Reply to: In Liz We..

[malvolio]

It's a poison chalice job nowadays. You get in and just pray to god there isn't going to be some international or global incident. A war, pandemic whatever. No PM has ever managed a extraordinary event like this and come out smelling of roses. It's not like gov is trained in things like this so they'll thrash about, do the best they can which won't please a good vocal majority whatever they do and down they fall. Hard to say who is a good/bad PM because they are having to deal with unprecedented times where there is no right answer. Why someone actually wants to do that job is beyond me.

And if you do manage those situations successfully, a bunch of over-entitled nonentities will get you sacked for being in close proximity to a cake...

[jamesbrown]

Indeed, have none of you watched GoT.

[SueEllen]

It's a poison chalice job nowadays. You get in and just pray to god there isn't going to be some international or global incident. A war, pandemic whatever. No PM has ever managed a extraordinary event like this and come out smelling of roses. It's not like gov is trained in things like this so they'll thrash about, do the best they can which won't please a good vocal majority whatever they do and down they fall. Hard to say who is a good/bad PM because they are having to deal with unprecedented times where there is no right answer. Why someone actually wants to do that job is beyond me.

POWER!!

[northernladuk]

I doff my cap to anyone who has what it takes to manage the bag of ferrets that make up democratic governments these days. Boris is/was a great leader who got smothered by the Pandemic and Russian special operation but still coped and Liz will take things forward and succeed even in the teeth of the carping from our legions of armchair generals.

It's a poison chalice job nowadays. You get in and just pray to god there isn't going to be some international or global incident. A war, pandemic whatever. No PM has ever managed a extraordinary event like this and come out smelling of roses. It's not like gov is trained in things like this so they'll thrash about, do the best they can which won't please a good vocal majority whatever they do and down they fall. Hard to say who is a good/bad PM because they are having to deal with unprecedented times where there is no right answer. Why someone actually wants to do that job is beyond me.

[mattster]

Right. However, I don't think anyone (currently, in the UK context) is talking about a price cap without a funding source. It will be funded either by: 1) the taxpayer; or 2) the billpayer (over a protracted period) with the immediate source probably coming from gov't backed loans. They cannot simply freeze the wholesale price of gas (the "nuclear option") without funding it. But one upside of freezing the wholesale price of gas is that there would be no need for a broader windfall tax on electricity generators. Ultimately, though, someone needs to pay for it (taxpayer, billpayer or generators or some combination of these) and, separately, we need to reduce demand.

A windfall tax is a third "funding source" and by far the most sensible one IMO. The money we are spending on energy bills isn't disappearing into the void - it is going into the pockets of the energy companies. A simple 100% tax on energy profits until the end of the war in Ukraine will sort it out - what we are seeing now is on a par with war profiteering. Also a change in the contracts for existing green energy companies to remove the link between electricity price and gas prices. It is absurd that providers of solar and wind power are enjoying a 500% increase in rates whilst people are starting to starve. Lots of options, if govt are willing to explore them.

[dsc]

I doff my cap to anyone who has what it takes to manage the bag of ferrets that make up democratic governments these days. Boris is/was a great leader who got smothered by the Pandemic and Russian special operation but still coped and Liz will take things forward and succeed even in the teeth of the carping from our legions of armchair generals.

[tazdevil]

After the worst PM ever, we now have the worst PM ever. To be succeeded in a couple of years (maybe) by the worst PM ever.

I doff my cap to anyone who has what it takes to manage the bag of ferrets that make up democratic governments these days. Boris is/was a great leader who got smothered by the Pandemic and Russian special operation but still coped and Liz will take things forward and succeed even in the teeth of the carping from our legions of armchair generals.

[NigelJK]

Surely the headline should be "All Trussed Up"?

The National Truss - Support for everyone?

[Paddy]

How many people think of this when the hear Truss?

[SueEllen]

After the worst PM ever, we now have the worst PM ever. To be succeeded in a couple of years (maybe) by the worst PM ever.

We may get a Labour government and do a US so we get the most boring (and senile looking) PM ever.

[NotAllThere]

After the worst PM ever, we now have the worst PM ever. To be succeeded in a couple of years (maybe) by the worst PM ever.

[jamesbrown]

I keep saying to everyone talking about price caps, read about the French EDF, they pretty much went bust due to being forced to sell well below market price, then gov had to step in and bail them out. I agree that lowering demand is the only sensible option, but it must be done at top level and has to be serious, otherwise people will be sitting in their homes "heated up" to 16degC, doing washing once a month and still paying twice as much as they were last year.

Right. However, I don't think anyone (currently, in the UK context) is talking about a price cap without a funding source. It will be funded either by: 1) the taxpayer; or 2) the billpayer (over a protracted period) with the immediate source probably coming from gov't backed loans. They cannot simply freeze the wholesale price of gas (the "nuclear option") without funding it. But one upside of freezing the wholesale price of gas is that there would be no need for a broader windfall tax on electricity generators. Ultimately, though, someone needs to pay for it (taxpayer, billpayer or generators or some combination of these) and, separately, we need to reduce demand.

[dsc]

On energy, there needs to be a serious effort to reduce demand too. A more sensible price cap would factor that in somehow, perhaps putting a cap on unit costs below a certain usage, but that is more complicated and doesn't really deal with the problem of businesses. But including all households and all businesses in an unconditional price cap is going to be really expensive and won't address demand (rather, the opposite). Price is one issue. Limited supply (blackouts etc.) is a different one.

I keep saying to everyone talking about price caps, read about the French EDF, they pretty much went bust due to being forced to sell well below market price, then gov had to step in and bail them out. I agree that lowering demand is the only sensible option, but it must be done at top level and has to be serious, otherwise people will be sitting in their homes "heated up" to 16degC, doing washing once a month and still paying twice as much as they were last year.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Worry not, probably not "hasta la vista, baby" but more like:

[jamesbrown]

On energy, there needs to be a serious effort to reduce demand too. A more sensible price cap would factor that in somehow, perhaps putting a cap on unit costs below a certain usage, but that is more complicated and doesn't really deal with the problem of businesses. But including all households and all businesses in an unconditional price cap is going to be really expensive and won't address demand (rather, the opposite). Price is one issue. Limited supply (blackouts etc.) is a different one.