Well I did warn you. Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng, British Chancellor, are free marketeers. The fact that they co-wrote a book together called ‘Britannia Unchained’ did engender thoughts of a fiscal Quentin Tarantino moment but I did not anticipate the scale of the convulsions in British markets or indeed the gyrations in the value of sterling.
When the Chancellor introduced his inappropriately named Mini -Budget I admit to being taken aback by his audacity. I can to a degree see the logic of what he is doing but the manner in which he did it is certainly ill-timed. For the moment it is too soon to judge whether these radical measures will work but as far as the British Labour Party is concerned they had an opportunity to capitalise on market jitters and for the first time Keir Starmer looked like an alternative Prime Minister. However, you can always rely on idiots to upset what should have been a most desired high point for Labour. Rupa Huq, Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton, appearing at a fringe event at the Labour Party Conference described the Chancellor as “superficially black”. Unfortunately for Labour an audio clip of her remarks were then published on the Guido Fawkes website just before Sir Keir made his speech. Rupa Huq has now been suspended from sitting as a Labour MP. Sir Keir wanted to look decisive. However, returning to the UK economy, we should take no pleasure from the UK difficulties because, despite Brexit, our 2 economies are interlinked. I do business in the UK and I have already encountered problems arising from recent events. So, like many, I am hoping that the recent intervention by the Bank of England will calm markets. Nobody likes uncertainly.
So as I put pen to paper Vlad the Bad is going to formally annex 4 territories of Ukraine into Russia. In the west we may see this as a joke where the referendum results are seen as illegal and illegitimate. However, Vlad has an entirely different perspective. It means that in his own twisted mind he can regard any Ukrainian attacks on these territories as an attack on Russia. This allows him to widen the conflict and more importantly argue that Nato countries by supplying weapons to Ukraine are now contributing directly to an attack on Russia. This may seem perverse but in Vlad’s world it is the absolute truth. What is particularly menacing about all of this is it is leading to a very real threat of the use of tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield. What we have to understand about Putin is that he is without conscience and he has no boundaries. Look at his almost certain bombing on the Nord Stream pipelines. This is an extension of his deliberate destruction of infrastructures in Ukraine. Don’t think we are immune. What about our gas connection to Scotland and all those trans-Atlantic cables.