Its my View » energy bills

Brown and New Labour’s policies – 2.5 million unemployed!

michael — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 10:04:49 +0000

People might guess that I am not a great fan of New Labour, Gordon Brown and Tony Blair!

But I do think that I have very good reasons for my contempt of this political party.

Labour’s economic credentials were dealt a blow yesterday after it emerged that the number of long-term unemployed has nearly doubled in just two years. The long-term jobless hits total has hit a 13-year high of 726,000.

The last Conservative government achieved more than this Labour government has done!

The overall unemployment broke through the 2.5 million total for the first time since Labour came to power!

New Labour has taken the Golden Inheritance of the last Conservative government and turned the UK into an economic and financial disaster!

Gordon Brown’s welfare-to-work schemes have successfully created a ‘lost generation’ that will struggle to find employment.

Filed under: Blogroll, credit crunch, debt, economy, election, energy bills, financial, labour, national health service, UK Economy, Uncategorized Tagged: bankers, credit crunch, debt, economy, families, gordon brown, labour, recession, UK Economy

Would people really vote for a failed Prime Minister?

michael — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 01:27:13 +0000

I see all these comments like ‘If you want us to vote Tory then do …..’

Are these people seriously saying that they would rather vote for Brown and a failed Labour government that has almost brought the UK to it’s financial knees?

Would they really prefer to vote for the man who has given us such massive debts which they are going to be taxed on to repay over many years?

Or the PM who promised us a vote or the EU and FAILED to deliver, instead committing us to be run from Europe?

Or Brown as Chancellor who changed all the financial controls on the banks and consequently failed to see the recession coming!

Would they really want to vote for the PM who failed to make the decisive decisions about our energy policy and we will now face electricity cuts at peak periods for a couple of years?

And the government which deliberately ramped up immigration so that they could bring in people they would expect to vote for Labour?

Has all the money (or should I say debt) that has been spent on the NHS really improved more than a couple of high profile services?

What about the lack of money that means the police are asked not to arrest anybody near the end of their shift because it saves on overtime payments!

Then there is the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Should we really be involved?? Were our troops really properly equipped?

You might not like Cameron but at least he is competent enough to do the job properly!!!

Filed under: Blogroll, Conservatives, credit crunch, economy, energy bills, Euopean Union, financial, iraq, labour, recession, UK Economy, Uncategorized, war Tagged: afghanistan, bankers, gordon brown, government, iraq war, labour, recession, UK Economy, war

Banks win overdraft charges court case

michael — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:45:41 +0000

This court case was never addressing the main issue.

It is not the principle of having penalties for going overdrawn, it is the AMOUNT of penalty that these greedy and grasping banks are taking.

The very concept of a FIXED penalty is the problem. These penalties are set up to penalise the poorest and weakest in our society.

This incompetent Labour government did a huge amount of damage by closing post offices and forcing many people to have benefits, pensions etc paid into bank accounts. They did not understand the consequences of this action, all they could see were cost saving!

People on low incomes should NOT be forced to have a bank account. They are the least able to manage bank accounts and the ones who suffer the most when things go wrong.

Many elderly, sick and low paid workers only have £50 a week available to pay ALL their bills. The moment they get charged £30 plus, their accounts go out of control and they end up owing the banks hundreds of pounds.

Penalty charges MUST be PROPORTIONAL to income.

We cannot have a situation where the money paid to the poorest people in our society and which they need to live on is taken by the banks to increase their profits and add to the bonuses paid to the senior staff!!

Our prime minister did not bother listening to those who forecast exactly what would happen if the government persisted in forcing people to open bank accounts. Gordon Brown made the wrong decision, as usual, and the poorest people in the UK are the ones who are hit the hardest!

Posted in benefits, Blogroll, Conservatives, council tax, credit crunch, energy bills, financial, labour, recession, UK Economy, Uncategorized Tagged: bank, bankers, brown, government, greedy, labour, new labour, UK Economy

UK energy – a disaster in the making?

michael — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:58:03 +0000

There is a potential disaster heading our way over the next 10 years.

There has been a lot of talk recently about an energy ‘gap’ around 2016. What that means to the ordinary person is that there will be shortages of electricity at peak periods.

Why? Because the investment is not in place for our increasing demand for electricity to be met.

A contract was very recently agreed for four new, latest generation nuclear power stations. All very good but at least three years too late! The first station is due to be operating in 2018. That is if everything goes well and the planning permissions don’t spend years in the courts being granted!

Another aggravating factor is that a number of UK coal and oil power stations are due to be decommissioned by the end of 2015.

New fossil fuel power stations (mostly coal) are needed but global warming and climate change concerns means that they should only be operating with carbon capture technology – which isn’t available yet!

Note that a number of fossil fuel power stations are needed by 2015 just to stand still, ie to replace old stations going out of service .

Renewable energy sources are promising. Wind farms are producing electricity now, and more are due to be built. But wind farms only operate when there is wind! The fossil fuel and nuclear stations can be turned down when energy from renewable sources is available, but the fossil fuel and nuclear stations will have to be able to meet the peak demand for electricity on their own!

Businesses and private homes can do a lot by using electricity efficiently and avoiding heat loss through insulation etc but the real problem is in generating electricity efficiently.

The government has the job to ensure that the lights do not go out. At this moment of time it would seem that they are failing in their responsibilities!

Posted in Blogroll, climate change, Conservatives, energy, energy bills, labour, renewable energy, UK Economy, utility Tagged: credit crunch, david cameron, electricity, energy, families, gordon brown, government, new labour, power, recession, renewable energy, UK Economy

Mandelson spills the beans!

michael — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 08:57:24 +0000

Lord Mandelson, who seems to be in charge of everything despite not being an elected MP, has said that Britain is facing a decade of public spending “constraints” in order to “rebalance” the country’s finances.

A ‘constraint‘ in public spending is not technically a ‘cut‘ in public spending but it definately means that less money will be spent on public spending!!!

So we now know that less money will be available for public services, which is anyone’s book is a CUT.

If the politicans want to ringfence, say, the NHS and defence, then there will be even LESS money available for the remaining public services. Yet Brown continually says that the NHS will not be affected.

Lord Mandelson said there would be “less spending in some programmes”, but “sustained investment” in areas like healthcare and defence would continue.

He also said the recession was “coming to an end,” but the effects of its “severity” were “not yet behind us”.

Why do you think that New Labour has delayed its planned review of future public spending from April 2010 until after the next general election! (I have learned to be cynical about what this government says!)

The Tories say ministers are hiding the true scale of cuts that are needed.

David Cameron has accused the government of refusing to commit to a spending review before the next general election “because they do not want to own up to the cuts they are planning”.

Look at the language the government ministers are using!

“spending choices” would have to be made’ – which means that some services will get reduced money no money!

a decade of public spending “constraints” in order to “rebalance” the country’s finances

Of course we will rebalance public finances in the medium term

the recession was “coming to an end,” but the effects of its “severity” were “not yet behind us”

Posted in Blogroll, Conservatives, credit crunch, debt, economy, energy, energy bills, financial, labour, Lib Dems, national health service, nhs, recession, tax, UK Economy, Uncategorized Tagged: banker, bankers, banking, brown, conservative, credit, credit crunch, david cameron, gordon brown, government, recession, UK Economy

Labour plan to cut out benefits for the sick and disabled

michael — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 20:25:58 +0000

The government is about to announce plans to scrap Daily Living Allowance (DLA) and attendance allowance (AA) according to a report in the Guardian.

The newspaper claims that a green paper was due out in June which proposes to convert DLA and AA into means tested ‘social care grants’ which would be spent by social services. However, the incoming DWP minister Yvette Cooper wanted some breathing space before launching the controversial new proposal.

Under the plans, DLA and AA would be scrapped, with the money saved being handed over to local authorities to administer as discretionary grants to provide care for the sick and disabled.

The grants would be means-tested and the local authority would decide what they could be spent on. This would be likely to be for services such as a personal assistant to help with getting out of bed, washing and dressing.

The government has claimed that any changes to DLA and AA will not affect current claimants.

But how could it be otherwise? At the moment many people on DLA and AA are cared for by their relatives. Some of the carers are able to claim Carers Allowance for more that 30 hours caring during a week. But most carers are relatives who do not get paid for caring.

Under the new system it would seem that paid council employees (or employees of sub-contracted companies) will now care for all people who need care.

This alone would surely cost more than the country can afford (which in reality is not much because the UK is as good as bankrupt under Labour!).

With thinking like this, it is a short step to stop anyone getting all kinds of benefits. After all who needs to give claimants money? The state could deliver the food that they want those on benefits to eat. The state could buy the clothes that those on benefits are to wear!

Or is the whole issue that the UK cannot afford to support disabled and sick people any more?

Posted in benefits, Blogroll, Conservatives, debt, economy, energy, energy bills, health, labour, Lib Dems, nhs, Uncategorized Tagged: benefit, benefits, brown, conservative, david cameron, disability, disabled, economy, gordon brown, government, labour, sick, UK Economy

pre-payment electricity meters – an unnecessary evil

michael — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 00:45:22 +0000

There was a story in the press this week regarding a World War 2 veteran and his problems with his electricity supplier. It highlights a real problem in our society today with how we treat vulnerable people.

If someone has a problem paying their electricity bills the power supply companies install a pre-payment meter, sometimes without the permission of the customer!

On face value this may seem to be the answer, and it may well be so for a few people, but take a moment to consider the ramifications of doing this for the elderly and the vulnerable people in our modern society.

The first point is that the customer will not be able to go into debt to the power supplier. OK I hear you say! But what happens if the customers, mostly people on low incomes who are often vulnerable people through age or illness, have no money to put in the meter?

They will have no electricity. They will have no lights, they may not be able to cook food or have a hot drink, they will not be able to listen to a radio or watch television (if they have one). It could be days before a visitor turns up and discovers what has happened.

A hell of a way to treat a vulnerable person in a so-called civilized society!

What is clear is that pre-payment meters exist solely for the benefit of the power supply companies. It means that they won’t have to sort out debt problems from customers who simply cannot go into debt if they have had a pre-payment meter installed.

Unfortunately the customers are often elderly, sick or vulnerable people who often cannot cope with what is going on around them.

Another aspect of having pre-payment meters installed, and one that I find really appalling, is that the unit cost of electricity is higher than the unit cost normally paid by consumers!

So we have elderly, sick or vulnarable people, who are mostly on fixed incomes, forced to pay more per unit out of their limited incomes on their electricity, and we still cut them off the moment they run out of money!

It is time that prepayment meters were banned where elderly, sick or vulnerable people are involved. Their lives are at risk if they have no power, especially in winter. But the quality of their lives is made so much worse if they are unable to use electricity for basic things like cooking, reading and keeping warm.

Society seems to care so much for people’s rights. There is such a fuss about ‘equality’, we mustn’t hurt people’s feelings, etc. etc. But we don’t mind treating our elderly, sick or vulnerable people in a worse way than we would ever be allowed to treat an animal!

Does the government understand this? Of course it does! If I do then they do. Since they allow pre-payment meters for electricity then they presumably don’t care! Perhaps they have worked out that there are not enough votes in sorting this out to make it worth the effort.

Posted in Blogroll, credit crunch, energy, energy bills, UK Economy Tagged: electricity, meter, pre-payment, rights