I’m not entirely sure that my blood pressure will take much more. The protracted battle of my football team to avoid relegation is bad enough, but the regular outpourings of bilge (and I use the term in a caring way) from Mr Miliband is taking things to a whole new level. His latest idea over the weekend, is to crack down on ‘rogue landlords’ by imposing a cap on rent increases during a tenancy, expanding tenant rights and extending the minimum letting period to three years.
Now I have to state a vested interest here. I have a relatively large number of private rental properties, but most economists do not, and they are pretty much unanimously agreed on one thing – rent controls are destructive. In a 1990 poll of 464 economists published in the American Economic Review, 93 percent agreed, that “a ceiling on rents reduces the quantity and quality of housing available”. There is agreement on this from both right and left….from Nobel Prize winners Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek from the right and their fellow Nobel laureate Gunnar Myrdal, an important architect of the Swedish Labour Party’s welfare state, from the left. Myrdal said, “Rent control has in certain Western countries constituted, maybe, the worst example of poor planning by governments lacking courage and vision.” His fellow Swedish socialist economist Assar Lindbeck asserted, “In many cases rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city – except for bombing.”
Economists have shown that rent control diverts new investment, which would otherwise have gone to rental housing, and that it leads to housing deterioration, fewer repairs, and less maintenance. For example, Paul Niebanck found that 29 percent of rent-controlled houses in the United States had deteriorated, but only 8 percent of the uncontrolled units were in such a state of disrepair. Joel Brenner and Herbert Franklin cited similar statistics for England and France.
None of this is of any interest or concern to Mr Miliband of course, who it seems is prepared to go to any lengths to be seen to be hammering groups who he thinks we (the electorate) perceive to be the bad guys. It doesn’t matter that it won’t help anyone, and will actually cause damage. It might play well to the electorate, and somehow that’s enough.
Let me give you a different perspective on what it means to be a private landlord in the UK in 2015.
Now I said at the outset that I had a vested interest in this. Well I do…and then again, I don’t. You see I have never increased the rent for anyone living in any of my properties (not even by the rate of inflation) and I have never asked anyone to leave at any time, who was paying their rent and not causing a problem for neighbours, I’m not sure who these ‘rogue landlords’ are who Miliband is demonising in order to attract the populist vote, but they’re not characters that I’ve ever come into contact with. All the landlords I know (and I know a lot) are just like me – they just want a decent tenant who pays the rent on time, looks after the property reasonably well and doesn’t annoy the neighbours. If they get that, then all the landlords I know would be happy for them to stay as long as they like and keep paying the same rent. Three years…pah! Stay for ten if you like…longer!
What they get though…and Miliband and his ilk won’t even acknowledge this…is a fair proportion of deadbeats who don’t pay, wreck the place, upset the neighbours and then disappear leaving behind arrears and a big refurbishment bill. If you offered me £1 for every bad tenant and £100 for every bad landlord, I’d take the former every time and know that I’d come out considerably richer by making that choice. And yet I’ve not heard any talk about ‘rogue tenants’. No votes in it, you see.
The people Milibands new policy will hit most are the accidental landlords – home owners who have been unable to sell their house and so have rented it out for a period of time. Currently they’re able to rent out for 6 months at a time, thereby affording them flexibility should an opportunity to sell come along. The new policy would rob them of that flexibility, and probably tip the balance away from renting being a viable option. So a policy which economists agree is destructive, will also cause hardship to hard working home owners (I think I’m getting the hand of this political BS now!) and further reduce the supply of good quality housing to renters.
Miliband cares nothing about the economic impact of his policies, just so long as they resonate politically to the hard-of-thinking. Take the proposed clampdown on non-dom’s – wealthy individuals living in the UK but treated differently for tax purposes. “It’s not fair!” goes up the cry from Labour, and millions subscribing to the politics of envy, cheer their approval. Maybe it isn’t fair, but here’s the thing…these people aren’t here for the weather, they have the luxury of being able to live anywhere, and if you make life difficult for them , they will simply up-sticks and move elsewhere.
So what? Well when they go, they’ll take their businesses and their money with them (so there’s no tax to be garnered anyway) and when that happens, all the people who are making money from serving their needs whilst they’re here, will be looking elsewhere for equally lucrative employment. It may well be a long search, and while that’s going on, these people aren’t paying tax either.
The entire Miliband/Labour rhetoric has been focussed on demonising the wealthy and extolling ways in which they can be parted from their money. But here’s what’s interesting…the top 0.5% of earners in the UK already pay more tax than the bottom 55% combined. Like their non-dom counterparts, many of these big contributors have the wherewithal to live and work anywhere they choose. And if you make it too uncomfortable for them, where they choose to live and work will not be the UK.
Countless studies have showed that over-taxing the wealthy always results in a fall in the overall tax take. Those affected either move away, exhibit satisficing behaviour or avoid tax in other ways. So again, the only arguments for taxing the wealthy more beyond a certain point, (and that point would seem to have been reached) are political rather than economic. We need to look after high earners, not vilify them. They’re already paying more than their fair share. If they decide to stop doing that – and they can – who will make up the shortfall?
Probably the most worrying aspect of what we’ve seen thus far in the election campaign, is Milibands approach to wealth creation. If he has an approach to it (other than ignoring it) I’ve yet to see it. He hasn’t mentioned it – not once. The whole narrative has been focussed upon dividing up a pie which already exists rather than increasing the size of the pie for everyone, and helping those who want to do a bit of baking for themselves. As a business owner or entrepreneur it’s hard to escape the perception that Miliband et al view you as a greedy chancer who deserves to be milked of your ill-gotten gains as quickly and comprehensively as possible. They don’t appear to see you as a creator of wealth, employment and tax revenue which filters down throughout the economy at all.
It’s unclear where Miliband thinks the money comes from that he wants to re-distribute so readily, or what he thinks will happen when those currently making it decide that it’s no longer worth the hassle, or indeed that doing it somewhere else might bring better rewards.
Up until now Miliband seems to be getting away with all of this, and he’s getting away with it for a very simple reason – large swathes of the population are more inclined towards dragging others down to their level than they are towards aspiring to climb to the heights themselves. They are more concerned with seeing others lose than they are in seeing themselves win. They are more interested in making others poorer than they are in making themselves richer. To many, dragging others down feels just as good as hauling themselves up. And it’s a lot less effort. Especially when Ed is promising to do it for you.
Miliband knows all this of course (despite any impressions to the contrary, he isn’t stupid) and is playing on it for all its worth, Will it work? Well we’ll all know for sure on May 8th. The uneducated and ill-informed part of the electorate can perhaps be forgiven for succumbing to their base instincts, but Miliband can’t be forgiven for playing to them and putting his own political success over economic expediency and efficiency. He knows rent controls will be detrimental, he knows hitting non-doms will be damaging and he knows putting up taxes for high earners will be counter-productive. But winning votes trumps all of that to him.
As I write this, we’re about 10 days from the election, and the most likely outcome appears to be a Miliband-led minority Labour government propped up by Jimmy Krankies younger sister and her cronies who don’t want to be part of the UK at all. If that doesn’t fill you with dread, you’re probably reading the wrong newsletter.
Here here, well said!!
Very well said and put.
I find all this labour stuff frightening.
let’s hope sense prevails! !
An admirer Geoffrey
Ed Miliband should, always, be preceded by a health warning “Miliband and Balls will (not can) seriously affect the economic health of this nation”.
And, considering his association with Gordon Brown and his disastrous stewardship of our economy, how does Ed Balls have the brass neck to presume to advise anyone as to how to run the finances of the UK? Pure chutzpah, nothing more!
Mustn’t knock the Milliband too much as he represents the best chance the Tories have for re-election, and every utterance of his should by rights help our cause. However the GPB have a history of shooting themselves in the foot and the politics of envy may yet give us the worst possible result, in which case god help us all. At 81 I am frankly glad I will have only a few more years to put up with the mess this country is in already. It’s my children and grandchildren I worry for. In a few decades there will be a majority of voting Muslims in UK and believe me, Allah will certainly NOT help us. What a prospect.
ioo% agree with you, Heaven help us,
This is an opener!. Very well said!. Thank’s.
I think the previous writer meant hear hear! What infuriates me is that while it’s ok for private landlords to make a fortune from charging more in rent than mortgage payments for the same property would be, I can’t get a mortgage because I am too old. I’ve been paying rent for twenty years, in other words far more than the cost of buying a quite nice house here in South Wales, and I have absolutely nothing to show for it. Lawson raised interest rates from 8% to 15% and closed my business down, as it caused my main clients to go bankrupt and put my mortgage up from £600 a month to £1100, meaning that I got repossessed and have never recovered. Santander have ‘lost’ or someone there has stolen £160,00 from my account, so the cash I could have bought a house with for my old age has gone. Apart from that, none of the so-called main parties are worth voting for so it’s UKIP or the BNP if they have a candidate, and I am definitely NOT racist. I’m just peed off with coming last in my own country. Ex- sapper C.D.Roberts
The figure of £160,00 should have read £160,000.
I think you are talking about the Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992, which was John Majors doing with the Chancellor Norman Lamont, who joined the ERM in 1990, and interest rates generally went from 8% to 16%. Nigel Lawson was in favour of joining, but had resigned by then.
I was also a victim of repossession in 1994 after a long fight to hang on I was cleaned out by Barclays to the tune of £80,000, I am now 75, and I still owe that money! Being a true blue tory, I devised ways and means to carry on regardless and am now enjoying a reasonable retirement and paying off my dept a few pounds a month. Labour have never shown fiscal control – and never will I think.
You are very clearly showing your blue colours John, and have all your rich tory cronies supporting you here. While you may be right about Miliband’s misguided attempts at getting votes, at least labour won’t be punishing the poor and those on welfare benefits for the mess the greedy bankers got us into. Tax dodgers are a much much bigger threat to us than welfare claimants. You want to try living on a minimum wage or benefits before you stand there criticising people for not try to ‘raise themselves up rather than dragging the rich down’. You wouldn’t be able to do it, nor would any of your rich friends. I am dreading the election for either the tories getting back in and making my life even harder than it is now (and it is really hard) or labour as you say sharing with the SNP God help us.
I do understand how hard it is to live on minimum wage, but genuinely believe that the best long-term solution for people in that situation isn’t to be found in Ed Miliband, Labour or God help us, the SNP.
You have been slagging off the NHS yourself it trying to flog stuff.
Seems you as a landlord don’t like unjustified critism yet you are quite willing to do it to NHS staff.
HYPOCRITE!!
I’m not sure I follow your thinking. There are problems with the NHS (not under the control of hard-pressed front line staff) and there are things you can do as an individual to get around some of those problems. What does that have to do with state intervention in a private market that has been proven to be damaging when it’s been tried before?
My thinking goes like this John. You have given a blog here as you fairly say with “vested interest” on above as a private landlord . That is quite fair enough and as I said in my original e-mail “unjustified criticism”
Yet there is much, much more unjustified criticism- and really sticking the boot in- into the NHS with your streetwise propaganda selling of the NHS book in e-mail you sent out than in Ed Milliband’s plan regarding renting etc. To all reading this just read the e-mail sent out describing NHS by Streetwise.
On purely economics/ politics side you cannot have 100% socialist or 100% capitalism.
Both fail completely e.g. The Lead Corporate Bankers who have completely thieved Millions of pounds from everyone and got away with it.
Totally, totally agree. If only someone would say this live on TV at peak viewing times before the election
At last someone who really does get it. If you envy the wealthy get up off your butt and start a business how do you think all these wealthy people got to where they are? This is the 21st century land of oppurtunity. Don’t envy – copy. If the krankies reaaly do start pulling the strings will the last English man to leave please switch off the lights
John, everything you said is undeniably true – to anyone with half a brain. Over twenty years I built a successful business from scratch and employed seventy five people. I put my house and family on the line and worked like a dog to finally realise that in fact I wasn’t actually working for myself anymore. In reality I was simply a cash cow for a government that had absolutely no concept of what is involved in running a business. Curiously however from Mr Millibands point of view, as a business owner , I was not a ” worker ” although I worked longer and harder than any ” worker ” that I ever employed . Endless red tape , health and safety, tax inspectors , vat inspectors, employment legislation , maternity rights, weights and measures , etc. and then handing over half of my hard earned profits to a government to give away to useless causes, useless projects, and useless people. I’ve now sold my business so the Millibands , Sturgeons, and the rest of the economically challenged of the next government can find another mug to finance them.
I can sympathise and empathise Ian. As a business person, choosing between governments/parties is like choosing between diseases…you just go for the one that will cause you least damage.
Best thing you have ever written . Why let the people who hate us ,rule us.?
Regards George
I a m amazed that it appears that so many do not see through Milibands stance and it proves that appealing to the politics of envy gets votes.
It is so obvious that to carry on the good reparation work that has been happening in the last 5 years is the way to go.
I am hoping that the reason at the moment is that traditional labour voters are embarrassed to change their normal vote and I hope that in the privacy of the voting booth they decide to vote conservative and keep the progress moving on
You are so right. The problem being the electorate must have been controlled in such a manner that they are brainwashed.
How comes nobody remembers the mess the last socialist government left the country in?
The mess they have started in the Middle east has no where near peaked yet, yet all forgotten…..
I don’t blame the labour party, they are simply winging it. No, I blame the people stupid enough to vote them in over and over again.
No different to what they did after the 2nd world war…..voted Churchill out and replaced him with the socialist.
Socialism has invaded every area of public life such as Schools, hospital and the civil service. These people are educating the young to believe the lies they tell. And yes, a socialist government will get in and yet again fund bureacrasy to make sure a number stay in these positions.
After Labour and the SNP form a government, would the last person to leave the country, kindly switch off the lights please…
The shortage of lettings is due to Maggy giving right to buy at crazy prices people who can afford too should buy private housing not council or association houses.
Great blog Post, and so very ‘spot on’ with your observation and possible outcomes.
God help the majority of the populace who aspire to greater things, if this Blair Clone, ‘Red Ed’ and his cronies get into power with the help of the SNP who seek to bring Scotland out of the UK!
Hopefully, the voting population (or at least those who are working in some capacity), will see through his weasel words, and vote accordingly!
… My fingers are crossed!
As ever, John – on the button.
mr labour leader says he is a geeke will promise anything then create a balls up
IF Labour and the SNP form a government, would the last person to leave the country, kindly switch off the lights please…
Agree entirely John.
Ihaave always thought of Labour as the Party of the Shirker!
You’ve said it all – well nearly: regarding the proposed mansion tax – who will decide whether a property is worth say £2,000,001 or £1,999,999 when assessing the band? A bunch of w….kers in the Valuation Office Agency who will need to hire even more staff to give extra aggravation to the market. It will probably cost more to collect than it will take in, and just piss off the wealthy who may well just up sticks.
Absolutely, and although I live in the north, I can see that this tax is grossly unfair to people who live in London, and have done so for years. Two million pounds does indeed buy you a mansion where I live, but it’s nothing more than a regular family home in many parts of the capital. What this policy would also do is artificially distort the property market so that anything in the £2 million to £2.5 million range becomes unsaleable.
John you are absolutely spot on !!
Absolutely right John. The way I see it, if your one of those people who blames everyone but themselves for the situation they are in who looks at those who have wealth with disdain and hatred then you will probably vote labour. On the other hand if you take control of your own life, without blaming others and are prepared to get off your backside and make a difference, aspire to be wealthy and do what it takes then you vote conservative.
Miliband also wants a minimum wage of £8, I work with loads of small businesses who employ staff at the minimum wage. An increase to this level will add £30K a year to some of these businesses, how the hell do they afford that??
My father taught me to appreciate the fact when the boss bought a new ‘Roller’ as that meant the company was doing well and my job looked safer. He also said that it should give me the aspiration to get one myself.
He was a socialist who had fought for this country for 6 years but believed the working man had an obligation to ‘Give a good days work for a good days pay’ he would turn in his grave to see Milliband and his
cronies ruining a once proud if not always wise movement.
I am 75 years of age have run several companies employed lots of mainly decent hard working people only to see the economy and the country ruined by the Blairs, Scargills, Hattons Crows etc. A good example of there thinking : ‘ Let us get more people to university’ . Very good. But rather than raise the standard of education they lower the difficulty of the exam to allow more under qualified students studying stupid degrees in ridiculous subjects and flooding the market with unemployable ”up themselves” people who think hard work is for others. But they needn’t worry if the two Eds get in because the state will subsidise them to travel on so called gap years and to fanny around until they finally wake up smell the coffee and have to earn a living . Where do they go into POLITICS.
I was undecided on to vote for now having read your honest opinion on what Labour would do to the housing market It is clear that they set this country back 20 or more years surly this is not what this nation need. so my vote will be going elswhere.
“….”aspire to be wealthy and do what it takes then you vote conservative.”
Not sure why you think that. The nation isn’t wealthy.
http://www.nationaldebtclock.co.uk/
http://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/uk_national_debt_chart.html
In other words this government has almost doubled the national debt since coming to power.
Also try this; “No ifs, no buts, we will reduce net immigration during the lifetime of the next parliament, to the tens of thousands vote us out if we don’t.” (David Cameron 2010)
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/politics/article4369193.ece
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/26/net-migration-to-uk-higher-than-when-coalition-took-office
http://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2015/02/until-we-leave-the-eu-we-stand-no-chance-of-reducing-net-immigration-by-tens-of-thousands.html
I think we should take Dave’s advice and vote him out!
If you thought the “Conservatives” were the party of national defence..!
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/generalelection/general-election-2015-conservative-voters-could-defect-to-ukip-if-defence-spending-is-not-maintained-former-army-boss-warns-10142501.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/conservative-mps-hit-out-at-government-plans-to-cut-defence-spending-10104960.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/10924976/Why-Britains-armed-forces-are-shrinking-by-the-day-and-does-it-really-matter.html
Ultimately, the EU will drain the social and democratic lifeblood out of the country and the economy. This is a body which Cameron and his Star Chamber fully in supports in spite of his belated faux attempts at Euroscepticism in response to the UKIP threat. But then Cameron never was a political thought leader. The rise of UKIP occurred on his watch.
http://blogs.ft.com/brusselsblog/2014/11/12/the-mystery-of-britains-e2-1bn-eu-budget-bill-explained/
http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/3806/economics/euro-debt-crisis-explained/
http://www.civitas.org.uk/eufacts/OS/CIT5.php
By not being so bloody selfish maybe!
Twice in my lifetime a socialist administration has wrecked the British economy. In Harold Wilson’s day the top rate of tax was 97.5%. This had two unintended consequences. Wealthy people hired expensive accountants to prove that they didn’t owe any tax at all, and anybody with any get-up-and-go simply got-up-and-went. It was called the Brain Drain. America, Canada, Australia and other parts of the world eagerly accepted the brightest people we had to offer. Most of them didn’t come back.
Now Ed Balls is the shadow chancellor, and he was Gordon Brown’s right-hand man. I have never been able to decide if that note: “There’s no money left” was supposed to be boasting or apologising. Whichever, more of the same extravagance that the last socialist government employed will simply render null and void all the efforts we have made to get back on our feet.
We can only hope all the polls and pundits have got it wrong.
Ah Yes, I remember it well. With Wilson and Callaghan in the 60s & 70’s I really could not afford to stay here with 18% mortgage rates etc and emmigrated.I went from average UK (2 up 2 down) to average in Africa (3 bed detached, 2 cars and able to live on my salary so my wife really could stay at home when we had kids. Blair & Brown screwed it again but PLEASE NOT A MILLIBAND AS WELL
I could almost understand the Labour numpties promoting class war if it weren’t for the fact they’re as privileged as the “Tory boys” from the view point of most of the electorate. I want kids to grow up wanting to be successful and wealthy, not sitting on their arse hating those who’ve made it.
The Labour party have enabled a shirking class whose aspiration seems to stretch no further than owning two Rottweilers rather than one. Still it keeps Milliband, Mr & Mrs Balls et al in cushy jobs.
Bang on the button John! This needs to reach a wider audience.
With only 10 days to go it requires a well known presenter like Andre Marr to tell the country the true facts of reality like John has rightly pointed out – without any particular bias to any political party but a realist quoting facts like 0.5%of population pay more than 55% of the bottom earners – but this would need someone from the treasury non political to confirm these facts. There must be some non political spokesman from the treasury who can confirm these statements and not idealogical claims. Surely someone knows someone who can do it ?
Andrew Marrs is a raving Leftie….!
Lol. So true. The left wing bias of most of the TV elite is palpable. Most of them overpaid way beyond their abilities, especially the BBC. I’d freeze the licence fee for ever until the reporting was more balanced about the economy.
You are spot on, as usual John; when will you stand for PM?
Joking aside, did you see that Blair crawled out of the woodwork last week to join the hustings
He said we cannot have a vote on whether we stay in the EU in case the electorate vote the wrong way.
He should know all about the electorate voting the wrong way when they elected him 3 times
A very good article exposing the myths of a man who will say anything to gain power. There are only nine days to go and obviously the result sane hard working people need is a Cameron led Conservative government; no coalition, an overall majority. Will we get it? Well the betting seems to point to the Conservatives gaining the most seats, but without a majority, so it’s up to the floaters, lets hope they come good on the day.
To vote anything other than Labour is insane. Do you know who the biggest scroungers are? 50% of Tory MPs are landlords benefitting from ridiculous rents in London, subsidised by the taxpayer. I too own properties but as they are all in the north the proposal doesn’t worry me. The answer is to stop selling public assets to their rich mates and to build council houses. The proper way to build a country is to use public assets for the benefit of the whole country not greedy people while others starve. If the Tories do win the election God help us. It’s been bad so far but it’ll get so bad there will be a revolution.
What really infuriates me is that the rightwing don’t even understand how capitalism works. Henry Ford said My workers have to be able to earn enough to buy the products they produce. It’s so true. I mean a rich man may buy 100 cars but he doesn’t buy 100 every day.
Very pleased to have an alternative point of view…I’m not editing them out! Do 50% of Tory mp’s really have buy to let properties in London for which they charge extortionate rents? Or are you using that as a figure of speech? I haven’t seen those figures.
You’re right, of course, that workers need to be able to afford the products they produce and your example of cars is a good one. All the major manufacturers seem to be breaking UK sales records at the moment.
Actually, Henry Ford’s idea has been proved to be erroneous – it means that in essence the factory owner is paying himself back with his own money. That’s not to say that his workers aren’t entitled to have cars, or whatever – of course they are. But in and of itself, it doesn’t create any extra wealth for the factory. Only when the factory sells stuff to those outside the employees does it make any money.
Thankyou ian for a bit of Sense!
Under labour I have had two business,s both profitable ! I worked hard,,,,,,,,but NEVER! diddled anyone. I worked in Education and with the unemployed to get people back into work, I managed as a single Parent to buy a house outright and bring up five (5) children mostly on my own, worked two jobs ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, gave my children a good education. All of them are above average intelligence speak more than one language including Japanese, and they tell me they can’t afford the modest home one son bought and his twin says they have to move out of the house they live in with two young chidren,both Parents working in Education and can’t afford the rent! let alone by a house! one rents a house which is falling down and still they are paying 600 plus a month two up two down rooms ! and they are not in an expensive area ! the others two are still struggling ! even though they are proffesionals at work. Me ?? I came to France to live to find a bit of peace (Didn’t work) am still working at 67 yrs of age. My pension does not cover my outgoings, I would like to come back to UK but can I afford to? UK is a fairly rich country , but the unfairness and lack of being able to raise money to start a business is very very hard these days. Why have we got soup kitchens John under a conservative govt? why have we got companies going to the wall? Why have we got decent human beings with nowhere to go accept the street? why have we got so many youngsters on the street and not employed in training? We have an unequal society at its worst now than ever before, not enough manufacturing base, and shops closing down. THere will always be fallouts in any Govt in power ! but at this rate its awful ! Yes john I love your products but I can’t afford to buy them anymore ! So what will happen to you in the Future? you have made money under Labour as well as conservative. At least Labour will give youngsters hope for the Future, we need to start to create for the whole of UK, not for the top 10 % !
I suppose it comes down to a question of what you believe will work Anne. My instinct is to go for the parties and policies that will incease the size of the pie rather than figuring out how to allocate slices of a fixed pie. Everything has to start with wealth creation and I don’t believe Miliband has any interest in it, or appreciation of how it happens. Your comment abouts soup kitchens/food banks is an interesting ione which I’ve thought about a lot.
From time to time, I offer one of my books to customers for free. That usually goes down well, but from the resulting avalanche of requests for copies, I have never once drawn the conclusion that people can’t afford to buy books. Rather, I have taken the view that on balance, people will take something for free is it’s on offer.
I wonder then, why left wing politicians cite the fact that food banks are experiencing brisk trade as evidence that people can’t afford to buy food. If your entire ‘business’ is based around giving stuff away for free, you’re going to be busy. Given the choice, I think most of us would rather get something for free rather than pay for it. Isn’t that obvious? The ‘success’ of food banks proves nothing more than if you offer something for nothing you’ll be popular.
Of course there are people who are suffering hardshup, there always have been and there always will be. My view is that hardship would be extended and intensified under Labour. Most people on here seem to agree, but it’s hardly a random cross section of the population.
Good on you Anne….you’re a credit to your family.
You said you worked in education?….I see your choice of words was not your strong point….namely by instead of buy and accept instead of except.
I totally agree with everything you say. It is very boring that the cons can only ever refer to the mess they inherited from the previous government. I would suggest that we are still suffering from Thatchers reign where she sold off all the council houses, and all the public utilities causing a housing shortage and ensuring we are all robbed for essentials such as gas, electric etc,
My brother is currently terminally ill due to being diagnosed with cancer more than six months after first showing symptoms due to the shambles of a Health service Cameron has created. I truly fear for anyone on a modest income that cannot afford private health care as the next five years will see the decimation of this once amazing free for all service.
Really sorry to hear of your brothers situation.
I think you’re looking to have your cake and eat it with this analysis Mac. On the one hand you’re saying that Cameron is wholly responsible for the shambles of the health service, even though he’s only been in power for 5 years. But on the other you’re blaming Thatcher for the housing crisis, even though she hasn’t been in power for over 20 years. Do you not think that the period between 1997 and 2010 had some influence on both problems?
To vote Labour in May can be a purely emotional rather than logical decision.
The problem with Labour’s rant about Zero Hours contracts, quite apart from them representing a mere 2% of employment contracts, is that what is demonstrated is that so few of Labour’s leaders have ever managed a business, or for some even had a proper job.
Any savvy employer will balance the hours worked by a number of employees so that over 12 weeks no employee works “regular” hours, they will be deliberately employed individually on erratic hours. Probably many workers will then be worse off. The employer will pay much the same hours overall as before.
Just as the freezing of domestic fuel prices was, and is, counter productive it shows naivety. Another example, student fees helping the better off students and their families. Ed Miliband says he will be happy to pay £3,000 per year mansion tax, but to bring in £2.5 billion it will have to be £23,000, how out of touch can you get and probably costing more to collect than it brings in and in addition a 50p top tax rate will reduce overall tax take from the £150,00+ earners, all these examples show an inability to exercise rigour in examining policy proposals.
Just last week I froze my Gas & Electricity prices into the second half of 2016, saving myself £250+ per annum, without Ed’s help.
I’m not sure that any of them credit the electorate with any intelligence but we certainly have had enough of being treated as stupid.
This latest wheeze on Rents is another example of Labour’s short term populist policies designed to treat us all as uncomprehending idiots.
My problem is I have a Labour MP, who is a decent man and a hard working constituency MP, compared with his arrogant female Tory predecessor. Both were unfortunately Lobby fodder, so the only option is to vote for Mr Farage. He should be inspired by the “Wee Hinny in the Helmet Hair” who looks as if she is creating a political earthquake in Scotland. Maybe It can be done in England even at this late hour. At least that would be hilarious. We all need a good laugh and the left wing bias of the BBC and Channel 4,is not enough, even if it is risible.
Ian
I worked for 50 years and never had a contract in my life. My contract was my skills and work ethic for my wages. I was never dismissed from any job I did. As for austerity this generation don’t know what austerity is. Lucky for todays generation that my generation was here before you, because you lot don’t have the stomach for anything that we did in 1939-1945.
Labour don’t have a clue about business, their whole ideology is based on envy. Mostly educated idiots. Their whole history is destroying the economy.
ys work
Congratulations on a great blog post. I do not think Labour will ever, ever understand that the more you take from the productive members of society, the less productive they become. It saddens me that our country is heading towards a culture of take, take, take, from a culture that in the main used to be give, give, give. John F Kennedy used to quote: Ask not what your country can do for you – but what you can do for your country. We can only hope that there are enough sensible people at the coming election to ruin Miliband’s chances of becoming Prime Minister – and prevent him ever putting into effect such disastrous policies.
Well, yes I do agree with your points overall. However, the Tories and New Labour are just different shades of grey to me. You have to have fairness in a British society to make it work. People are too cynical and bloody minded in this country to pedastalise any politicians and when they do the ‘worship’ doesn’t last very long – just look at the public attitude to Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair these days. George Osborne has made some glaring errors, the Bedroom Tax being one particularly unfair ‘attack’ on poorer members of society and the Child Benefit fiasco being another, and really there are a number of factors which have enabled the economy to improve the way it has over the time of this government and those factors have had very little to do with Osborne’s economic policy. People see the Tories as looking after their own and it shows a weakness in the Tory leadership when they don’t overcome this attitude. Public perception of political actions is absolutely everything, in my opinion and neither Cameron nor Osborne seem to have come to grips with this. The Scottish referendum was a blinding example of how badly they handle things – panic stations a week before the referendum and that panic was blatently obvious to everyone. Cameron and Hague have run an abysmally weak election campaign and what they haven’t done is convince the good old British public that they’d be a better choice because they are actually fairer to people than Labour. In many respects, they don’t deserve to win and, to be honest, I’m pretty sure that we’ll end up with a Labour government in a couple of weeks. The best thing then would be a failure of that government and a new election in a few months and hopefully the Tories might just get their act together for that one. I hope!!
Agree that the tory campaign has been poor. However, I don’t see this as NEW Labour. At least Blair understood the need to embrace enterprise and business. This just feels like old Labour…business is the enemy to be stamped on and milked. Anyone whose achieved anything needs dragging back into the pack.
Replying to John: Yes, I do agree with what you say but, to me, the Tories just don’t get their messages across very well. Cameron started his working life in public relations and advertising but he certainly hasn’t developed this into something usable in politics. Personally, I think Labour, New and Old, have been disastrous for this country and not only in terms of business and the economy. I’m not sure that I agree with you about Blair because it was his government which enabled a, shall I say it, corrupt banking system. Obviously Osborne has made a reasonable job of things but he still presents a toffs image. They’ll just have to reinvent themselves to get the message over to the British public. I’ll tell you now that had I been involved in designing this campaign I would have been a lot more empathetic to the ordinary people of this country rather than just going on a Labour bashing exercise. If people think they are being addressed personally, then they listen. If you want to see how it’s done, look at how Boris Johnson got to be Mayor of London – despite his background he struck a chord with the working classes of London. I live in a middle class area in the North East of England. Most of my neighbours (and friends) are now classed as middle class but came from working class backgrounds. They still, however, vote Labour. Why? Because they don’t believe a word the Tories say and they still identify with Labour despite the barmy policies.
Agree that the tory campaign has been poor. However, I don’t see this as NEW Labour. At least Blair understood the need to embrace enterprise and business. This just feels like old Labour…business is the enemy to be stamped on and milked. Anyone whose achieved anything needs dragging back into the pack.
Ted, the council tenant who ops to purchase his council house is still a council tenant owning his own house. The proceeds will go to building a replacement council house for a future tenant. Simple two families housed.
Good article John, this is why I’m voting for the only party with commoon-sense policies, namely UKIP
David
Thanks David for your vote, its appreciated.
pp Ed Miliband.
I knew before I read it you’d be a true blue torie rear end licker! the conservatives are only for the well off and sitting pretty, Labour is my only hope being on a VERY love income, I need the bedroom tax reversed for a start…….labour has compassion for the lesser people, smarmy Cameron only loves and boosts the rich!
Labour complains about the so-called ‘bedroom tax’ but ignores the 250,000 families condemned to live in bedsits and further 1.8 million families stuck on housing waiting lists. It’s not right to make families wait for years for a house that’s big enough, while other households on benefits can live in homes that are too big for their needs at no extra cost. This policy is already starting to help these people and there are exemptions to protect tenants with special requirements.
Labour let house building fall to the lowest levels since the 1920’s but not once has Labour apologised for this mess.
That’s quite a common perception Stephen, which is kind of what I was talking about. The truth though, is that the Tories have been very good at extracting tax revenues from high earners, and this group now contribute a higher proportion to the exchequer than was ever the case under Labour. They seem to have achieved this through economic expediency…balancing off levels of taxation with incentive retention, encouraging enterprise and welcoming wealthy individuals from overseas. What they haven’t done, is impose politically motivated rules and levies simply to appease the less well off.
A good blog John.
A very important and quite frightening point, that is never aired on television, is the speed at which the Muslim nation in Britain are increasing. Perhaps it’s not politically correct to mention it, but someone needs the balls to say it. The way things are going we will become a Muslim majority in the not too distant future. This isn’t scaremongering, the facts speak for themselves. The native Britain has on average 1.6 children, whereas the Asian population has an average of 4.1, if you do the maths you will find this to be true. Churches are empty and falling in to disrepair while Mosques are filled and springing up at an alarming rate. Voting for another left wing government will only serve to speed this up. If UKIP were to present themselves in a more genteel way and explain their policies with less confrontation perhaps they could have more say in future governments. Personally, I can’t complain as I never vote. I look after my affairs so that the outcome of elections has no effect on me whoever wins. I just find it so sad that the country I love, that my father gave his life for, doesn’t seem to be English anymore.
Well, if I wasn’t depressed before, I am now! The prospect of Labout in power is a dismal one and you have hit the nail on the head, John – thanks for a great post.
I can’t understand this 3 year rental thing: as a small-time landlord I would be happy for someone to stay 3 years if they pay on time and are decent people. That doesn’t need legislation – it’s landlords who need protection from unscrupulous tenants that need protecting – and that applies as much to councils and housing associations too!
Well said John, however am I the only person in the UK REALLY listening to what that Aussie Marxist who runs the Green Party is saying. They are now nothing to do with going “green” but a far, far left party who must have come from Militant or the Trotskyist Workers Party (being from the soviet republic of South Yorkshire you will know all about them).
The “Green” Party wish to scrap all Horse Races and Greyhound races, build about a zillion houses, re-nationalise the railways, re-introduce Council Houses, raise benefits. “Restore the NHS” whatever that means and worst of all bring most industry into public ownership.
These people are dangerous if not totally nuts. Why have the press been silent, why has TV ignored them.
If you don’t believe me – read their manifesto, its scary.
Suspect they get ignored for the same reason as the bloke ranting on a park bench…because they’ve got absolutely zero chance of putting any of it into practice. We don’t have the same luxury with Miliband.
Nice article John!!!
Unfortunately most of the people reading it are not the ones likely to be brainwashed by such Milliband twaddle.
Can you find a way to make it more widely available to the less well informed?
That’s difficult Mike, but I’m always happy for anyone reading it to send the link to anyone who might enjoy or benefit from it.
I see that you’ve taken the same line as those who, only a few months ago, were begging Scots to stay in the union – David Cameron’s “four nations united as a single family”, or the trainload of labour MPs sent north to deliver their promise of bribes in person. But now that the referendum vote is cast, the democratically elected Scottish voices at Westminster are, apparently, only appropriate if they vote the way they’re told by the unionists. It puzzles me that you would want to sell your products in a country that you hold in such low regard.
It also surprises me that so few people understand that the UK is an entity formed by the union of the crowns of Scotland and England (under a Scottish King, James VI). The only dissolution that was suggested during the referendum was that of the parliamentary union formed by the much later Act of Union of 1707 – and it isn’t an issue in this election except in the mind of Cameron and his ilk. That, however, is hardly surprising since he can’t, apparently, even remember the name of the football team he supports.
My unsubscription request from your other mailing lists will follow.
I don’t recall stating, suggesting or intimating that I hold Scotland in low regard Bill, but do feel free to point out where you think that I did.
I’m happy to help there John, it was probably the bit where you dismissed the democratically elected First Minister of Scotland as “Jimmy Krankies [sic] younger sister”. That and the fact that you consider Scotland’s representatives to be unworthy of inclusion in a government.
That whole bit was fairly indicative that you hold Scotland in low regard.
Don’t want to turn this into an arguement, but no it doesn’t! You will surely have noticed that I have devoted most of this newsletter to the shortcomings of Ed Miliband and the Labour party. By your logic, that would mean that I hold England in low regard. I don’t think criticising one person (or indeed one political party) can be construed as decrying a whole country!
You actually devoted most of the piece to how the rich are great and we should be cap-in-hand give in to their ransom demands on threat to up sticks and leave the country. A rather naive notion borne out by the relatively few high profile people who publicly threaten to leave the country on a Labour victory who actually do.
Anyway, I’ve no interest in making this into an argument, but you weren’t just criticising one person or party in relation to Nicola Sturgeon (I didn’t actually see anything that resembles thought out criticism, just childish name calling). You dismissed her and “her cronies” which any poll will tell you will make up practically the entire democratic representation of Scotland come the election. By dismissing all of them as unfit for government you ARE dismissing the franchise of an entire country.
ps. I do like your “I don’t want to turn this into an argument, but” structure, allows you to make the same point as someone who did want to make an argument while attempting to maintain moral high ground. Nice.
Shocked at this “opinion” from a man I held in high regard, agree completely with Bill Barnes, quote .
As I write this, we’re about 10 days from the election, and the most likely outcome appears to be a Miliband-led minority Labour government propped up by Jimmy Krankies younger sister and her cronies who don’t want to be part of the UK at all. If that doesn’t fill you with dread, you’re probably reading the wrong newsletter.
And you are right, was reading the wrong newsletter, did you forget you had some Scottish customers?? Only your sad opinion fills me with Dread, and it’s quite obvious you hold Scotland in low regard.
This totally bemuses! Can you explain (in words that a simple Englishman might understand) why the fact that I don’t like the politics of one Scottish person and her party is evidence that I hold the whole country in low regard? You may have noticed that I spent a lot of time in this newsletter cristicising Ed Miliband and Labour. Does that then mean that I must hold the English in low regard? The fact is that I hold the Scots in very high regard. The majority of them decided that they would like to be part of the union after all. And the great manager of my football team, who secured Championship football again last night, is a Scot. What more evidence could you want?
Did you seriously just wheel out a version of the “some of my best friends” defence? You support a team that had a Scottish manager therefore you can’t be anti-Scottish? That passes for logic in your head?
The fact that people are telling you it is offensive and you choose not to re-examine, simply be patronisingly bemused only really confirms it.
In simple words you have said that practically the entire set of Scotland’s democratically elected voice has no place in Government. You have not said the same about England, Labour is not the entire MP set of England, so your comparison with what you said about Miliband is utterly irrelevant.
Would you like another chip to go with the one you already have? Must be a little unbalanced at the moment. My opinion has clearly wound you up a bit, but is it really to such an extent that you have failed to notice that “the entire Scottish democratically elected voice” hasn’t decided anything yet…other than it would like to stay in the union. I suspect you feel differently. My comments about our football manager were, of course, an attempt at humour. Sometimes it works, sometimes it gets lost in translation. That can happen when you have a language barrier.
You’re right John, I apologise.
After all the hype and Bull S**t has settled, some will feel the result was good while some will think it was bad but if I was a betting man, I would lay money on the fact that nothing on the whole will have changed and life will go on just the same as the country carries on descending ever more into mayhem. Our political system is not fit for purpose. It is out of date and only serves the politicians who are in it for themselves and not for the country. We need meritocracy as a political system.
Well John,
Looks like you’ve trumped it with this one. No surprise that you have unswerving support given that, those of us who follow your writings, are cast from the same stone. Now what if Jimmie Crankie was to do an about turn and ‘lock’ EM out of Downing Street and join our gang? She can be quite convincing if you like that sort of thing. Come to think of it, isn’t it about time Nige threw his hand in with us? I’d buy him a pint (or ten)!
Oh, by the way Ted, what LADY Thatcher did was to drag the non-consenters to the trough and shoved their noses in it. The Lady showed even the mealy-mouthed benefit spongers that owning your own home (and working for it) was, actually, inspirational. No fault of hers that the dregs that followed running the country deliberately failed to capitalise on her lead by not building more homes.
I think we may have a surprise come 8th May. It’s not a done deal yet and I still believe that in Britain the silent majority have far too much sense to be taken in by the champagne communists.
Well done John, I so agree with you about renting. I bought a flat to rent some years ago when putting money into a pension with Equitable Life turned out to be one of the worst decisions in my life and I needed a home for my annual pension deposit.
My first tenant was a nightmare. Within 3 months he went on housing benefit and despite numerous forms being filled in to ensure that the rent money came to me, the local council sent 3 months rent to him. Needless to say I never saw any of it. If I’d been subject to a three year contract it would have been a disaster. Fortunately my tenant had annoyed a lot of his so called friends and they solved the problem for me and he ended up in HMP.
Since then I’ve been very fortunate and had some excellent tenants and it has been a mutually beneficial arrangement. Like you John I’ve never put the rent up on an existing tenant, having a regular income stream is more important than making the extra £10 a month and having short term tenants.
I’ve lived through two disastrous Labour governments. In both instances they have left the British economy in a perilous state. Maggie Thatcher sorted out the first lot and Cameron & co has done a pretty good job of the last lot.
No government can be perfect, I’m afraid, but a government that encourages self development and raising of standards will always get my vote.
I’m a great believer in the concept of helping people who are less fortunate than others but the welfare state is a shambles, typified by my next door neighbour. She has five children with five separate fathers who seldom if ever have any contact with the children. Every child is a major problem at school and is in special needs. They all have Taxis or private buses to collect them from home and take them to school and bring them back in the evening. All this is paid for by you and me. She knows exactly how to milk the system.
I wouldn’t mind if she was a good mother but she really isn’t. the kids run amock when they are at home destroying every thing in their path. The chances of them ever having a job in their lives are negligible so we’ll be supporting them for the rest of their lives too.
Cameron’s changes to the welfare system are much needed. It’s a great shame that they are affecting some really needy people too but it’s all wrong that someone can get more from social services than I can earn in a month.
It’s good to have a bit of a rant 🙂 I’m a really nice bloke, honest.
Cheers to you all, here’s hoping sanity reigns on the 7th May
Dave
Brilliant piece John. Its not just Milliband have you listened to that numpty Ed Balls, god help us if he becomes chancellor.
Chris
i dont think Thick ed Balls realises he cant add up
Trouble is John – who will be reading your blog? The ignorant will all be watching Jeremy Bloody Kyle. Those in agreement will be working hard to provide them with their special brew and pot noodles. I saw it as I was sending a marketing email to all my 600 clients !!!
Are you sure this isn’t a UKIP forum?
Well put and said, for me all politics is over everyone s head and a waste of energy and most importantly time. What happened to the days of zero corporate governing laws and nothing but economic gangster’s.
Well said, John (and Philip Allen) what a pity you can’t get your message out to a much wider audience. There are a vast majority of ordinary decent fair minded people who just seem to bumble along and do not try to educate themselves about what is happening in politics, they take a dislike for the so called ‘Tory Toffs’ and default to Labour without a second thought. I suppose this is down to human nature and will not change so something else needs to change.
If the first past the post system was done away with and the Alternative Vote system was brought in, (which Labour used to select Red Ed) we could vote for our first choice and include a second choice leaving out the one we definately don’t want. I think under this system Nige would do quite well. How many would put him first with Dave as second choice?!!!
Lets not all get too depressed just yet ( well at least those hoping for a sensible business friendly Government come May the 8th) There is good evidence to suggest that in tight elections, as it gets closer to the big day, the great undecided do tend to preserve the status quo and support the incumbent Government. One thing I have done is sent the party of business a donation because I know its a little bit too late but at least when they report how much money each party has raised it may well help to convince the masses that there is a ground swell of support out there. As for Millipede raising the top rate tax back to 50% everyone sensible must appreciate that this can only be done as a punitive measure as it certainly wont raise money. Tax experts and psychologists alike will tell you that once the tax take gets above 40% many tax payers will suddenly feel morally justified to participate in much more aggressive forms of perfectly legal tax avoidance thus reducing the tax take. Simple mantra for a simple man (Balls!) When tax rate goes up above 40% tax take goes down. I know sounds like a hard slog but … go and offer a day of your time to help in a marginal nearby – it could, quite literally, make a massive difference and non of your friends or neighbours need never know!!
I ALREADY REPLIED WITH MY COMMENTS, BUT THEY SEEM TO HAVE BEEN DELETED,POSSIBLY BECAUSE THEY WERE CONSIDERED TO BE RACIST, POLITICALLY INCORRECT OR TO HAVE OFFENDED SOME EU LAW NOT OF OUR MAKING. I AM IN DESPAIR OVER THE PROSPECT OF ANY COMBINATION OF GOVERNMENT WHICH EXCLUDES THE TORIES, BUT HAVE THIS GLOOMY FEELING THAT THE GBP ARE HEADING ONCE AGAIN TO SHOOT THEMSELVES IN BOTH FEET. IF THEY DO, WE SHALL DESERVE EVERYTHING WE GET. MEANTIME WE HAVE TO KEEP TRYING, AS YOU HAVE DONE SO ELOQUENTLY, THOUGH I FEAR MOSTLY PREACHING TO THE CONVERTED
No, your earlier comments are still there, further up the page. I haven’t deleted anything…yet!
I could not agree with you more. I hardly ever put my rents up, so not a problem to me personally, but 3-year AST Agreements – big problem. Labour Government – just shoot me now!
I think Maggie Thatcher expressed it well (may she rest in peace), when she said something along the lines of: the trouble with a Socialist Government is that at some point you run out of other people’s money to spend.
I’m voting UKIP
When I saw the title of this post I expected you would probably not be a Labour Party or Miliband supporter, John, and as one who is more likely to lean in that direction than any other, I decided to keep my mind open to what youhad to say.
You support your arguments with well founded evidence and you obviously have experience of not only being a private landlord but also being wealthy. I don’t have any problems with that and I’m sure you are correct in saying there are many good private landlords and many rogue tenants. I’m not as certain as you that Miliband is a cynical vote grabber; I think he wants to help working people and I think he and the Labour Party are right in targeting certain industries e.g. energy companies for milking people who struggle to pay for essential services. If anything he is probabl;y niaive on private landlords and non-doms – the problem is that the advice he gets comes from people who support his ideals, and they may not have fully thought it through or the want to serve up the information they think the Party is looking for.
Whilst you and I are in opposite camps of the political spectrum, my openness to the points you raised has helped me understand that the Labour Party’s line on private landlords and non-doms is more complex than meets the eye and suggests that Miliband et al should probably be seeking opinion from a wider political spectrum and people directly affected such as yourself.
So will your preferred party have the courage to rid this nation of the wretched Trident so-called defensive system ?
High blood pressure is better treated at the surgery rather than venting your spleen.
I don’t think it’s in the manifesto, but I’m not sure that lack of courage is the reason for that Dave.
Vote Labour. They’ve got what it takes to take what you’ve got.
If either Miliband our Sturgeon had a brain in their heads it would be lonely each one of them are nightmares their ideas are rubbish, to me the law should be changed in as much that if they make a total mess of things while they are in office then the gold plated pensions they are likely to get are removed, then we might see them trying to use what little brains they have so they do not make mistakes in office plus they should be sacked if it is as bad as all the waste of time turbines the idiots have put up in Scotland.
I agree with everything you said John.
Bliar started this with opening the floodgates to everyone in the world who felt like coming here and now they will be rewarding labour with their votes.
The Scots Nationalists hate England with a passion so if they get the opportunity to team up with Miliband then they will go out of there way to introduce policies detrimental to England.
And if that isn’t enough McKluskey and his Unite MP’s will aim to change every Union law so as to return us to the days of daily strikes.
On the positive side I spent last weekend in Krakow Poland which is a lovely city so perhaps the English should head out to Poland to enjoy the lower prices and the shortage of people there!
The fact Miliband forgot to mention the economy in his conference speech is rather indicative as to how seriously he regards it. Spending the money is much more fun than earning it!
Absolutely right! I find it very depressing to witness the depths (some) politicians will go to to get a few extra cheap votes, even when all the evidence points to their proposals being non-productive and utterly dangerous. Fortunately most of the commentators appear to have seen the fault lines in Miliband’s statements.
Damn right John, a thoroughly merited rant ! I know politicians need to win votes but to try it on with just populist views is just plain irresponsible and downright despicable. He has definitely strengthened his position recently and unfortunately once again Cameron has underestimated the strength of the opposition – he did the same with the Scottish Independence vote. Let’s hope someone can expose Milliband for what he currently is and save us from him and the embarrassment of Ed Balls as Exchequer.
As many have said, very well put, and should be mandatory reading for EVERY voter. I was one of the brain drain who left in the 1960s when Wilson was in power, and went to Canada, and did very well for myself in general (I had a couple of bad spots, but you have to take the rough with the smooth). In 1999, I was head-hunted, and returned to the UK. At that time, it two years into a Blair government, and when Gordon Brown had vowed to continue with the previous Conservative economic policies. I decided that maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
How times have changed since those heady days! What’s being offered now by Labour is simply frightening. I am a small private landlord (four properties), and like so many such landlords take time to get good tenants and then look after them well, freezing rents and keeping the property well maintained (it’s in the landlord’s best interests as well as the tenant’s). Millibrain simply doesn’t understand this, which is bad enough. If he actually DOES understand this and the damage his policies will do, that is much worse still – it shows he will put his own personal envy politics above the best interests of the country as a whole and every individual person in it (and yes, even Labour supports will suffer with Millibrain’s proposals). I am not sure UKIP is the answer – their ‘policies’ seem to be all over the map, and are there, like Labour’s, to capture the votes of those who, regardless of the ultimate outcome, would rather see the Tories lose. Something about feet and shooting in the same sentence comes to mind…
Perceptive as ever John. Well said! As for Jimmy Crankie’s sister – THAT IS ONE SCARY LADY!
Today’s data on the economy shows that growth has slowed to 0-3%. Buying and selling other folk’s stuff is the extent to which the Osborne plan has worked. Retail growth alone invariably leads to bust.
THE dilemma of the first (pre-Falklands) Thatcher government – and sadly , those of subsequent administrations of both persuasion – was forecast by a savvy Yorkshire industrialist, delegate at a Tory Conference in Harrogate in the ‘70s.
Asked about the new breed of delegates to the conference, he said, to a BBC Look North camera: “They know how to make a bob or two; but they don’t know how to earn a bob or two.”
This comment presaged the advent of new Tory attitudes which have created “rip-off Britain”, where the new “entrepreneurs” are obsessed with “making” money, but not “earning” it. I wonder how many of that ilk are contributors above – indulging in petty political insult.
This has led to the current underlying weakness of the British economy. We thrive (momentarily) when we sell to each other products made by others overseas. Gone is the readiness of our “entrepreneurs” to get their hands “mucky” – and “mek summat” of their own.
Like latter-day Baldrics, George Osborne and David Cameron bore us with their cunning “plan” they go on so much about – but never explain.
If their “plan” involved getting our people back into the practice of making our own stuff to sell to others, it might have a chance. But as neither George nor Dave has ever got their hands mucky, I can’t see them taking the Yorkshire delegate’s advice, and recreating a vibrant UK economy that has a chance of success.
Your sympathetic correspondents like to invent aphorisms, hoping to catch the eye of the “red tops” (?).
I like this one “Milliband says it as he sees it. Cameron sees it as he says it” as do most of your correspondents.
I personally won’t be voting for Miliband or Cameron for that matter, i don’t trust Miliband and the Tories always have supported the rich. It’s an SNP vote for me this year and for many other people i know.
I don’t really care what happens in the private rental section, the problem in this country as is the same problem in other countries, the wealth gap. The wealthy should be super taxed, most of these people will never use the amount of money they have in a lifetime yet they keep on taking and taking, i always wonder when is enough money enough. As said by Oxfam: The Richest 1% will own more than all the rest by 2016, this is a very sick thought but is true, the inequality in the world disgusts me and should be a main concern for any Government.
With a Marxist politics professor father and having had no proper job in the real world he wouldn’t know how to organise the proverbial p….p in a brewery.
Why did Maggie Thatcher introduce the Assured Shorthold Tenancy? Because Labour’s controls on private letting – not only on rents but giving over-security of tenure – had led to a significant shrinking of private sector renting. The AST – with a few tweeks- has stood the test of time. Landlord and tenant know where they stand. I know of many instances of AST tenants living in a flat for 10 years because they are responsible tenants, the landlord carries out repairs/upgrades when necessary and does not have any void periods. Knowing that landlords increase rents by small amounts, if at all.
Agree with everything you have said John, as a landlord and believer in rewarding job creators and risk takers in whatever field.
I shall be voting for the new Tory party, whoops I mean UKIP.
Farage although a “toff” successfully communicates with the common man like me and I could see myself spending an hour or so in his company with a pint of course discussing the problems of the world. Could I do this with Messrs. Cameron, Osbourne, Clegg (dread the thought) or Miliband. No chance…
Hi John
Fantastic blog Sturgeon will make us pay in time all she wants is Scotland to be self governing and Milliband will have to dance to her and Salmonds tune. Milliband should come and see some of my rented properties and the state and wreckage after these so called tenants who need a home have lived in them. They do a runner the housing benefit is all to cock and they run off with the money its a joke.They leave you with arrears and refurbishment costs. The tenants rights should be watered down not given more protection in my opinion, they have to many bloody rights. Or maybe we all need to live in a council house and be the same as each other like Miliband wants us too and all use public transport. This country will be on its knees if labour get in and the krankie
I doubt you will publish this, John, but here goes anyhow.
The subject line from one of your emails before the US Masters was:
“ONLY These 4 Players Can Win The Masters”
Actually, none of those four players won the Masters, so you would have to agree that your subject line was a lie…or an untruth, as they say in politics. Perhaps such an ability, nay agility, with words would serve you well if you stood for public office yourself.
When I subscribed to Streetwise all those years ago, I wasn’t aware that I was signing up to the Tory/UKIP/BNP manifesto.
As a Paddy, I feel as welcome here as a wee Jock lassie spiking Nige’s pint of bitter with a can of Irn-Bru, so as the say in the Den: “I’m out!”
I think you’re confusing a lie with being wrong about a future event! Not that it was me who was wrong incidentally. The blog is simply my view on the current situation, and anyone else can have their say here as well. I don’t know why you should feel unwelcome, just because you don’t agree with me, but I’m sorry you feel that way.
Here is an answer to a post much earlier (above ) re buying council houses leading to a housing shortage.
If I live in a council house and you are on the waiting list, I have a house and you don’t. If I then buy my council house, I still have a house and you still don’t. Nothing has changed, except the council no longer have to maintain my house, I do. However, if the council use the money I gave them for my council house to build another council house, then you get a house as well. But they don’t use the money to build more council houses do they? They squander it, and they lose the monthly income I used to pay them as rent, and you still don’t have a house. How am I responsible for that?
Labour hate Private enterprise and want to keep everything in the public sector who do not create any of the wealth in our country ,plus all the people in the public sector are mostly members of red eds union sponsored communist party ,i read in the Mail that nearly all of the labour seats are held by union members mainly unite union members , i notice on the betting sites the Tories are on 1.6 to gain seats and labour are on 3.1 they were correct in there predictions last election,lets hop people remember the mess Labour left the country in last time, the old Labour men were working men and not public schoolboys like Red Ed Milliband who i think is basically a communist in all but name ,i wish someone would tell me any new strategies red ed has apart from bashing the millionaires and the wealth creators ,god forbid if clueless Ed Balls and clueless Red Ed are voted in again
Really enjoyed reading your comments about Miliband.
I love Facts. !!
I’m staying confident and look forward to your comments following the election
Great article John. You’re of course aware you’re proselytising to the converted! The streams of soundbytes from the parliamentary candidatess are about getting elected rather than the reality of what is needed to run this country. Personally I’d be delighted if we get a parliament so divided that they can’t pass any new laws at all for the whole five years of their term. With over 1000 new laws passed under Labour, all of the EU laws, and further efforts by the current incumbents, even the lawyers will tell you they can’t keep up.
I just downsized to a smaller warehouse and the one I vacated was snapped up by a guy doing Health and Safety Training for Industry. He agreed he was really busy but when I asked if he was taking on new staff to help him, he looked at me as though I’d gone mad. We had a long conversation. The short version….He’s afraid of employment tribunals, being pursued by a disgruntled employee, getting a bad one he can’t ‘unhire’ without enormous complications, the new pensions legislation implications for his payroll, long list of other regulatory compliance issues etc.
Yet Milliband wants to tax and regulate small businesses like this even more. These are the seed corn of larger employers and more jobs.
As to why you’d want to end ‘non-dom’ status for high net worth individuals I’d say to Miliband to possibly slightly mis- quote a famous tennis player ‘You can’t be serious?’.
Ending non-dom status chooses the ‘politics of envy’ over pragmatism and logic and what would actually help workers possibly get more money or jobs. Stated simply, we’re short of cash, but we dislike you so much we’d rather be even poorer.
Our biggest problem is the insatiable appetite of big government to take from productive Peter to ‘re-distribute’ to less productive Paul. All the world improvers have lofty ambitions and pure ideals, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Most of the posters on this thread ‘get it’. The ones that don’t should get off their idealogical horses and just try running a business themselves. I’d create ‘non-dom’ enterprise zones to encourage high net worth individuals to come to the UK. Please make my area the first one to qualify so I can offer my services to people who can afford them and safeguard the jobs of my hard working loyal staff.
I rather like all of that!
Every word resonates. I posted the following on FB last week…….
‘Started to watch the political debate on BBC but became near suicidal through dull-dom. it’s between several politicians, two of whom represent wannabe independent nations, consisting of around only 8% of the UK population, but through crazy political geography, could have the power in Westminster over a nation they hate, containing over 90% of the electorate.’
Im vurting laburr……cuz ive alluz vurted laburrrr, n me mam vurted laburrr an all……. itz the torys folt that I durnt have an edicashun cuz they didn’t vurt laburrr emselfs….sur I blame them toriies for evyfink…..oh an all em imigrunts an all……thems ta blame wiv the torees….laburr will stop all them rich bastards being rich and robbin me uf all the munny I shud be getin. bastard toreys. bankurs n all. gitz.
(This was actually painful to write!)
There isn’t one among the current crop of politicians that I trust. Enoch Powell was the man who said what he thought without fear or favour and the media vilified him for it. Farage looks as if he’s aspiring to become a new Powell. As I see it the best we could hope for is a Conservative/UKIP partnership.
Labour have never, never, ever been successful in government probably because so few of them have ever run a business at a profit.
At some stage in the not to distant future there is coming a change in the money system which is going to affect everybody. The rich people may be able to cope with the change better but the country as a whole will suffer because the politicians are not really the people in charge – the people running the show are the bankers and we’ll do as we are told.
I have to say, I’ve never trusted a politician. There are very few whom I feel are genuine enough for me to think, “I’ll definitely vote for that guy.” They spend their time thinking up new policies only for the other parties to shoot them down in flames. The constant rants back and forth about ‘I’m right and you are wrong’ absolutely do my fruit! So, what I do is look what’s happening locally where I live as this is the only yardstick I can measure all this garbage by. How are this government’s policies affecting me. What party is doing most for my community. I live in Halesowen in the West Midlands and I have to say that the Conservatives are doing all the real leg work whilst Labour do Jack! My mum, bless her, is nearly 92, and she has been staunch Labour all her life and has always said the same thing all these years, “Labour are for the poor people.” That’s a perception she has held all her life! And of course in my view she’s right! if you want to be poorer vote Labour! I believe you can be a caring, giving Capitalist and without more people like this then there isn’t much hope. Rich people get all the bad press for one reason. ENVY. ROCK ON JOHN!
Wholeheartedly agree with your comments but no-one else is any better. With the “big 3” trying to outdo each other with rash promises, anyone with half a brain must realise that there is not enough money in the system to come anywhere near to afford what they are offering.
Use of the terms “numpty” , “weasel”, “geeke” etc….say more about the insulter than the insulted.
But what insult would they apply to the party leader (i.e. DC) who is promising (despite his bad record on “promises”) to legislate against his powers in office if elected to government before he knows whether or not he will need these powers?
On reading their comments, I doubt any have the range of vocabulary to match the gaff.
its already happenend in WALES. I have been selling and you are right.
where is my money now in New York and hong Kong
I never bothered putting up rents but I have just done it on the 1.2 cpi, in fact I reduced one tenants rent as his benefit was cut
charles
I have been a customer for around 20 years, but no longer, I will be removing my name from your customer list. You sound just like boris j with your rantings about the snp.
Thank god you’re not my landlord.
Sorry to see you go Robert. Email me directly (John@streetwisepublications.co.uk) and I’ll make sure your details are removed. I rather like Boris, so I’ll take that as a compliment. Can’t give you the posh accent though. Out of interest, from what I said in this newsletter, why wouldn’t you want me as your landlord?
Totally agree John. What the Labour party also ignore is that there was a shortage of NHS in the mid 70’s I now because I had to devise a series of campaigns to recruit nurses “from overseas” back then. We had some success but the NHS still haven’t addressed for over 40 years. The recruiting locations just differ.
Cost of rentals – still a big problem in 1997 – due to shortage of property. But not only did Nu Labour ignore that problem, they then encouraged a huge influx of immigrants from non EU and EU over 3 million people I think in just a few years. Apart from anything else they made the property shortage far worse – and still ignored the problem – until just before the election. And they are surprised housing costs have rocketed especially around the South East. Duh – as Homer would say
Spot on! Having invested in property to be my pension, this cruel landlord (me) was too soft to evict the tenant who stopped paying her rent – as she kept lying to say she had a got a new job and would pay a little bit every so often. The council encouraged her not to move out and just string it along and I was stupid enough to trust her.
When I finally got her out she had totally trashed the flat and it cost thousands to get the flat back into a lettable condition again. So that was a year’s worth of my “pension” that I didn’t receive, quite apart from the stress and worry caused. AND I was having to pay council tax from the day she moved out even though the flat was totally un-lettable.
Rogue landlords? Hah! I could type for hours telling stories from acquaintances I know who have had their properties damaged by low-life who always seem to have enough money for posh phones, huge TVs, holidays and alcohol yet struggle to pay their rent from their housing benefit that covers the agreed rent.
Yes, there ARE some lovely tenants who look after the properties and pay their rent on time. Long may they stay, at rents held low to keep them in place.
Well said Joy. I too have had my share of rogue tenants. Today I have just four properties, and each one tenanted with lovely people, who respect the property – and in turn I keep them happy, not putting up rents and attending to any issue that may arise. Like you, this is my pension, and I despair that idiot Millibrain will take this all away – and for what purpose?
It’s just a numbers game to him. There are more tenants than landlords and therefore more votes to be had by siding with them, irrespective of the evidence that suggests it will be counter-productive. Totally cynical.
Well said John ! Please send it for publication in the Daily Mirror, Sun, Daily Star, etc etc, ie all those “newspapers” read by the lumpen proletariat, who believe everything told them by “Red” Eds, just because they are Socialists, and disbelieve anything said by David Cameron, just because he is a Tory. At least it should make them think.
Hello John,
At 67 I’ve been around awhile, seen a lotta schmutz & am “Old school” in so many ways!!
I was born in Edinburgh and although I choose to live in London, do recognise that if you cut me I bleed tartan, OK??
As far as I’m concerned, that Nicola is downright dangerous!! Whats-the-matter wiv da Jocks? (Yeh, because of my ancestry I can actually use dat word!!) Since ‘devolution’ they’ve been milking Westminster big time so why not continue to quietly do so? Instead, everybody now knows what’s been going on & (understandably) they’re all clamouring for the same; absolute stupidity!!
However, I’m voting for my current MP, Siobhain McDonagh (the PERSON) which is how it should be!! During my teaching career I used “Honest Politician” as THE definition of an oxymoron but have had to revise it in the light of this amazing lady!!
So there’s the rub: Haggis through & through but Sheena Easton need not fear being pelted with (full) beer cans by me!! Ed Miliband, whom I despise, gets my vote because he has a caring Lieutenant!! My Landlord & neighbours are Indian so “Paki” is an oft heard (insulting!) expression! I rarely hear english spoken in my street thanks to the appalling (politically motivated) lack of a responsible strategy (google: immigration by the numbers!) & genuinely fear for our future; lunatics, asylum, you tell me?!
Shutting up now before I say sumat you’re gonna regret!!
Lord Hammy
I know what you mean about local MP’s. We have what I think is an excellent Labour constituency MP here in Rotherham (Sarah Champion) who will surely be re-elected. Fortunately I don’t live in that constituency though and so don’t have the moral dilemma of whether to vote for her!
Ok I have read all the many comments on which way to vote and what they have put into the future policies.
The fact of the matter is when the conservatives took over the treasury from the last labour government the reality and task undertaken by the incoming government was much bigger than they expected. The note left by the last treasurer was confirmation yet again the socialist labour left wingers had broken the bank ran out of credit and our creditors want their money back.
So the problem is how is this achieved with out adding to the credit woes for future generations. I am first o admit there is no such thing as a great politician how ever like it or lump they are a neccessary evil and labour have without doubt created havoc each time they have stayed in government to 2 terms or more Blair Brown being the latest now it obvious both of them gentleman had an agenda and it was not in the interest of England we English are the back bone of the UK we are the majority but just look at our beloved country now do you recognise it from the 70s I dont I served 24 years in the Army and I am told by old war veterans they would never have sacrificed their teenage years for a country they feel alien in.
I am not rascist I am a pragamatist this Island is already one of the most populated country in the world per capita. Now under the labour government they opened our doors with the intention of flooding it with cheap labour from Europe which has changed the living environment for ever. There are parts of England that are no go. I served in NI for 8 tours and in the earlier part of the troubles I used to gaze into the bogside from the loyalist area of Londonderry I felt for the people it was not right and I was thankful this was not the case in England this was in the 70s Well we know the situation now no voice marginalised christians forced immagration. Ok Point I am making is this Conservatives are not brilliant but lets be honest to reverse in 5 years what the labour government created over 15 years is always going to be a task that was going to cause reactions against austerity. The labour government were quite happy to lose the last election because they knew we as a country were up a shit creek without a paddle but they also knew because the task to put the country back its feet was always going to take policies that would affect certain parts of society. Namely benefits welfare free money but wait its not free it money paid via the hard working british public in five years its nothing short of a economical miracle that the conservatives have put UK back to its rightful place as the best economy in Europe and soon the world. The business world is waiting with anticipation of how the public will vote I am seriously considering leaving the UK if the marxist Miliband mob gain power I will never accept Scotland dictate to England 6 million to 55 million its called madness in the asylum when the minority dictate to the majority. Please think long and hard for Englands sake. Ex war vet 24 years excuse the lack of punctuation dyslexic lol
John, have you ever thought about offering your services to David Cameron as his speech writer?
Watching Question Time last night, I think all the leaders are tiptoeing around on eggshells, but Cameron in particular. He’s terrified of upsetting or alienating anyone. My feeling (perhaps wrong because I’m not a politician) is that there’s no point trying to appease people who won’t vote for you anyway. And by pushing them away, you pull those with some kind of predisposition to your point of view, all the closer. In that way, I think Farage has it right. He polarises opinion, which seems fine to me. You can’t nearly vote for someone!