Possibly the five best sentences you're ever likely to read.

A friend recently emailed me the following five sentences.  I have no idea where they came from, but I though they were worth sharing with you.   

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. 
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.

Best Wishes

Will


Update
A bit of searching round the Internet leads me to believe that these words were first spoken by the American baptist preacher Dr Adrian Rogers in 1984.  They seem rather apt for the UK in 2011.

A Defining Moment?

As the main party leaders outline their long-term responses to the recent riots and looting, the stakes could not be higher.  The leader who most closely captures the public mood could well go on to fashion our nation for generations to come.

David Cameron seems to capture the public sense that decades of refusing to make clear distinctions between right and wrong, of failing to support traditional family life, and failing to offer children real opportunity in education has produced generations of youngsters who lack aspiration, lack any notion of work ethic and indeed lack any sense of moral values.  On the other hand, he has not grasped that lack of moral responsibility afflicts the higher echelons of society and not just those living on benefits on inner city council estates.    He needs to take a closer look at the way MPs responded to the expenses scandal and compare that to the rapid and robust response we have seen over the past few days towards the rioters and looters.   He needs to ask why bankers are paying themselves billions of pounds in bonuses while the share price of their banks are falling through the floor and millions of taxpayers are continuing to suffer because of their greed.  Cameron also needs to ask why those responsible for hacking the phone of Millie Dowler are still free; no rapid and robust justice for them.  Cameron has never looked more susceptible to accusations of being an Eton toff and a two nation Tory as he does right now. 

Ed Miliband seems to understand that a lack of moral values extends from the House of Lords right throughout every stratum of society to the poor inner city estates of Tottenham and Brixton.  Miliband does not seem to understand how it hurts ordinary working people that so much of their hard earned cash is taken to pay for benefits cheats and feckless parents who bring children into this world expecting others to pay for their shelter, clothing, food, health care and education.  Neither does he seem to understand that thirteen years of labour government - the overwhelming majority of which was during times of prosperity - not only failed to improve the lives of ordinary working people things actually became worse.  The divide between the rich and poor increased, social mobility decreased, more children grew up in poverty.  Does Miliband have what it takes to slay some of the lefts sacred cows such as comprehensive education would he bring back grammar schools?  Whether he likes it or not millions of ordinary members of the public know that grammar schools drove social mobility.  Tens of thousands of sons and daughters of factory workers, railway workers, labourers, steel workers  and miners; became teachers, lawyers, politicians, doctors, dentists and vets thanks to grammar schools.  Grammar schools were not perfect everyone absolutely everyone knows that; but rather than improve them perhaps by bringing in a second or even a third chance to enter grammar school at the ages of twelve and thirteen, the political left choose to destroyed them.   That was a spiteful act of criminality.  Regret and sorrow is not enough Miliband needs to show that labour is prepared to ditch its useless politics of envy and concentrate on providing real opportunity to as many people as possible.

Can either Cameron or Miliband seize the moment and fashion this country into a single nation or will we be riven by the politics of avarice, envy and immorality for another fifty years?  Time will tell; but some of you may know that I have spoken warmly of Iain Duncan Smith.  These were his words this morning:

"We've got to stop nit-picking, playing games with this, pretending there's some kind of political advantage to be gained...     The truth is we are all in this one together and we've got to get out of it together."

Perhaps his time has finally come.
Best Wishes
Will

UPDATE

Just in case you wondered IDS belonged to a select group of MP's whose expense claims were pretty well beyond reproach details of this group including IDS are here.

Moral Authority its an absolute prerequisite.

A distinction needs to be made between our initial reaction to the rioting that is taking place in many cities and how to deal with it in the longer term.

In the short term we must crack down hard, and quickly prosecute those responsible.  Robust policing and all night sittings of magistrates courts are excellent examples of this approach. They will hopefully bring this spate of criminality to an end within a few days.

In the long term a more thoughtful analysis is required; and with this in mind I recommend Peter Osbourne's article in today's Daily Telegraph "The moral decay of our society is as bad at the top as the bottom.   Here are three short extract that gives a flavour of his thinking.

" I believe that the criminality in our streets cannot be dissociated from the moral disintegration in the highest ranks of modern British society. The last two decades have seen a terrifying decline in standards among the British governing elite. It has become acceptable for our politicians to lie and to cheat. An almost universal culture of selfishness and greed has grown up."

"The Prime Minister showed no sign that he understood that something stank about yesterday’s Commons debate. He spoke of morality, but only as something which applies to the very poor: “We will restore a stronger sense of morality and responsibility – in every town, in every street and in every estate.” He appeared not to grasp that this should apply to the rich and powerful as well." 

 "Certainly, the so-called feral youth seem oblivious to decency and morality. But so are the venal rich and powerful – too many of our bankers, footballers, wealthy businessmen and politicians."

I have blogged before - see Nadine's attack on scroungers lacks credibility - on the "absolute prerequisite for good governance that our elected representatives are honest."  Nadine Dorries spoke in yesterdays commons debate on rioting and looting.  What can I say, pot, kettle, black; I give up in despair.  Nadine's expenses looting record can be found here.

Politicians can talk about parenting, robust policing, education, unemployment, cuts and any other social or economic ill they and their political perspective deem appropriate to blame for the lack of morality shown by the looters.  It will matter not one iota what they say; until they deal with the unfinished business of MP's expenses they simply do not have the moral authority to govern.  No ifs, no buts; it is an absolute prerequisite for good governance that our elected representatives are honest.

Best Wishes
Will

If only they had listened eight months ago

Just over eight months ago on 24th November 2010 Nigel Farage made a speech see below.  Today as markets close with the economic crisis spreading to Italy and Spain and the whole European project on the verge of collapse his words seem entirely prophetic and far from the ramblings of a fanatic as so many of his detractors attempt to portray him.

Of course it is no coincidence that the markets have reacted just as the ruling elite have gone on their month long summer vacation.  If they do not fly home from their holidays tonight and take decisive action tomorrow and over the weekend we can expect some very unpleasant repercussions when the markets open tomorrow and again on Monday.


I do not think this is the end of the nightmare there is more to come; but I do believe we have entered a new phase.  
Best Wishes
Will

The Storm Cone by Rudyard Kipling

Like most nations, we in the British Isles have a collective wisdom that derives from national identity and history. In the case of Great Britain, part of this is our long seafaring tradition. Rudyard Kipling captures some of that wisdom in his 1932 poem 'The Storm Cone'.  

As the euro zone storm continues to build, we should remember that the financial crisis blowing in from continental Europe will not recognised national boundaries any more than an Atlantic storm will stop when it reaches the English Channel.  All we can do is draw on the wisdom, insight and strength so brilliantly captured by Kipling.

This is the midnight-let no star
Delude us-dawn is very far.
This is the tempest long foretold-
Slow to make head but sure to hold

Stand by! The lull 'twixt blast and blast
Signals the storm is near, not past;
And worse than present jeopardy
May our forlorn to-morrow be.

If we have cleared the expectant reef,
Let no man look for his relief.
Only the darkness hides the shape
Of further peril to escape.

It is decreed that we abide
The weight of gale against the tide
And those huge waves the outer main
Sends in to set us back again.

They fall and whelm. We strain to hear
The pulses of her labouring gear,
Till the deep throb beneath us proves,
After each shudder and check, she moves!

She moves, with all save purpose lost,
To make her offing from the coast;
But, till she fetches open sea,
Let no man deem that he is free!

Good Luck and Best Wishes to you all.
Will

Six of one, half a dozen of the other

One of the things that most annoyed me about the labour years, was Gordon Brown's tax on the dividends paid to pension funds.  It was the previous conservative government that first breached the principle that pension fund earnings were untaxed, on the basis that the pension once paid is classed as taxable income.  It was however Gordon who drove a coach and horses through the principle.  I have not, and never will, forgive the labour party for taxing my pension twice; once while saving for it and again when receiving it.  In my mind that extra tax is going to support public sector pensions, which will be a lot more generous than anything I will ever receive.

Last night the conservative government voted to increase Britain's subscription to the IMF by 88% or £9.3 billion.  The conservatives claim that the increase was agreed by the last labour government.  Labour reply that the agreement was finalized only six months ago.  It speaks volumes that they are both falling over themselves to distance themselves from the decision; yet still £9.3 billion of our money will be spent supporting the euro.  A currency that we as a nation declined to join.  Under this government we have now spent over £22 billion supporting the euro, over £8 billion to bailout Ireland, over £4.5 billion to bailout Portugal and an increase of £9.3 billion to the IMF to support the Greek bailout.  In my own mind I am certain that the conservatives have not fought Britain's corner with anything like the vigour that they ought to have. 

The choice seem to be between

1. Spendthrift labour pouring money into public services for little or no improvement in the service while paying benefits to fit health people at the same time as employing immigrants to do the work that the benefit claimants should be doing.
2. Spendthrift conservatives pouring money into supporting the euro; so that Greek workers can retire at 50 instead of working to support their own currency.

I imagine myself in ten years time, retired (I'll be over 65 by then) on holiday in a miserable B&B in Clacton-on-Sea.  I sit watching the rain falling from grey skies into an equally cold grey north sea.  I dream about how nice it would be to holiday on a Greek Island with warm sunny skies and clear blue Mediterranean seas.  I sit in a taverna with a glass of retsina watching the luxurious yachts in the harbour, I can see the bankers and politician sipping cocktails, they discuss how to write off billions of pounds in outstanding taxpayer loans.  I turn and and chat happily with all those public sector holiday makers and Greek pensioners in their early fifties, we watch the sunny setting over the sea.  Perhaps we would talk about who to vote for at the next election.
 
Best Wishes
Will

Italy Wobbles

Italy has wobbled, she hasn't fallen but the currency and bond traders are watching and they know she wobbled.  If you listen carefully you will hear the sound of knives being sharpened.  There is a killing to be made.  

The power of the currency markets should not be under estimated.  Almost twenty years ago on 16 September 1992 (commonly referred to as Black Wednesday) Britain was unable to keep sterling above its agreed lower exchange limit measured against a basket of European currencies.  The British government were therefore forced to withdraw the pound sterling from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM). But only after HM Treasury had spent £27bn of reserves trying to avoid the inevitable withdrawal.  In just a few days George Soros, the most high profile of the currency market investors, made over 1 billion US dollars in profit by short selling sterling. The German government after first agreeing to help sterling failed to give the promised support. 
Taking on the combined wealth of all the euro zone economies will not be as easy as taking on the pound sterling but the euro has a fatal flaw and is badly wounded.  The markets are powerful, greedy and merciless, they will be patient and wait for the right moment but sooner or later they will strike; it will not be a pretty sight.

Best Wishes
Will