The energy crisis

 I've purposely left out a weekly blow by blow account of the great Leadership Contest of 2022 simply because in the main it is a private affair within the Conservative Party and having covered the initial round of selecting it was all going to be private meetings and a poll.

Come Monday last, at 12:30 it was all over with with Liz Truss gaining some 57% of the vote which made her the winner which didn't surprise me

Tuesday meant Boris Johnston had to formally tender his resignation to the Queen, and have that accepted and Liz Truss arrived for the Queen to formally request her to become our 56th Prime Minister and 3rd Female P.M all as Theresa May remarked on Thursday in the Commons, Conservatives.

 

A typical household energy bill will be capped at £2,500 annually until 2024.

The huge support scheme could cost up to £150bn, but Ms Truss refused to put a figure on it, saying "extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures".

Businesses will get help, with prices capped for six months renewable.

In addition relaxation of planning determination to streamline the gap between a plan being set out and the approval will be done, fracking for gas resumed and plans for new power stations set out to meet the need for own energy rather than the reliance upon others.

Due to Her Majesties death on Thursday afternoon, Parliament being out of session, legislation to bring these measures will be delayed,

Upon the death of our Queen

Yesterday seemed very much like any other but sadly it was not to be.

In the afternoon it was announced Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth IInd had died aged 96 years and so we enter a period of ten days of mourning for our Head of State.

In that time she served with a exceptional sense of duty visiting much of the Commonwealth, supporting many organizations, hosting meetings with leaders the world over and playing her role within the Constitution of the United Kingdom appointing Prime Ministers, holding meetings with them, opening Parliament and so on.

The planned post for today was to had been about the appointment of our new Prime Minister but rightly this takes its place.

Thank You for your service.

No doubt we will hear more from our King, Charles III in days and weeks ahead.

September-a month of challenges

 Lots of things on the horizon, the return of school from Monday, the appointment of our next Prime Minister as Summer officially ends.

 

The one common denominator it seems is the need for a super hero to deal with things from moving up a form or finding new friends as you transfer school with lots of children from schools you don't know and new staff you have no idea about.

It seems to me that any incoming prime minister might well be forgiven for feeling they might given just extraordinary our times are, living with covid, the war in Ukraine with its fall out, the crazy, worrying climate change and the whole "cost of living crisis".

Quite possibly the biggest set of challenges for any generation post WW2 that affect not just private individuals but also industry, agriculture and commerce.

Dealing with Stagflation - that sticky mix of stagnating economy and rapid inflation all in one mix - has no easy cure as the requirements for each part are very much the opposite of each other so there's a chicken and egg argument between "experts" and academics over which to start with with all to real human consequences.

The recent announcements on the Energy Cap permitting cost rises up to 80% are a huge worry for individuals that go beyond even staying warm and having a hot meal but into the very food we buy and remember business has no cap so get the full rise as soon the companies apply it.

Expect some announcements with combinations of removal of "green taxes", possibly value added tax and other taxes with direct assistance for groups most impacted by it.

Help for business I'm less sure of although cases can be made for hospitality and energy intense manufacturing and all of this may need to run beyond six months

Think we need Bat Girl myself!

The state of the scroll

 Month is coming to a close, some topics purposely left off the blog  cos they take me to places that are not good and while of that was going on, we find more than enough to post about.

Social media often feels that way -it can be bad enough for your processor to get through a forest of big size pictures and gifs without failing to load any- never mind all that scrolling  to get to the stuff you really want.

You might think to just see things on accounts you have chosen to follow would be such a great experience to offer but how many times do you find "Posts you might like" added in or promoted posts?

Often and that is what can make doing social media such a energy sapping time consuming business just because they want more click through's cos that's potentially more revenue for them or the people they promote.

I do think a basic charter of rights for the end user is needed.

The Stones at the El Mocambo

 This week we are going back in time with a two cd set that came out on April 29 this year.

Live At The El Mocambo marks the first official appearance of the group's two famous secret concerts at the 300-capacity Toronto club in March 1977. 

This double cd set features their full set from the March 5 show, plus three bonus tracks from the March 4 gig, all of which have been newly mixed by Bob Clearmountain. 

Although all of performances were available at the time, only four found their way onto the Love You Live album that followed in September 1977, that I bought at the time which was dominated by tracks captured on the band's 1975 and '76 tours in Paris, with the full set having never been heard before. 

As the Stones took residency that year punk and disco were both rearing into full view, supposedly ready to see off a band who had already been at the top of their game for 15 years. Over two nights, in an intimate space in one of their favourite cities, they showed they still had it.

For reasons best known to themselves over recent years their artwork on new projects has been somewhat uninspired and this is a good example with just the Tongue logo and title where a band photo on stage would of been more eye catching.

The card sleeve has pockets for the discs which are not in protective sleeves to avoid damage scratches so I had to line them myself.

The set includes songs from Black And Blue, their then current album such as Crazy Mama and Fool To Cry coupled with songs from It's Only Rock And Roll, the previous album of 1974 followed by a mixture of classic 60's and  early 70's sings plus blues covers such as Mannish Boy.

For me the smaller setting helped take the Stones' back to their roots leading to their inspired Some Girls album which mixed the energy of punk and interest in disco sounds while still being true to themselves showing they were still relevant.

It's good to have this set of live recordings out.

Raymond Briggs: a reflection

 

One Wednesday it was announced the story-writer and illustrator Raymond Briggs died.

He was born in 1934 in Wimbledon, Surrey and later moved to Sussex, making his own difference in story telling for being less inclined to write sweet happy ending stories for children for more gritter stuff and writing things also for adults but in form of a comic book.

 

Ethel and Ernest was a looking back of his own upbringing based around his aspirational parents, working to bring in the money, keeping a nice well kept house, helping to ensure their children got a decent education.

Raymond had his views, a life long Labour supporter although no fan at all of the Corbyn era he championed unilateral Nuclear Disarmament which found support during the tensions of the Cold War in the early 1980's taking part in protests.

He wrote the highly influential When The Wind Blows which saw the following of government advice in publications such as Protect And Survive by an elderly couple who'd lived through WW2 exposed for the load of absolute piffle it was (and I favour the deterrent generally speaking) 

The book end on a blank page. The inference was they died from radiation sickness as the measures they followed could never protect them (but made people think everything would be okay).

Christmas was tackled twice by Raymond originally in a story that looked at the challenges of Santa Claus (aka Little Saint Nick) delivering a multitude of presents from Santa's point of view, cursing as things went adrift.

The Snowman is a ritual in our country, every Christmas we all gather to watch this moving tale of the boy who plays in the snow building a Snowman who becomes alive forming a friendship that sees the boy  being taken on a voyage of discovery only to melt the next day with him being mourned by the boy.

The Sinfonia of London play a score for the duration of the cartoon and famously "walking through The Air is song as the boy is flying with the snowman looking in wonder at the world.

Summer is here

Start of Summer proper here with a fair bit of sun although it was rather drizzly over Tuesday so it's time to read the Summer Specials and make the most of the season.

Well you might as well take off the layers and let the fresh air and sun in trading sweaters, long pants or skirts for something much much lighter.

In world of big cats wouldn't you rather be a kitten?

Music I associate with summer does include this offering by the Jazz-rock group Santana who at the time included some tremendously talented musicians that originally came out in 1970 and spawned the single Black Magic Woman of which I still have the Columbia 45.

This is the super audio cd version of what was in that infamous one step double 45 rpm record set sounding better than ever for a good deal less.

Now to read the final edition of this, ghoulies!