Jason Rawlinson

Prüvit Prüver! gym, football, rugby league... MUFC WWRL

[Jason Rawlinson @jrawlinson85]

@PeteSvppb Well done pal

[Jason Rawlinson @jrawlinson85]

@mark_nyland86 @GaryOrmiston11 I've got a spare, drop me a message and I'll arrange getting it to you (no charge).

[Michael Lavelle @mikelavelle93]

I’m going to replace the Mona Lisa with this picture when I’m in Paris next week

[Jason Rawlinson @jrawlinson85]

@tomfarrimond @DuggyStand His defensive work was top drawer too! 👏🏼

[Jason Rawlinson @jrawlinson85]

@henrywinter

[Jason Rawlinson @jrawlinson85]

@jonmikesav8 Completely agree!

[Jason Rawlinson @jrawlinson85]

@jonmikesav8 I've been saying this since the day he took over!

[Rupert Lowe MP @RupertLowe10]

Everything costs more, so much more and Britain is getting poorer, so much much poorer. People can feel it - it’s a pretty dreadful combination. Food’s more expensive, energy bills soaring, a pint costs six quid outside Central London. Childcare, insurance, mortgage payments. It’s everything and it is bloody awful. Inflation MUST come down.

It doesn’t feel like anyone’s got any answers. Well, there is one. The only one.

Brutally slash tax, radically tear away vast swathes of the state and eventually rebuild national resilience/confidence.

There is no easy solution. We are in deep, dark shit.

There is no other way to describe it. It will be painful. Very painful. Politicians need to be honest about that.

Britain has the highest tax burden since the Second World War. Millions are working harder than ever, yet becoming poorer every single month. Inflation runs rampant. The cruellest tax of them all.

Are we surprised it’s exploded? The Government printed hundreds of billions during lockdown, shut down the economy, wrecked supply chains, raised taxes on work and investment, and then acted totally baffled when prices soared. What happens if you inject such huge amount of money into a system? It all becomes worth less. This is obvious. It’s called ‘quantitative easing’, a fancy way of saying printing money and we need to ban it.

Inflation is a cancer. A tax that wipes out wages, savings, pensions. It makes life more expensive.

Here is the honest truth. You cannot fight inflation by taxing people more and growing the state.

You can only fight inflation by cutting the size of the state itself.

If we want to bring down the cost of living, we need to start telling the truth.

The state is too big, too bloated, too expensive and too incompetent. The debt is too vast.

The rich don’t suffer. It’s the poor who feel it. THAT is why we must change. Urgently.

In 25/26 it’s expected debt interest spending to total £111.2 billion. That’s 8.3% of total public spending and is equivalent to over 3.7% of national income. Think about that. If your family’s debt interest payments equalled that, how would you cope? Bankruptcy, is the answer. Britain is going bankrupt. We spend more on debt interest than defence. It is INSANE. We are spending too much, far too much. Try running a business like that. Good luck.

How do we fix it?

A pound taken by government is a pound removed from the productive economy, and fed to the unproductive state.

Cut taxes on work.

Income Tax down. Raise the thresholds. Farage now backtracking on this (huge error).
National Insurance down.
Let people keep more of what they earn.
REWARD HARD WORK.

Cut taxes on business.

Cut Corporation Tax - lowest in Europe. Reduce Business Rates.
Slash Employers’ NI so firms can hire again.
Ease dividend thresholds.
Tear away the frictional costs of doing business. Lubricate the system. Make Britain the easiest place in Europe to do business.
Tax breaks for long term investment.
When businesses produce more, supply goes up - and prices come DOWN.
This is basic economics.

Slash the size of the state.

Brutally. And I mean brutally.
Billions and billions in cuts. Right across the board - welfare in particular. If you can work, you MUST work. Support those in genuine need, but that is a vanishingly small number compared to current spend. Ban foreigners from claiming any benefits.
Asylum costs, foreign aid, dependent migrants. It all has to go.
Civil service pensions. Unsustainable. Need to be dealt with. It’s a time bomb.
We need Government to do a small list of things, but do it well. Protect our borders, people, interests.

Rebuild national resilience.

Build energy independence so families aren’t battered. We import SO much energy.
Drill baby, drill. Frack. Use what we have. Drive the cost of energy down, and everything else follows. This is not complicated.
Food security so supply chains can’t be held hostage. GROW MORE. Cost comes down, again this is not complicated.
A skilled British workforce so productivity rises and dependence on vast low-wage migration ends - target education. Reward businesses who train and develop apprentices.
Deport the millions of migrants who take more than they give. It is not our responsibility to financially support much of the third world. We have our own people and our own problems, thanks.
Ban money-printing, without Parliament’s express consent.
Crucially, tackle crime. Give people confidence to invest and reduce insurance costs. SO important.

Britain must become a country that lives within it means. Not spending more than we earn. In fact, raising enough to begin paying off that debt, and reducing those interest payments.

The cost of living crisis will only be solved by stripping back the state that is crushing our country.

There is no other way. The left will say ‘tax the rich’? The rich will leave. They are leaving. It’s already happening. They go, and take their tax revenue with them. This is OBVIOUS.

You don't make the poor richer by making the rich poorer.

Collectivism ALWAYS fails.

We need cuts, cuts and then more cuts. Trust the people who actually work, build, produce and create. Give them the space they need to thrive, and we’ll all benefit. Generate wealth. Attract success. Cut inflation. Breed confidence.

It’s quite straightforward.

This is how we lower the cost of living. Put more money in people’s pockets. Rebuild the British economy. Make you and your family richer.

It can be done, it will just take balls.

[Rupert Lowe MP @RupertLowe10]

Parents should have the right to take their children out of school during term-time for a limited number of days.

Childhood is short. Parents should not need permission from the state to raise their own children.

My contribution in Parliament today...

[Rupert Lowe MP @RupertLowe10]

Tax. We’ve all become so used to it, we forget how much we’re actually paying. It is relentless, even beyond death. And for what? If we had a semblance of functioning public services, I could maybe stomach it. But we don’t, so what are we actually paying all of this money for?

We are subject to Scandinavian levels of tax for third-world levels of competence - what a toilet deal.

Earn a salary. Income tax, a fifth gone before we’ve even started. National insurance, more on top of that. What for? A ‘world-class’ health service? The NHS? Ha. Good luck.

Even getting to work costs - taxes on buying a car, running a car, insuring a car. Vast amount of road tax. Is that being well spent? Unless you want potholes you can paddle in, the answer is no. A road network built for half the amount of cars. How’s that going? It takes twice as long to get anywhere. Fuel duty and tax on insurance - whack that on top too. Congestion charges, tolls, fines and more. It goes on and on and on.

Forget getting the train, that’ll cost twice as much and never runs on time - a season ticket into London costs thousands. Unaffordable. Yet the trains so often run empty? Maybe that system isn’t working…

VAT on anything that moves - getting taxed to buy products/services, from already taxed money.

Tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax. Then more tax.

Did you go to university? Your ‘loan’ isn’t loan, it’s a tax. Interest is so sharp, you’re just paying that off each month. Hundreds gone, to pay for a sociology degree a decade ago. Ouch. Why are we saddling our youngsters with so much debt, with so much interest on top of that? Madness.

Manage to put a few quid away to save? That gets taxed too - ISAs will be under attack in the budget. Profit made on successful investments, what happens? You guessed it. Tax.

Somehow you’ve scrabbled a deposit together for a property. Well done.

Paying half a million quid for a semi-detached? Not cheap. Stamp duty means you get slapped for thousands. Obviously first time buyer exemptions mean less and less as house prices soar.

You’re in the house. Great news. Or so you thought. Council tax. Going up seemingly by 5% every year. Thousands of pounds a year. For what? To collect the bins? Really? Don’t forget the extra costs to have your garden waste removed. Brilliant.

More insurance taxes, and of course VAT on any improvements you want to make. Bills soaring, with tax slapped onto every corner of it - green levies and the rest.

How depressing. Time for a pint.

Alcohol duty. Because of course. Why wouldn’t they throw extra tax on it? I’m not a smoker, but the same applies. Even holidays. Air passenger duty to put a few extra quid onto the price of a trip away. Just for good measure.

You’re limping on through. Maybe you decide that starting your own business is the way to go?

You get it up and running, starting to make a reasonable profit. Take a small salary - to pay for such luxuries as food and heating. As we know, that gets taxed.

Alongside the costs. National Insurance. Business rates. Fees and licences. It is endless.

What’s left after all that? A profit? Surely good news?

Bang. Corporation tax. A big slice gone. After that, we can enjoy a handsome profit. Right?

Nope. Dividend tax. With its brutal thresholds. What slivers you do take get taxed all over again when you want to actually buy something. Obviously.

And the final kick in teeth.

Inheritance tax.

After everything, somehow, you’ve managed to put a reasonable amount of money away. After all that tax, you’ve succeeded in building a financial legacy to pass to your children - your business, and your own savings.

Money you were taxed on the day you earned it, taxed when you saved it, taxed when you invested it, taxed to build your business. It gets taxed one final time. On both your personal savings, and also the value of your company.

Even after death, it continues.

What are we paying all this money for?

Are our schools world-class? Borders secure? Police visible? NHS efficient? Economy thriving? Roads operational?

No. No. No. No. No. No. NOTHING WORKS.

Britain has the highest tax burden in most of our lifetimes, yet the worst services many of us have ever seen. If everything worked perfectly, there could maybe be an argument for such suffocating levels of tax. But it doesn’t, and hasn’t for decades, so there isn’t.

When the taxpayers fail to fund this state monster of inefficiency and unaccountability, what do they do?

QE. Print money. Creating inflation, devaluing our earnings and our savings. Yet one more tax.

The people creating all of this, implementing all of this? £100k plus on the public sector, living in London. Comfortable salary, great pension, no job risk. Clueless about the real world.

Maybe, just maybe, the current approach isn’t working.

We need to urgently cut tax. Shrink government. Reward hard work.

You just can’t tax a nation into prosperity. It never has worked, and it never will work.

LEAVE OUR MONEY ALONE.

[Jason Rawlinson @jrawlinson85]

@PeteSvppb @iqbalmohamedMP Maybe, for the safety of their fans, Spurs should refuse to travel into Birmingham for games and request a neutral venue in a safe place? 😉

[Stan Collymore @StanCollymore]

Suicide.

I'm choosing to be deliberately blunt and provocative in this post because it's necessary. Government, charities, football clubs are all pushing water up a hill in highlighting what is undoubtedly a major health crisis.

You take a rope.
You put it up in a garage or a tree nearby or far away.
You're thinking about every loved one you'll leave behind as you put that rope around your neck.
Then you drop.

Some are decapitated.
Some aren't.
All are found by someone who has a lifetime of trauma that will never leave them.
A son.
A daughter.
A brother.
A sister.
A mother.
A father.

I know 2 men who hung themselves.

One was found by his Mom.
One was found by his brother.
Neither have recovered fully. 20 and 30 years on.

A life sentence for people who were already worrying, terrified their loved one may do something.

So just visualise the above and ask, "is there another way"?

A segway for a moment.

I do a few Q&A's every year. Tales of yesterday with a 99% male audience of my age group.

After the stories and fun, my last question back to the audience is..

"Hands up if you struggle with a mental health issue".

Nobody ever puts a hand up. Despite 1 in every 3 of 500 attendees statistically struggling.

"Ah, nobody, that's fucking brilliant! Well I do! ". I then graphically tell people, stunned into silence about how a rope around my neck in the middle of nowhere jolted me to go home and cry like a baby to my Mom.

After the Q&A has finished, something always happens. I'll be chatting to a few guys, saying bye and one by one, men will come over and whisper " I struggle".

Or my mailbox the next day will have 30 emails from guys, their partners or kids saying " Dad/Uncle /Brother was there last night and what you said hit them hard".

And that's how some people realise that it's time to speak to a pal or family member or even rant to me in an email. It works, I often get a follow up email a year or 6 later saying that they took responsibility for their suicidal feelings and are now flying.

Humans are programmed to want to live, to have families and to keep the species growing and thriving. So for a human to want to short circuit that desire isn't normal, and it should never be spoken of as normal. It's the ultimate red flag.

If you suspect your mate, Dad, Brother, Uncle is struggling mentally, they deserve your intervention.

They deserve a " are you OK, please tell me what's up".

They deserve an opportunity to get past wanting to hang a rope over a tree or in a garage and slowly struggle until they die and you find them.

If you've been there and trust me I have plenty, then you'll know that text out of the blue, or a footie mate or one of your kids asking jow you are can open the curtains to some sunshine.

Because when suicide is your only answer, the room is already dark, and you can't see a way out.

So please, fucking pretty please, ask that husband, Dad, Uncle, Cousin, footie pal TODAY how they are.

You may be shocked what comes back but extremely glad that you asked.

For those who struggle, you're not alone.

[Lee Harris @LeeHarris]

Simon Jordan from @talkSPORT utterly DESTOYS Gary Neville.

"This is about radical Islamic extremism and Gary Neville doesn't have the balls to call it out for it is."

"He's a coward and a champagne socialist"

I agreed with EVERY word.
Well said! 🔥

[Jason Rawlinson @jrawlinson85]

@PeteSvppb Ask chatgpt to run a report on LFC's net spend over the last 10 years... 😉

[The Jackal… @ToonDazza]

Another one of yours @Keir_Starmer
They are always fuckin vile and not fit to govern.

[Jason Rawlinson @jrawlinson85]

@jonmikesav8 That Scott McTominay looks a decent player, maybe a £70M bid for him.

[Rupert Lowe MP @RupertLowe10]

A lot of talk about families and mothers, but what about fathers? For too long, family policy in Britain has treated dads like an awkward afterthought - we need to change that with a serious pro-father policy agenda.

I was lucky. I had a strong relationship with my father, and I have very strong relationships with my four children. I am fully aware that millions don’t have that same luxury. Of course, for some that will sadly never change - but dads need to be given a fairer crack at the whip.

It's very easy to underplay the immense responsibility a man feels when he has a child. He may not talk about it, but the weight is incredibly heavy indeed.

It’s their child too.

I’ve had plenty of constituents treated awfully post-separation, with the mother given far more rights and responsibilities. A child needs both parents, and the system shouldn’t pick sides based on outdated assumptions - unless there are genuine reasons. Family law needs revising to give dads a far greater say.

Tax breaks for responsible fathers, more childcare support for single dads, an overhaul of child maintenance which too often bankrupts men while denying them proper access.

Fatherlessness is a national crisis. It’s catastrophic, especially for young boys.

Good fathers should be supported. Struggling fathers should be helped. And absent fathers should be expected to step up.

I love the idea of boosting apprenticeships between men and their children, where the boy, or girl, learns the same trade as the father. We offer it at my companies, and the success is just fantastic to see - skills passed down through generations.

Mental health projects specifically for dads/men. I’ve spent some time with the lads in my constituency who run men’s walks and other projects. Just for men. It’s so fantastic, and makes a real genuine difference.

Some things should be specifically for men. And there’s nothing wrong with that, at all.

It’s all a conversation we need to have - I can’t recall hearing a politician ever talk about dads and more rights for men with their children. Clearly I don’t have all of the answers, but let’s start talking about it.

Before I get attacked and abused, nobody is downplaying the role of a mother in a child’s life, obviously. But dads play an important part too, and I think we need to do more to recognise and support that as a country.

A child needs a healthy, happy, and present father.

[Cameron Don-Duncan @CamDonDuncan]

If Carlsberg did 7’s teams.

Wigan dominating at that 7’s tournament did as much for the clubs profile as anything really.

[Rupert Lowe MP @RupertLowe10]

British boots on the ground in Ukraine - I have lots of questions.

Where would troops be deployed? How many? How many as part of the overall mission? For how long? What percentage of our combat ready force would be dedicated to it? How much ammunition do we have? How much equipment? How many active tanks, planes? How quickly could more be manufactured if required? How much would we need to import? How much would that all cost? How much of the new 'defence' spending is creative accounting and money destined for Mauritius?

Does the UK have enough military resource to sustain a presence in Ukraine? What is the exit strategy? Is there an exit strategy? Is the UK committed to providing more troops/resources if the situation worsens?

What has the military said? Are they prepared, after years of such neglect from the British establishment?

What happens if British troops are fired on? Accidentally or otherwise from Russian troops? Do we fire back? What happens then? Are we prepared for a direct military conflict with Russia? What measures are in place to avoid escalation? How long could our military last in a direct engagement?

Other European countries have been categorical in their opposition to boots on the ground. Who would be joining us? For how long? In what number?

Are we prepared? I suspect the answer is a resounding no. Have the vast risks and dangers been properly considered? Again, I suspect the answer is no.

I have deep, deep, deep reservations.

Deploying serving British men and women into such an incredibly dangerous area is a serious decision, perhaps the most serious.

This is a debate that needs to be treated with care, without throwing around ludicrous and childish insults.

Our Armed Forces deserve for it to be given the utmost respect.

Lots of questions, no answers. And we need answers.