Bryan Smith #RejoinEU same handle on BlueSky

Here's how I did it: Most cigarettes are "habit" (you have them at set times or stuations), ~10% are "addiction" (you need the nicotine). Start by cutting out "habit" cigs, 1 or 2 each day, over about 3wks. So, dont smoke at every tea break, or when you get to the lights etc. 1/2

NEWS ENERGY PAYMENT: £100 payment to all households in Council Tax bands A to D for England (and funding for same in other nations). That's 20m homes. Translation: This is the support for the huge rise due in January price cap. Its expected to be 27% up. Which equates to roughly £100 from Jan to March alone.

So if you live in a house in council tax band A to D you get a £100. Then in January the prediction is energy prices will rise by 27% around £500 This is a lose whichever way you try to sell it 😠

The hidden tax measure in the Budget is huge for people paying tax under self-assessment - sole traders, partners, landlords, retired investors. For 6th April 2028-29, you currently pay 50% of your income tax late in the tax year in question (in January 2029), 50% just after the year end (in July 2029) with any make-up payment in January 2030. Under the new proposals you will pay your tax perhaps monthly or quarterly (TBC) from April 2029 onwards. A rough analysis suggests the impact is to draw about 50% of your tax bill forward, a huge cashflow boost to HMRC and a significant funding issue for the self-employed. The Treasury recognises this, and expects to raise £1.3bn of additional tax in 29/30 as a result of this change. The cashflow impact of the accelerated charge will send some businesses to the wall.

In her Budget response Kemi Badenoch (hang on, shouldn't it be Shadow Chancellor???) *again* sneered at "cheaper gherkins". The tariff-cut affects 100 foods & other products, including 4% off Heating Oil (1.5million households, £100 saving). For me its a *long saving list*: 1/2

So now the media are on about a May election. So, weeks shouting ‘budget’. Now they want to start shouting ‘election’. They look and sound ridiculous.

Exit polls show Netanyahu losing power. Bolsonaro, Netanyahu... USA you know what to do.

Its not been widely reported, but the main thing affected by Treasury removal of tariffs isn't "gherkins", "baked beans" or "marmalade", but *4% reduction in the price of heating oil used by 1.5million off-grid UK households*. That *should be* the headline gov.uk/government/news/every…

Labour now briefing young people won't get the same minimum wage uplift. Even Starmer didn't break this pledge. Workers rights mean same rights, pay & conditions, same rate for the same job. What does this Labour government have against young people? inews.co.uk/news/politics/mi…

1/ Last month I told a room of Baltic intelligence officers and diplomats that Donald Trump is an asset of Russian intelligence. Not one of them blinked. "Of course," they said. Ho hum. But in America, saying it out loud is still taboo. Why? 🧵

Is it just me or is this place dead as a dodo at the moment? Feels like fewer and fewer people are posting. Even the trolls and bots are low and lacklustre. 🧌

UK to decouple #gas and #power prices . Under the current system, gas sets the wholesale electricity price whenever it is needed alongside #wind, #solar, and many #renewables generators are paid gas-linked prices. observer.co.uk/news/national…