We are halfway through autumn and winter is approaching fast. Many in Britain are watching their smart meters and worrying about paying for gas and electricity this winter. My energy account is in credit, so I don’t have to worry. I shall keep monitoring my usage and expect I will have to pay a lot for gas in the colder months. The media keep telling us that energy costs have doubled but I’m paying triple for gas now compared to last winter. The big questions are will government support continue past next April and will energy prices even be lower than they are now again?
Ukraine
We are all suffering because of the war in Ukraine. What does Russia export that we need? Apart from oil and gas, they produce nothing we can’t get elsewhere so even when the war is over we should limit trade with Russia and Belarus. We need to strengthen our democracies and our economies and use that strength to combat aggression and tyranny. If we transition to carbon-neutral we can tell Russia what they can do with their fossil fuels.
Editing, writing and photography.
I have been doing some writing and editing this week but I didn’t get around to doing any photography. I usually try to go out on a Sunday which is good for my mental health and I get a little exercise. It is going to be a rainy day today but I have been known to take photos in between the showers. I will try to go out today. Images can look quite different if taken on a wet day. Reflections can make an image look more interesting. It can be tricky because a building will look a deeper colour, the red brick will be a deeper red and light will be reflected differently off the wet surface. I don’t think the cloud will lift today so I’ll set the white balance accordingly.
Next Prime Minister?
The Conservative party is choosing a new leader who will become the next Prime Minister of the UK. I suspect that talks are doing on to prevent someone as incompetent as the last Tory leader from even joining the contest this time around. It appears Sunak and Johnson have formed a coalition or done some kind of deal so they grab all the votes and stop anyone else from joining the contest. Maybe then, one of them will drop out leaving a clear way for the other. I suspect Rishi Sunak will become the next Prime Minister. It will be interesting to see how they restore faith in the government. The markets are still down and the pound is at around $1.12. It is possible that investment will return to the market under Rishi Sunak, in which case we could see some stocks soar. He needs to make it clear that there is be no windfall taxes or make it clear what they will be. Restoring confidence in banks would be a good start. Rumours of windfall taxes on banks didn’t help the market on Friday. The obvious thing for the government to do is raise taxes on the high paid. The attempt to give them a tax cut sent the markets into a nose dive. I am in favour of generous capital allowance to lower corporation tax however because that would make UK companies more competitive. Many companies have been doing share buybacks and we need that capital invested back into the economy to drive growth.
A Zillion Ideas 
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