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The gaps between myth and reality of the Conservatives continues to grow says this view from Labour expressed in The Guardian. With the chaos in the Conservatives and three prime ministers out in a short period- first with Brexit, then with the factions supporting and against Boris Johnson who led the fight to take Britain out of the European Union, the promises made to the North of England that led to Johnson's win in the election are falling by the wayside. There is no real progress in levelling up wealth and development gaps between regions in Britain, the commitment to tackling climate change is wavering and inconsistent when the rest of Europe and the US is moving forward with clear intent and funding, and the effort to tackle the cost of living crisis lacks conviction and plan changing by the day.     

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The Guardian newspaper in Britain says the EU proposals of Boris Johnson's minority government do not face up to the realities. The three problems with the proposals are failure to consider the will of all the people of Ireland and Northern Ireland who favor a open and free border between the two Irelands. The DUP is the party in Ireland that does not speak for the whole of Ireland or Northern Ireland, its people voted to Remain in the European Union, and Johnson is following the DUP.  The Good Friday Agreement and the Irish peace accords include moral and political obligations made by Britain. Boris Johnson and Tory hardliners do not plan to respect these commitments to an open free flowing border in Ireland.  The vague customs arrangements between the UK and the EU are not what the EU would consider as normal and are problem for consumers and public. It creates a hole in EU customs arrangements and is not a workable solution. For these reasons the Guardian rejects the idea that this is a compromise, and finds the word "perfidy," or breaking promises to the Irish people, and in new ways from Tory hardliners from the past. ...

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British MP and former minister in the Tory government resigns in a lobbying scandal for violating British parliamentary standards on lobbying. This report in The Guardian says he was found to have lobbied the government on behalf of two companies that were paying him over 100,000 pounds a year. Boris Johnson, Britain's prime minister initially supported Patterson but lacking support in parliament and with a backlash from his party's MP's decided to let parliamentary standards authority decide on Mr. Patterson's future. Lobbying in the US and Britain has resulted in a distortion of the national priorities. This is particularly true of the US where priorities in health care and providing access to reasonably priced pharmaceuticals, climate change shift away from fossil fuels, regulation of the internet companies, worker wages, and other issues critical to building a healthy nation are neglected with lobbying for support of members of Congress. ...

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This Observer view in The Guardian reflects on the issues raised by British chancellor Rishi Sunak's tax affairs. It says that this shows politicians are out of touch with what ordinary people are going through after the pandemic and the rising cost of living during the Ukraine war, with an increase in taxes. A recent Observer survey shows that only 6% of people feel the politicians are sensitive to voter concerns for fairness, and 78% think politicians are not able to understand the difficulties ordinary people in Britain face in day to day living. 

 

 

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This editorial view in The Guardian says the Tories win in 2019 was a result of homeowners and mortgage holders feeling richer with the soaring house prices in England. It could hurt the Conservatives as interest rates rise and house prices drop. Conservatives could lose support gradually, then suddenly as home prices drop fast. It cites the forthcoming book Shattered Nation by Prof. Danny Dorling of Oxford University on the extractive model of housing in Britain being out of step with its European neighbors. Dorling says that had house prices gone up with inflation in the last 70 years, the average home in Britain would have cost 63,000 pounds, that is twice the median UK salary of 31,000 pounds. Instead government's ONS shows price of average house in Britain is 296,000 pounds in 2022 August, up 36,000 pounds- the price increase of 14% is one year's salary. Dorling says money is siphoned off from the less well off to the already wealthy when paying excessive rents, buying an overpriced house, or keeping up with larger mortgage payments. Lawmakers don't see the problem Dorling says because so many of them are landlords including Mr. Sunak. ...

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This editorial in The Guardian calls the new British Health Secretary Sajid Javid's actions after only 4 months on the job a bit of breathtaking cynicism, and a slap in the face of family physicians in the UK. In 2015 the Tory government promised to increase the number of family physicians by 5000, instead numbers have dropped today by 4.5% to 28096, even as demand has increased. The complete lack of sensitivity of the new Health Secretary to the level of burnout in family practice in the UK, and the difficulty attracting young doctors to family practice, has aroused a furious backlash in the UK. He has called for an end to social distancing and more face to face appointments when government policy had decreased face to face appointments following lockdowns. Britain has one of the lowest numbers of doctors per capita in Europe, says the Guardian, and that the government is tackling the wrong problem beggars belief.

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The idea of "two tier policing" in Britian has been spread by Tommy Robinson and other figures and by social media actors yet it does not pass scrutiny says this report in The Guardian. It is in situations such as these that social media cannot be considered a technological advance but one that takes society back many steps. The lack of regulatory scrutiny and regulation of social media through Tech industry acting on its agenda may be one of the serious threats facing Democracy in the US, Europe and the World.

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With a general election approaching in Britain the question about a progressive alliance is brought up in the Guardian. A big block is the Labour party with its obsession for vote share, and not seeking alliances of any kind. The Liberal Democrats are creating their own barriers with hostility towards Labour party. This report cites Best for Britain data and says 457 seats are immune to alliances. Of 150 marginals 111 seats the numbers show if SNP, Lib Democrats, Greens swung behind Labour party  it would make a big difference. as in 30 seats even a 5% swing from Labour to the Lib Democrats would give the seat to the Conservatives. The other approach is to have informal alliances at the grassroots level so that progressive candidates can do well.

 

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Cygnus is the rehearsal for a full blown pandemic that the British government conducted in 2016. After preparations accelerated following the SARS crisis in 2009 and the H1N1 pandemic in 2015, the British government accelerated its preparations for H2N2 the next pandemic. The exercize took place in October 2016 for 3 days, for a worst case scenario flu pandemic affecting 50% of the population and causing 400,000 extra deaths. For 3 days people were told to imagine being in the 7th week of the pandemic, facing peaks in demand for health and hospital care. Cobra meetings were to be held. This report in the Guardian gives details on the Cygnus exercize. It showed a lack of UK readiness.  By July 2016 prime minister Cameron was replaced by Theresa May in the Conservative Party and a full blown crisis emerged for Brexit. Britain lost interest in Cygnus or the pandemic prevention effort as Brexit consumed Britain's energies. Soon it was forgotten by the time Boris Johnson became prime minister and won the Brexit election. This shows how even a sincere effort and preparation over years of planning can result in nothing. This also happened in France. See France 24's coverage of this and our groups and links on this. One insight was that while every agency acted there was no coordinated response with someone in the central authority guiding the entire effort step by step. Care homes entirely privately run were also identified as a concern and anticipated significant pressures because of staff absenteeism at these social care centres in a pandemic, as reported in the Guardian ...

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The director of Vote Leave on Brexit referendum Dominic Cummings says Brexit could be a mistake for Britain. Asked if he thinks differently now, he says in a Twitter exchange cited in Britain's Guardian newspaper- "Lots. I said before REF was a dumb idea, other things shdve been tried 1st." Others are having second thoughts about the referendum, as shown here.

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Nigel Farage's income of 600,000 pounds as Member of Parliament in Britain since the UK election makes him the highest paid MP, says The Guardian. 

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The Guardian looks at food poverty in the UK in 2022. About 800,000 children living in poverty in the UK do not qualify for free school meals. The rise in the price cap for electricity and gas this winter to 3549 pounds for the year from October means many homes will have to choose between heating and food. Energy price regulator Ofgem has allowed a 80% rise in the UK energy price cap. In Britain only children whose parents earn less than 7400 pounds are eligible after year 2 of school.

The energy price jump in UK of this type is unusual for the major countries of Europe. In France the price of energy is capped and Germany offers  financial support for energy bills for low income people. 

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This editorial in Britain's Guardian newspaper says the crisis in Spain is a result of the intransigence and lack of dialogue on both sides. It points out that a lot of damage has already happened to Spain's and Catalonia's social fabric, and economic damage will be harder to correct. It asks how much more will be destroyed before the flared tempers calm down for dialogue and agreement. Madrid could have handled better the allegations of police action, and Mr. Puigdemont, Mr Rajoy have shown a bit of recklessness in their attitude in the crisis, says the Guardian.

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The Guardian newspaper takes us through the many charming places in sunny Lisbon and shows us "la vida Portuguesa."  Shown here are the tram ride to Belem, a visit to a bakery, Europe's largest plaza, and Jeronimos monastery in fascinating Instagram pictures. Lisbon is famous also for the museum in honor of the golden age of navigation starting with Vasco Da Gama and the trip around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa. The Guardian newspaper has an astonishing amount of detail on travel in Portugal and the Iberian peninsula, as Portugal has always been an attractive destination for people in Britain.

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The $2.3 billion pounds (2.6 billion euros) the UK paid to the EU for not collecting legitimate customs duties for imports from China, could finance a UK travel pass like the popular 9 euro travel pass in Germany. That 9 euro pass was a sixth of the cost to travel in Berlin, one way the German government helped people face the cost of living crisis. It cost the German government 2.5 billion euros. One more missed opportunity in Britain by the Tory government to help people with the cost of living crisis. The UK gets hit first with a loss of the customs duties revenue that would have been collected as well as any penalties for fraud from importers. Add to this the $2.3 billion pounds in settlement with the European Union for not collecting legitimate customs duties from imported textiles and shoes into Britain from China. Blunders and missed opportunities to help people  with cost of living crisis is a mark of the Conservative government in Britain. The Guardian reports that the case goes back to 2017 when the EU anti-fraud office said British authorites had allowed criminals to evade customs duties by making false claims about imports of clothes and shoes from China. It says that the EU found over half of all textiles and footwear imported from China were below the lowest acceptable prices.  ...

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The full report on the BBC's future funding by a committee of the UK parliament on the 100th birthday of the BBC in November 2022. The universal license fee is being abolished in many European countries. It generates 5 billion pounds that meet 75% of the cost of the BBC. Giving open access to all as done by BBC and Manchester Guardian is still a viable and necessary model in a democracy such as ours. Yet the increasing costs for poorer households can be offset with other ways of limiting the cost for the households at lower incomes. The other hurdle for BBC is to increase its viewers beyond the 60 plus years older viewers as the choice is now wide and prolific in channels and apps. Under Conservatives BBC was getting less support. With Labour the BBC gets a new opportunity to revive its programming and fulfilling its vital function of serving the people of Britain and English speaking countries around the world.

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With some aspects of Marie Le Pen's programme possibly violating the French Constitution and some parts of the programme leading to France being forced to leave the European Union, what was not looked at carefully in the first round vote is now happening for the second round. The Le Pen draft law on "immigration, identity and citizenship," is seen by multiple analyses cited by The Guradian, as violating the principles of equality enshrined in the French Constitution. Constitutional experts say this would also violate European law and lead to a progressive or indirect exit from the European Union. Le Pen's proposal to lower the retirement age to 60 was coming under scathing scrutiny, with Jean Tirole, the 2014 Nobel prize winner in Economics saying it would cost 68 billion euros and "permanently impoverish the country." Countries such as Brazil that lowered the retirement age in this manner have found that it seriously affects public finances, leading to the deep economic crisis in Brazil following the commodity price collapse a few years ago. Macron has moved in the opposite direction to raise the retirement age gradually and now with a proposed national consensus, at the cost of losing some support, simply to shore up public finances. So that needed investments in infrastructure and climate change can be made. For this reason it may become evident to undecided voters that Le Pen's proposals have some serious flaws if implemented, weakening the French economy and yet not tackling the deeper problems of younger people. These problems The Guardian says in a separate report are the precarious and low pay jobs, asset based inequality, and rural urban regional differences developing as a result of the offshoring of manufacturing to China, and are common to Britain, France, Germany, and the US. These problems are beginning to be addressed after the lessons learned from the pandemic by western nations.   ...

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Nova Poshta Ukraine's unstoppable Postal Service that delivers next day across Ukraine from Kviv to Kharkiv and Kherson in war zones. The Guardian gives this amazing story in Ukraine In Depth- Charlotte Higgins in Kviv and Mariana Matveichuk in Kharikiv show the resilient spirit at Nova Poshta postal service that quickly delivers millions of parcels across Ukraine and to millions of refugees from Ukraine in Britain, Spain, Poland, Germany and other countries.  Pictures show the automated lines that sort out parcels and get them ready for delivery in Kviv and in Kharkiv. Even in war zones the work goes on night and day even in nights when there is no electricity and water using generators designed for Nova Poshta with its own energy supplies. Ukrainians of all ages in all parts of the country depend on Nova Poshta for delivery and it is what keeps the country going through war and drone attacks from the skies, and on the frontline cities such as Kharkiv. This report gives stories of many people in Kharkiv and Kviv who depend on the postal service, of workers, and of troops at the front lines. ...

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The worst fears of Brexit of young people, three quarters of whom in 18-24 year age group voted against Brexit, are being realized. There is less travel to Europe and it is harder to have cross border interaction between Britain and the European Union with additional documentation required. A cross party report by the House of Lords shows the impact on mobility for young people. The restrictions are seen in the report as "an unmitigated disaster" citing experts. The pathway to temporary professional employment was once a way to broaden experience and contacts in the early years of working life. This is now far more difficult to access says this report in The Guardian. The same is true for school trips- in 2022 the number of pupils on such trips from EU to UK dropped 83%. Conservatives have shown a complete indifference to this. 

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Arrests were made in a UK police inquiry including the Treasurer of the SNP, into handling of over 600,000 pounds in donations for a second independence referendum used for running costs instead, say this report in The Guardian. This Guardian report by Libby Brooks shows outwardly successful the Scottish National Party was behind the scenes chaotic, according to members who are frustrated at what has happened since 2014. A big influx of Yes voting members changed the party after 2014, and unable to cope it simply continued to function without modernizing its mechanisms for the last decade. Another problem appeared to be that power was concentrated in the husband and wife couple of Murrell the party's former chief executive who helped the party's electoral prospects, and Sturgeon as deputy leader. For much of the time party insiders say loyalty to Sturgeon after she headed the government, meant there was no effort to modernize the party with the growth in membership, and no serious discussion about this. Stuff got steamrollered. One insider says party leaders were inexperienced in handling a party of this size and did not realize that these problems would build up. It also reflects the support given to challenger Kate Forbes for the leadership election. What it means for Britain is that Labour and the Conservatives can count on Scotland, formerly a base for Labour, to give the leading British parties a decent chance in the next election on cost of living and public services issues. Issues that are uppermost in the minds of people in Scotland, to gain an overall parliamentary majority to tackle the issues of health, education, public services and climate change after the pandemic. ...

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A professor of economics of innovation and public value at University College, London, says one-off deals such as the one with Land Rover to produce electric car batteries is not an adequate response to the big industrial strategies of the US and the European Union. Mariana Mazzucato says in this Guardian article the UK's decision to leave the EU is costing 100 billion pounds in output. Of 100 leading Uk manufacturers about half say their suppliers in the EU are more cautious about doing business in the UK. She compares the US industrial strategy that combines public and private investment of $3.5 trillion over the next decade, and the EU's for $2 trillion with Britain's effort. She says of the UK that it has nothing like this and worse with austerity it is moving in the opposite direction. Another problem is the change in governments of the Tories and new industrial policy every time there is a new minister. Business investment in UK is 19% less than the G7 average. The civil service needs investment, as she says Britain has become addicted to outsourcing the core functions of the public sector. Mazzucato says the government for aid to the private sector should do what Germany and France have done to expect reduction in carbon emissions, or as the US has done with Biden's Chips Act of giving aid given that there are no share buybacks by companies.   ...

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Roger Cohen interviews Glenn Greenwald, a journalist for Britain's Guardian newspaper, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Greenwald made disclosures of NSA spying on Brazil's president Dilma Rousseff. He now has the backing for a online publication from eBay founder, Pierre Omidyar, for the venture with financing of $250 million. Greenwald helped make Snowden's information on NSA spying public by writing about it in the Guardian from his base in Brazil. Cohen says old style mainstream journalism has been affected by the 9/11 events, and brings up David Halberstam's words at Columbia University in 2005- about not letting the powerful intimidate independent journalists. In 2013 the government of Britain asked the Guardian to turn over documents related to NSA spying, which the Guardian resisted, leading to a protest by Germany that this violated respect for freedom of the press.

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This article in the Guardian points out that Britain did not just wake up one morning and find itself in a strange predicament of leaving the European Union. This was happening over two decades as leaders appealed to immigration fears on the right to win voters and the leaders of the Labor party failed to protect their traditional working class base. Voter turnout declined and it points out that Cameron of the Conservative party won the election in 2015 with only 24 percent of the eligible voters, as the hold of the Conservatives and Labor parties declined with each successive election on their voter base as they desperately tried to shore up support by appealing to voters fears even as they literally abandoned their traditional voter base and appeared elitist to less educated, poor workers. The economic crisis and austerity policies created a new voter group of disaffected voters who turned to the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and the Scottish National Party (SNP). The referendum offered by Cameron in 2015 on the EU against the advice of coalition partner Vince Cable and the Liberal Party, without an understanding of the situation in the country after years of austerity policies was only one of a long series of developments that unfolded over two decades unraveling years of work building a better Britain following 1945. ...

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Here Simon Jenkins in the Guardian looks at the situation in Spain, where independence from Spain for Catalonia, could lead to independence demands from other regions such as the Basque region. He says opposition to devolution of powers to Scotland in the 1980's in Britain led to the drive for independence in Scotland years later. He sees the Spanish government's strong response as not the best way to deal with the situation. A better way is to allow some form of self-rule for regions such as Scotland and Catalonia, enough self-rule to accomodate regional aspirations. He cites the example of Slovakia with peaceful separation as the alternative if no agreement is reached.

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A supply chain crisis, shortages of coal and oil are affecting major world economies. The Guardian looks at the economies of Britain, the US, Germany, Russia and Australia. Inflation is above 4% in Germany for the last month. Shortages of workers is affecting most economies. Ports are filled with container ships that have not downloaded their shipments because of a lack of workers. There were a record 10 million job openings in the US mostly in the restaurant and entertainment industries. Low wages have led many to reconsider their careers during the pandemic, a phenomenon called the Great Resignation. Other people have dropped out of the workforce because schools have not reopened and there is a lack of good affordable childcare. The chairman of the US central bank Jerome Powell, says "It is frustrating to acknowledge that people getting vaccinated and getting Delta variant under control remains the most important economic policy we have. It is also frustrating to se the bottlenecks and supply chain problems not getting better- in fact at the margin getting a bit worse." ...