So the Final 2 - Liz and Rishi

Bea65

Oops meant Titans

You were right first time!

I don't want either.

Oops meant Titans

Ministers supposed to be meeting with Energy Tyrants today..this is a national crisis ?

If people have to pay over £350 a month for energy it will be a national emergency, without galloping cost of living, and deteriorating NHS.
Whoever becomes PM it is a poisoned chalice and Truss’s tax cuts won’t touch it.
I have no confidence that either of them, or most of the select few voting for them, have a clue about how many in the country are already scraping by.

Truss’s cost of living policies could be ‘electoral suicide note’ for Tories, says Raab – UK politics live

www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/truss-s-cost-of-living-policies-could-be-electoral-suicide-note-for-tories-says-raab-uk-politics-live/ar-AA10sUDg?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=4a40c12eb7fc43b58216dc7cf11f9ea3

Most commodities are priced in US dollars and the Chinese Yuan is tied to the dollar, or Euros that is why the exchange rate is so significant.
The home produced content of most products is very low.

I imagine many pensioners are affected by the very low value of Sterling, in so many ways.

The Pound is so so low at the moment - and it should really help massively with exports, as we can sell much more cheaply- you could even call it unfair competition. But due to Brexit, we can't export - so not much advantage there.

On the other hand, it makes importing hugely more expensive. Medicines, vaccines, essential chemicals like chlorine, food, and so much more. And yes, ENERGY- as most energy providers are foreign- we have to buy in their currency. If we can't afford to do so, they will be quite happy to sell to countries with much higher currency values- putting their profits up hugely.

“And has the fall in the value of sterling against the dollar over the years adversely affected your quality of life? Has it adversely affected the nation's wellbeing?

What I would be fascinated by is your thoughts on how a nation's economy should be run, since you've judged it to have been consistently mis handled. “

I’m sure there are a lot of lower income people think life has got a lot harder than it was a generation ago. The rich have got richer those with fat pension pots too, all on the backs of legions of service workers on minimum wages.

Over the years I would not have sold council houses or closed manufacturing or de regulated financial services or leave the EU but that’s history. A GE might make a difference although I don’t think Starmer would win a majority even now

Where now, both Sunak and Truss are going to struggle through, neither have time to turn the economy round before the next GE. They will have to print money to pay for increased fuel and food prices, a few give always to keep the comfortable core Tory voters happy.

We both have work pensions but without savings, we’d be struggling as inflation grows

My husband's pension was affected too. We aren't starving, but we are not in anyone's list of 'the richest pensioners' and it really irritates me when people complain that people of pension age are all well off.

I don't believe that Brown did it knowingly or uncaringly, though. I do believe that selling off council houses and wrecking industries in much of the country was deliberate and done without care for the people whose lives were ruined, and that this is the difference between Labour and Tory governments. Anyone can get things wrong, and any policy will have winners and losers, but setting out to do something (eg Cameron's Austerity programme) knowing that the most vulnerable will suffer is nothing short of cruel.

Mollygo

Petera, DH was affected and we are now suffering from Gordon’s activities with pensions, but last time I bewailed that fact on GN, I was summarily dismissed as having got it wrong. I only wish I had!

Yes, it did have an effect on pensions and some pensioners are suffering now as a result.
It was claimed later by Labour's millionaire Ruth Kelly that only "the richest pensioners" would be affected but that was untrue.

In 1975 £1 was worth $2.50 now below 1.20, it beats me how anyone can call that success.

And has the fall in the value of sterling against the dollar over the years adversely affected your quality of life? Has it adversely affected the nation's wellbeing?

What I would be fascinated by is your thoughts on how a nation's economy should be run, since you've judged it to have been consistently mis handled.

I do feel that criticism is only really valid if an alternative can be proposed.

Giving away council houses , dismantling the Coal and Steel industries, starting the service economy.
The value of Sterling has depreciated steadily since then
In 1975 £1 was worth $2.50 now below 1.20, it beats me how anyone can call that success.

Not fascinating, a tragedy!.

He got it wrong, because as an honest man, he believed bankers would make lots of money and pay lots of tax to help with te NHS and more- but greed took over.

Like many of us, he does not believe in levelling down- but in those who make big money to pay their dues, to help provide decent services for all.

Mollygo

Petera, DH was affected and we are now suffering from Gordon’s activities with pensions, but last time I bewailed that fact on GN, I was summarily dismissed as having got it wrong. I only wish I had!

Apologies Mollygo, I am aware that some people did suffer and, as I wrote, he got it wrong

Petera, DH was affected and we are now suffering from Gordon’s activities with pensions, but last time I bewailed that fact on GN, I was summarily dismissed as having got it wrong. I only wish I had!

Well, the ERG ( the real rulers of this country) obviously want Truss so they must think she’s more biddable.

What is the role of the ERG in all this, do you think?

Cuts to the level at which people start to pay NI work against the poorly paid, although they are often presented as a generous concession.

Their employers don't have to contribute (and many will be Tory donors) , and not paying NI will take people out of elegibility for contributory benefits and pensions.

I am hoping the Conservative members choose Rishi Sunak to be the next PM.I am worried by Liz Truss because of her pronouncements and subsequent u turns.Is it her, is it those who advise her?
many people who pay low tax or no tax at all will not benefit from any tax breaks.

Ah Gordon Brown - Marmite even in my own mind. I think history will show he was an excellent chancellor; I didn't think there was much support for that idea but from what I'm reading here I was wrong. If he did anything wrong it was his fiddling with pensions in 1997, but - in my opinion - the effect of this is often overstated.

He wasn't, however, cut out to be be an excellent prime minister and don't get me started on his interventions in the Scottish independence debate.

Successive governments have made a mess of the economy for over 25 yrs, even Thatcher got it mostly wrong

Fascinating...

So how do you think the national economy should be run, Katie59?

Where did Thatcher go wrong?

“The UK CHOSE to deregulate financial services, to allow banks to take more risks, to permit all sorts of finance scams to be sold to retail customers who had no idea of the risks. “

Brown had to act after the crash he could not allow the banks to go bankrupt, any chancellor would have done that.

Fred Goodwin and many many others took the fat bonuses, if you are offered a free lunch you take it. Just like Covid loans doled to companies, surprise surprise a great many took the money and ran. Its human nature, previously there were safeguards to prevent happening, now those are back in place.

My opinions are nothing to do with left or right, we try to teach our children to be careful with money, to borrow sensibly if we need to. Successive governments have made a mess of the economy for over 25 yrs, even Thatcher got it mostly wrong