I got up late so my early walk to Canary Wharf this morning was a dash to the Custom House Elizabeth Line station.
Passing through the Custom House portal to Canary Wharf lives up to its sci-fi name. Two Londons couldn’t be more divided if they were in parallel universes
Manor Road between Canning Town and West Ham, with its temporary pedestrian crossing chicanes, narrow, uneven footpaths, and poor drainage is the pedestrian’s nemesis.
“Nat has herpes” is scrawled all over East London. Should I feel sorry for Nat, or does this have another meaning?
You have got to wonder about the folks who take their dogs to shit outside the school gates.
In sum, seems like a budget to keep self-interested Tories onside. I guess it presages a ratcheting up of culture war cobblers to gin up Tory supporters who vote against their own interests.
Hmm. Seems like the Tories have given back around 2/3 of the recent corporation tax hike in tax reliefs. Corporations already don’t know what to do productively with the money. Share buybacks FTW!
Imagine if the Tories had given wealthy savers the same pension tax breaks, but required the money be invested in net zero and social housing.
You need a lot of patience to drive down Morning Lane in the, uh, morning. I walk - and there isn’t much patience on show.
Fiscal rules
Your budget day reminder that outside of political discourse there’s no such thing as fiscal rules. The term was introduced into the UK by Gordon Brown to counter the (mistaken) premise that Labour is bad at economic management. As political tools, fiscal rules are designed to support political outcomes. If a politician tells you a fiscal rule leaves them no option but to shaft their citizens, rest assured that citizen-shafting is their political objective.