Corbyn's Fools' Paradise

Welcome to the weird world of Jeremy Corbyn and his intended reincarnation of 1950s'- style Soviet Russia. Go ahead and smile dismissively if you will, but consider the economic illiteracy of the politics he espouses. Without exception, it is a history of false promises built on a sea of debt. An example is his promise to cancel all student loans running at £100bn. How would this money be found? From investors in the international bond market? With the national debt running at £1.9 trillion, more than the total value of the goods and services we produce, I think not.
Or, perhaps, he would simply print more money, producing
the kind of hyperinflation experienced in Germany's Weimar Republic where the value of money halved every few hours.
Corbyn's fools' paradise could be just a vote away at an early general election, as could the kind of soup-kitchen queues at government food distribution centres shown in the photograph.

ROBOTIC THERESA

The accelerating impact of robots on our way of life is there for all to see. Why we
even have one running the country. Developed using the latest driverless-car 
technology, it is, of course, female with a nervous laugh and lifelike facial
expressions. Theresa's computer-activated voice is wowing voters up and down
the country with such spellbinding phrases as "strength and stability" and strong
stable family" and "we'll build a better Britain, not just for the privileged few".
You can bet that the Tory manifesto will contain further evidence of Lynton
Crosby's creative genius, in order to convince voters that a landslide is needed
to implement Labour's left-wing manifesto.

Never give a sucker an even break

Vote May with a big majority and you get Corbyn. In this election growth

and wealth creation will be barely mentioned. What will feature will be how the government plans to introduce a death tax on the family home to

fund healthcare for the world and his wife and to maintain Britain's

position as a global superpower for distributing rising levels of foreign aid,

paid for on borrowed money. We live in a socialist country and the choice on June 8 is between paying much higher taxes and much higher taxes. Some will think why bother to work hard and contemplate living abroad. Others will say what is the point of risking starting a business, do as 

millions both here and abroad do and live off benefit and the

forebearance of our creditors. The national debt is running at £1.6 trillion,

equal to our GDP, on which the annual interest is £50-odd billion, more than we spend on defence and education.

8RecommendReply

Human and Financial Cost of Medical Negligence

Sir




Why, given the high number of unnecessary mastectomies performed
by Ian Paterson, did his life-changing surgical interventions did not 
result in earlier action by the two Spire clinics and Heart of England
NHS Trust and suspension by the General Medical Council?

Times article (Comment, April 29) quotes The Kings Fund:"Surgery is not a 
solitary act." In this case it clearly was with the key imperative of the Hippocratic
Oath: "Do no harm", completely ignored. The article goes on to state that
"safe effective surgery is team-based, with accountability and empowerment
distributed across the team".

Instead, events clearly point to a rogue surgeon practising with reckless
arrogance, unconstrained by a complete systemic lack of supervision. Public 
confidence in healthcare professionals is affected. Human misery is compounded
by the fact that, to date, £18 million has been paid to Ian Paterson's victims, part 
of the £56 billion - almost half of the NHS budget - set aside to meet future
claims for medical negligence, at a time of existential crisis. As always, the 
lawyers are main beneficiaries. In 2016 they received £418 million.

Conservative Government in Name Only

Mrs May's refusal to rule out capital gains' tax on high-value homes is a
reminder that we have a Conservative government in name only. The
suggested threshold of £5m would merely be a staging post for 
establishing the principle for taxing primary residences.

If the figure were not indexed, over time, the effect of inflation would be
to push more homes over the threshold and make them liable for tax.
In addition, the government of the day could say that the £5m threshold
was not generating enough revenue to cover accelerating public spending
and reduce it accordingly. The knock-on effect such a move on an already
stagnant housing market, job-mobility and the wider economy can only
be imagined.

Artificial Intelligence to revolutionise world of work

As "Future Work" (Times leader, February, 15) predicts, advanced automation
will transform employment and society in ways we can only begin to imagine.

Globally, we are now witnessing the birth of the fourth industrial revolution: the
age of accelerating artificial intelligence, of learning machines that possess 
vastly superior cognitive skills to the human brain. They will design and operate
highly-complex nano and macro-technology systems, which will completely
revolutionise and challenge our way of life

Anything that can be systemised will be, the objective being to engineer the cost
of labour out of manufacturing and other processes. The result, as Mark Carey
has said, will be up to 15m job losses, half the UK workforce, including 85,000 public
sector jobs automated by 2030.

Of course, new job opportunities will arise, but not at a rate fast enough to
absorb the huge swathes of displaced employees, not just in low-skilled jobs,
but also in professional employment and this will impact on consumption. The ability
to consume is key to the functioning of a free-market economy and if the 
unemployed are unable to consume, how will taxes be raised to support the
social infrastructure? As your piece points out, the Swiss recently held a 
referendum on whether to introduce a basic wage for everyone, but this
concept seems totally inadequate in addressing what is an existential threat.






























Sent from my iPad

Common Purpose - the secretive organisation that runs Britain

Sir

The circumstances of Sir Ivan Rogers' departure certainly play to
stereotype of an entitled establishment' running the country.
The EU referendum has seen widespread mobilisation
in the public sector by those who wish to deny the British people their wish
to leave a failed construct, which is not fit for purpose.

However, the intransigent attitude of some senior civil servants suggests a wider
narrative. It is symptomatic of an anti-democratic sphere of influence, where
whatever the stripe of the government in power, a clandestine organisation
known as 'Common Purpose' attempts to thwart the democratic will - in
this case the triggering of Article 50 and forcing a second referendum.

The influence of Common Purpose is extensive and constant. Its common
purpose as far as Britain's EU membership is concerned is to infiltrate the
Brussels ethos into UK institutions, in order to prevent change.

Few will have heard of Common Purpose. It is a charity that selects
and trains future leaders of society. It has enormous power across the NHS,
BBC, police, church and many of Britain's 8,500 quangos.CP alumni are trained 
to lead outside elected authority and influence government policy.

Theresa May's walk in the park

.


Theresa May will be looking forward to her walk in the park when Sophie
Ridge interviews her on Sunday. Doesn't the viewer deserve something 
better than a young fairly inexperienced interviewer to cross-examine
the prime minister on key issues at this critical time for the country?