The Poolie Bunker

..shite. You'd think it was 130c in the shade.
Households in England urged to close windows on Saturday https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/21976 ... s-saturday

just about warm enough to take my gloves off. on top of that they were on about moorland fires on the yorkshire version of look north. at the outset climate change had to be mentioned followed secondly by people doing it. if you bothered then to listen to the report it mentions disposable barbecues and nothing else. will the media ever give us a break from climate change and anything above 20 degrees being a danger to life.

The article says "during the heatwave", the heatwave (as they call it) lasts all of 24 hours, hosepipe bans next

It's all about taxation and incremental governmental control of the population, start of by programming everyone to be frightened of almost everything, then gently take more and more control of people's lives under the guise of protecting them.
The climate has been changing since day dot and will continue to change forever no matter what we do. How did the last Ice Age end? It certainly wasn't the man on the street driving about in his or her petrol or diesel car.
Fecking sick of weather presenters lecturing us daily on global warming and globe-trotting to show us the effects, Fecking hypocrites, why do they need to be even out of a studio?
Pollen warnings, cold weather warnings, hot weather warnings, flood warnings, there's something almost daily nowadays.

why do they actually need a designated weather person anyway. we all could read an auto cue somewhere. its not as if they are the only people predicting the weather nowadays. just how many fall for the climate change con and are happy to pay for it indirectly.

It's so the latest batch of Climate advisors can justify their six figure wages by making it seem like the "end is Nye" and we're all doomed. Those shrinking ice shelves that if the suns core temperature dropped by 1% tomorrow would extend all the way down to Horden within days due to an Ice Age Epocalypse.

It’s background noise to their green mantra…a constant message to soften you up…..beware, look what it did to Ed Millibean.

Millibonkers, he’s so batty he’s been unable to answer the two letters I’ve sent him.

I watched Question Time, panelists and the audience saying we should drilling for oil and gas to secure the UKs energy security, only one mentioned what difference would it make as the oil and gas are sold on the open market.
Major oil refineries in the UK are owned by international energy conglomerates and independent refining groups. Key owners include ExxonMobil (Fawley), Phillips 66 (Humber), Valero (Pembroke), and Essar Energy (Stanlow).

But safer than building a future on wind turbines and solar panels produced in China.
Till we make these renewables ourselves we’re at the mercy of others thanks to thicko politicians, who probably can’t co-ordinate chewing gum and walking….never mind organise a secure, practical energy policy.

Regardless of if oil and gas are sold on global markets the more produced away fromm the Middle East reduces reliance on those producers, hence improving security of supply. There's also increased employment and taxation benefits. It's also environmentally better to produce oil and gas than to ship it in or via pipelines. There's absolutely no downsides to developing as much as possible from the North Sea and Atlantic Shelf considering even Starmer has said we will need oil and gas for decades to come.
Milliband is as daft as King Canute.

On the bus into town I noticed the former Ford garage on Brenda Road is now BYD the Chinese electric car company, I haven’t seen many electric cars round Hartlepool though ?

ever wondered why travelling on a plane. ship or goods in a lorry is all fine if it suits the greenies but not if we want to do it. funny how one kills the planet and the other helps it. then there is the environment where it seems fine to build windfarms, solar panals but fracking is just a blot on the landscape. it might be but there will be far less than the other two.

I remember - as a teenager in the long hot summer of 76 I was living in a little bungalow in the middle of open heathland, at a beauty spot in the middle of nowhere - located down south.

Because of mega hot daily temperatures, forest fires started raging up around us and the Surrey fire brigade were regularly called out to deal with them, and what would happen was the fires would sometimes retreat underground inside tunnels and holes etc, only to reappear nearby a few days later to kick it all off again.

One day I was walking to school, through this intense smoky heat, and fell into an underground fire pit to endure two days trapped inside a virtual Volcano, almost like Dante’ Inferno, before a group of human friendly badgers (7 of them) befriended me and pulled me to safety, using ropes, pulleys, claws, feet etc, tbh - it’s thanks to them I lived to tell this tale now.

Anyway, nothing was ever mentioned about global warming back then, everything is exaggerated these days, the younger generation and the media, big all this global warming thing up.

We're a nation that Milliband wants to declare as among the greenest in the world, yet almost everything we need and use has to be imported by plane, ship, or lorry. How green is that?
The biggest irony is that the green drive is actually taking away much of our green space by turning farmland I to Solar farms or wind farms.
We'll soon be dependent on the rest of the world for everything including all of our food. Wonder why the Mediterranean countries are not foregoing agriculture for the sake of Solar?

do not forget all the new build houses that are popping up everywhere and being tol not enough are being built.

It's Winnie the Poohs 100th birthday this year..I wonder if he's aware the government are going to plonk 600 illegals in a camp near his home in Ashdown forest??

Unfortunately Winnie’s honey addiction has got so severe that he’s unable to focus on anything other than his next fix.

could get worse for him if honey is included in the next food warning and its one of the reason for gross obesety.

There’s no one greener than Milliband when it comes to the reality of everyday life.
I suspect he socialises with people like himself, who are also a bit odd.

yet to meet one myself and that includes a couple of labour councillors. in a couple of weeks i,ll be calling them ex labour councillors after they follow a line they do not even agree with themselves.

BP profits have doubled off the back of the Iran war, in the first 3 months they made a profit of £2.4 billion, couldn’t some of that profit not be diverted to the petrol pumps ?

Or some of the windfall VAT?

Experts saying they (BP) should be taxed more......No they should reduce the cost of fuel at the pump.

Some people get really aroused and talk ans if BP organised the Iran business.
Nobody mentions the obscene amount of tax ‘politicians’ put on petrol.

They didn’t organise it but they should be passing some of the profits down instead of paying it in dividends to the shareholders.

Why?
The government weren't giving them refunds when they nearly crashed after Macondo.
Rachel is taking in loads of extra VAT where some other countries have reduced VAT on fuel since the Iran conflict started to ease the cost of living.

I was being ironic Jamie.

both should be happening and a VAT reduction on top. th writing was on the wall however once the first missile hit that country. bloody garages could not wait to put the price up of fuel they had already bought. everybody are at it from the government down to the petrol stations.

What is it about the Brits they go hanging flags but take up the ar** when it comes to price gouging, 18 months ago in Seaton Fish and Chips was £11.50 even though after the initial surge in gas prices due to the Ukraine conflict but dropped by 50%. As soon as the Iran conflict kicked it was the excuse to put the prices up again, £13 for F&C now which was once regarded as a cheap family meal. I appreciate staff costs have gone up but they are taking the pi**.
Tesco's operating profit grew nearly 72% over four years, while Sainsbury's reported a 55% profit jump in April 2026, again taking the pii** using all the excuses to put prices up, fuel, staff costs etc. I can understand where a company requires the profits for research and development but what justification do supermarkets have for the continuing price rises ?

It may come as a surprise, but businesses are usually out to make a profit, if their costs go up (fuel, rent, council tax, NI staff wages, transport, etc etc) go up then the only way to maintain or increase their profit is to put their prices up. To try to imply that Ukraine or Iran are the only reasons that the cost of living is going through the roof is utter bollocks, our government have a lot to answer for too.
As for fish and chips, we tend to buy wet fish from the dockside when it's available and even there it's gone up mainly as a consequence of fuel prices rocketing but also wages for the mainly foreign fishermen going up. You can't hail the rise in NMW one day then cry foul that prices are going up, although that concept seems to be difficult to understand for most Labourites.

might be me looking for it now, but costs for businesses have always gone up and conflicts abroad are nothing new. there has always been rises due to this but feel the ones we have been getting over the last few years have not been in proportion and more like greedy buggers taking an advantage of the situation. surely something bought 6 months ago should be the price charged then and not any stock left charged at the new prices. O forgot we have to pay for articles to be stored as if that building and land would be sold off anytime soon.

There is profit and excessive profits, who benefits from the excessive profits not the customers but the shareholders through dividends and bonuses for the managers.

So who decides what excess profits are then? They've taxed BP out of the North Sea already and most of their profit now is earned overseas, so they're actually receiving less revenue from BP as a result.
Excessive taxation stifles investment and innovation, increases unemployment and loses the Treasury income.
And is Rachel going to hand back any of the windfall VAT?

Unfortunately as the supermarket companies are owned by shareholders nobody can decide what excessive profits are but supermarkets don’t require excessive profits to stay in business or for research and development. Thy sell everyday products, captive audience, no one is going to cut back and they know that.
As of early 2024, approximately 6.3 million people in Great Britain were in receipt of Universal Credit (UC), with roughly 38% of those claimants (over 2.3 million) in work. Overall, over 9 million working-age people receive some form of DWP benefit.
Key details on in-work benefits:
Universal Credit (UC): As of January 2024, 6.3 million people claimed UC, with 38% of them working.
In-Work Claimants: The proportion of UC claimants who are in work has stayed consistent, around 38%.
Total Working-Age Beneficiaries: Over 9 million people of working age receive some form of DWP benefit, including non-working beneficiaries.
Health-Related Claims: 4.2 million working-age people claim health-related benefits.
Other Benefits: Many people also receive separate benefits such as Carer's Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, or Pension Credit
I don’t recall any one saying there should be a reduction in VAT when fuel prices went up due to the Ukraine conflict ?

Nobody had to ask Spain, Norway, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Ireland, or Australian governments to cut VST or fuel duty either, but they thought it was the right thing to do to help with the cost of living which is worsening due to the cumulative effects of Ukraine, Labour fiscal policies, and Iran - you know sometimes there's the straw that breaks the camels back. This government don't give a flying feck about us plebs as long as they can stay at the trough.
At least Boris and Rishi tried to help with loans and furlough during COVID!

The loans and furlough ended up a free for all with £10.9 billion being fraudulently claimed looking at this government report,
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/covi ... ent-report

It saved millions of jobs, there was always going to be people who exploit the system. Regardless of the cost the governments financial support during COVID has to be commended by everyone. Without it the whole country would have been on its knees claiming UC. And don't forget Starmer wanted more and longer lockdowns.

Don’t complain when the government increase your taxes to make up for the loss of the £10 billion then.

Why shouldn't I complain about conmen who defrauded the system then? Why isn't the government chasing the shysters down and reclaiming the money?

if thats tax you are on about there are so many legal loopholes to be used to avoid paying there share. for us plebs on PAYE there is sod all.

I was replying to Jamie who's telling me for some bizarre reason that I shouldn't complain about tax rises because I thought Business support and Furlough during the COVID crisis was good.
But I do agree, when there's billions of underpaid taxes allowed as the rich utilise tax avoidance and sometimes tax evasion schemes.
PAYE is for a lot of people legalised theft given the amount of times they make wrong assumptions or simply get it wrong without automatic recompense, you generally have to wait until the end of the tax year and unless you claim they keep your money.

Because the shysters have more off than the civil servants and know every trick in the book.

So why shouldn't I complain?

Do you ever physically complain or just whinge on forums ?

Physically complain???
You do realise you whine on here interminably about Farage, Reform, Truss, Johnson, etc al - what do you do about it? Oh yes you leave the country yet still Fecking whinge!!

How do you do it…..?….is it like constipation….? …because I’ve heard some shite before but that takes the biscuit….or laxative.

I leave the country to leave Farage and co behind, i doubt he would come to S.E. Asia in his private jet although the largest funder of Reform lives in Thailand.I have no reason to physically complain but still entitled to comment as I still pay U.K. tax unlike Tice, it was over the right wing media about Rayner, there are no charges being brought but strangely nothing in the msm about Tice and his tax avoidance scheme ?

Well you couldn’t stand outside Farage house in Clacton, forgot it’s his girlfriends as he is never there the same as his appearances in the HOP.

Farage not only lives in your head, he has a mortgage on it.