EricCire HS2 Crossrail Elizabeth Line Heathrow

MG4 EV, 2 Bluetti APEX300 + 4 B300K + HUB A1 + SolarX 4K

Sunamp hot water battery, EverHot 60 Stove, IQOOL-SMART15HP-V2 Heat-pump.

[EricCire HS2 Crossrail Elizabeth Line Heathrow @EricCir62379716]

Just had my gas meter removed free of charge by James from Octopus Energy.

Before and after.

Money saved on Gas standing charges will pay for 1,000 kWh of electricity.

[Visegrád 24 @visegrad24]

Local authorities in Stanford-le-Hope, England, have rejected plans to convert a 150-year-old former Methodist church into a mosque owned by Stanford Jamme Masjid after the proposal received 384 objections compared with just 35 expressions of support.

[EricCire HS2 Crossrail Elizabeth Line Heathrow @EricCir62379716]

"Fake GERS Figures"?

The SNP Government compiles and publishes GERS.

Have a nice day.

[Andy Weir @andyhw168]

@afneil So why doesn’t any political party in England campaign on policy of let’s cut off Scot’s and spend money in England. Guaranteed vote winner. I thought you were supposed to be intelligent but you can’t see fake GERS figures.

[EricCire HS2 Crossrail Elizabeth Line Heathrow @EricCir62379716]

Imported nuclear scientists and engineers will never be equal to catholics!

Deal with it and move on.

[sydew1nder @sydew1nder]

@TRobinsonNewEra How do you know they're Muslims, nothing has been released yet? Equally they could be Catholics.

[EricCire HS2 Crossrail Elizabeth Line Heathrow @EricCir62379716]

Evidence?

[Quincher @Quinch2020]

@AllisonPearson England runs a £88 Billion deficit, and that includes the London And SE surplus.

[EricCire HS2 Crossrail Elizabeth Line Heathrow @EricCir62379716]

There is no Barnett Formula for England, including London.

Have a nice day in your hovel!

[The only way is Independence 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @Marsi132]

@BanksSchof33557 @visegrad24 Have you looked at how much London gets from the Barnett Formula? Shocker - it gets more than Scotland! How will it cope without us?

[EricCire HS2 Crossrail Elizabeth Line Heathrow @EricCir62379716]

@visegrad24 Subsidy each year, from "The English", for every man, woman & child in:

N Ireland = £7,580 (£14 billion)
Wales = £6,958 (£22 billion)
Scotland = £3,421 (£19 billion)

Upon independence, those handouts will stop!

Source:
https://t.co/PrARkpUxB9

[EricCire HS2 Crossrail Elizabeth Line Heathrow @EricCir62379716]

Subsidy each year, from "The English" for every man, woman & child in:

N Ireland = £7,580 (£14 billion)
Wales = £6,958 (£22 billion)
Scotland = £3,421 (£19 billion)

Upon independence, those handouts will stop!

https://t.co/PrARkpUxB9

[Visegrád 24 @visegrad24]

BREAKING:

The Telegraph writes that the leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will meet in Cardiff tomorrow sign a deal on starting cooperation breaking up the UK.

They will demand the right to independence referendum, or in the case of Northern Ireland, on the right to become part of Ireland.

After Plaid Cymru routed Labour in the last Welsh election, separatist parties are now for the first time in power in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland at the same time.

The three first minister will also meet in Cardiff with Mary Louise McDonald, the President of Sinn Féin and leader of the opposition in Ireland.

The new drive for independence referendums comes after UK PM Andy Burnham spoke about what’s needed for a new independence referendum in Scotland and made a parallel to the Good Friday Agreement mechanism in Ireland which requires the UK government to consider a referendum in Northern Ireland if public opinion clearly changes.

Previous UK PMs had completely shut the door on a new independence referendum in Scotland, saying that the failed independence referendum in 2014 had closed that issue for decades.

If Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland were to leave the United Kingdom, leaving only England, the remaining country's population would decrease by 15.5% and its GDP would decrease by 13.5% compared to the current total United Kingdom figures.

It would also create a number of geopolitical and geoeconomic dilemmas:

1. London would lose the physical home of the UK’s independent nuclear deterrent.

The UK's entire fleet of nuclear-armed submarines is permanently stationed at HM Naval Base Clyde on Scotland's west coast.

There are no alternative deep-water ports in England that are geographically, politically or logistically suited to house nuclear submarines and their warheads within the foreseeable future.

2. Losing control of the GIUK Gap.

Geographically, Scotland provides the UK with naval and aerial positioning to guard the North Atlantic and the so-called GIUK Gap (Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom).

It’s a vital maritime choke point for tracking Russian submarine activity entering the Atlantic Ocean from northern Russia.

3. Destruction of the Defense Training
Estate.

The British Armed Forces require vast expanses of uninhabited land for live-fire combat training.

England is too densely populated to accommodate this scale of preparation and the Ministry of Defence relies heavily on the Scottish Highlands, the Sennybridge Training Area in Wales, and the Abercorn facilities in Northern Ireland for multi-domain military training exercises.

4. Loss of North Sea oil and gas.

An independent Scotland would get ownership over the vast majority of the current UK’s northern waters, with England losing direct geopolitical control over the bulk of the North Sea oil and gas reserves, as well as massive offshore wind-generation territories located in Scottish and Welsh waters.

5. The emergence of a new "Western Flank"

For over a century, the UK has operated under the assumption that its western border is entirely secure.

If Northern Ireland reunifies with the Republic of Ireland, and Scotland and Wales depart, the Irish Sea becomes entirely surrounded by foreign nations.

While a unified Ireland or independent Scotland would likely friendly Western democracies, they might opt for strict military neutrality (similar to Ireland's current geopolitical stance) rather than joining NATO.

This would create a massive security vacuum right on England's doorstep and would require London to reconfigure its military defense plans.

[david D. @secretsqrl123]

facts are facts

[Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en]

Ms. Olena and her family rescued and raised a little stork. He has already set off for his wintering grounds and will surely return to Ukraine next year.

A beautiful video and a wonderful family.

📹: Olena Matviienko / Facebook

[EricCire HS2 Crossrail Elizabeth Line Heathrow @EricCir62379716]

Barnett Formula = Block Grant

Barnett Formula = Scotland's population %

Scotland = less than 8% of England's population

For every £1 England spends, Scotland gets 8p

[Marten @MartynMarten]

@afneil Transport is devolved, but it still has to depend on the block grant to fund it.....which Westminster controls

[EricCire HS2 Crossrail Elizabeth Line Heathrow @EricCir62379716]

WW2 started in 1939.

When did WW2 start for the yanks?

[Hector Gonzales @Branstinkapoi]

@actfast I find it genuinely amusing that our European vassals actually think we are gonna shed blood for them. Totally delusional and out of touch with American society. There is ZERO political appetite in the United States for more war. This is line Napoleon on year 19. We done!

[EricCire HS2 Crossrail Elizabeth Line Heathrow @EricCir62379716]

Why does the SNP government publish GERS which shows Scotland is unable to afford to feed itself?

[christy @SassyCsays]

@afneil ‘All the money Westminster spends in Scotland’ 🤦‍♀️
You might zip up the back @afneil but the rest of us don’t.
There’s not a Country in the world which carries another on its back, out of the goodness of its heart.
Neither does England.

[EricCire HS2 Crossrail Elizabeth Line Heathrow @EricCir62379716]

According to the SNP government,GERS as compiled and published by the SNP government, contains all the money figures !

[JulesRools.. (Extremely) @julesMcBot]

@afneil " thanks to all the money Westminster actually spends in Scotland"

What are the figures for actual Westminster spending IN Scotland?
Not on "behalf of Scotland" but actually IN Scotland as you state?🤔

[EricCire HS2 Crossrail Elizabeth Line Heathrow @EricCir62379716]

Norway spends £12 billion on its defense, how much would an independent Scotland spend?

[Give me facts not tittle tattle @esjmc02]

@afneil There is £5 billion in there for defence.

[EricCire HS2 Crossrail Elizabeth Line Heathrow @EricCir62379716]

GERS is compiled and published by the SNP government!

[Brian qwerty @Brianqwerty2]

@afneil You finally admit the Scottish Government balances its budget by law. Good.The rest is the usual GERS sleight of hand. Comparing that sub-national construct to sovereign European deficits is still apples and oranges. Capiche?

[Amjad Taha أمجد طه @amjadt25]

A letter to the West,

Greetings,

Stop confusing cowardice with tolerance. What you see as illegal immigrants is a pre-planned invasion of your country without tanks or soldiers. There are countries that have recently poured billions of pounds into Muslim Brotherhood terrorists who became activists and citizens in your countries, and their job is to defend every criminal, be the lawyer of every rapist, and make sure all those who are illegal become legal and become the next governor or MP, and later, prime minister. This is a long-term plan.

They use democracy as an Uber to power then complain about the destination.

Look around you. They now protest against you and your Western civilization. They call you Islamophobic if you dare to mention Muslim Brotherhood terrorists, such as Hamas terrorists, or Sudan's Muslim Brotherhood-led army, which killed over 2 million Christians and 500,000 African Muslim children and women.
They will control your democracy through dictatorial rules.

They discovered your greatest weakness: your tolerance can be weaponized against you.

They use your freedom of speech to defend Muslim Brotherhood terrorists.
They use your courts to protect Hamas and Iran's networks.
They use accusations of “Islamophobia” to intimidate critics.
They use democracy as a ladder to power, then attack the very values that built that ladder.

Yesterday, Muslim Brotherhood ideology demanded a platform. Today, it demands political influence. Tomorrow, it will demand that you remain silent.

Stop confusing cowardice with tolerance.

Investigate the Muslim Brotherhood. Ban terrorist organizations. Prosecute criminal financing. Deport non-citizens who lawfully qualify for deportation because of serious crimes or terrorism and never allow extremists to turn citizenship into a weapon against the country that welcomed them.

Your children should not inherit a country too frightened to defend its own laws, freedoms, and civilization.

Democracy is not a suicide pact. Tolerance is not surrender. Freedom does not require giving extremists the tools to destroy freedom.

Wake up. Defend your country. Defend your children. Defend your civilization before those who despise it become powerful enough to dictate its future.

Regards,
God bless your beautiful civilization and protect it from extremism, terrorism, and backwardness.

[EricCire HS2 Crossrail Elizabeth Line Heathrow @EricCir62379716]

As soon as I saw the headline, I knew it was "one of them"!

[Basil the Great @BasilTheGreat]

🚨BREAKING: A student Police officer with Greater Manchester Police has been charged with rape, kidnap and strangulation

You'll never guess what his name is...

[Your Accountant @TJiMTS]

Andy Burnham, in two weeks of being PM, has perfectly illustrated the main problem in UK public finances.

Week 1: there's a cost of living crisis, so to help you we've taken £45 a year off your electricity bill and capped bus fares at £2.

Week 2: we don't have enough money to fund everything we want to do, so we're taking £630 a year out of your salary.

Same government, same month.

Credit where it's due first - taking VAT off electricity from October is real money, so is the £2 bus cap in January if you're on a bus twice a day. Immediate cost of living relief is genuinely needed by most people.

But I'm not sure how someone who couldn't manage without that £45 a year of relief is supposed to now manage with £630 a year less in their pocket?

The £630 is a 1.8% levy on income to fund a National Care Service costed at £18bn a year. On a £35,000 salary it's £630, on £50,000 it's £900.

It's charged as a percentage of your income.
It's collected out of your income.
It is not, apparently, income tax, because they're going to call it a levy.

It also only applies to taxpayers over 34... So you turn 35 and take a pay cut, at the exact age most people are stretched on a mortgage with childcare costing more than the mortgage.

But the UKs ACTUALLY problem? Spending is too high. And it's too high in ways that are fixable if anyone was willing to challenge the status quo rather than buy more votes with handouts.

This is where £1,383bn goes this year:

Health, £269.6bn
Pensions, £236.3bn
Welfare, £204.0bn
Education, £126.7bn
Debt interest, £104.6bn
Defence, £75.2bn
Everything else, £367.1bn

Health, £269.6bn: We need mandatory health insurance as an employment benefit and a hybrid model. Everyone hears "insurance" and pictures America, someone bleeding out over a copay, as if no other model exists on earth.

The Netherlands has mandatory private health insurance. Insurers are legally required to accept everyone. They cannot charge you more for being chronically ill. A risk equalisation pool moves money towards the insurers covering the sickest people. It's consistently ranked top three in Europe.

Welfare, £204.0bn: Income tax raises £330bn. So almost 2 of every 3 pounds of Income Tax taken from every working person in this country is spoken for by the welfare bill.

Welfare should be for people who cannot work. Disability, genuine incapacity, the people it was built to protect. It has drifted into a general income top-up, and the number that proves it is 4.2 million working age people now claiming at least one health related benefit, up a million since 2019.

Change how we determine eligibility, fix a lot of spending issues immediately.

Pensions, £236.3bn: The state pension is a Ponzi scheme, and I mean that technically rather than as an insult. There is no fund - the ONS says so plainly. Your National Insurance is not being put aside and invested for your State Pension, It just pays the payouts for last year's pensioners. Yours depends entirely on there being enough workers behind you.

Which, btw, there won't be. The ratio of pensioners to workers goes from 27% to 48% by 2050 (and these estimates are before we've seen the proper impact of AI/automation on jobs.

Australia already fixed this: 12% of earnings into a private fund with your name on it, mandatory, employer paid. It's your money, it compounds, it doesn't need a bigger generation behind you to work.

We could mandate the same tomorrow and let the state pension run down over the next 40 years, eventually saving £236bn a year.

You can't levy your way out of these problems. A 1.8% charge on everyone over 34 raises £18bn. It doesn't even cover the interest on our existing debt.

And in the meantime... If we're going to borrow anyway, why is none of it buying anything?

Norway found oil in 1969 and put the money in a fund... That fund is now worth $2.049 trillion. It holds a stake in roughly 1.5% of every listed company on the planet.

We found oil in the same decade and spent it.

The UK's National Wealth Fund is capitalised at £27.8bn. Norway's is about 73 times bigger.

So where is our position in AI, in data centres, in grid scale renewables, in batteries, in electric vehicles, in any of the things the next fifty years actually runs on? We borrow £133bn a year and almost none of it buys an asset.

Fix government spending immediately, increase government income over time (without milking people for every penny of 'levy' you can find), and quality of life will genuinely improve as people have more money in their pockets.

The UK has a spending problem, not a tax problem.