Britain is on the brink of a recession after official figures were revised to show zero growth in the third quarter of the year and living standards fell, with Rachel Reeves’s horror Budget blamed. The Telegraph has more.
Growth from July to September was revised down from 0.1% to zero, new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed. Living standards also fell.
The U.K. and Italy were the only G7 countries to register no growth during that time, performing worse than rivals such as Germany, France and the U.S.
With the economy at risk of contracting in the final three months of 2024, it means Britain is close to experiencing the first of two consecutive quarters of negative growth that define a technical recession.
Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, said in response to the bleak figures that they were only “fuelling our fire to deliver”.
She said: “The challenge we face to fix our economy and properly fund our public finances after 15 years of neglect is huge.”
She added: “But this is only fuelling our fire to deliver for working people. The Budget and our Plan for Change will deliver sustainable long-term growth, putting more money in people’s pockets through increased investment and relentless reform.”
The disappointing revision comes after the U.K. economy contracted in October, suggesting it remains smaller than before Labour took power.
Ms. Reeves has been accused of crushing confidence after she repeatedly warned of the challenges faced by the country and imposed a record £40 billion tax raid in her first Budget.
Top recruiters including ManpowerGroup and Adecco have warned that Britain is in a “hiring recession”, while a survey by the Confederation of British Industry found that businesses expect to cut down on hiring, reduce output and deal with higher prices in the first three months of 2025.
Andrew Griffith MP, Shadow Business Secretary, said: “Labour have really killed, plucked and cooked the U.K. economic goose. A summer of trash talking the economy, an autumn tax-hiking budget and now a winter of discontent with a recession a distinct possibility. The Chancellor must urgently change course.” …
The figures also imply that living standards worsened in the year to July to September, with GDP per head falling by 0.2% rather than remaining flat as initially believed.
The numbers suggest that the economy is failing to keep pace with population growth. Net migration has soared to new records in recent years and has only just started to decline.
The fall in living standards may well be revised lower still, as the ONS will update its population estimates in January.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: The petition calling for another General Election “because the current Labour Government has gone back on the promises it laid out in the lead up to the last election” has now passed three million signatures. Parliament will debate the petition on January 6th, though despite the auspicious timing I doubt we can expect any kind of epiphany from Two Tier Keir about why it’s all going so very badly for him.
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https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/08/14/starmer-will-let-the-blob-take-over-britain/
Followed by…
“Britain’s unelected and ineffective quangocrats are already amassing more power under Labour, warns James Woudhuysen in Spiked”
Stating the bloody obvious.
More proof many of these so-called ‘asylum seekers’ are just taking the Mick and Europe, or Germany in this case, is just a mug. But we all know why this is allowed to happen by now. Here’s me thinking they were all meant to be fleeing persecution from the Taliban;
”An RTL documentary reveals that Afghan refugees are apparently vacationing in their old homeland on a large scale, even though it is officially considered an unsafe country of origin. The vacation trips are organized by German travel agencies. Federal Minister of the Interior Faeser does not consider herself responsible.
Germany is on summer vacation, half the country is at a standstill. Anyone who still has vacation days left is sitting somewhere on the beach, by the lake or in the mountains. But what is an annual pleasure for some in the country is officially only possible to a limited extent for others. According to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, Afghan refugees are only allowed to travel to their home country in exceptional circumstances.
Which is understandable, after all, they came here precisely because they were persecuted and threatened in their homeland. Afghanistan is officially considered so dangerous that Germany is not even allowed to send convicted criminals back there. Who would want to go on holiday there voluntarily?
According to research by RTLextra, this is exactly what happens, and it happens frequently: Afghan refugees check on their old homeland, visit relatives there, have fun. Even so-called local staff are among those willing to travel – those former Bundeswehr helpers that Germany brought out of Afghanistan after the Taliban took power because they were considered particularly at risk.
Afghan refugees reported this in a research interview with RTL reporter Liv von Boetticher: “Many Afghans from Europe are currently returning for vacation.” There are also clips on TikTok and other social media that tell of relaxing days in Afghanistan.According to RTL research, various travel agencies are helping the refugees plan their illegal trip to Afghanistan via Iran . The visa required – a so-called “double-entry visa” – consists of a loose sheet of paper that can easily be removed from the passport after the trip. Anyone who has ever tried to keep their Austrian vignette in their wallet instead of sticking it securely to their windshield will be astonished: a visa as a collection of loose sheets sounds very much like a banana republic.
All of this is frightening. But even more frightening is how Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser reacted when RTLextra confronted her with the research results: preventing travel with the “double-entry visa” is not her job, but that of the local immigration authorities. The municipalities claim that the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees is responsible for this.
The authority ultimately passes the buck back to the Federal Ministry of the Interior. And the Federal Police? They say that their primary responsibility at the airport is immigration control; there are not enough staff to carry out additional checks on people leaving the country.
Germany is making itself look ridiculous internationally with such antics – once again. Taking in people who can be proven to no longer be safe in their homeland is a humanitarian requirement. But despite all the empathy, it must be expected that a certain number of freeloaders will always make their way. And then spend the next few years vacationing at the state’s expense – both here and apparently also in their old homeland. A country of origin that is not safe cannot also be a vacation paradise.”
https://www.focus.de/kultur/kino_tv/deutsche-reisebueros-helfen-mit-doku-enthuellt-wie-gefluechtete-in-afghanistan-urlaub-machen-behoerden-schauen-weg_id_260222082.html
Monkey pox again but I thought it was M pox by the time Tedros the Terror-st had finished being a scaremongering tw-t a couple of years back ! These Barstewards are desperate!
A significant increase in attacks on females on trains. Is this the part where the resident misogynists spin these stats to accuse women of claiming ”victimhood”?
”The number of violent crimes rose from 7,561 in 2021 to 11,357 in 2023. The amount of sexual offences rose to 2, 475 from 2,235 over the same period – an increase of 10%.
Sexual harassment claims reported doubled over the period to 1,908, the Times reported.
A British Transport Police survey found that around a third of women have been sexually harassed or subjected to other sexual offences while commuting on the train or Tube.
About half said fellow passengers had come to their aid.
Most sexual offences take place on busy trains during the evening rush hour, between 5pm and 7pm.
Jess Phillips, who is the government minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, said the figures were “unacceptable”.
She added: “In this day and age, no woman should have to plan her journeys by public transport based on where and when she will feel safe, and yet that is the daily experience for millions of women whether they are commuting to and from work, or arranging an evening out with friends.
“Getting on a night bus or a near empty train to go home should not feel like taking your life in your hands.
“Whether these figures reflect an increase in reporting, an increase in the volume of crime, or a combination of the two, one thing is clear: the level of violence, harassment and sexual offences that women and girls are facing when using the transport network is completely unacceptable, and cannot be allowed to go unchallenged.”
https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/violent-attacks-on-women-and-girls-on-trains-rise-by-more-than-50-in-two-years/
Also, further on the girl stabbed in London. What psychological trauma will this leave behind for her and her mother?? Nice bit of advertising for future tourists considering visiting the capital, don’t you think?
”BREAKING NEWS; 11yr Girl stabbed 8 times in Leicester Sq whilst with her mother is >Australian Tourist; the serious Injures to her Face Neck & upper body may well require plastic surgery as she recovers!
An horrific experience for Tourists to London.”
https://x.com/NormanBrennan/status/1823714595003097540
Jess Philips has more Front than Blackpool ! Unacceptable she cries knowing full well the identity of these sex pests , she is happy along with HMG (who make public awareness films showing white men touching up females on trains) to pretend it’s ALL Men doing this !
You are spot on. Gang rape was virtually unknown in the West before the Mass Third World Invasion, and Ethnic European female tourists visiting the pyramids in Egypt, for example, or anywhere in the Islamic world, suffer so many furtive “groping” assaults just walking down the street, even when accompanied by their husbands, that some carry a stick to defend themselves, by whacking away the filthy hands.
Just more Clown World garbage, really. But obviously this is all women’s fault too and has nothing whatsoever to do with the woke men of the IOC/IPC enabling this blatant cheating to go ahead and prioritzing men’s feelings and inclusion over fairness and women’s safety in the first place;
”Valentina Petrillo is visually impaired, but anyone can see this fact clearly.
The Italian sprinter — who, later this month, will become the first openly trans athlete to compete at the Paralympic Games — is a strapping biological man and should not be racing against women on a world stage.
And yet: Different games, same old story. Man identifies as woman and the doors of female spaces magically swing open for them. Truth be damned.
Before transitioning in 2019, Petrillo won a whopping 11 national titles in visually-impaired categories as a man. Last summer, the runner took bronze in both the women’s 200 and 400 meters at the Para Athletics World Championships.
Petrillo, 50, told BBC Sport that competing in the games, which kick off on August 28 in Paris, would be an “important symbol of inclusion.
Andrew Parsons, president of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), has said that he is “prepared for the criticism” for allowing Petrillo to run against women in Paris.
“But again we need to respect our rules, we cannot disrespect our rules. So sometimes as an individual I think one way or another, but we need to follow our constitution, we need to follow our own rules and in the specific sports the rules of the international federations need to be respected,” Parsons said, adding that Petrillo will be “welcome as any other athlete.”
https://nypost.com/2024/08/13/opinion/blind-runner-who-won-as-a-man-should-not-race-women-in-paralympics/
Careful, Melani. You don’t want to be accused of playing your ‘victim card’ now do you? Best just ‘shut up and put up’;
”A Spanish athlete lost her chance to participate in the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games after being displaced by a transsexual who had already competed in the men’s category on multiple occasions.
Fabrizio Petrillo, a 49-year-old Italian man who identifies himself as a woman and goes by the name Valentina, snatched the chance to qualify in the 200 meters in the T12 category (for those with a visual impairment) from 33-year-old Spanish athlete Melani Bergés.
“Inclusion and respect for all people without discrimination is one thing, and another, as we are facing now, is to lose our way and accept that sport is unfair from the starting line. My support is for Melani and for all women because this affects us all”, expressed another Paralympic athlete, Susana Rodríguez Gacio.”
“Our Spanish athlete Melani Bergés lost the chance to qualify for the Paralympic Games because of the participation of a man: Fabrizio “Valentina” Petrillo, who advanced to the final in her place. It is unfair. That is not their category,” said Irene Aguiar, a specialist in sports law.”
https://voz.us/en/society/230726/5931/spanish-athlete-melani-berges-is-left-without-a-place-at-the-paralympic-games-by-trans-athlete.html
Climate Change Hoax – latest leaflet to print at home and deliver to neighbours or forward to politicians, your new MP, your local vicar, online media and friends online.
Start a local campaign. We have over 200 leaflet ideas on the link on the leaflet.
I see the resident High Empress of the Cake Eating Brigade is still seemingly struggling to understand the difference between criticism of far-left feminist ideology and the hatred of women, and has yet to read the memo that points out that saying a cow is the same as a fish used to be the recommended way to stifle debate, but is no longer as useful since it became the go-to tactic of censorious elites, and people have strangely become very annoyed with being fed complete Orwellian BS – isn’t it interesting the type of people who use this tactic?
https://tass.com/politics/1829259
‘A massive cross-border attack on the Kursk Region began on August 6. A missile warning has been repeatedly issued in the borderline region.
Ukraine increasingly uses methods that can be called manoeuvre warfare (keen students will recall yesterdays ‘Lesson 0, Mechanised Warfare for Dummies’, on this very site) .
Nomadic enemy groups outside the bridgehead of the Armed Forces of Ukraine act in their operational (“grey”) zone, penetrating our populated areas between our combat formations (there is no continuous front line, there are defense nodes).
Taking advantage of the fact that our heterogeneous forces are involved in repelling the invasion, which do not always have established communication with each other (!), the enemy carries out a raid on a village / our stronghold, “makes noise”, after which it acts further along the flank or retreats to its rear. Thus, the enemy pulls apart our “fire brigades” and forces the Russian Armed Forces to spend all types of resources.
However, if such actions are not responded to at all, then the enemy may introduce a success development group into the gap discovered by the enemy, which is associated with understandable risks.
It should be noted that the enemy also retains the ability to act in a similar manner in the Belgorod direction.
It is important to understand that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have studied our shortcomings and features very well:
The absence of a second echelon of defense in the Kursk region, voiced after the invasion by deputy Gurulev, problems with communication and interaction between Russian units,
The presence/absence of anti-tank weapons in some of our units
The countermeasures taken by our command.’
What is really going on?
Today it is time for the second lesson in our 0 series:
Manoeuvre warfare for dummies: Lesson No. 0
The meeting engagement:
A collision of two hostile forces in motion, or the meeting of a force in motion with one which has halted but has not had time to organize a detailed position. Training strongly emphasizes this form of combat as providing the opportunity for swift and decisive offensive action.
Key factors:
The seizure and retention of the initiative.
Bold, independent action by subordinate commanders.
Prompt occupation of important terrain features.
Energetic leadership during combat.
The meeting engagement aims to achieve a quick and decisive conclusion and is to be sought whenever possible.
Tactical doctrine insists vigorously on the inherent superiority of the offense. The offensive should be resolutely taken. The object of all manoeuvre is to close quickly with the enemy. Use of the bayonet is recommended.
Even when the enemy strength is markedly superior, every effort should be made to regain the offensive and take the initiative. Even in defence, the offensive principle is strongly emphasized. Both as a result of this training and because of faith in the offensive doctrine, intelligent leaders often reach attack decisions where, by all orthodox tactics, the situation patently requires some form of defensive action.
Forms of attack
Envelopment.
Envelopment will be accompanied by a determined frontal pressure, while the main force attacks a flank. In ascending order of effectiveness, the envelopment may be single, double, or a complete encirclement.
The energetic commander will often try a double envelopment without any considerable numerical superiority and regard it as possible, sometimes, even by an inferior force which relies on surprise and deception.
Frontal attack
The time element, or the fear of allowing the enemy leisure to improve his position, often is permitted to justify a questionable decision to make a frontal attack.
https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1823852307341295702?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
‘“When [the village of] Guevo was captured, the boys who were surrounded texted their mothers, begging for help. But we can’t get through to [the Defense Ministry hotline in] Moscow at all. The enlistment offices just tell us, ‘What nonsense are you talking about? They’re not there, their phones were just taken away.’ Basically, they’re treating us like we’re idiots. The hospital in Kursk won’t give us any information; they say they don’t have time, there are too many wounded,”
What’s really going on?
A senator close to the Federation Council’s Defense Committee:
“The Defense Ministry says one thing, and we publicly relay that, but meanwhile we’re all reading the war correspondents who are tearing into [General Staff Chief Valery] Gerasimov and saying we weren’t even monitoring the situation in the [Kursk] region for the first two days…….It’s reached the point of absurdity…..the mood [among the authorities] has become very anxious.”
“Kursk is less than 500 kilometers from Moscow……..The fighting is very close — people are suffering and evacuating just a few hours’ drive from Moscow…….more alarming than the one in the Belgorod region.”
One of the Russian government’s takeaways from the Kursk incursion is the need to “prepare more stress-resistant governors,” according to a government official who attended the Kremlin’s “School of Governors” training program and the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.
The official said that acting Kursk Governor Alexey Smirnov is “coping fine” with the situation but that he “did get flustered with Putin” in the president’s televised security meeting on Monday. (Putin interrupted Smirnov when he began talking about the scale of Ukraine’s incursion.)
Additionally, Ukraine’s new offensive could eventually result in criminal cases against civilian officials and security and military officers for allowing the breach, two sources familiar with the situation told Verstka.
On August 13, the Russian media reported that Alexander Shmatkov, the acting head of the Kursk regional administration, had resigned from his post.
‘Send not to know, For whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.’
Funny that Russia was mocked for an attack on Kiev (just 200km from the border) with 40,000 troops but Ukraine is lauded for for its attack with just 12,000 troops (down to less than 10,000 now) “just” 500km from Moscow.
Ere, Monro… “what’s really going on?”… If you want to know I seriously suggest you Google Scott Ritter and see what he says about Ukraine/Russia
Loving the humour.
In the years following the Iraq war, observers have become increasingly alarmed at Scott Ritter for his positions and statements regarding other geopolitical matters, particularly his views on Russia and Vladimir Putin.
While he did have subject area knowledge with respect to weapons of mass destruction, he did not have academic and job experience in broad foreign policy.
Consequently, when Putin invaded Ukraine, he was badly found out, predicting that Ukraine would quickly be overwhelmed.
The recent Ukrainian invasion of Russia has only served to make Ritter even more of a joke figure.
If I want cartoon characters, I’ll stick with Disney……
More cut and paste, your level of delusion is really something else
You obviously haven’t even looked at the link, Russia haven’t even considered to be at “war”… Until now.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Colloquial-English-Non-Native-Speakers-Complete/dp/0415299535
https://youtu.be/LQqosL7uzI4?si=K2URd4vMklONe0nO
Nato invaded Russia….
Mass destruction awaits Ukraine
https://tass.com/society/1829309
What’s really going on?
“Putin’s toolbox is small, that is, everyone saw what state he is in, he is really in a state of shock, he does not know what commands to give, because Gerasimov, the chief of the general staff, simply failed this situation.
He simply demonstrated that he cannot really adequately assess the situation and reported to Putin that everything is fine, everything is under control and even his last report in the first days of the start of the Kursk operation, he reported that only a thousand Ukrainian servicemen had crossed over, 700 had been killed, and there were remnants running through the forests and so on.
That is, the reports are very similar to what happened to Putin in February-March of 2022, when they started fleeing from the Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy regions,”
Mykhailo Samus, on the basis of various data, assumed that Putin could entrust control over the situation in the Kursk region to people from his immediate environment.
“Dyumin and Zolotov are the closest people to Putin, and there was information that Putin allegedly instructed Dyumin and Zolotov to coordinate precisely the counter-terrorist operation.
Different information is coming, now they seem to deny that Dyumin and Zolotov were instructed to coordinate this counter-terrorist operation, but in fact now Putin does not know what to do.
Gerasimov is given the command to continue the offensive in Donbas, perhaps Dyumin, Zolotov will be assigned to coordinate the counter-terrorist operation in the Kursk region, but what to do next, if there are not enough reserves, he cannot withdraw even one division from Donbas in order to somehow to neutralize the threat of the advance of Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region,”
Your link to Tass appears to be incorrect, which is hardly surprising since no serious (Russian) newspaper would write such nonsense.
Are you trying to make some sort of point or are you just concerned with word count?
Somebody seems to be paying by the word for quantity rather than quality.
The ability to generate word salad is much applauded by those with the inability to think for themselves.
Res ipsa loquitur
I am afraid that doesn’t make sense in any context here.
https://archive.org/details/revisedlatinprim00kenniala
I did Latin at O level. The problem is not what it means but what you mean.
It has very particular interpretations in law – that the mere occurrence of some types of accident is sufficient to imply negligence or that the facts are so obvious a party does not need to explain any more.
Since you deliberately quote opinion as fact then neither apply.
https://www.naturalreaders.com/software.html
In a spirit of helpfulness, for those keen students who struggle with the written word…..
it is not the reading we are struggling with, it is your inability to express yourself concisely and cogently.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/style-guide/capitalization
Are really that desperate to score a point? OK you win that one, Enjoy your victory.
Pathetic.
We had peaceful protests in response to more than one atrocity, some of which turned into riots for a couple of days – a phenomenon familiar to everyone from BLM or the riots in 2011. Short sharp justice for those arrested for violence was, and is, a potent calmer of tempers (“the magistrate does not bear the sword in vain”).
What we see now, though, is an ongoiung trawl through surveillance footage, social media and who knows what other illegal delving to purge an entire nation of its dissidence against State imposition. It is clear to me that the authorities have learned directly from the US Deep State and Democratic party’s handling of the J6 event. They turned it into a fake insurrection, and shoved innocent working people into indefinite solitary confinement on remand since then, in order to force them into plea deals admitting guilt and confirming the terrorism false narrative. Did you hear the head of the FBI recently saying how 800 people (or whatever) had pleaded guilty – who wouldn’t when after three years in jail without trial they’re told to make a deal or be banged up for twenty years?
There was rioting in the UK, There was damage. There was never any threat to the civil order… not least because actual peaceful politically motivated demonstrations outside Downing Street were shut down by arresting all and sundry. But the ongoing determination to “give them nowhere to hide” is all about turning half the nation into potential insurrectionists, just as was (and is) the case in America.
Elon Musk Video a chink of light in an otherwise very very dark world.
Oh I don’t know, we have DS people criticising Liz Truss despite the fact that she was in office for just forty seven days and half of those were spent in official mourning.
Ignorance is
bliss.
Yes, I’m confident that if we adjust for time spent as PM then we’d see that the likes of Johnson, Sunak and Starmer have all demonstrated far superior levels of leadership, with way less negative outcomes, then that useless woman Truss could ever muster.
But “haters gonna hate”, right?
“Arrest warrant for Ukrainian over Nord Stream pipeline bombings” – A Ukrainian diving instructor is the first person to be charged by the German prosecutors investigating the bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, according to Politico.
Is he a member of Just Stop Oil?
“Trudeau Government tells Canadians to prepare for virus worse than Covid”
Great comment from the public on “sloth fever” now touted as the new emergency virus:
“Sloth Fever has been with us in employment figures for a while…”
“‘Not funny’: Liz Truss says lettuce stunt crosses the line”
I thought it was hilarious, and very well deserved.
“Judge suggests rioters could face 10-year sentences”
Does he mean the Black Lives Matter rioters from 2020, and the Gaza Palestinian rioters, and the Just Stop Oil rioters, all of whom have caused criminal damage?
Crucially, those you name are ‘protesters’ only the far right riot…
I hate to disappoint but the AI that generated the Trusk video is falible, jus=dging by its inability to render the back of Trump’s coat in a consistent colour towards the end of the video.