Heroes: Desperate 

 

‘Ooh, a storm is threatening 

My very life today 

If I don’t get some shelter 

Ooh yeah I’m gonna fade away’ 

 
You can decide whether the following quote from the PM is desperate or pathetic? 
 
 ‘This is what we’re up against. 

The Labour party, a subset of lawyers, criminal gangs – they’re all on the same side, propping up a system of exploitation that profits from getting people to the UK illegally. 

I have a plan to stop it.’ 
 
Jim McMahon the Labour MP was in no doubt: ‘When all else is lost, the only place you have is the gutter’. Poor yes. Desperate and pathetic from Sunak too. 
 
Iain Dale, the broadcaster who worked as a Tory adviser many years ago, said: ‘Not wholly sure this is very prime ministerial. Quite an accusation against Labour there. Fine, go after the lawyer at the centre of this story, but to imply Labour would support him is pretty desperate stuff.’ 

What is, or should be, beyond doubt is the issue of global warming. The human-caused climate crisis is undeniably to blame for the deadly heatwaves that have struck Europe and the US in recent weeks, scientists have shown. 
 

‘What is, or should be, beyond doubt is the issue of global warming’

 
Both would have been virtually impossible without the global heating driven by burning fossil fuels, their analysis found. Another searing heatwave, in China, was made 50 times more likely by the climate crisis.  

More than 61,000 people died in the European heatwaves of 2022, according to a recent study, including more than 3,000 in the UK. Another study estimated that millions have died from heat across the world in the past three decades because of the climate crisis. 

A report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said: ‘There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all.’ The latest analysis demonstrated how rapidly that window is closing.’ 

Dr Friederike Otto at Imperial College London, UK, said; ‘Politicians often claim that they care about normal people and poor people. If we did value people, it’s pretty obvious what we need to do. I don’t think stronger evidence has ever been presented for a scientific question.’ 

Helen Clarkson, CEO of the Climate Group, which works with 500 multinational companies, said: ‘The UK government rowing back on green policies is both astonishing, at a time when the impacts of climate change are getting worse, and economically irresponsible. Previous moves to scrap green policies [on home insulation] added at least £2.5bn to the UK’s energy bills during the cost of living crisis.’ 

Italy’s civil protection minister, Nello Musumeci, said: ‘Climate change is not just a contingency and Italy must realise that it now has a tropical climate. On the one hand, we are paying the price of climate change, for which we should have paid more attention several years ago, and, on the other, of infrastructure that does not seem to be totally adequate for the new context.’ 
 

‘The UK government rowing back on green policies is both astonishing, and economically irresponsible’

 
In the UK we have a mix of denial and politics from the government, who, after their ‘success’ (of sorts) in Uxbridge see green issues as a potential vote winner. Although, how anyone can pick on green issues, given all the evidence of climate change, revolts me. 

Michael Gove set the tone for the most recent Tory attacks, accusing Labour of a ‘religious crusade‘ as he sheds his own green policies. Grant Shapps vows to ‘max out‘ Britain’s North Sea oil reserves, against Labour’s pledge to give no new licences. 

Gove has previous, in 2013 he was part of the Cameron government who cut the ‘green crap‘, abandoning subsidies for renewables, despite the ‘vote blue, go green‘ promise that was supposed to make the Tory’s look caring. The result: 
 

• £2.5bn added to UK household bills 
• The number of homes getting their lofts insulated fell by 92%, and those getting cavity wall insulation by 74%.  
• Most new homes have been built with lower energy-efficiency standards – and higher energy bills 
• Barring onshore wind meant we failed to use the cheapest energy costs households £180 a year 

 
Gove’s latest attack on Natural England undermines basic environmental standards for new developments, goes against public sentiment. Especially Tory voters tend to like nature and hate sewage in their rivers. 

The anti-net zero banner is attracting same swivel-eyed loonies who’s last crusade was Brexiters. The Sunday Telegraph is even calling for a referendum on net zero. This sees them aligned with Russia, China and Saudi Arabia, who were among the G20 counties who this weekend blocked a plan to phase down fossil fuels and triple renewable energy capacity. 

What this does highlight is how out-of-touch and desperate the Tory’s are. The latest ONS public opinion survey finds top issues ‘continued to be the cost of living (92%), the NHS (88%), the economy (79%), climate change and the environment (62%) and housing (62%).’  

Cameron Smith, of the Conservative Environment Network managed to sum up the situation, saying: ‘The lesson from the Uxbridge byelection is that environmental action is only popular if it’s fair and affordable. 

‘Ulez expansion failed that test. But voters won’t reward us for ditching popular net zero policies, which will lower people’s bills, create jobs and win investment.’ 

Sunak’s planned election campaign will see the party practise the politics of the gutter. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, in the leadership race against Truss he boasted of taking public money from ‘deprived urban areas‘ to help wealthy Tory towns; he pledged to use counter-extremism programmes to target those accused of ‘vilification of the UK‘; and he has mocked transgender people. 
 

‘how anyone can pick on green issues, given all the evidence of climate change, revolts me’

 
In a briefing to the Conservative-supporting Times newspaper, reported under the headline ‘Rishi Sunak aims to divide and rule after poll setback’, an ‘ally’ underscored the prime minister’s intentions, informing readers that he intends to weaponise migration, trans rights and crime to turn around the Tories’ electoral fortunes. This is indicative of Sunak’s character and desperation, but is consistent with the oldest traditions of the Tories. 

The Tories, whatever they might pretend, represent the interests of Britain’s wealthy elite. However, you cannot win elections by representing a tiny slice of voters. Which is where Brexit came in, it gave them a subject that united a cross-section of the electorate. 

Of course, Brexit was, what we hoped, would be the last crusade for Nigel Farage. But then the old warhorse set his sights on NatWest. 

Let’s deal with the practicalities first; the bank was wrong to leak information about his account, and however abhorrent someone’s views might be, provided they are legal, so be it. As a result someone had to go, and it was Alison Rose, the CEO. 

Fact; there have been almost 6,000 branches shut since 2015 and the NatWest Group has closed more than any other bank.  

Nigel Farage is not the only account holder to be ‘debanked’, but probably the most famous. 

What started out as a spat has gradually sucked the government in more deeply, partly because the NatWest Group is still 38.6% owned by the government. The UK state therefore has a direct interest in NatWest’s financial and reputational fortunes. 

That is one reason why the pivotal role played by Downing Street and the Treasury in forcing Rose’s resignation is unusual. Another is that Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt lead a party and government that are temperamentally and ideologically reluctant to intervene in bank matters.  

Their predecessors never called the banks to order over the mis-selling of PPI a generation ago, even though this was far more serious and consequential for many more people than Farage’s ‘debanking’. 

This week’s events reflect a change in the Tory party, who, even under Sunak, can no longer be glibly categorised as the voice of big business. Who can forget Johnson’s ‘fuck business’ outburst against bosses worried about Brexit terms? The Tory’s capture of the ‘red wall’ changed the nature of the parliamentary party. Today, biting the hand that once fed the Tories is no longer off the agenda, even for Sunak. 

Underpinning all of this, though, is Brexit. As the Guardian wrote this…’wouldn’t have happened at all, let alone at the volume it did, if the bank’s victim had been a remainer like Gary Lineker or Delia Smith, let alone Keir Starmer‘. All the press would have featured on would have been their ill-gotten riches, their hypocrisy for banking with Coutts. ‘There would have been gloating at their fall, not the fury that was voiced on Farage’s behalf‘. 

The Tory’s reaction shows that they still fear his revival. Farage, alongside Johnson is still the most important and most self-advertising leaver in the land, he has become a ‘phoney martyr‘ against a City banking giant seen by leaver’s as part of an establishment conspiracy to undermine Brexit. 
 

‘The City is struggling in the post-Brexit world, losing out to Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Paris’

 
The City is struggling in the post-Brexit world, losing out to Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Paris. Yes, Rose’s actions were wrong, but only in the minds of Brexiters.  that this error says anything relevant about the real problems facing the millions who have never crossed the threshold of a branch of Coutts in their lives, and probably never will. 

So the Mediterranean is on fire, the Ukraine war not going well, the health service on its knees and the economy still at risk of recession. Pretty obviously, therefore, the most pressing question facing Britain today is whether Nigel Farage can keep an account with one of this country’s poshest banks – which is making profits at the high end of a sector that has looked the other way while the cost of living crisis has blighted the lives of millions. 

Before finishing, I want to highlight the aftermath of the BoE’s quantitative easing (‘QE’) program. For those who forget, QE was a monetary policy action where the bank purchased predetermined amounts of government bonds or other financial assets in order to stimulate economic activity. 

The Bank bought almost £900bn of UK government bonds (and some corporate debt) through the QE programme which started after the financial crisis and was boosted once the pandemic began. 

This week the Bank of England increased its estimate for the losses it will incur on QE from £100bn to £150bn. 

As a result the Treasury to the Bank to effectively bail it out, and cover those losses. 

In its early years QE was profitable because bond prices rose (partly because the BoE was a willing buyer), and it banked coupon payments (interest on the debt). This boosted the public finances, because in 2012 chancellor George Osborne decided the profits from QE should be used to reduce government debt, yielding around £120bn. 

But the Bank is now trying to unwind QE, at a time where rising interest rates and inflation have pushed down bond prices, meaning the Bank may be selling at a loss. 

Oh well, it’s only money.  
 

‘You can’t always get what you want 

But if you try sometime you’ll find 

You get what you need’ 

 
Really worrying stuff from Philip, as the climate catastrophe unfolds before our very eyes; I can’t improve his preamble:

‘Climate change is more real, and relevant than ever. Italy is a good example, the south is roasting, and the north has storms and high winds. How anyone can see this as anything other than an emergency mystifies me. We really are in the last-chance saloon, governments have to act decisively now.

But, the Tory’s are desperate, they realise that what they perceive as their rightful place in government is under threat after 13-yrs of continuing lies and wrong policies.

On the one-hand they champion divisive policies designed only to create disinformation and mistrust. On the other they do everything they can to benefit the “haves” at the expense of “have nots’ ‘.

The Mediterranean is on fire, the Ukraine war is not going well, the health service is on its knees and the economy is still at risk of recession. And the only thing that energises them is whether Nigel Farage can keep an account with one of this country’s poshest banks. A sector that is making increased profits by looking the other way while the cost of living crisis impacts the majority.

QE, which was meant to stimulate the economy and help us recover after the GFC, has proved a very expensive failure. The Fed in the US also implemented QE and successfully relaunched the economy. Why the difference? Whilst we practised austerity which had the effect of shrinking the economy, the US did the opposite and got the opposite result. You could say theirs was money well spent, whilst we just wasted ours.

Musically we celebrate Mick Jagger’s 80^th birthday. What’s there to say that hasn’t already been said; “’ere, shut-up you lot!”

We start with “Gimme Shelter”, and finish with “You Can’t Always Get What you Want” Enjoy!

 
@coldwarsteve
 

Philip Gilbert is a city-based corporate financier, and former investment banker.

Philip is a great believer in meritocracy, and in the belief that if you want something enough you can make it happen. These beliefs were formed in his formative years, of the late 1970s and 80s

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