Good Morning Britain - Boris Johnson Interview

[Tito Fuente]

Re: Good Morning Britain - Boris Johnson Interview

I don't disagree with you.

Glad we got there. Windfall tax to sort it out short term and larger taxation to sort out long term.

I'm willing to bet that we'll get neither and just some more shrugging from our masters who tell us there's nothing they can do.

[lardy]

Re: Good Morning Britain - Boris Johnson Interview

It's about finding a solution. I dont think you or others want to help her. I think you want to use her for your political benefit.

The energy cap recently went up 50%. That's a serious rise. But her bills (from £17 to £85) have gone up 500%. Ten times the rate. That doesn't strike you as odd?

I'm using her for my political benefit?

Who do you think I am? Don't worry, I'm not getting going to be getting any political benefit from this conversation.


I don't know why her bill went up so much. But this is one of Britain's highest profile journalists on the second leading TV channel doing an extended live interview with the PM and I would expect them to fact check their questions because of journalistic integrity. I'm afraid I'm not going to fact check it myself as I've no idea who Elsie is, so until we hear otherwise let's "take this at face value" (as you said about Elsie 20 minutes ago).

[JamesWales]

Re: Good Morning Britain - Boris Johnson Interview

Are benefits different in England?
You do know the cost of living crisis isn't just in England too, right?

Yes, I'm just wondering, because local councils and the WG can allocate resources however they like and could choose to prioritise greater support for bills if they so wished. I understand why they don't, but they could do so.

[JamesWales]

Re: Good Morning Britain - Boris Johnson Interview

I'm using her for my political benefit?

Who do you think I am? Don't worry, I'm not getting going to be getting any political benefit from this conversation.


I don't know why her bill went up so much. But this is one of Britain's highest profile journalists on the second leading TV channel doing an extended live interview with the PM and I would expect them to fact check their questions because of journalistic integrity. I'm afraid I'm not going to fact check it myself as I've no idea who Elsie is, so until we hear otherwise let's "take this at face value" (as you said about Elsie 20 minutes ago).

I think that might be part of the issue here...

[Tito Fuente]

Re: Good Morning Britain - Boris Johnson Interview

I don't disagree with you. And I appreciate here we are talking about the providers not the suppliers but bear in mind numerous energy companies recently went bust, which is the cause of the increase in the standing charge for gas and electricity.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/20...e-on-the-agony

If the oil companies are paying their fair share of tax the suppliers can be subsidised.

Companies should not be making billions of dollars annually while working folk struggle to put the heating on.

The answer is to get them to pay for it. How can they say no?

[Tito Fuente]

Re: Good Morning Britain - Boris Johnson Interview

Yes, I'm just wondering, because local councils and the WG can allocate resources however they like and could choose to prioritise greater support for bills if they so wished. I understand why they don't, but they could do so.

What resources could they allocate, for example?

[lardy]

Re: Good Morning Britain - Boris Johnson Interview

I think that might be part of the issue here...

She has form for correcting her own mistakes, so if she's made one in this very high profile interview, I expect her to retract it.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/tv/itv-good-morning-britains-susanna-23403212

Until then...

[JamesWales]

Re: Good Morning Britain - Boris Johnson Interview

What resources could they allocate, for example?

Thats up to them. But Cardiff Council for example could increase council taxes at all levels and then reallocate support for those on lower incomes. Or they could rise parking prices, or shop rates etc. WG could allocate less funding to one area and concentrate it on helping the people in question.

Tough choice, no doubt, but doable.

[jon1959]

Re: Good Morning Britain - Boris Johnson Interview

Buses I use get have the bloody windows open because of Welsh Gov Covid advise , best Elsie stays in England on their warmer buses .

The 'bloody windows' are open on English buses too.

Turns out good ventilation is sensible in all parts of the UK.

[JamesWales]

Re: Good Morning Britain - Boris Johnson Interview

Glad we got there. Windfall tax to sort it out short term and larger taxation to sort out long term.

I'm willing to bet that we'll get neither and just some more shrugging from our masters who tell us there's nothing they can do.

They have 'limited' the price cap and provided £150 to lower income homes, so that isn't nothing but I take your point.

The reality is until the market stabilises there probably is little they can do. Unfortunately wars do cause things like this.

Like I said, I'm open to the idea of a windfall tax, I can just recognise the issue comes with pros and cons, especially when considering things in the long term.

Short term decisions aren't always the best - look at Germanys short termism on nuclear. The result has been high prices and funding a despots war.

Thankfully UK gas wholesale prices are the lowest since september, which is better news.

https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/uk-natural-gas

[Tito Fuente]

Re: Good Morning Britain - Boris Johnson Interview

They have 'limited' the price cap and provided £150 to lower income homes, so that isn't nothing but I take your point.

The reality is until the market stabilises there probably is little they can do. Unfortunately wars do cause things like this.

Like I said, I'm open to the idea of a windfall tax, I can just recognise the issue comes with pros and cons, especially when considering things in the long term.

Short term decisions aren't always the best - look at Germanys short termism on nuclear. The result has been high prices and funding a despots war.

Thankfully UK gas wholesale prices are the lowest since september, which is better news.
https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/uk-natural-gas

Limited the price cap :hehe: Oh, come on. For a lot of people the energy prices may as well be £1,000 p/m for as good as it does them.

£150 isn't nothing, you're right. It's a slap in the face and, what's that term you keep using... A short term solution.

I don't know why you're just throwing all short term solutions together as if they somehow correspond.

As we stand today there are millions of people unable to afford to live on a basic level whilst oil companies are showing unheard of profits.

I'm not sure how the outcome of taxing them more/a windfall tax could be worse than the British public literally starving and freezing - which they are doing.

Maybe they could be starving and freezing and sat uncomfortably.

[JamesWales]

Re: Good Morning Britain - Boris Johnson Interview

Limited the price cap :hehe: Oh, come on. For a lot of people the energy prices may as well be £1,000 p/m for as good as it does them.

£150 isn't nothing, you're right. It's a slap in the face and, what's that term you keep using... A short term solution.

I don't know why you're just throwing all short term solutions together as if they somehow correspond.

As we stand today there are millions of people unable to afford to live on a basic level whilst oil companies are showing unheard of profits.

I'm not sure how the outcome of taxing them more/a windfall tax could be worse than the British public literally starving and freezing - which they are doing.

Maybe they could be starving and freezing and sat uncomfortably.

I'm confused. You are angry at this ladies 500% increase, but then don't seem to recognise that the 50% price cap mitigates rises at all, recognising that the 50% price cap has also led to numerous companies going bust?

Do you want the price cap or not? Or do you want it to be far less, in which case we wouldnt be talking about tax rises on oil companies at all, cos the good old british taxpayer would just cover it, or better still, we could borrow the difference and pass the problem onto our kids.

The fact is, unless she was on an exceptional deal at £17 a month (Which she likely was) no ones bills should have gone up 500%. If they have, then something is up and she should seek support or help. There's thousands of examples of this every day, I'm not sure what good it is landing it at the PM's door.

It just sounds to me that you aren't that interested in a genuine recognition of the issues to trying to get to the bottom of it, you just want a sensational story to bash the PM with.

Surely otherwise you would recognise a 500% increase when the cap is 50% sounds very suspicious, no?

Again, I don't necessarily disagree with you on a windfall tax, but you are no energy expert and neither am I, but i recognise that decisions need to be made in the long term as well as short term.

[Eric Cartman]

Re: Good Morning Britain - Boris Johnson Interview

I'm getting the classic 'you can't increase taxes on rich people, they will leave' vibes here. Here is the reality, in a time of need, if you don't increase or enforce taxes on super wealthy people and corporations then people like Elsie (imaginary or not) get wrung out like a cloth until there isn't a drop left.

And if you constantly parrot these tropes when anybody suggests a solution that involves super wealthy people and corporations paying a bit more, then you might as well be wringing Elsie's neck yourself.

If you don't like the truth you will lean on another of the rights favourite get out clauses when they **** people over, 'stop using x for political gain'

This is a strange hill for you to choose to die on James. Without a shadow of a doubt, the 150 quid rebate and 200 quid loan is not coming close to covering the average rise in the cost of living and yet instead of acknowledging that lots of people will be struggling, your first move is to laser in on the credibility of the anecdote in the interview. Also, you couldn't be any more transparent in your fence sitting on a windfall tax if you tried. Let me guess, you lean to oppose it now but if the government decide it's a good idea then you are ready to spring back in the other direction? That's a big surprise.

As for you LOM, embarrassing once again. I am glad someone pointed out how stupid it is to 1) blame and 2) sacrifice investment into green energy. The UK could be powered by green energy and fully self-sufficient, it chooses not to be, because of people like you.

[life on mars]

Re: Good Morning Britain - Boris Johnson Interview

Presumably, that 80 year old also remembers a time when she could afford to heat her entire house.

No they could not afford it as the country was in real poverty , folk would live and sleep in one or two rooms ,
and like it or not its a lot better now where you can get radiators in rooms and double glazing , inside toilets, cars etc etc .

Like it or not we have moved on as a society

and it wasn't Boris's fault

[JamesWales]

Re: Good Morning Britain - Boris Johnson Interview

I'm getting the classic 'you can't increase taxes on rich people, they will leave' vibes here. Here is the reality, in a time of need, if you don't increase or enforce taxes on super wealthy people and corporations then people like Elsie (imaginary or not) get wrung out like a cloth until there isn't a drop left.

And if you constantly parrot these tropes when anybody suggests a solution that involves super wealthy people and corporations paying a bit more, then you might as well be wringing Elsie's neck yourself.

If you don't like the truth you will lean on another of the rights favourite get out clauses when they **** people over, 'stop using x for political gain'

This is a strange hill for you to choose to die on James. Without a shadow of a doubt, the 150 quid rebate and 200 quid loan is not coming close to covering the average rise in the cost of living and yet instead of acknowledging that lots of people will be struggling, your first move is to laser in on the credibility of the anecdote in the interview. Also, you couldn't be any more transparent in your fence sitting on a windfall tax if you tried. Let me guess, you lean to oppose it now but if the government decide it's a good idea then you are ready to spring back in the other direction? That's a big surprise.

As for you LOM, embarrassing once again. I am glad someone pointed out how stupid it is to 1) blame and 2) sacrifice investment into green energy. The UK could be powered by green energy and fully self-sufficient, it chooses not to be, because of people like you.

I've not chosen to die on this hill. What I'm doing is pointing out that the energy price cap is 50% and this ladies bills have supposedly risen 500% and therefore there may be something more to this story.

I also point out that slapping a windfall tax on energy producers may be a bad decision in the long run. It's not just me saying that - I am merely listening to experts in the field as opposed to those trying to win local elections on Thursday.

I have also said I am open to the idea of a windfall tax anyway - I just recognise it's no silver bullet.

What I don't buy is that somehow the fact that this womans bills have risen 500% is all down to the government. Thats an argument I would expect Labour activists to make in the run up to an election (or Tory activists if the roles were reversed) but I don't think it's conducive to a particularly interesting or enlightening debate.

The reality is if you want to solve these problems in the long run they need to be properly understood which is what we should all be trying to do, no? Just saying "slap a windfall tax on them" may not work.

The reality is war is f-ing shit. 99% of the shitness is borne by people in warzones, but it does screw over certain industries, and energy production is one of them.

We need a solution, but a windfall tax may not be the solution.