Category Archives: UK

Jim Murphy Loves Nukes

Jim Murphy Loves Nukes

It’s always good to know where people stand on the great issues of the day. Jim “Omelette” Murphy voted FOR renewing the UK’s Trident nuclear missiles at an estimated cost of £100 billion. We all know how easily these estimates on defence contracts can spiral out of control so I wouldn’t be surprised if the total cost was double the estimate.

Jim Murphy Loves Nukes

Jim Murphy Loves Nukes

These hugely expensive weapons of mass destruction are illegal under international law since they do not discriminate between civilians and belligerents, they just kill everyone. They are an incredible waste of money and the only purpose they really serve is to salve the egos of Westminster politicians by keeping the UK’s permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Excess winter deaths UK

17% of UK Housholds in Fuel Poverty

With winter just around the corner it is worth taking a look at the fuel poverty of the UK which lead to the deaths of 34000 people last winter. Fuel poverty, for our purposes, is defined as having to spend 10% or above of your income on fuel. Overall there are 4.5 million UK households in fuel poverty and this is projected to rise.  Fuel poverty results in, what are quaintly known as, “excess deaths”. These are deaths which are above the seasonal norm which can be attributed to people freezing to death. The total number of excess deaths is illustrated in the following chart:

Excess winter deaths UK

Excess winter deaths UK (DECC)

It can be seen from the above chart that the number of deaths are not necessarily related to the average temperature, so they are probably more related to the financial conditions of the country at the time.

The last year that full figures for fuel poverty are available for is 2012 and the figures are given in the following table:

Fuel Poverty UK

The table shows how the UK is better together (Figures from DECC)

The figure show that 14% of households in England are suffering fuel poverty, with the bulk of those in the North. However in Scotland more than a quarter of households are in fuel poverty. Wales is even worse and in NI the figures for 2011 show that a whopping 42% of households are suffering. The table clearly shows how the UK is better together.

So who are these unfortunate souls who very often are faced with the choice of heat or eat? According to www.poverty.org.uk, it turns out that that single person households are more likely to face fuel poverty and also rural households are more likely to face fuel poverty. Those in rented accommodation are also more likely to be in fuel poverty.

The main reason for people facing fuel poverty is the inexorable rise in the cost of fuel. This is illustrated with the following graph from the DECC:

Fuel costs UK

Fuel costs UK (DECC)

Couple this with the squeeze on disposable incomes and you have a real problem:

Disposable Incomes UK

Disposable Incomes UK (ONS)

So how do people cope with fuel poverty? One way is to have pre-payment meters installed, even though the fuel will cost more by having one. The following table illustrates this point:

Pre Payment Meters Table

The Costs of Pre Payment Meters Compared with Direct Debit and Credit

All of this results in people ending up in debt to the energy companies, the levels of debt are increasing as the following graph shows:

Average debt per customer

Average debt per customer (3.4% of electricity and 3.6% of gas customers)(DECC)

Of course the energy companies have done their bit to help alleviate the predicament of the fuel poor haven’t they? Well not exactly. The oft quoted “rise in the wholesale costs” which have caused them to increase their retail prices must have stayed high because the costs haven’t come down, right? Well no:

Electricity costs UK

Electricity costs UK

Gas prices UK

Gas prices UK

All this means that the energy companies have been raking in some fat profits, as illustrated by this chart:

Energy company profits UK

Energy company profits UK

Which goes to show that our energy cartel is working very well, for themselves.

 

Article 6 European Convention of Human Rights

European Convention on Human Rights, Article 6: Right to a Fair Trial

Article 6 enshrines everyone’s tight to a fair trial, including a public hearing, before an independent and impartial tribunal within reasonable time. The article also enshrines the presumption of innocence and other minimum rights for those charged with a criminal offence, such as adequate time and facilities to prepare their defence, access to legal representation, right to examine witnesses against them or have them examined and the right to the free assistance of an interpreter.

Of course this has already happened with the introduction of the Justice and Security Act 2013 which means that you can be charged, tried, convicted and sentenced without knowing of any of the details of the case against you. You will not hear any of the charges against you. You will not get to know any of the evidence against you. You will not be allowed to be present in the court which decides your fate. You will not even hear what your sentence is. The first thing that you will know will be the police coming to your door to arrest you and place you in prison to serve your sentence.

This legislation is in direct contradiction to Article 6, which is probably why the Tories want to get rid of the Human Rights Act so they can chuck whoever they please into prison.

The Lying PM

PM Lies Like a Cheap NAAFI Watch

The Prime Minister thumped his tub in parliament today saying, “Britain will not be paying €2 billion to anyone on 1 December.” David Miliband tried to find out when the UK Government knew about the increased payments but the Prime Minister brushed the question aside. So the questions are, who knew what and when?

The budget, and the changes to each countries charges, was discussed on 26th May 2014. The measures which increased the UK’s share of the budget were waved though, “without discussion.” On the same day the Prime Minister’s Spokesperson issued a press briefing which said, “Asked about the European Commission’s intention to increase its budget, the PMS pointed out that this was an annual budget, which formed part of a 7 year spending period. And, as a result of negotiations led by the Prime Minister last year, the EU budget would fall in real terms over that period.” So David Cameron KNEW about the increase to the budget the day before he flew out to have an informal dinner with other EU leaders on the 27th May 2014, but he was too busy crowing about the European election results to be bothered to bring the topic of a £1.7 billion increase in the UK’s contribution.

On the 24th October 2014 the PM said, “Well I first learnt about this yesterday on Thursday, and immediately started to seek allies, and I found allies in the Italians and the Greeks and Dutch and others, on just how unacceptable this is. In terms of when the Treasury got this information, it was a little bit earlier in the week. And I think the answer to that is when these sorts of memos come about is that they have to be interrogated, they have to be examined, people have to work out what lies behind them.” This is clearly a lie.

So why are the press not going for the jugular? Because Dave is ‘their’ man in Downing Street perhaps? Or are the press doing the government’s bidding? Or is it both?