I am always surprised by hitherto sensible people not seeing what is obvious. Sadiq Khan, London’s Mayor, has been systematically making London’s roads terrible simply, to make them as car free as possible. He has had the nerve to use COVID-19 as an excuse to extend multiple
footpaths, reducing the amount of space available to cars…like the space on a footpath is ever likely to be an issue in London again.

Mr Khan’s master plan started long before anyone had heard of this virus, that is clear. The disaster that is the Old Street roundabout, the re-mapping of Baker Street and Gloucester Place, the nuts removal of 2 lanes on Euston Road, empty cycle lanes as big as those for cars on the Embankment and Finchley Road, dummy blockades on dozens of road simply to inconvenience drivers – with no apparent road works. This is just cynical control freakism that is systematically destroying the quality of life for Londoners in the process, at a time when the city is on its knees.

Its just a pity that many voters don’t see it. London’s roads now have traffic jams by design; bear in mind there are way fewer cars are on the road compared to 2019. A cab journey of 4 miles takes 45 minutes….

Mr Khan; stand up and take responsibility for once for anything in fact to do with London. In Japan you’d be a shamed civil servant bowing to the public for forgiveness.

Meanwhile all the City Hall cronies draw full salaries and accrue lovely pensions at Londoners expense. What a joke.

The word ‘Democracy’ is a word according to the people’s choice of reference, Wikipedia, which refers to “a form of government in which all eligible citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives”.

Given that 2012 has brought, and has yet to bring, major government elections in democratic countries, TCE decided it would be appropriate to pass brief comment.

The November 2012 USA presidential elections in the self proclaimed “world’s greatest democracy” represent an interesting conundrum. In the past few elections the amount of money raised and spent campaigning appears to have a large influence on the outcome. In the election that first put Mr Obama in office, his team was campaigning across the USA by reports at times largely unopposed, as the local Republican campaign offices were shut due to lack of funds.

At the time of writing Mr Romney and Mr Obama are dipping into their 2012 campaign reserves at the rate of many tens of millions of dollars per month; and by some reports the Romney financial well is looking a little dry at present – Surely in the betting world there can only be one outcome?

So in the USA democracy has a price – in fact a price so high that only the wealthly realistically dictate which presidential candidate gets chosen for each party along with the policies they sell.

In the UK the population has to vote for a leader that is not directly elected by them but by their peers; not quite an equal say in decisions then either.

Although the price tag to become leader in the UK is not the same as in the USA, TCE wonders whether the meaning of the word democracy has been lost in translation to suit the elected politicians rather than the millions of people they are meant to represent.

Observers of society over many centuries have commented on the evolution and development of their own cultures. Today, in a world dominated by faceless global communication, it is very much easier to make these cultural observations. The internet makes information freely available with no real barriers (China aside perhaps), seemingly pushing humanity towards varying degrees of homogeneity.

As many cultures will end up acting the same through the inevitable social pressures of democracy, our opportunity to observe others and their micro cultures merely improves. We can travel overseas on short trips using budget airlines or capture the latest news on cable television – nothing is really that far away any more.

TCE has just returned from a family ski trip to the Valais region of Switzerland, having visited the country dozens of times since the 1980s for business and pleasure. It was on this latest trip however that an obvious behavioural shift was observed.

Switzerland has been one of the few developed countries to survive the world’s economic malaise relatively unscathed. Although the country’s reputation was severely dented as a result of the UBS failure, the private banking industry survived broadly intact. As many developed nations were forced to raise taxes in an attempt to cover budget deficits, a large number of the worlds wealthy chose to make fiscally attractive Switzerland home for themselves and their businesses.

The resulting influx of revenue to the professional Swiss service providers as well as the likes of real estate agents, hoteliers, restaurants, taxi companies, etc, came regardless of effort, ability, or quality of service.

Switzerland’s reputation for stability and fiscal prudence meant that during the economic troubles, investors fled away from less attractive currencies into the likes of the Swiss Franc (CHF). In the past three years the CHF strengthened by around 30% (a rough average). Hence the cost of everything denominated in CHF, property, restaurant meals, taxi trips, and of course unit cost of labour, rocketed in foreign currency terms. As a result, what has always been seen as an expensive country with a modest service culture in recent years has moved completely out of sync, and as a result is wholly unattractive to its European neighbours as a place for business or pleasure.

Of course price isn’t everything when the service level and quality of goods is commensurately high. However on the week long Swiss trip it was very obvious to TCE that staff in the hospitality industry at least had become complacent with seemingly little interest in providing anything but a halting service level. Things, it would seem, have simply been too easy for them; with high salaries and easy working conditions and virtually guaranteed employment.

It’s just unfortunate for Swiss businesses that for the majority of people visiting and doing business with the country (oligarchs excepted) both price and quality of service still matter.

Looking at 2011 and beyond TCE is not optimistic regarding the prospects on this aspect of Swiss culture as the Swiss themselves remain blissfully unaware, and show little interest in, how they are perceived from abroad. This isolationism lies at the centre of the problems that lie ahead for the country as a reversal of this micro cultural shift is absolutely necessary. Why should a Swiss hotelier hire locals when he can employ other hard working Europeans for considerably less money? Why should tourists visit the Valais when Austria offers a higher quality family ski trip for much less money? Have goods and services improved by over 30% in the past three years or so? – Swiss businessmen and foreign visitors must be asking themselves such questions.

Looking forward, Switzerland must be affected by deflation. The very wealthy may well not change the way they structure their economic affairs, but Switzerland is no longer an information safe haven, and the private banks fail to offer anything unique. The irony is that having had things easy, the Swiss need to brace themselves for a period of relative austerity with poor prospects for employment. In three to five years the CHF may have weakened enough (essential!), and lessons been learned, for foreigners to look at the country with interest once again.

Professional Tennis

As Wimbledon strolled to its moribund conclusion we were once again reminded that at the top level men and women are only equal when it comes to prize money. What a nonsense. In a tournament where one match covered 3 days in the men’s draw, the Cynical Eye feels that the 67 minute women’s final didn’t quite deliver fair value. Get real ladies and take a pay cut.

UK Government ‘Spending Cuts’

Only in the eyes of the vast body of civil servants can a cut occur to something that has yet to exist. What nonsense. This is clearly an attempt to exert the rhetoric of the ‘kept classes’ which has been so apparent for the past 13 years. Good riddance.

The World Cup

The world’s most popular sporting event sadly drifted into farce at the final. The Prima Donna ‘sportsman’s’ inability to play football amplified by honed skills in the arena of fouling. What a nonsense. How much do these people have to be paid to be bothered to perform? The clear star of the tournament, Paul the octopus, born in England, giving some hope that Britain can indeed perform at the top level.

En Primeur Bordeaux 2009

The profiteering of the first growth vineyards actively indulged by the wealthy ‘keeping up with the oligarch’ classes is a nonsense. The majority of wine producers around the world bottling good quality wine, struggle financially. Robert Parker doesn’t need to tell us that Margaux is good wine; or that a ‘98 pointer’ is better than a ‘92 pointer’. Thanks but no thanks Robert.

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

The attempts of Mr Obama to divert attention from his floundering term in office by dictating terms to a corporation like BP. A UK oil company that had hired local US ‘expertise’ that have since walked away without blame. What nonsense. Is the world’s biggest consumer of oil becoming even more protectionist?  Time for Britain to move on and find another ‘special’ relationship.

Stage 1: Cut the costly dead weight out of Britain.

o Civil servants and their gold standard pensions and perks have to go. They only work 4 days a week by anyone else’s standard so fire 20% and make the remainder work 5 full days a week. Close all meaningless quangos and government departments.

o Nick Clegg is a classic example of how ‘Eurocrats’ can live it up at tax payers expense whilst the Bank of England’s Mervyn King must be working out what to do with his £6.5 million pension pot kindly paid for by the private sector tax payer.

o Judges, MPs, and all civil servants, have to have the same pension rules applied to them as the private sector worker. Civil servants also have to contribute to their retirement costs for a change, to reduce the state sector pension time bomb.

o Cut benefit hangers on. Those that have never worked should be forced into community schemes to improve the areas they live in; if they refuse then the benefits should go.

o Immigrants should be let in on a meritocratic basis; if they’re educated or wealthy then let them in. This is what the rest of the world does.

Stage 2: Sort out the finances

o Women for some sexist reason can draw the state pension earlier than men yet they live longer. The retirement age has to be aligned and put back to reflect the ageing population. Britain should wake up to the fact the 65 year olds may want to work part time even if teenagers do not.

o The function of the NHS has to be redefined. Fire all the over paid, part time, number crunchers, and focus resources on front line services. Keep A&E departments and examine the rest. Why should all tax payers pay for fertility treatment, sex change operations, and cosmetic procedures, for the few? The best hospitals like Great Ormond Street rely on donations from the public.

o Higher rate tax payers should have to buy into the NHS services or go privately.

o The ill informed attempts to buy the votes of the benefit classes by Gordon Brown by adding a special tax band should be reversed. The 100’s of wealthy that have left the country already have cost more in lost revenue than Darling expected to make. What a farce. Encourage the monied classes to return and build businesses here; sadly it may already be too late.

o Increase VAT and force suppliers to charge the Brits the same as they do the Americans. We’ve been ripped off for years, Cars, electronics, clothes, music etc.

o Decrease the size, and improve the resources of the armed forces.

Stage 3: Sort out other time bombs

o Get off the green band wagon and build nuclear power stations. Only the dumb don’t get it. Our children will be dependant on the Russians for energy if we don’t.

o Redefine the school system. Labour clearly have an agenda to window dress the schooling system as clearly exams are getting easier and grades higher. Universities and employers should be the judge of this inferior system.

o Set up a politically independent economic unit consisting of financial experts to build economic policy based on multi-decade time horizons

As much as the public like to blame everyone else when things go wrong, the voters in UK general elections ultimately determine the leaders and decision makers, and therefore have only to look to themselves if things don’t work out.

For TCE, the spring of 2009 will be remembered as a period of time cemented in the mind albeit for all the wrong reasons.

As Alistair Darlings farcical April budget speech ended, the whole notion of Blair’s ‘Cool Britannia’ felt very distant and even the more ridiculous. For this was a seminal moment, the precise day, the precise hour, when the Chancellor described in the language of political spin, that we living in Britain, were %$*&ed.

In a year or so Britain will be entering the league of countries that impose super high income tax rates. Is this somehow meant to motivate the mid and high earners to keep paying for the growing sections of British society on the take? Surely many will simply leave the country?

Northern European countries like Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Finland and Denmark, manage a culture that appears to suit all bar the ultra high net worth. They have found that if taxes are spent on health and social wealth fare, as well as infrastructure, public transport, and leisure, that most remain happy to contribute and stay to enjoy the resulting higher standard of living. You don’t have to be a high tax country to enjoy a good quality of life as Switzerland admirably demonstrates, although within Europe it generally seems a common pre-requisite.

Taxes can only provide so much information about a country of course, and how they effect and are reflected, in the economy of a country. Taxation is a dynamic and for Britain higher taxes are being imposed out of necessity as a direct result of the Labour government’s mismanagement of the public purse. Britain’s debt mountain has been out of control for years and whilst in a recession, a severe threat to national economic stability. The S&P agrees having Britain on watch for a credit downgrade.

-No wonder then for those contributing to the economy that a persistent feel bad factor lingers in the UK.

In the 1990s New Labour took the political middle ground by looking after the super rich under directives from Tony Blair.

These non-domicile wealthy benefitted from Brown and Blair but ironically show no signs of leaving Britain en masse (arguably they have been the least effected as they have access to many tax rebate and offset schemes and only pay tax on money remitted or earned in the UK).

Recent fiscal actions are nonetheless unwelcome and needlessly sow the seeds of doubt regarding prospects for the future.

What is more obvious to the majority (i.e. those earning up to say twice the average UK income) is that the quality of life in Britain is dropping quicker than Gordon Brown’s credibility, and is just another piece in the puzzle of a Britain on the decline.

Although statistics to measure the quality of life are not perfect, where the research data is comprehensive, they do enable valid comparisons. The measures and the weightings often vary depending on the purpose of the research; however it is clear from those freely available, that Britain is also the sick cousin of the developed world offering amongst the lowest quality of life to its residents.

If we segment British society into three age groups, the young, the working, and the retired, the observations are quite sobering.

For the young;

According to a UNICEF study Britain’s children are rated as the unhappiest out of twenty one industrialised nations. They drink the most, smoke more, and have more sex than their peers. Using forty indicators including relative poverty, child safety, crime rate, amount spent on education etc, Britain and the USA are at the bottom of most of the ratings.

In a study a quarter of Britain’s young teens rated their health as fair or poor. The worst result for any OECD country. In the past decade the number of school age binge drinkers admitted to hospital has risen by over fifty percent, and across all age groups the number has doubled.

The number of children living in poverty (defined as less than 60% of the median household income) has doubled in the past thirty years and at its peak in the late 90’s, was the highest in the EU. In a 2008 report by London Child Poverty Commission, over 40% of children living in Greater London were living in poverty and 50% in inner London.

For the working;

Already with some of the highest marginal tax rates in the world and increasing, disposable income has dropped quicker than the value of the over priced houses that we British live in.

Ann Robinson, Director of Consumer Policy at uSwitch.com, said: “We may earn substantially more than our European neighbours but, when it comes to quality of life, we remain the ‘sick man of Europe’. Soaring food prices and inflation – not to mention high property costs – are placing the biggest squeeze on disposable incomes in well over a decade. With below average investment in health and education, it appears that we are getting a raw deal from the government for the fruits of our labour”.

UK motorists pay the highest prices for diesel in Europe around 18% above the average, and the second highest price for unleaded petrol, at 6% more than average. Brits pay over 40% per cent more for gas and 5 % more for electricity, making it the third most expensive country in Europe for fuel.

Sadly public transport is poor, often unreliable, and too expensive; so we can’t give up our cars just yet.

British private sector workers also suffer when it comes to holiday entitlement, typically enjoying 28 days a year (including bank holidays). This compares to the French, who receive an average of 40 days, well above the European average of 33. The Poles work the most hours per week (41 compared to an average of 37) but have nearly two weeks more holiday than workers in the UK.

Public sector workers fair considerably better than their private sector cousins in the UK (i.e. the bit of society that actually pays for everything and creates the wealth). Not only do they enjoy higher average salaries but also have higher holiday entitlement and better retirement schemes in the form of final salary pension schemes.

Recent scandals regarding expenses for MPs has highlighted the scale of the abuse of the public purse in the civil service, and across local authorities in general.

No surprises to see workers in Britain sit below most countries in Europe (even Poland) when it comes to a variety of quality of life measures.

For the retired;

You would think that things would somehow improve for the retired British, but alas this does not seem to be the case.

Private sector workers in Britain not only have to suffer the shortest holiday entitlement whilst working, a week below the European average, but also has the third highest retirement age.

The UK government spends around 8% of GDP on healthcare, well below the European average of 8.6%, with life expectancy at 78.9 the third lowest.

According to another study that compares the economies of 183 countries, Britain does not even make the top 40 in the list of hospital beds per 1,000 people.

So not only have the British retired worked longer when they retire, they are looked after relatively poorly thereafter.

In summary:

It is fair to say that for Brits it is much easier to find aspects of British living that negatively affect the quality of life.

Even if British workers had the extra holidays to take they would have to go travel overseas to enjoy some extra sunshine. The UK has some 17% fewer hours of sun than the European average

The Brits have not been oblivious as they have been voting with their feet for years with tens of thousands across all skill levels leaving annually, emigration increasing at a rate of some 5% per annum. Maybe the weather is important, after all Spain gets the most sunshine with 50% more hours than the average European average!

Unfortunately in mass immigration Britain tends to attract the lower paid from poorer countries, the net effect of which is to take employment away from the local UK workforce. The benefit system in Britain is much to blame as immigrant families tend to stay as they receive much better provision than their homeland should they fail to find work. Britain kindly paying benefits back to their homeland!.

There must be something good about Britain? Is loyalty to the Crown reciprocated?

Well of course not.

The armed forces have been recruiting Gurkhas for several generations because of their tenacity in battle, yet they have found themselves denied residency.

This disgraceful situation finally righted with the help of a very tenacious Joanna Lumley, the government embarrassed into finally addressing this outrage.

Britain is broken and sadly without a timetable for the many fixes needed.

If you are a civil servant, an immigrant from a poorer country, a refugee, or part of the rich non domicile set of course you’ll stay. For the rest of us, the attractions have been fading for a decade, the British government relying on apathy to keep Britons here rather than seeking a potentially better life found elsewhere.

The death of a young mother is always sad, but some how the culture of celebrity has allowed the media to turn an irrelevant, uneducated, and foul mouthed individual into some sought of icon. Now that is sad.

As a ‘reality TV star’ Jade Goody’s was a business not of reality, but fantasy. Her final few weeks in the spotlight were spent entirely without dignity to keep the till in the Goody household ringing. All in all a very good final month for her and her crack PR team.

The real pity is that whilst the media perpetuates the notion that reality is the absolute pap they push, deserving people that actually contribute in the real world go unrecognised. The UK also has thousands of terminally ill, but PR agents can’t make any money out of them, so they won’t be appearing in public anytime soon.