stephen
@stephenlondoner
Londoner, Brit, father, acknowledging that the past is a foreign country they do things differently there. History, politics, sport, defence, economics, law
A campaign to ensure children are trained to be approached by strangers to go into a toilet. This seems, how can I say it, unwise. Is this endorsed by @BBC ? swlondoner.co.uk/news/23072025-…
Let’s imagine UK brought in a 3% wealth tax on assets above £10M, someone earning £300k, with a £20M business, would be required to pay £424k in tax—141% of their income! With £10M taxable at 3% (£300k) plus income tax/NICs (£124k), they would need to sell assets to cover it. As…
In November 2023, ahead of Argentina’s presidential election, over 100 economists from around the world, including prominent figures like Thomas Piketty (France), Jayati Ghosh (University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA), Branko Milanović (CUNY Graduate Center, USA), and José…
We don’t trust children to take out a mortgage, credit card or personal loan gamble or buy a lottery ticket. We can’t send children to gaol. So we don’t trust kids to take financial decisions but @UKLabour believe they can take financial decisions for others by voting. It’s…
If I was politically advising the @Conservatives I would say advocate to get rid of the pension triple lock as a key policy and add a few really heavy money saving measures such as end the crazy motorbility scheme. On the face this will be unpopular but would seem sage when the…
The talk of wealth taxes is doing the same job of creating fear that last year’s talking down the economy and reference to black holes and taxes rises did - @UKLabour is creating uncertainty. People are fearful to spend and fearful to invest - @Keir_Starmer and @RachelReevesMP…
🚨 The UK equity market throws up some odd anomalies : FRP Advisory’s pretax profit soared ~1079% from £2.8m (2020) to £33m (2025), yet its share price barely budged (~24% up from 100p to 123.8p). Revenue doubled too! 📈 Why no love for small-cap gems? 🤔 #UKStocks #FRP How…
Just stumbled upon the family watching something on @Netflix -it is set in America - a whole bunch of mixed race couples wearing 1950s fashion and then dancing the Charleston - the deliberate grounding in postmodern unreality like Bridgerton - I hate it with a passion - the…
Astute comment from Matthew Parris: ‘It is this creature’s [the Labour party] misfortune to be put in charge at a point in history when the state is trying to do more than can be afforded, and the country needs a leader able to explain persuasively that expectation must be…
Pound down Gilt yields up House builders and banks down Well done rebel Labour MPs - I have a morbid fascination with what more harm they will do - shame they are in charge of our future. The attitude of total insouciance to more borrowing and unaffordable infinite…
Rachel Reeves is about to stop the use of cash Issas. Unexpectedly, I agree with her. If £1,000 was invested 10 years ago (July 2015): • In an average UK bank account (1.25% annual interest), it would be worth £1,131.41 in July 2025. • In the CT UK Equity Income Fund as an…
Are there any non-manifesto unexpected progressive killings which this Parliament might have in store for us just so I can steal myself? Obviously this will not include killing people who might deserve it like paedophiles and murderers - that would be terribly…
A £1,000 deposit in a UK savings account with an average interest rate of ~1.8% p.a. would grow to approximately £1,093.40 over five years, assuming interest is reinvested and ignoring taxes. If someone invested £1,000 in a FTSE tracker over the same period such as VUKE the…
Conservatives Aphra Brandreth, Caroline Dinenage, Luke Evans, Kit Malthouse, Andrew Mitchell, Neil Shastri-Hurst, Ben Spencer & Laura Trott voted for the abortion bill, which decriminalises women ending their own pregnancies up to full term - effectively legalising murder given…
We go live to @AngelaRayner as she ‘fixes’ the UK economy by adding another £5bn in employment law claims to the struggling UK private sector…
Under the new EU Gibraltar deal British people will not be able to visit Gibraltar for more than 90 days, what an extraordinarily weird government this Labour administration is turning out to be. Why do they hate the UK so much?
The UK government pays out over 200k in pension payments for the average man assuming average life expectancy. Unfortunately this is a Ponzi scheme as there are no assets to cover the government’s liabilities and as our demographics shift more and more people are retiring and…
A narrative seem to have emerged that investing in the UK FTSE is a mistake. People are right to be concerned about performance since the GFC. Things are changing: If you invested £1000 in each of Barclays, Lloyds, NatWest, HSBC, and Rolls-Royce on January 3, 2024, your…
If this is fixing the foundations (Trade Mark - Rachel Reeves) I wonder what the opposite is ?
Ouch - provisional HMRC PAYE data suggest that payroll employment fell by 109,000 in May 🙄 This is what happens when an incoming government makes it much more expensive to employ people... #economics101