Future Britain – We carry on, and we can….

Whenever any expert tries to tell us something / anything, let’s take it with a pinch of salt, for example:

-         DEFRA on controlling Foot and Mouth Disease

-         Bankers giving us low interest loans and cheap mortgages whilst charging £172 for a bounced cheque

-         Politicians telling us there’s no boom or bust anymore, that there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, come to think of it, actually politicians telling us anything,

-         Scientists telling us Global Warming (or is it now Global Cooling) is our fault

-         Farmers telling us what a dreadful time they’re having

-         Doctors telling us that larger hospitals further away from the patient’s home are a better solution

-         Scientists telling us that reducing our share in carbon monoxide will make a real difference to our planet

-         Police saying the crime rate has improved; that 70 police officers were injured (actually 12, including a wasp sting, and really just 4); their armed officers shouted a warning; they had a search warrant for Damian Green’s office;

-         Teachers saying that they’re doing a wonderful job and that their pathetic results are caused by everyone else, by anything not under their control!!

-         The Civil Servants and local government officers all saying ‘It’s not our fault, it’s the fault of the system’ (and Who created the system?)

-         Brussels Eurocrats saying ‘they know what’s best for us.’

-         The Media telling us “terrible news, the end of ------ is nigh” (fill in this space with a different word each day)

-         Economists not being able to suggest or even think of a reliable way forward.

So the answer is with each of us individually, as usual.

We carry on working

We carry on buying

We carry on with the latest gadgets

We carry on looking after our children and our relatives

We carry on worrying

Marginal changes we will carry out might include – growing some vegetables, buying less processed / convenience foods, buying less meat, buying less petrol and diesel, getting a bit of exercise, having a different type of holiday.

We can however start to give more direct support for English companies.

Gordon Brown stuffed us over our pensions, Gordon Brown stuffed us over our property nest eggs, Gordon Brown stuffed us by supporting Scottish Banks instead of letting them go to the wall, Gordon Brown stuffed us by supporting the finance industry at a grandiose global level instead of supporting British Business. So let’s ignore Gordon Brown. We certainly don’t want any of our money going into Gordon Brown businesses eg Northern Rock or Lloyds TSB.

Let’s forget any and all tax breaks because Gordon Brown will stuff us again.

Let’s find some medium sized British companies, those are ones which are wholly owned and based in Britain and then invest in them. They could really use our money properly. May be they can offer us Loan Stock but it may be better to have preference or ordinary shares. Hopefully we’ll get some interest or dividends and possible a capital gain. AND they won’t need to ask their bank for funding.

Let’s support our own UK companies.

KPMG, can’t you find any of your clients who we could trust? Couldn’t you organise some sort of investment cooperative or something, talk to Zopa, but it’s got to be quick, our companies are suffering. Our pensions, present and future, are also suffering.

I don’t mean KPMG International; I mean KPMG UK or KPMG Crawley or KPMG Birmingham. Surely you’ve got some people you can trust to examine your clients’ books and accounts to find some companies you can trust, so that we can trust you. We know some are going to go poorly but we must try. 'Sans recourse'