The Burnham Years - Can the new(ish) broom sweep clean?

[Weston Super Saint]

On 14/10/2026 at 14:32, Osvaldorama said:

My overall point was that understanding how the economy is doing is a matter of perspective.
(Aka how you are measuring it.)

Measured in gold (and other hard assets), the average British person is being fucked over, and the country is declining as a result. 

From that perspective economy has been terribly managed for a long time. I disagree with Gloucester’s assessment that it’s doing well.

But also, GDP per capita has been stagnant for more than a decade. 

People can try and argue that “it’s global issue” all they like, and there is some merit in that. 

But the main reason for that is because all of the G7 have adopted the same stupid policies. (Eg driving energy costs up with ridiculous net zero policies and massive welfare spending.)

The UK has spent £1.1 trillion more on welfare benefits than critical infrastructure since 2006.

You can’t tax your way to growth. It must be nurtured and incentivised. 
 

Why not measure GDP against the value of bitcoin since 1960?

Would that still back your argument?

[Holmes_and_Watson]

34 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Why not measure GDP against the value of bitcoin since 1960?

Would that still back your argument?

GDP doesn't do well against the cost of chocolate coins. The runaway increase shows clearly that labour have lost control.

[Weston Super Saint]

16 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

GDP doesn't do well against the cost of chocolate coins. The runaway increase shows clearly that labour have lost control.

Fucking lefties, destroying the economy by giving money away to something, something, something.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

5 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Fucking lefties, destroying the economy by giving money away to something, something, something.

Think of the hungry patriotic children at Christmas, with fewer chocolate coins. 😭

[Osvaldorama]

13 hours ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

GDP doesn't do well against the cost of chocolate coins. The runaway increase shows clearly that labour have lost control.

You can’t actually be this thick? 

You’re literally proving my point that the currency is being debased. Lmao. 
 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

1 hour ago, Osvaldorama said:

You can’t actually be this thick? 

You’re literally proving my point that the currency is being debased. Lmao. 
 

 

[Farmer Saint]

2 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

 

These low-iq, non-serious people eh?

[Wade Garrett]

Surely the best barometer of how the economy is doing is that the government wouldn't be taxing and borrowing more if the economy was filling their coffers?

 

[Gloucester Saint]

1 hour ago, Wade Garrett said:

Surely the best barometer of how the economy is doing is that the government wouldn't be taxing and borrowing more if the economy was filling their coffers?

 

Not with two parallel major wars on and both having a major impact on energy costs which affects every part of the economy and supply chains. Why do you think Trump is having to kiss Putin’s arse over diesel? Because the domestic prices and supply are dreadful.

Hopefully the US electorate will pull their finger out next month and Congress forces them out of Iran.

[Wade Garrett]

4 hours ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Not with two parallel major wars on and both having a major impact on energy costs which affects every part of the economy and supply chains. Why do you think Trump is having to kiss Putin’s arse over diesel? Because the domestic prices and supply are dreadful.

Hopefully the US electorate will pull their finger out next month and Congress forces them out of Iran.

Fair point.  I don’t think the economy being ravaged by COVID helped either.

Either way, the economy isn’t in good shape.

[whelk]

4 hours ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Not with two parallel major wars on and both having a major impact on energy costs which affects every part of the economy and supply chains. Why do you think Trump is having to kiss Putin’s arse over diesel? Because the domestic prices and supply are dreadful.

Hopefully the US electorate will pull their finger out next month and Congress forces them out of Iran.

And he will now be blaming fuel prices on Ukraine. The gullible moron pool of 77 million must be shrinking all the time I would hope. 

[Farmer Saint]

9 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Fair point.  I don’t think the economy being ravaged by COVID helped either.

Either way, the economy isn’t in good shape.

And yet it's better than most think-tanks think it should be.

[Gloucester Saint]

10 hours ago, whelk said:

And he will now be blaming fuel prices on Ukraine. The gullible moron pool of 77 million must be shrinking all the time I would hope. 

Even Fox’s latest poll showed a very best case GOP scenario as a Democrat majority of three in Congress. Worst case was 30-35.

Edited October 17 by Gloucester Saint

[AlexLaw76]

The PM may wear eye liner,  it at least he is not leading a mess like France. 
 

it is all getting ‘largely peaceful’ over in Paris

[Farmer Saint]

Inflation increasing again unfortunately - literally nowt can be done whilst we have very little energy security and the US fuck around in the ME:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/ck1l3dvvqm85t

We really need more renewables and nuclear though to drive prices down, because then we're not beholden by the International Wholesale prices.

Edited Wednesday at 06:53 by Farmer Saint

[Farmer Saint]

One I missed yesterday - unemployment has fallen to lowest rate in a year. Fingers crossed that continues:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/oct/20/uk-unemployment-rate-surprise-drop

I'm still waiting to hear a proper announcement on Business Rates to help out.

[Farmer Saint]

Pound at highest level versus the Euro for a couple of years as well.

[Gloucester Saint]

4 hours ago, Farmer Saint said:

Inflation increasing again unfortunately - literally nowt can be done whilst we have very little energy security and the US fuck around in the ME:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/ck1l3dvvqm85t

We really need more renewables and nuclear though to drive prices down, because then we're not beholden by the International Wholesale prices.

The mid-term polls get worse for Trump by the day leading up to next month. Won’t be a panacea but 99% probability of a Democrat Congress with a good majority and 75% likely to flip the Senate.

Rumour is that Trump might take it out on Hegseth and his projects with the Mad Bens and his son-in-law get curtailed. Further loosening of sanctions on Russia also less likely with guardrails in place. Both of which will benefit the UK.

[badgerx16]

3 hours ago, Farmer Saint said:

Pound at highest level versus the Euro for a couple of years as well.

Think I'll keep the Euros on my Revolut card as they are and not convert them back to £GB.

[Osvaldorama]

On 21/10/2026 at 07:52, Farmer Saint said:

Inflation increasing again unfortunately - literally nowt can be done whilst we have very little energy security and the US fuck around in the ME:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/ck1l3dvvqm85t

We really need more renewables and nuclear though to drive prices down, because then we're not beholden by the International Wholesale prices.

Wasn’t it you banging on about how scary the climate crisis is?

The hypocrisy of lefty’s is unbelievable. 
 

[badgerx16]

1 hour ago, Osvaldorama said:

Wasn’t it you banging on about how scary the climate crisis is?

The hypocrisy of lefty’s is unbelievable. 
 

Is English comprehension really so difficult for you ?

On 21/10/2026 at 07:52, Farmer Saint said:

We really need more renewables and nuclear though to drive prices down, because then we're not beholden by the International Wholesale prices.

 

Edited 11 hours ago by badgerx16

[Farmer Saint]

2 hours ago, Osvaldorama said:

Wasn’t it you banging on about how scary the climate crisis is?

The hypocrisy of lefty’s is unbelievable. 
 

No, it wasn't.

[whelk]

4 hours ago, Osvaldorama said:

lefty’s

lol. Are you having some carrot’s with your high IQ dinner?

[Farmer Saint]

6 minutes ago, whelk said:

lol. Are you having some carrot’s with your high IQ dinner?

I bet he doesn't even know what he's done wrong there.

[Farmer Saint]

https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/labour-now-lead-8-points-conservatives-second-place-latest-voting-intention-polling

Blimey - look at what we've got here. Looks like the public quite like Andy.

I also think, and you can see this happening in the latest US polls, is that people are increasingly worried about grift and dishonesty, so makes sense they would move away from Reform.

[Osvaldorama]

https://x.com/gbpolitcs/status/2114323150557327668?s=46

 

This is horrendous. David Brent has got the HMRC to write to everyone that earns £200k a year. 
 

What a joke of a country we have become 

[badgerx16]

58 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

https://x.com/gbpolitcs/status/2114323150557327668?s=46

 

This is horrendous. David Brent has got the HMRC to write to everyone that earns £200k a year. 
 

What a joke of a country we have become 

Err, no "he" hasn't. 

The letters might come from the HMRC team that is responsible for dealing with that group of people, amounting to about 850 thousand people, but the letters have only been sent o a small fraction of them, "... in the low hundreds" according to HMRC.

[Osvaldorama]

6 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

Err, no "he" hasn't. 

The letters might come from the HMRC team that is responsible for dealing with that group of people, amounting to about 850 thousand people, but the letters have only been sent o a small fraction of them, "... in the low hundreds" according to HMRC.

Regardless, it’s absolutely retarded. Yet again the country is showing that ambitious people are better off leaving. 
 

The government only has one solution to every problem: steal more.

 

France and UK vs. Communist countries at their peak.

UK public spending as % of GDP is currently above Romania, Venezuela and China.

And France is a lost cause. 

(Source: HM Treasury/Rand Research)

[Mixedkebab]

On 21/10/2026 at 07:52, Farmer Saint said:

Inflation increasing again unfortunately - literally nowt can be done whilst we have very little energy security and the US fuck around in the ME:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/ck1l3dvvqm85t

We really need more renewables and nuclear though to drive prices down, because then we're not beholden by the International Wholesale prices.

Hello Farmer how are you? When you say “we need more renewables”- What does that mean exactly? It sounds good I have to say but how do we go about it? 

[Weston Super Saint]

33 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

Regardless, it’s absolutely retarded. Yet again the country is showing that ambitious people are better off leaving. 
 

 

You know that there are people in pretty much every local Government that earn over £200k per year?

Have you now changed your mind to say those lazy, cushy Government jobs and workers are now actually 'ambitious people'?

[Weston Super Saint]

12 minutes ago, Mixedkebab said:

Hello Farmer how are you? When you say “we need more renewables”- What does that mean exactly? It sounds good I have to say but how do we go about it? 

Really?  You can't equate that to more wind farms, more solar farms, potential for wave generators?

Or do you not know what 'renewable' energy is?

[Mixedkebab]

15 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Really?  You can't equate that to more wind farms, more solar farms, potential for wave generators?

Or do you not know what 'renewable' energy is?

Yes I do, and appreciate your response. Unfortunately, if it was as easy as building more wind and solar farms to reduce our energy bills that would be a fantastic easy fix for the whole country and bring our inflation levels down I’m sure. However, the UK has massively outdated contracts and grid systems which means until that is completely overhauled, there is absolutely fuck all point in continuing to chuck up more wind and solar farms. So I was  asking what the highly knowledgeable farmer was meaning by “more renewables” to bring our pricing and inflation down. 

Edited 2 hours ago by Mixedkebab

[Farmer Saint]

37 minutes ago, Mixedkebab said:

Hello Farmer how are you? When you say “we need more renewables”- What does that mean exactly? It sounds good I have to say but how do we go about it? 

I'm good, been a bit worried after your meltdown last week. How's your drinking problem mate? I assume the wife reported you to the police again did she?

We need to do multiple things - investment in the grid to allow us to transport renewable energy to the rest of the country, as well as increased battery storage to ensure that we can actually harness and store what we produce. That way we won't have to pay firms to not produce renewable energy.

[Mixedkebab]

1 minute ago, Farmer Saint said:

I'm good, been a bit worried after your meltdown last week. How's your drinking problem mate? I assume the wife reported you to the police again did she?

We need to do multiple things - investment in the grid to allow us to transport renewable energy to the rest of the country, as well as increased battery storage to ensure that we can actually harness and store what we produce. That way we won't have to pay firms to not produce renewable energy.

I appreciate your Google AI response on this one 👍  And no, why would your wife report me? Bored as she is. 
 

 

[Farmer Saint]

46 minutes ago, Mixedkebab said:

I appreciate your Google AI response on this one 👍  And no, why would your wife report me? Bored as she is. 
 

 

Ask me a question and then claim an AI response when it turns out I can answer it. Unfortunately for you it's not the first time I've spoken about this on here, so I suggest you read back through the various threads rather than drinking yourself into oblivion on a Sunday evening and then go looking for a fight online like the brave warrior you are. What I wrote was not controversial, so it's quite clear you were trying to start a fight.

As I've told you before, I would prefer you to come on here and think you're a victor when arguing with me, rather than direct your anger at your wife and kids, again. We're happy to be your punching bag.

Edited 1 hour ago by Farmer Saint

[Farmer Saint]

2 hours ago, Osvaldorama said:

Regardless, I'm absolutely retarded. 

Well, I agree with you there.