2011

If you are pessimistic by nature then 2011 holds much in store for you:

(1) Virtual absence of growth in the UK economy with the slight prospect of recession,
(2) Reduction in consumer spending due to inflation, job losses, income freezes/cuts, increase in VAT,
(3) Union action to seek to protect their members' interests,
(4) Reducing house prices,
(5) Next stage of the financial crisis (increase in UK domestic mortgage defaults?; Greece to be first country to leave the euro?; further difficulties for some bank as they seek to refinance existing debts)

Personally I'm optimistic by nature so whilst others see problems I see opportunities to increase community power, reassess what is really important and spend more time working on what is critical rather than what is urgent.

Elections

The primary purpose of the Conservative Party, like other political parties, is to govern by winning elections.  Sadly nobody won the 2010 General Election so we have been saddled with a coalition and now, horror upon horror, there is some suggestion that we would fight the next General Election on that basis.

Let me make my position absolutely clear.  I want the Conservative Party to win the next General Election without the assistance of any other political party.  The sooner that election takes place the better it will be for the UK.   There are already plenty of signs that the Liberal Democrats are unreliable partners (what a surprise) so I can only hope that they decide to walk away sooner rather than later.

What chance a 2011 General Election?

Make £3,300 for Cornwall

The next national census takes place on 27 March 2011.  In 2001 there was a 94% return of census forms in Cornwall.  According to information provided by the 2011 Census area manager for Cornwall each additional person included in the 2011 Census will be worth of the order of £330 each year to Cornwall in terms of Government grants.

Considerable efforts will be made to encourage a 100% Census return for Cornwall; anything anyone can do to encourage the achievement of the higest possible return of Census forms will have direct impact on the monies available to spent on local services for the ten years until the 2021 Census. 

£330 per year equates to £3,300 over 10 years.

It is disappointing that the 2011 Census will not have a 'tick box' for Cornish origin.  There will be a box in which 'Cornish' can be written .  However a protest vote by anyone deciding not to complete the Census form, due to the absence of a Cornish 'tick box', might succeed in registering a protest but at the above cost to funding for local services.

Bankers' Bonuses

I'm clearly missing something.  The UK banks have enormous loans granted to them by the Bank of England when the credit markets dried up, with the BoE requiring repayment by end 2012.  Without those loans those banks would have gone bust.

The banks with the largest loans are Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB.  So the BoE, 100% owned by the taxpayer, is lending to banks partially owned by the taxpayer.

Yet RBS and Lloyds TSB will be paying £100k+ bonuses to certain staff.  So why are they not, instead, paying off their loans first?

I'm all for bankers, or anybody else, getting rewarded for their efforts but does that reward not come after settling the debts owed to taxpayers?