flying ones)?

Only whingers on this thread can say what would have satisfied them. Or should I say ‘complainers’ before someone chucks the inevitable brick.

Germanshepherdsmum

Only whingers on this thread can say what would have satisfied them. Or should I say ‘complainers’ before someone chucks the inevitable brick.

How about "critics"? It sounds more professional and grown up.

To answer your question Germanshepherdsmum I really would rather he had not made internal flights cheaper given the climate crisis.

Germanshepherdsmum

So precisely what should Sunak have done to satisfy all the whingers?

He could have refrained from telling lies about having to raise taxes on the poorest in society to reduce the 'debt'. The 'debt' that we 'owe' to no-one.

It was such a feckless splurge I thought for a moment that the other lot had won the election. It wasn’t a Conservative budget and it won’t please those who voted for the party.

A bit off the point but....how can anyone trust him to understand life at the sharp end, when he poses in £95 sliders (glorified flip-flops). Seems unbelievable that more has not been made of this excess, especially when one remembers the stick that Theresa May had to endure, following her appearance in expensive over the top leather trousers.

Well it pleased me Lilyflower that he didn’t raise IHT, CGT or income tax or make petrol even more expensive than it already is. Tinkering with duty on alcohol was a bit pointless (no extra tax on tobacco I think?) unless you quaff it by the gallon and what he did with tax on flights was IMO plain daft.

Bizarrely this thread has cheered me up no end - I was beginning to think GransNet was just full of stuck in the mud Tories who thought children should be seen and not heard!! Good to see there are people who have a social conscience, care about future generations, and recognise a bunch of charlatans when they see them

FGS suttonJ, do you expect him to go barefoot and buy all his clothes from charity shops? I’m sure he could have worn far more expensive shoes, for someone in his position £95 isn’t expensive. Far from it. What exactly (and I mean exactly) should he have done for those living at ‘the sharp end’?

Millbrook, I have never thought GN was populated by many whose politics aren’t an extreme shade of pink.