Happy Christmas To All Our Audience

HAPPY CHRISTMAS - To all our audience. It has been a very exciting year for ABC. 

We must especially thank Andrew Smith AAT qualified Professional of the Tax Hive Ltd www.thetaxhive.co.uk for knocking our books into shape and getting our year-end accounts done. I am very impressed by the dedication and commitment Andrew has shown to us. If you want a top-notch accountant at affordable prices, Andrew is the man to talk to. I am sure he will be going onto great things in 2020. 

I must also thank Mike Veeckmans, TRAVEEKA bvba in Belgium https://traveeka.be Mike is a Joomla software expert. Joomla is the backend software system for our website. Well done Mike and thanks for all your help. 

Very special thanks to Colchester IT, Nigel the boss, Jack and all the team: www.colchesterit.com Love the new set-up. Keep it going. 

Thank you also to the offices of Will Quince MP and all the work you have done. 

And to my family and the support they have provided. There are many others including RT TV who gave me the chance to appear twice and to BBC Essex and BBC Look East and the Colchester Gazette and Colchester Standard in particular for all the coverage.  

It has been a very eventful year and I am speaking in January at Springfield School and the Portsmouth Acadamy on January 24th as part of Aspirations Week. A talk called Human Potential helping school children navigate the world of work. Thank you to Portsmouth City Council, Economic Development Department for the opportunity.

Thank you to Carole Spiers, chair of the Institute of Stress Management Association (ISMA)  https://www.isma.org.uk for inviting us once again to their VIP conference. 

And thank you to One Stop Convenience store for our grant. We just need funding now for cameras and we will be close to kicking off Work TV. 

In September I took part in a visit to Japan on a writing trip to Wakura Onsen and Nowaza Onsen. A bit off track for the ABC, but a chance to see another culture. 

Image: Looking out to sea at Dolphin Smile Notojima Island, Japan. Tranquillity in a busy year. 

Japan is a wonderful country but it does make you appreciate what it is to be British. One could not imagine the Brexit debate occurring in Japan where there is a strong requirement to conform to group thinking. The Brits have our faults but we are a country that produces its share of strong-willed individuals. I am proud to be British despite the issues that almost threaten to tear us apart as a nation at times. 

I pay tribute to fellow Remainers and Brexitters and the battles we have had getting our points across on Facebook.

Our predictions - We have had eleven years of growth and that has seen growing employment across the Western World.

Quantitative easing has run its course and the government has stopped pumping liquidity into the financial system while taking money out of the real economy via austerity to stop inflation. Austerity is far from over but social security benefits have been so slashed it seems that there is little more that can be done without starting a revolution.

Image: We moved in May but we had no Internet for four months. Eventually we won our case at the ombudsman. Virgin Media have made some effort to make amends. 

Homelessness has skyrocketed as has child-poverty. The positive side of Brexit is that there will be no one else to blame. The EU bogeyman has been used as a scapegoat, when in fact many of their programs and initiatives are first class. We have seen the rise of populism this year and the strains caused by those that own assets gaining enormously from rising prices due to money being pumped into the economy, in comparison with those without assets who have become much poorer.

Populism will continue, and we predict as we will go into the downturn side of the economic cycle and this could become worse with social and political consequences. Whether the great new future promised by Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage emerges we will see. Will could see a bonfire of Human Rights, Workers Rights and Health and Safety legislation - well I am afraid that looks very likely. Article 20 of the ECHR guarantees one's rights to social security. What will happen when that's gone?

The NHS is already partly privatised and outrageous car parking prices are just one example of private funding. Boris Johnson will be under intense scrutiny. Brexit is a process not an event and with the EU treating the UK as competitors, not partners, negotiation will get a lot tougher. Trump may survive impeachment but we cannot guarantee a future president will be as accommodating in US/UK trade talks. We could be bombarded with cheap, chlorinated, nutrition free food, which could have long term health effects. Children of school age living in hostel accommodation will face a diet of cheap crap further opening the gap with those in public schools, for which for no expense is spared and taxes are still further cut for the rich and inheritance tax cuts allow the usual suspects born into wealth to continue to dominate the best jobs in our economy.

We might well see the departure of the Scots. If we believe in democracy then we must allow them a choice. Will our Royal Family become too much of a burden to be carried by a shrinking nation and will some adjustment be needed to provide a monarchy that fits modern times. The Queen and David Camerons offshore tax advising father were named in the Panama Papers, 11.5 million leaked documents from law firm Mossack Fonseca that detail financial and attorney-client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. Trials are starting in January but this issue could go on for years. Further fuelling and highlighting the gap between the haves and have nots.

Image: There are many different was to make a living. This might be more of the unusual ones!

Global warming is the greatest threat of our times, yet there are still those who either indifferent or think that it is a hoax. Hello, come In.....do you read me....!!! 

It is a rum-old world out there right now. Consider investing in a bomb shelter, bullet-proof vest and a tin helmet, you might need it!!

Here at the ABC we wish you all the best. Have a very Happy Christmas.

Simon Collyer

Image: Simon Collyer on RT TV.