The miracle of economic growth

+According to a new book about the rise of Starmer, penned by Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund, reported in the Independent, ‘Plans to ban foreign donations were quietly shelved.’ Perhaps Labour’s reaping in of zillions in donations before the general election softened the Great HR Manager’s opposition to dark money. So the next time he’s jetting off somewhere he could perhaps take a copy of Peter Geoghegan’s book ‘Democracy For Sale’ which makes a compelling case for cleaning up political funding—as if that case needed making yet again. From a partisan point of view getting rid of dark money would do more harm to Labour’s opponents. Trade unions don’t tend to be domiciled for tax purposes in Jersey or the Cayman Islands. So why exactly have these plans been shelved? Might stemming this flow of money reduce Starmer’s powers of patronage? Or is he so dim he doesn’t even recognise the seriousness of the problem?
 
+I wish to congratulate Royal Mail (the Czech’s in the post) for its proposal to stop Saturday deliveries and maybe only deliver mail twice a week. Yes, it would be nice to get a delivery of mail twice a week.
 
+The economics consultancy Economic Insight has released a report produced for the nuclear industry which claims that the eight currently functional nuclear power stations have produced ’£130 billion’ in economic growth. The report was launched at an event in the House of Commons put on by EDF. There is no doubt that nuclear power has an economic value but is it strictly correct to claim this value is ‘economic growth?’ Nigel Lawson in his memoir referred to nuclear power as an economic basket case, always to be subsidised by the taxpayer. In Thatcher’s day we had something called the NFFO—the Non Fossil Fuel Obligation—which added 10% to our energy bills to subsidise nuclear power. Why they didn’t simply call it the Nuclear Levy is very hard to guess. Now that Starmer is backing Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) we could see further rises in energy bills—nuclear always costs more to build than first estimated, and these costs never go down over time, unlike renewables. As ever, if you hire consultants to provide you with a report they’re unlikely to demand payment for the opposite of what you want to hear. Economic Insight say ‘We combine rigorous economics and exceptional consulting skills to help you make great decisions.  Most importantly, everything we do is underpinned by a deep level of care and passion for understanding, and helping you achieve, your objectives.’ Next up: ‘Motor industry says road accidents contribute £40 billion a year to economic growth’ (equivalent to 1.5% of GDP—the Economist) ?