Chris Whiteside's Blog

"The last person to trust with power is someone who is dying to have it. The best person to wield power is someone who is reluctant to do so, but who will do it for a while as a civic duty. That is why term limits should make it impossible to have a whole career in politics." — Thomas Sowell

 "In short, honesty is more than a moral principle. It is also a major economic factor." — Thomas Sowell ( Basic Economics )

I have for years supported fair and realistic reform of the UK state pension triple lock to make it sustainable. I have consistently opposed scrapping it, which is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Andy Burnham wants to scrap the triple lock, replacing it with a system with no effective earnings link. Britain tried a system before with no earnings link. The results were disastrous. It meant that the state pension fell behind, contributing massively to pensioner poverty. If Burnham wins the next election and implements the plans he announced today, the same will happen again. The Conservatives are running a petition against Burnham's plans to scrap the triple lock. I had no hesitation in signing it and urge others to do the same. You can  sign the petition at: Sign the Petition - Protect Pensioners

Comment on X about Andy Burnham's plans to scrap the Triple Lock in its' present form: "The WASPI women are going to be apoplectic when they hear about this in 20 years time." (Joseph Gellman) Joseph Gellman on X: "The WASPI women are going to be apoplectic when they hear about this in 20 years time" / X

I have been arguing for five years that the state pension "triple lock" should be reformed to make it sustainable in the long term, but should not be abolished. Today at the Labour party conference Prime Minister Andy Burnham proved that he doesn't "get it" by proposing to scrap the Triple lock in 2030 and drop entirely the link to average annual earnings, effectively replacing the triple lock with a double lock tied to inflation or 2.5%, whichever is higher. THIS IS AN ENTIRELY WRONG SOLUTION TO A GENUINE PROBLEM. The triple lock was introduced by David Cameron in 2010 for the very good reason that without an earnings link the basic state pension had dropped badly behind living standards for the country as a whole, hitting particularly those pensioners who depend entirely on the state pension, who then as now included some of the most vulnerable people in the country . The original plan was to run the triple lock for a decade so those pensioners could catch up...

I love many of Vivaldi's concertos both for violin and mandolin/guitar, but this one is probably my favourite. (Although it is close between this and the concerto for four violins which Bach adapted for harpsichords).

 

Before putting in the link to Andrew Neil's article I'm going to write two paragraph which some people will find contradictory. In 2016 I voted Remain. All three of the reasons I voted Remain have been totally vindicated by events. And if I were somehow magically transported back to 2016 knowing everything I know today, I would absolutely still vote Remain. But we are not in 2016, we are in 2026. Trying to rejoin the EU how, if we were allowed in at all, would not restore us to the position we had in 2016 - in fact it would make some aspects of that damage worse. So if anyone asked me, as a 2016 Remain voter, if that means Britain should apply to rejoin the EU now, I would not just say "No," I would say, " Please for the love of God, absolutely not! " The decision to go into or out of a complex union like the EU - or for that matter, as the separatists in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland wish to do with the UK - is absolutely not like a general election...

 Solzhenitsyn on the USSR/Russia: “We know that they are lying, they know that they are lying, they even know that we know they are lying, we also know that they know we know they are lying . . . [T]he lie has become not just moral category, but the pillar industry of this country.”

"Spending five years 'searching for work' isn't a safety net, it's a lifestyle choice. The best form of welfare is a well-paid job." "Welfare should be a safety net for those in genuine need. It is not meant to be a comfortable option for people who can work." "If you can work, you should. We must not borrow from our children to support people who refuse to work. That’s why we’ve announced a plan for a fairer welfare system: six months on Universal Credit to find work. After that, what you receive depends on what you’ve paid in." Rt Hon Kemi Badenoch MP, leader of the Conservative party, Newspaper article headline and posts on X You can read her article at: KEMI BADENOCH: Spending five years 'searching for work' isn't a safety net, it's a lifestyle choice. The best form of welfare is a well-paid job | Daily Mail Online

"Regarding plagiarism. Years ago, a student brought me her bachelor's thesis. After reading it, I realized that the second chapter was my academic article. At the next seminar, the following dialogue took place: - The work is excellent. - Thank you. - But I found one flaw in it. - What? - The second chapter is of my authorship. It's my academic article. - Oh dear ... - Truth be told, I haven't yet seen a student who plagiarized from their own supervisor. - I'm sorry, I didn't tell the person writing this work who my supervisor is. I fell off my chair." Posted today on X by Adam Wielomski (2) Adam Wielomski - polityczny sceptyk on X: "A propos plagiatów. Lata temu studentka przyniosła mi swoją pracę licencjacką. Po przeczytaniu stwierdziłem, że drugi rozdział to mój artykuł naukowy. Na kolejnym seminarium miał miejsce taki dialog: - Praca jest znakomita. - Dziękuję. - Lecz znalazłem w niej jeden mankament. -" / X

"We used to think that you could spend your way out of a recession and increase employment by cutting taxes and boosting government spending. I tell you in all candour that that option no longer exists, and in so far as it ever did exist, it only worked on each occasion since the war by injecting a bigger dose of inflation into the economy, followed by a higher level of unemployment as the next step.  Higher inflation followed by higher unemployment. We have just escaped from the highest rate of inflation this country has known; we have not yet escaped from the consequences: high unemployment. That is the history of the last twenty years." Rt Hon James Callaghan , Labour Prime Minister, Labour conference 1976. Truer words were never spoken by a Labour Prime Minister - and not many truer words were ever spoken by anybody.

"I think my algorithm has decided I don't need Ed Davey in my life because he just has not come across my screens at all" Comment by a London voter called "Hannah" to a "More in Common" focus group, quoted in a piece in "The Economist" called " The Liberal Democrats are Britain's pointless party. " After a brief period of relevance which roughly coincided with Nick Clegg's leadership, the Lib/Dems do indeed appear to have become astonishingly irrelevant and pointless for a party with 73 MPs in parliament. A little concerned however, that this is being seen as the result of a computer algorithm. One would like to think voters would have some agency in the matter. 

Three Conservative wins in by elections yesterday, a gain from the Green party on Cotswolds District Council and seats held on South Staffordshire council and on Windsor and Maidenhead council.

 

Thanks to Neil Stone for drawing my attention to one of the best posts ever put up on X:

"When truth becomes offensive, lies become comfortable."  Thomas Sowell  

This is what the UK had to say in response to the Argentine government's ridiculous posturing at the United Nations about the Falkland Islands.

 "Anyone willing to trust Putin is either an idiot or complicit in his crimes. Possibly both." Gary Kasparov on X, formerly Twitter. Garry Kasparov on X: "Anyone willing to trust Putin is either an idiot or complicit in his crimes. Possibly both." / X

"I don’t pretend debt is just the fault of the current government, but they are unquestionably making it worse. The next generation will pay the price. There’s only one way out of this crisis - a government willing to make tough choices and get Britain’s finances under control." Andrew Griffith MP Shadow Chancellor

J.S. Bach took Antonio Vivaldi's Concerto for four violins, which provided yesterday's music spot, and tranposed it for four harpsichords. Here is the Bach music as performed with two of the harpsichord parts actually played on that instrument, and the other two on pianos.