[AOB]

How does this £200 discount/loan get applied to customers on prepayment meters? Labour should have asked him how that works. Or are they not getting one?

Opposition criticism is often disappointing because it's generic sound bites. "Buy now, pay later" was yesterday's from Labour. Scrutinise them on specific details there and then instead, and watch whoever it is flounder.

[Cyclist]

How's the £150 Council Tax rebate going to be paid for? One assumes it won't be covered by central government. Will my local library no longer be open until 8pm on Wednesdays? Will subsidies for rural bus routes be frozen, or even cut? Councils aren't exactly awash with money now, how much worse will things get?

Sunak's "look at me, aren't I wonderful, make me your next Prime Minister" speech asks a hell of a lot more questions than it answers.

[mattomac]

How's the £150 Council Tax rebate going to be paid for? One assumes it won't be covered by central government. Will my local library no longer be open until 8pm on Wednesdays? Will subsidies for rural bus routes be frozen, or even cut? Councils aren't exactly awash with money now, how much worse will things get?

Sunak's "look at me, aren't I wonderful, make me your next Prime Minister" speech asks a hell of a lot more questions than it answers.

Says it will come from central government you just know that will be on a pay back scheme as well.

I think he has shown how poor he is I always thought so but some thought he was this great new leader.

You only have to look as the spokesperson for Boris Johnson at the last election how actually abject he was.

I better get moving into my new job as I don’t want to miss out on something I’ll have to pay for next year.*

*I currently rent so won’t feel eithier reduction though it may put off an rent rise.

[Tubby Isaacs]

HM Treasury being schooled on economic figures by Lance Forman.

[Youngian]

HM Treasury being schooled on economic figures by Lance Forman.

Shameless. Like a Lib Dem council election bar chart. Anyone with reserves in Sterling should dump it.

[Nigredo]

[Crabcakes]

Sunak comes over surprisingly poorly. Which I think is now the problem for the Tories - do you stick with the charismatic pile of bullshit, or jump ship to either the featherweight out of touch millionaire or photoshoot Liz, the pound shop Thatcher impersonator?

[Nigredo]

https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/e ... -v6bc928e5

Red Rishi tells people not to worry about energy price hikes this year.

Meanwhile, at food banks people are deliberately passing over items like potatoes because they can't afford the utility cost of cooking them.

[Boiler]

Meanwhile, at food banks people are deliberately passing over items like potatoes because they can't afford the utility cost of cooking them.

Heard that on the radio this morning.

Where has it all gone wrong? We've had rampant inflation in the past (the late 70s to mid-80s weren't fun) but I don't recall folk saying "no spuds, costs too much to cook them".

[Andy McDandy]

Privatised energy companies that don't care if you live or die.

[Boiler]

Is it really that simple? Sounds a bit Corbyn if you ask me... <ducks, runs for cover>

[Cyclist]

In the 70s our power stations were fuelled by coal from British mines. Now they're fuelled by biomass or gas from abroad. And, as Andy said, the power companies are largely foreign-owned, and their shareholders couldn't give a flying one at a rolling doughnut about the British bill-payers, so long as they get their dividends.

[Nigredo]

August 2021

Inflation is above our 2% target. We expect it to rise further in the coming months, but then fall back to our target

November 2021

We expect inflation to rise to around 5% in the spring, but then fall back

February 2022

We expect inflation to rise to around 7% in the spring, but then fall back

March 2022

We expect inflation to rise to around 8% in spring 2022 and perhaps even higher later this year

(Stolen from an FT comment but shows how out of control inflation is now)

[Nigredo]

So Red Rishi's grand achievement of today is knocking 5p off fuel duty, taking fuel prices back to... where they were last week. And it'll be completely ineffective by the end of next week.

Oh.

[Nigredo]

[davidjay]

So Red Rishi's grand achievement of today is knocking 5p off fuel duty, taking fuel prices back to... where they were last week. And it'll be completely ineffective by the end of next week.

Oh.

It would have been a lot more effective to raise the tax-free mileage allowance to 60p a mile.

[Nigredo]

[Cyclist]

I suppose when you're a millionaire who's married to a billionaire you can afford to do things like that.

[Watchman]

I’m surprised that, given the government and the media’s love of all things Trumpian, we are not being fed the line “ he must be good with money because he’s got lots of it”

[Youngian]

Much as I’d like to believe Allister Heath’s assessment he usually wrong about everything. Although he might be onto something as its harder to play culture war cards even to fools, when ‘its the economy, stupid.’

Frost is now a go-to man on economics. Has there ever been a more ridiculous figure to rise through the political ranks?