LornaSpeaks

Category: Uncategorized

  • Thanks for listening, Rachel…

    Well there we go. Pub Campaigners have been relentless since October in trying to drill home what this April Budget is going to do to the hospitality industry. Some reports have suggested that we could lose up to 9,000 pubs within the year coming.

    Yet once again our pleas for support fell on deaf ears.

    Ironically, Reeves’ budget is aimed at focusing on getting people back into employment! Sorry?! what jobs do you think people are going to be able to access when our businesses fall apart. It means Billions of Pounds of Income Tax and NI, Corporation Tax, VAT going down the drain- and guess what- MORE people accessing benefits not less.

    Of course we need to relook at the people who haven’t got a days work in them because they’re simply bone idle. But has anyone actually addressed why we have masses of people with this mentality? Is it because the people have been failed by Government and its predecessors? Is it because people are disillusioned and watch people who go out to work moaning about being sick of feeling like they work for fuck all? Seriously, what does that portray to the upcoming young people hitting the employment market or those thinking about getting a job or returning to work. I personally think it just justifies their feelings- and I cant say right now I can fault them for feeling that way!

    What utopian snow covered chocolate box land are Government living in whereby virtually annihilating small businesses prosperity and longevity is actually going to help get people off benefits? It couldn’t be more counterintuitive if you tried! Yes small businesses are very obviously ‘small’; but they often play an extremely important part in keeping local people in work; providing innovative services with grassroots entrepreneurs and serving our communities often at ground level all whilst contributing to the countries coffers. We often ‘fill in the gaps’ where Big Corporates aren’t really hitting the spot or find it too low key for their attentions. Il also say people love a family owned business that’s been going for years and we don’t tend to be registered to Hedge-funds in the Cayman Islands!!

    So yes, Small businesses as a whole are vitally important to this countries economy and employment actually. It’s not all about Supermarkets and Net Zero; it’s about growth and sustainability from the bottom up. I cant blame independent shop owners, publicans, trades and such if they want to just shut shop and give up. Why are we, the smallest of the business fry, taking on this burden of being the scape goat for politicians to avert upsetting the Corporates who often aren’t even 100% committed to paying UK Tax?

    Just watch how when the Government rhetoric will change when large numbers of once were thriving small businesses simply fail. They will twist it back onto us as a way of covering up their inadequacies in addressing the real problems and of course, give them a new reason to blame the high level of unemployment in this country.

  • ‘That’s £4,445 please sir’…

    *Ching Ching*

    That’s the Bill we, the Tax Payer, have paid for Bojo to have a get together with his staff according the Guardian yesterday. And the best part is, it wasn’t even spent in this country. It was spent in New York…

    Now that the Labour Government are seemingly trying to do something about something, they have uncovered a disgusting abuse of country’s coffers committed by some of our Members of Parliament.

    Nobody is going to convince me that anybody needs £2,500 worth of shoes, courtesy of the tax payer, purchased in Barbados. And I’d love to have seen what the hospitality bill included to run up a bill for nearly £4.5k worth of food and drink.

    We are forgetting that the MP’s also receive an actual salary. Can anyone tell me how/why it’s acceptable to cost the Tax Payer £1,200 for coffee pods in 2 months. If you want fancy Coffee Pods; then you pay for fancy Coffee Pods. Don’t expect me to fork out £150 a week for it. You get enough already.

    I can’t even believe that a civil servant could have had access to £2.5k worth of hospitality on this credit card (according to the BBC) without having to have it authorised. It’s unclear whether this is for one bill or over the course of a year for example, but from the article I did get the impression that this was the maximum that could be claimed on one bill at any time without question.

    £2.5k. Honestly? It is an honourable position but they’re quite frankly taking the piss. MPS work for us and as your employer I don’t agree that £600 a month on coffee pods for one office is exactly a justifiable and reasonable expense.

    MPs receive a 90k a year salary (rising to 94k in April 25) excluding claims for second homes and transport etc to enable MPS to carry out their job. All of these things are either subsidised or claimed on expenses paid for by the Tax Payer and yet MPS cannot afford to live comfortably or pay for their fancy coffee pods themselves? Put your hand in your own pocket. Spend a bit of your own cash like the rest of us.

    It’s an absolute joke! Penalising the disabled, the small businesses and the pensioners to try and put a few quid back into the coffers that THEY took out of to fund their luxuries is deplorable.

    I tell you what Mr Starmer and Government, take a pay cut of at least 50% and scrap this extravagant expenses scheme. Find out what it’s like to live without bank of tax payer and weighing up whether food or heating is most important.

    Honestly, I thought the situation with the small boats was bad enough and their hand outs questionable… but I would say this hits hard in a different way. We are now paying for MPS to exploit us. The other ones just exploit us simply because they can because nobody stops it and they owe this country absolutely nothing. But the MPS… well they really should know better. It just shows that they really don’t give a toss about us. The old phrase ‘I’m alright Jack’.. comes to mind.

    This country needs a change and quickly.