Tony Blair’s still in the game! The man who once proclaimed the UK’s leadership role in tackling climate change now appears to be harbouring doubts, all because voters won’t stand for anything which smacks of sacrifice to save their grandkids. This is typical Blair—talk the grand talk, but never push things too far (lest it upsets the ’coalition’ of voters in the middle ground). The media love a volte face, and now we’re being told, yet again thanks to Blair, that our energy costs are higher because of ‘green’ subsidies (green in quotation marks thanks to the inclusion of nuclear, which is never mentioned in the right-wing press). A headline figure that is now being bandied about is that energy is taxed at 78% and consumers of right-wing fake news are led to believe that this is all because of green subsidies. Nothing is further from the truth. What (any) government takes from energy revenues in taxation goes straight into  HM Treasury’s unhypothicated chest and is spent willy-nilly. What did those North Sea oil bonanza tax revenues fund in the 1980s? Thatcher’s deindustrialisation of the UK economy (aka unemployment). Now it seems the knives are out for Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary. Poor old Ed, he is increasingly fighting a lonely battle as the realities of being in a right-wing government become clear. I suspect he may be shuffled elsewhere. 

Well done Canada for (largely) giving Trump the bum’s rush. I say ‘largely’ because all the results are not yet in as I write and Mark Carney may have to form a minority government. All the same, it is a remarkable turnaround and all thanks to Trump’s antics. Canada may have a price to pay as one imagines Trump’s ego will force him into some retributive gestures, chiefly through ramping up tariffs. But if Carney is true to his word, then we will see a far more resolute government in Ottawa. This should be a signal to the rest of the world, and one could entertain the hope that the populist march has begun to exhaust itself. Well, I would like to think so, anyway. Will the Canadian result put any backbone into our own rudderless leader? Given the close ties we have with the US, particularly in intelligence, I suspect Starmer will continue with an Atlanticist approach. Oh, and they control our ‘independent’ nuclear deterrent too. And yes, much of our economy is owned by US interests. And on the flipside we’re worried in case the Daily Mail et al accuse us of cosying up to Europe. What way to turn? Best stay in the middle of the road and get run over.

We’re about to see the real lay of the land. Canadians go to the polls on Monday, and many Brits will follow suit on Thursday next week. Here opinion polls suggest big gains for Fartage’s Reform party in the local elections on May 1st (n.b. I’ve had no complaints about adding a ’t’ to Farage’s name so I guess everybody is happy with that). In Canada the Liberals led by Mark Carney are predicted to win with a smallish majority, but I guess even without that would still form a government with a bigger choice of suitors. The Canadian result may be the more significant, if it tells us of the toxicity of Trump. A short while ago the Canadian Trump loving Tories were on course for victory. Now the air is thick with Trump u-turns and doubts about whether he actually has the faintest idea what he is doing, apart from mistaking his dreams for reality. Could Canada, so often ignored as a somewhat politically boring entity set a trend, or at least dent the dominant narrative of the ascendant right? Let’s hope so, although it will only signal reborn-again centrism, rather than a leftist march. The markets will approve. In the UK, Thursday’s election results will inevitably be measured against Reform’s performance, and one might hope that that will be bad. Largely because their newby councillors, and probably mayors will have little sympathy for the roles they have been awarded. Local government is hugely complex. Reform is hugely simplistic. Yes, life should be simple. How strange that it isn’t.

The Queen met Liz Truss and within 24 hours Her Maj was dead. The Pope met JD Vance and within 24 hours Il Papa was dead. I advise King Charles not to meet the far right Loon from across the Pond anytime soon. The far right is more deadly than we realised.

Elon Musk’s place as ‘richest man on earth’ must surely be coming under some pressure, not that it means very much to most of us. The share value of Tesla has it seems dropped by up to 50% This I believe is part and parcel of a widely developing boycott of American products in response to Trumps’ attack on the world. I do hope people are boycotting Trump hotels and golf courses but I guess there may be enough little Nigels out there to maintain occupancy rates. But there may be another reason to avoid Teslas, which is purely technological.  A lawsuit as has been launched in the US which alleges that Tesla vehicles’ mileages can be manipulated for the benefit of the company:

“Tesla Inc. employs an odometer system that utilizes predictive algorithms, energy consumption metrics, and driver behavior multipliers that manipulate and misrepresent the actual mileage travelled by Tesla vehicles,” reads the lawsuit. “In so doing, [the] Defendants can, and do, accelerate the rate of depreciation of the value of Tesla vehicles and also the expiration of Tesla vehicle warranties to reduce or avoid responsibility for contractually required repairs as well as increase the purchase of its extended warranty policy.”  (The Street, April 12th 2025)

I feel sure there’s a warning here for users of all devices beholden to the digital industrial revolution.

My successor but one in the Morley constituency, one ‘Dame’ Andrea Jenkyns is standing for the newly created Lincolnshire mayorality for Reform UK. She was previously a Conservative (when she beat Ed Balls). In my opinion, she is bonkers, but that goes for everybody in Reform—these are people after all who have very little idea what they would actually reform if we’re talking about causes rather than effects. Anyway, she’s now accused of standing under false pretences, allegedly having no legal qualification to stand in Lincolnshire. If this turns out to be correct (she claims some sort of connection to the area) then I wouldn’t be in the least bit surprised, given Reform’s woeful vetting procedures. Apparently she claims to live or work or whatever ‘between Morley and Lincolnshire.’ This reminds me that on my CV when I’m seeking an exhibition of my art somewhere here or there I should always come out with the classic claim ‘works between New York and Berlin.’ For an artist, this statement simply exudes success! Well it’s no lie. Scarborough is between New York and Berlin. And practically any other combination that would suit. Good luck Andrea. Your artwork is safe with me. You slayer of beasts you!

+Election fever here in Scarborough for our new town council has hardly hit new highs and most of the contestants don’t seem to be doing much to encourage a big turnout in the first ever election for the new council. I suspect most people are still wondering what the town council will actually do, not least the candidates themselves. This new democratic opportunity is not unique to Scarborough. Just south of here the people of Hull and East Yorkshire will vote, if they can be arsed, for a new executive mayor. Executive mayors are seen as the great panacea for cutting edge decision making and getting things done. But this bit from LabourList does not auger well: ‘Once nicknamed the UK’s “most disillusioned city” when it comes to voting, it’s clear that above even policy, politicians are fighting a battle for attention. In the 2019 general election, three of the four constituencies with the lowest turnout were in Hull, and in 2024 the area remained towards the bottom of the table.’ The anecdotal evidence in the article suggests that not many people even know about the election. The thing about all these new mayoralities being created is that nobody voted for their introduction—it’s a top down solution to Whitehall’s perception that local government can’t tell its arse (that word again) from its elbow and needs some American-style thrust. As things stand, it once again looks like Reform UK’s moment. Quite a shift from my day as a councillor on Hull City Council, with 60 members: 59 Labour and one Tory. That too I suspect was the product of apathy, but now low turnouts seem geared to deliver non-stop volatility.

+Meanwhile an election over the pond is generating more news interest than usual, with Canadians heading to a general election even asking (we are told) what it is to be a Canadian, thanks to Trump’s threats. Mark Carney, the Liberal leader and former Bank of England governor stands a good chance of winning. This would probably be a better result than the Tories succeeding, but as political history teaches us, winning an election on the basis of being good at opposing something doesn’t always lead to much beyond a sigh of relief for the victor—before reality sinks in. Gordon Brown comes to mind, but there are many other examples.

I do not want to speak too soon, but I will. I detect that already Trump’s regime is beginning to weary of its early burst of energy. As we know, the Second Law of Thermodynamics shows how heat is dissipated (and not recovered), leading to entropy. Anyway, that’s my interpretation of the application of this law in politics. The energy of this current woeful presidency is being fired in all directions all at once to fulfil Steve Bannon’s ‘shock and awe’ tactics, designed to overwhelm not just the opposition but any critical reaction whatsoever. It’s a bit like the use of very powerful RAF fighter jets flying low over primitive Afghanistan villages to frighten them with the sheer power of their noise. (Unless you’ve experienced close proximity to a fighter aircraft in full throttle mode you won’t know what I’m talking about). Can full throttle be maintained all the time is the question. I don’t think it can, not for a machine that requires a lot of fuel, nor for a politician that requires a lot of political capital. How much of that has Trump got? His poll ratings have slumped to historical lows already, even before his attempt to crash the global economy.  What does someone in his position do now? Double down! With three and bit years to go, he has to demonstrate that at least to himself (what else matters?) he was right. This means, regardless of evidence, that he will indeed double down and things will become ever more deranged. There will be  a lot more noise, and indeed some more very harmful outcomes as Trump’s fuel runs out. But it will run out. What then? Actually I dread ask. Watch this space.

+The Titanic battle to save Scarborough, England’s first resort and Queen of the Yorkshire coast is now well under way as campaigning for the new town council ramps up. So far I’ve had two leaflets, one from the Tory and one from Reform. Reform are pledging to ‘stop the boats’ which is perhaps not the best kind of commitment given that we have a harbour. They also want to ‘scrap net zero to cut your energy bills,’ showing us once again that as far as Fartage’s party is concerned future generations can go to hell. I would be quite happy to see ‘net zero’ scrapped—if it meant stopping the many eco-cons it disguises. Reform’s two candidates are totally unknown. It would appear that they live at 124 City Road London EC1V 2NX. By way of contrast, the Tory candidate who lives a couple of doors away in my street is well known and active in the community and she contradicts Reform’s abandonment of our children’s future saying ‘We owe it to our successors to leave this place a little better than we found it,’ referring to the harbour but applicable as a general principle. Should I do the neighbourly thing and vote Tory for the first time in my life? It’s only a parish council after all. I shall have to wait and see if any other leaflets drop through the letterbox.
 
+It was reported today that personal credit in the UK has now reached a new peak, any downturn in borrowing after the pandemic has been fully reversed and then some. And with emails dropping into my inbox like this, it’s good to know that I could make a significant contribution (?) to the country’s debt pile: ‘People with a credit score like yours are typically seeing up to 67 credit cards they're eligible for when they search with us. Want to see how you compare? Search now to see how many cards you're likely to be accepted for - it won't have any impact on your credit score.’ (Experian) Compare? Or compete? I’m afraid Experian has yet to recognise my strict fiscal rule, which I will not deviate from. I call it Securonomics.
 
+Lest any readers think that my rejection of Starmer’s LINO is 100% it is not, quite. Recalling Parliament today to introduce a bill to protect the future of the UK’s last virgin steel maker in Scunthorpe was the right thing to do. Apparently it is not a full nationalisation, but criminal penalties will be applied to the Chinese owners if they don’t comply with the government’s wishes. Could this herald a shift in industrial policy? The Tory opposition described the government’s action as a ‘failure,’ forgetting that the problems in the steel industry have been brewing for years. And let’s not forget under whose government Redcar closed down.