Owner of a music agency & manage/play in a band. Also a classical musician & teach music. Believe in Capitalism & the Free Market. Dislike EU & Independence.
Glasgow, Scotland
Joined July 2011
- Tweets108K
- Following1.8K
- Followers1.4K
- Likes188K
David Ritchie retweeted
When Boris Johnson prorogued Parliament in 2019, (as Major & Attlee had done) EU Council president Donald Tusk accused him of "bypassing democratic scrutiny". Now Tusk has staged an actual coup, the Council & Commission are silent. There isn't a law yet globalists won't overrule.
David Ritchie retweeted
They tax jobs out of existence then whine about the consequences. You cannot hate them enough.
I am deeply concerned that Poundland jobs are at risk here in constituency of #PaisleyRenfrewshireNorth in #Braehead with many constituents impacted.
Poundland has filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators, putting 11,000 jobs at risk across more than 600 stores and distribution centres across the UK.
I welcome PM Andy Burham's support for Poundland workers & like him, I question why the company's owners chose not to accept a viable solvent offer which @UsdawUnion say could have prevented this outcome. This situation was entirely predictable by @Poundland according to the Shop Workers Trade Union who have been monitoring the situation closely for some time.
I have reached out to parliamentary colleagues to explore what options are available to assist and I hope to meet with USDAW trade union who represent Poundland workers to discuss the local issues in more detail.
David Ritchie retweeted
Slavery was an evil in which people from every continent and region participated. We should be honest about the whole history, not select the parts that are politically convenient today, especially given Britain's leading role in ending the transatlantic slave trade.
If Caribbean countries are asking Britain for a formal apology for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade, will they also be asking the same of the descendants of African kingdoms, rulers and merchants who captured, sold and profited from the trade?
On demands for reparations, whether through cash or debt relief, we have been down this track before. Twenty-five years ago, Jubilee 2000, Drop the Debt and Make Poverty History argued that cancelling the debts of poorer countries would give them a fresh start. More than $100 billion of debt was eventually written off, but many of those countries have since built up even bigger debts. Labour are already spending too much on Britain's welfare state, now is not the time for Andy Burnham to be providing global welfare.
There is no reason British taxpayers today should be held financially responsible for things that happened generations before any of us were born. And I have even less patience for political elites in commonwealth countries who don’t know how to make their own citizens prosperous now looking for another opportunity to blame Britain.
As Prime Minister, Andy Burnham should be Britain’s greatest defender. Instead, he is writing articles saying we need to confront our history (as if we haven't done enough of that) and considering another formal historical apology. Tony Blair already expressed Britain’s deep sorrow and regret for our role in the slave trade nearly twenty years ago. There is no need to do so again.
This is all another navel-gazing distraction. The Commonwealth should be looking forward, not endlessly backwards. That means economic partnerships to make us all richer and deeper military and security cooperation against common threats. If every Commonwealth summit becomes an exercise in presenting Britain with demands for cash then we need to start asking if it is worth the effort.
David Ritchie retweeted
Stephen Flynn tries to take on Andrew Neil on defence and fails spectacularly.
😂😂😂😂😂 scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/n…
David Ritchie retweeted
Nothing more ridiculous than the SNP trying to sound robust on defence when its policy for defending a separate Scotland is a white flag and a loudspeaker saying ‘we surrender’ in Russian 🤣
David Ritchie retweeted
Incredibly corrupting role he has now attained: his business is built on being “in the know” so he can influence people - and he is trading that influence (which govt craves) for insider status (which he needs to be in the know).
"I had a list of seven or eight things that I suggested to the Chancellor and I've been pretty gobsmacked that five of them were in the budget."
Martin Lewis, Founder of Money Saving Expert, reacts to Chancellor John Healey's first budget.
#Newsnight
David Ritchie retweeted
An enterprising opposition would UQ this astonishing breach of convention. Lewis says he's a journalist, but no journalist would blab about a pre-briefing hours before the budget is delivered. This man is regarded as some sort of saint, but he seems utterly unaccountable to anyone. Parliament should step in
CONFIRMED. Gas Standing Charges to be scrapped. I've just come out of a meeting with the Chancellor. The gas standing charge will be scrapped in 2027 (my guess, either for 1 Oct price cap or the 1 Jan 28 price cap). Having campaigned against the moral hazard of standing charges for years, I'm pleased.
It's currently £108 a year. That cost will be shifted onto unit rates. We don't know how much yet, but I suspect just under 1p per kwH.
The Chancellor also said he will be talking to Ofgem about how they get rid of the charge on electricity as well, but that is 'trickier' apparently and will take longer.
This is primarily about the price cap standing charges. There will still be an open market, so other firms can offer other forms of prices with or without the standing charge. My suspicion is that once it goes on the price cap, it will tend to be reduced on other tariffs as well.
As for those on fixes: if you get a fix now, the rate of your fix is fixed, so this should not affect it. You will pay what you pay and if it has standing charges they will continue (some asking if they should delay fixing because of this, no if a fix is right for you and will save you money, don't let this change that - this is about the structure of bills, as opposed to the actual costs on bills).
About 60% of people will pay less due to this, 40% more. My guesstimate is the dividing line will be somewhere around 12,500 kilowatt hours of gas (can't know until there is actual pricing). According to a study by Nesta, this switch would leave the majority of people in all income groups under £100,000 better off.
Of course, when this does come in, if we're still in the nightmare that we are right now, there will need to be support put in for vulnerable higher users, who will have to pay more. Though hopefully by then the mid-east will have calmed and energy prices lower.
---------------
That's all long term. The biggest issue in energy right now is that we're expecting a 27% rise in the price cap in January. I asked the Chancellor whether he will be intervening on that. He told me I'd have to wait for the budget, but reading between the lines, yes, there will be an announcement today.
Whether it's an increase in the Warm Home Discount, or whether it's council tax banned, or whether it's done via a payout for people in say council tax bands A-D as a proxy for household income as Rishi Sunak did who knows.
David Ritchie retweeted
The Money Saving Expert economy that @EdConwaySky described recently. Clever and very successful website. Not a good model for an economy, though.
CONFIRMED. Gas Standing Charges to be scrapped. I've just come out of a meeting with the Chancellor. The gas standing charge will be scrapped in 2027 (my guess, either for 1 Oct price cap or the 1 Jan 28 price cap). Having campaigned against the moral hazard of standing charges for years, I'm pleased.
It's currently £108 a year. That cost will be shifted onto unit rates. We don't know how much yet, but I suspect just under 1p per kwH.
The Chancellor also said he will be talking to Ofgem about how they get rid of the charge on electricity as well, but that is 'trickier' apparently and will take longer.
This is primarily about the price cap standing charges. There will still be an open market, so other firms can offer other forms of prices with or without the standing charge. My suspicion is that once it goes on the price cap, it will tend to be reduced on other tariffs as well.
As for those on fixes: if you get a fix now, the rate of your fix is fixed, so this should not affect it. You will pay what you pay and if it has standing charges they will continue (some asking if they should delay fixing because of this, no if a fix is right for you and will save you money, don't let this change that - this is about the structure of bills, as opposed to the actual costs on bills).
About 60% of people will pay less due to this, 40% more. My guesstimate is the dividing line will be somewhere around 12,500 kilowatt hours of gas (can't know until there is actual pricing). According to a study by Nesta, this switch would leave the majority of people in all income groups under £100,000 better off.
Of course, when this does come in, if we're still in the nightmare that we are right now, there will need to be support put in for vulnerable higher users, who will have to pay more. Though hopefully by then the mid-east will have calmed and energy prices lower.
---------------
That's all long term. The biggest issue in energy right now is that we're expecting a 27% rise in the price cap in January. I asked the Chancellor whether he will be intervening on that. He told me I'd have to wait for the budget, but reading between the lines, yes, there will be an announcement today.
Whether it's an increase in the Warm Home Discount, or whether it's council tax banned, or whether it's done via a payout for people in say council tax bands A-D as a proxy for household income as Rishi Sunak did who knows.
David Ritchie retweeted
Bad idea. The problem is that energy infrastructure will always have fixed costs (wires and pipes don't vanish when energy isn't flowing through them).
if fixed costs are recovered with usage-based charges, you create a lottery.
If usage is higher, profits are higher than they would've been if the charges were fixed.
if usage is lower, there's a risk variable payments don't cover fixed costs.
Energy companies will price this risk in as a premium... and bills will go up 😐
BREAKING: Standing charge on gas bills to be abolished
news.sky.com/story/politics-…
David Ritchie retweeted
🤔 The removal of standing charges on gas bills…sounds good doesn’t it?
💁♂️ On the face of it, yes, in general bills might be lower - but here’s the catch…
🤨 If you are a ‘higher consumer’ (meaning someone that uses gas for heating, cooking, hot water etc) then your energy bill is about to go UP. That’s cause they are putting the fixed daily cost on to the Unit Rate.
🥶Next week in large parts of the UK, the temperature is going to get close to freezing. Because of these changes, if you live there and heat your home with gas and want to turn on the central heating…Labour just made your life much more difficult and far more expensive.
David Ritchie retweeted
No one even thinks it's odd anymore that the government should be involving itself in the micro-details of home energy pricing.
BREAKING: Standing charge on gas bills to be abolished
news.sky.com/story/politics-…
Why would you campaign for this? It’s a total con and helps nobody. No wonder people think you’re part of the energy problem. All you’re doing is shuffling costs around and finding a different way for it to be paid.
CONFIRMED. Gas Standing Charges to be scrapped. I've just come out of a meeting with the Chancellor. The gas standing charge will be scrapped in 2027 (my guess, either for 1 Oct price cap or the 1 Jan 28 price cap). Having campaigned against the moral hazard of standing charges for years, I'm pleased.
It's currently £108 a year. That cost will be shifted onto unit rates. We don't know how much yet, but I suspect just under 1p per kwH.
The Chancellor also said he will be talking to Ofgem about how they get rid of the charge on electricity as well, but that is 'trickier' apparently and will take longer.
This is primarily about the price cap standing charges. There will still be an open market, so other firms can offer other forms of prices with or without the standing charge. My suspicion is that once it goes on the price cap, it will tend to be reduced on other tariffs as well.
As for those on fixes: if you get a fix now, the rate of your fix is fixed, so this should not affect it. You will pay what you pay and if it has standing charges they will continue (some asking if they should delay fixing because of this, no if a fix is right for you and will save you money, don't let this change that - this is about the structure of bills, as opposed to the actual costs on bills).
About 60% of people will pay less due to this, 40% more. My guesstimate is the dividing line will be somewhere around 12,500 kilowatt hours of gas (can't know until there is actual pricing). According to a study by Nesta, this switch would leave the majority of people in all income groups under £100,000 better off.
Of course, when this does come in, if we're still in the nightmare that we are right now, there will need to be support put in for vulnerable higher users, who will have to pay more. Though hopefully by then the mid-east will have calmed and energy prices lower.
---------------
That's all long term. The biggest issue in energy right now is that we're expecting a 27% rise in the price cap in January. I asked the Chancellor whether he will be intervening on that. He told me I'd have to wait for the budget, but reading between the lines, yes, there will be an announcement today.
Whether it's an increase in the Warm Home Discount, or whether it's council tax banned, or whether it's done via a payout for people in say council tax bands A-D as a proxy for household income as Rishi Sunak did who knows.
David Ritchie retweeted
For those following along, the post Raheem made referring to himself as a former chief of staff, he has now deleted
