Friday 27th January 2023

[refitman]

Morning all.

[gilsey]

Good morning.


Thanks to sky for the QT review, as usual I saw a few minutes and it was indeed very dull, to the point where Jake Berry's spectacular own goal garnered.... tumbleweed.

out the blue he did say something interesting. Did you know (according to Jake, I haven't looked this up yet) that the wealth disparity between the North and South of England is now worse than the disparity between East and West Germany at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall? An interesting thing for Jake to highlight.

I wondered who the fifth panel member should have been.

[frog222]

Morning refit

@Sky -- thankyou for the Report , as always a good read

NZ News -- top-level power-broking involving deals of several hundreds of $'s mn --

Nadhim Zahawi earned at least £1.3 million from interests in Kurdistan after cultivating close links with a powerful regional family, at the same time as he sought to shape Britain’s foreign policy in the area.

The Conservative Party chairman, whose career is in the balance after revelations about his tax affairs, is now facing questions over the sums he made as a “fixer” for oil companies in the disputed region, while he was an MP.

Zahawi, who was born in Iraq, developed friendships with power brokers in the Barzani family, one of two tribes that dominate Kurdish politics, and became known as the “go-to consultant for companies wishing to gain access to the Barzani clan”.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/nadh ... -jc2pzk92f

Dan Neidle, a tax lawyer and founder of Tax Policy Associates whose work initially raised awareness of the Zahawi family finances, said: “The fact that an MP’s family can receive £30m of unsecured loans I find incredible. Those loans could be from Elvis for all we know. But it is a fact that a person or persons unknown has loaned the Zahawi family £30m and we don’t get to know who.”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... ty-company

[frog222]

I watched a bit of that Sky interview, Zelenskiy was very diplomatic, cool --

” Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has delivered a blow to Boris Johnson’s comeback bid, saying he could not support him returning as prime minister.

Days after Mr Johnson’s trip to Kyiv, Mr Zelensky was quizzed about his relationship with the former PM, who he described as a “true friend” during his final days in office.

Mr Johnson was one of the most vocal backers of Ukraine on the world stage after the Russian invasion began last year, and since leaving No 10 he has continued to offer support to Mr Zelensky.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 69639.html

[AnatolyKasparov]

I wondered who the fifth panel member should have been.

I think they have had a few episodes with four panellists recently. And tbh four should be enough, as it was for much of the programme's existence.

[frog222]

From Pierrotlunaire at the LB

Why are the Tories obsessed with repaying the national debt? It's estimated to be £2.1 trillion, or £2,100 billion.

What makes up the national debt?

Around £200 billion is National Savings and Investments (premium bonds etc).

Do we want to repay this?

Around £400 billion is owned by foreign governments. Because foreign government need sterling to guarantee their ability to trade.

Do we need to repay this?

£800 billion of national debt owned by the UK government through quantitative easing. The Bank of England buys back government debt with new money.

You can't repay this - the government owes itself, and effectively is cancelled.

£900 billion owned by UK banks and building societies. Created by the central bank. Are they a liability? Can they be repaid? Only if the government decides to issue new bonds.

That's about £1.4 billion.

The rest? Owned by pension funds, financial institutions, etc. Do want to repay them? Undermine pension funds? Undermine personal savings? Undermine international trade?

Near enough every penny of the national debt serves a really useful function inside the UK economy.

We don't need to repay the national debt. We don't need austerity.

Don't take my word for it. Here's the definitive account.

https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/202 ... onal-debt/

[frog222]

On everyday life in Ukraine, talking to people, objectivity and questioning .... but not neutrality --

[AnatolyKasparov]

"Objectivity and neutrality are not the same thing" should be driven home in all journalism classes.

[RogerOThornhill]

Good evening.

Oops.

[gilsey]

I don't think we expected much of Jenny Harries, so we shouldn't be disappointed.

https://www.nao.org.uk/press-releases/d ... s-2021-22/

Some 'highlights':

Gareth Davies, the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) and head of the National Audit Office (NAO), has today issued a qualified audit opinion on the 2021-22 accounts of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). A lack of sufficient, appropriate audit evidence and significant shortcomings in financial control and governance meant he was unable to provide an audit opinion on the accounts of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)..........

The C&AG could not sign off on transactions related to UKHSA in DHSC’s accounts. He has issued a “disclaimer of opinion” on UKHSA’s own accounts, meaning he was unable to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence upon which to form an audit opinion......

Critical elements of internal control were not in place during UKHSA’s first six months, for example, UKHSA did not carry out effective bank reconciliations.......

Also

For the Department of Health and Social Care’s group accounts, the C&AG was unable to obtain the evidence needed to support £1.36bn of stock, due to issues related to inventory management. DHSC did not complete an effective programme of year-end stock counts to verify the quantity and quality of items including PPE and lateral flow tests, as it was unable to access 5 billion items (which cost £2.9bn) that were stored in containers, and did not have adequate processes in place for accessible stock held in warehouses.

DHSC estimates that there has been a £6bn reduction in the value of items procured in response to the pandemic. This comprises:

£2.5bn write-down on items costing £11.2bn4 that DHSC has already purchased, but no longer expects to use, or for which the market price is now lower than the price paid.
£3.5bn write-down on PPE, vaccines and medication which DHSC has committed to purchase, but no longer expects to use.
Taken together with the £8.9bn written-down in its 2020-21 accounts, over the last two financial years, DHSC has now reported £14.9bn of write-down costs related to PPE and other items.