Andrew Griffiths

Writes. Takes photographs.

[Darren Quinn | Modern Money Economist/Educator @AusMMT]

Banks don't lend out your deposits.
When a bank writes you a mortgage, it creates a new deposit in your name and a matching loan asset.

The money didn't exist that morning.
The Bank of England said so plainly in 2014.
Loans create deposits, not the other way round.

[Lou Macari @LouMacari10]

Windsor is one of the nicest places and when I walked out of my hotel to cross the road to the castle there were six homeless people. The castle was 30 yards away. We just have to keep going to try to make whatever difference we can.

[Malcolm Reavell @malcolm_reavell]

Astounding that government is refusing to nationalise water, fully funded public services, enforce taxes in wealth and deal with inequality. But it’s easier to punish the poors, and it will please their masters.

[Andrew Griffiths @GlassJet]

Badenoch starting to get the better of him. She needs watching. 🤨

[Andrew Griffiths @GlassJet]

Interesting how Burnham avoided repeating phrase of 'ending 40 yrs neoliberalism ' in response to Badenoch's charge in first question in PMQs. Avoided again later in buses answer. I think that phrase is going to come back to haunt him.

[Malcolm Reavell @malcolm_reavell]

This is the kind of cheap, ill-informed, economically illiterate nonsense we expect from our politicians. There’s no social security/ welfare “time bomb”. It’s all neoliberal propaganda to prepare you for more needless austerity.

[Prof. Steve Keen @ProfSteveKeen]

This is critically important. Deregulation has really meant letting the finance sector do what it wants. And it wants to get us all in hock to them.

[Andrew Griffiths @GlassJet]

@malcolm_reavell @HuddlestonNigel @Young_Tories @Conservatives Yup, this is really gonna show us who's boss. 🤨

[Malcolm Reavell @malcolm_reavell]

@HuddlestonNigel @Young_Tories @Conservatives Astounding that government is refusing to nationalise water, fully funded public services, enforce taxes in wealth and deal with inequality. But it’s easier to punish the poors, and it will please their masters.

[MMTAction @mmt_action]

Every pound of government deficit is a pound of surplus for someone else. Their red ink is your black ink.

Watch free.

#MMT #FindingTheMoney #UKGreenParty

https://t.co/UZpzRCFd6H

[We Own It @We_OwnIt]

Thames Water is in £20 billion of debt.

Right now, it’s only surviving because it just had ANOTHER expensive bailout. Now it wants to delay its debt repayments.

This is NOT a financially viable company. Any normal org with finances this bad would have collapsed into insolvency a long time ago.

Stop propping up the abysmal Thames Water. @andyburnham it’s time to intervene on behalf of the public. Bring Thames Water into special administration. https://t.co/86Xm3FBHs7

[Andrew Griffiths @GlassJet]

One day we will look back at a time when we have made businesses whose main product and reason to be is extracting money, and think we must have been absolutely bonkers. And we wonder why our economies are going down the drain. 🙄

[Prem Sikka @premnsikka]

Poundland hopeful for last-minute rescue deal.

Big problem is the private equity business model which extracts returns through financial engineering, wage/staff cuts, asset stripping, tax abuse.

Govts must deal with financialisation of high street.
https://t.co/Sgv4qsDkfk

[Fiona Harvey @fionaharvey]

China is leading the world on clean energy - and the US running out of time to catch up, warns John Kerry

#Cop31

https://t.co/qULl0bZesJ

[Clive Lewis MP @labourlewis]

That shoddy deal belongs in the bin.

It’s barely changed from the deal ministers already rejected: creditors pay £1bn to dodge sewage and leakage fines until 2030, then cash out on the stock market.

Nothing screams ‘neoliberalism’ like privatised water. Thames Water is the key to ending it and bringing water back into public ownership.

Don’t fudge this.

[Andrew Griffiths @GlassJet]

@ChrisGPackham I remember a day when we used to say we wanted more women in our politics, because it would lead to a more humane, compassionate approach. That went well, didn't it?!

[Chris Packham @ChrisGPackham]

I’d like to say ‘I don’t have words’ but I do . Debased , vile , cruel , inhuman , regressive and incalculably selfish . They will stop at nothing in a race to the bottom . https://t.co/QSptpXXLIJ

[Zack Polanski @ZackPolanski]

If true this is outrageous.

It seems that Andy Burnham’s latest version of ending 40 years of neoliberalism is handing Thames Water over to US hedge funds.

Labour have stopped even pretending to serve us or our communities anymore.

Labour stand for the hedge funds.

[Clive Lewis MP @labourlewis]

Cressida Dick working for Palantir raises the same concerns I’ve expressed about Tom Watson.

What does a company gain when it recruits a former Labour deputy leader or a former Metropolitan Police commissioner? Their experience, yes. But also their contacts, influence and the authority associated with the offices they held.

This ‘revolving door’ corrodes confidence in politics, public service generally and in institutions such as the police.

Read more here: https://t.co/36D0k5QD0R

@TBIJ

[Andrew Griffiths @GlassJet]

Let's see just how seriously we can take Burnham's slogan about ending 40 years of neoliberalism.

I can guess 🙄

I've said it before, but these water companies are the big test, the first domino - they will do *anything* to shore them up.

[We Own It @We_OwnIt]

🚨BREAKING
The Financial Times has just revealed that Thames Water’s US hedge fund creditors are close to agreeing a ‘last and final’ deal to take over the company.

A handover to US hedge funds. A continuation of the privatised chaos. And a huge reward for the people who have run our water into the ground.

The deal would see them allowed to pollute our rivers and seas without consequence - in exchange for an upfront payoff.

This deal is absolutely outrageous, in every regard.

112 MPs have already called for special administration of Thames Water.

A cross-party group of MPs - who scrutinise the Environment Department - have said that the creditors’ proposal should be rejected and Thames Water should be brought into special administration.

And the former Environment Secretary rejected a previous version of the creditors’ deal in June. This new version is not better in any way.

@andyburnham promised to reverse Thatcher’s legacy of privatisation. He promised public control of life’s essentials.

This really is the moment of truth for Andy Burnham. If he allows the water supply of 16 million people to be sold off to US hedge funds - how can we take him seriously about any of his promises?

NO DEAL to the Thames Water creditors. Special administration now.

[Roger Harrabin @RHarrabin]

We already have evidence from India that food producing Nations may protect their own People by banning exports of Rice and other commodities. The UK really needs to wake up to this. A 3-day stash of beans may not begin to provide at anything like reasonable cost.