The emergency budget

After many hints about how tough on spending this budget would be, it can only be described as a damp squib. Raising VAT to 20% is hardly the precursor to “an enterprise led recovery” acclaimed by the Chancellor. Still, we may be grateful that he slightly watered down the threatened rises in capital gains tax.

You can hardly say that the budget grasps the nettle when it comes to cutting our out of control public spending. So it is hard to see where the reduction in the deficit will come from. By protecting the NHS from cuts he has hamstrung himself; in my experience there are so many inefficiencies in the health service, I could write a book about it. He also announced there will be no reductions in capital spending; that is a luxury no private sector organisations can afford. Below is his list of cuts:
• A two year pay freeze in the public sector (except for those earning £21,000 or less)
• 25% cuts in budgets of departments other than Welfare, Defence and Education
• Child Tax Credits withdrawn from families earning over £40,000

a special relationship?

What are the characteristics of a good relationship?
A good friend would not try to make capital out of somebody’s mistake; a friend in need is a friend indeed. He would not try to pin the blame on you for something that was not entirely your fault. A good friend also takes into account sacrifices that you have made for him in the past.
A lasting relationship must also be one of equal respect; a friend will say when he feels you have gone too far. One party in a successful relationship should not appear to be ingratiating and not let the other feel he has the upper hand.

Monetary policy

The Bank of England seems flavour of the month with the government; I don’t share their confidence. Their policy of keeping interest rates low has hardly been a great success. Growth is anaemic and inflation has predictably increased. Furthermore, they have decimated the income of a large number of savers, often the elderly. These are people who would otherwise have spent money on retail and services. The Bank’s policy has rewarded the profligate; the very people whose penchant for borrowing got us into this mess. The Governor of the Bank is not taking a salary increase this year, big deal; he earns the sort of salary that allows him to make such gestures. What about savers whose incomes have fallen about 50% this year.
Is it not about time that the government reversed their predecessor’s mistake of giving the Bank of England independence on setting interest rates?

Blood is thicker than water

I recently met an old friend who worked in a family business. His father built it up and is still involved in it. Due to constant family feuds, the son has left the business and isn’t working. Although there are some very successful family enterprises, they are not for the faint hearted. There is an old saying, “clogs to clogs in three generations”.

Some families seem to manage to respect each other and be mutually supportive. At a funeral I attended recently, one of the sons publicly thanked his brother for all the support he had been to the family during a difficult time.

cyclists are second class citizens

About a year ago I wrote to one of my local councillors to complain that inconsiderate motorists were blocking the cycle path near me. I was assured that plans were afoot to upgrade cycle routes in the west end; and that my issue would be addressed then. “At last “I thought “action is going to be taken”. As I heard nothing further, I wrote to the council roads department about a couple of months ago. The matter was in hand I was assured; they were going to paint double yellow lines at the spot. Finally, about a fortnight ago, some traffic cones were deposited on the place I have been writing about. The cones are still there, although some have now disappeared. It all seems a bit haphazard. When I was a local councillor I used to chase things up.