Kraft vs Cadburys

Hopefully the Kraft's deal to buy Cadburys will die before it really begins. Numerous people on this side of the Atlantic have come out opposing the deal, even Kraft Shareholders like Warren Buffett think the deal is a step too far for the company.


I'm reminded of this headline:

Yes, that was Heinz taking HP Sauce production abroad. Another takeover of a UK institution which ended in jobs going abroad.












I've had almost first-hand experience of something similar: I worked for ICLs manufacturing division and left when I saw the writing on the wall. A year later the whole division was hived off into a new entity called D2D. Not long after, it was sold to Canadian firm Celestica, who eventually closed all the UK manufacturing plants down and moved the work and jobs to Eastern Europe.

It really seems that our companies, our skills, our heritage, are all open for the higest bidder to remove. Just what do we, the working folk of this country get in return? Any idea anyone? Because I don't see any benefit in the decades-long firesale of our country's jobs. Just what will we be left with, ashes of a once-great nation, to tread into dust as we walk to our low-income third-world jobs?

Inflation: The Seismograph Ticks Louder

I've held off blogging about the 2.9 percent inflation rate in order to view all of the comments.

First off, the Bank of England (who remember are teasked with keeping the inflation rate a 2 percent) said it couldn't keep inflation at 2 percent because the factors at work were out of its control. So, just run that by me again: the institution supposedly given the task of controlling the UK economy doesn't actually have any control. Nice. In fact, what it really has is influence. It can only influence the rate of inflation by indirect means, such as raising the borrowing rate, or issuing more currency. But what happens when events run beyond the scale of those influencing mechanisms as I believe they will this year? We ride the inflation rollercoaster, that what.

So, with the current mechanisms, the Bank of England doesn't control the inflation rate: are you starting to feel uneasy? You should do.

There's a good chance gas prices will rise after this severe winter, pushing inflation up more. You may not have noticed, but prices on some high-end "luxury" goods such as TVs and Blu-Ray players crept up over December (before the VAT rise). They'll continue to rise as more expensive imports (thanks to the devaluation of the pound) filter through. With the increase in VAT on top, you should see noticable change in those prices. Sadly, the same can be said of food, thanks to our tough winter, I'm sure we'll be importing proportionally more food this year, so expect prices to lift there too.

Notealso that the figure is based on comparing last November with this November. So even with a low VAT rate, there was a 2.9% increase. When the VAT rate goes back up to 17.5% it'll be interesting to see what the rate will be, comparing January to January. Quite high I reckon.

Which brings us back to those mechanisms of influence: its a certainty that interest rates from the BoE will rise sharply, increasing payments for those that have been enjoying historically low mortgage rates. So if you're selling a house, or thinking of selling, you have a tight window of opportunity before rates rise and buyers start to disappear. Better to stay put I think, unless you're downsizing.

Ready for that double-dip everyone?

The Lonliness of the Long-Term Carer

This case and this one as well show all to clearly the stresses carers go through when supporting loved ones.

While I won't dwell on the subject of whether its morally acceptable to kill a loved one to end their grief, all I can say is that if there was no other motive than to end the suffering of a loved one, what is the point of prosecution? It won't serve as a deterrent, because when carers get to the state of mind where they feel that ending a loved one's life is far better than leaving them alive then really, are they at that very moment, in control of their sanity?

If there was some ulterior motive, like killing the child to make way for a new boyfriend, then I would say yes, a charge of murder is justified. But in both these cases, surely manslaughter due to diminished responsibility is a far more just charge?

If you look deeper, there are similarities between the two cases: two women each with siblings that needed intensive care and were inextricably bound up in providing that care. They were at an age where things start to go wrong with the body. I'm sure it crossed their mind several times: who would look after their child when they had passed away? Would they be guaranteed the current level of care? Was the current level of care adequate in the first place? Did they have to fight tooth and nail to get even the most basic level of support for their children? Prior experience with support services may have made them believe that their children would have suffered greatly if they weren't there to provide a decent level of care.

I know those self same thoughts have crossed my mind several times when dealing with my son (not killing him I hasten to add, but wondering just how he would survive independantly if I were to be run over by a truck for instance). I know the frustrations that comes with dealing with beaurocracy, I know the excuses given by all the services to deny even the most basic support. I've been there in the pit of despair and its not a pretty place to be.

The judge in the first case was correct: there is no such thing as a mercy killing. But really, to try someone pushed to the edges of sanity for murder serves no real purpose.