Stones at Glastonbury ? And why not

With the Rolling Stones headlining Glastonbury it got me thinking about my fave Stones tracks.

In my teens back in the eighties I really got into The Beatles and have got all their albums, however for no obvious reason I gave The Stones a swerve, only really discovering how great they really are in the last ten years, and what a majestic back catalogue I discovered !!!

Here then are, in no particular order, are my favourite Stones tracks :

1.    The Last Time

From 1965 and taken off the 'Out Of Our Heads' album which was their third album. By this time Jagger and Richards had finally got down to business as a writing team. The track has quite a 'Beatles' feel to it, though Keef has said when they were writing it they were thinking of The Staple Singers.

2.    (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

From the same album as The Last Time, this was The Stones' first real classic largely thanks to the riff cranked out by Richards through his Gibson fuzzbox. It was supposedly dreamt up by Keith in his sleep and completed beside in California whilst sat round the pool. The track brings out the desires of the ordinary man during the permissive sixties.

3.    Bitch

From the 'Sticky Fingers' album. This track features Bobby Keys on sax and Jim Price on trumpet. It rattles along at 100mph with a groove that just won't quit. One of their best songs,off one of their best regular albums. The horns really make it swing. Lot of talk about whether its about women or heroin but I don't really care, just love it.

4.    Brown Sugar

The opening track from 'Sticky Fingers' into which you can read two meanings of either drugs or inter-racial sex. The opening guitar piece is amazing. At the time, this song blew the dust off many a corner jukebox. Once Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman jump in with drums and bass, the song rolls along like a finely tuned American V8. Still packs a punch today.

5.    Tumbling Dice

From the quality, 'Exile On Main Street' album, this smooth Memphis soul track was one of the best The Stones had produced when they made it and it still is now. They recorded this in the musty basement of the Villa Nellcote, a place Keith Richards rented in France so the band could avoid paying taxes in England. They would sleep all day and record at night with whoever showed up. Unusually for this track, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards played guitar, with Mick Taylor playing bass.

6.    Not Fade Away

From the original 'Rolling Stones' album. The Stones recognised they could do a whole lot more with this track than the rather tame 1957 Buddy Holly original, and boy did they set it on fire taking it to a whole new level for their debut album.

7. Paint It Black

This 1966 track saw The Stones go all dark and brooding. Paint It Black is a song about depression, the lyric "I look inside myself and see my heart is black" makes the subject pretty unequivocal. The Beatles had made the sitar the instrument of the day, and The Stones used it to great effect on Paint It Black.

8. Miss You

From the 'Some Girls' album, this saw The Stones going all discofied, the deeply funky bassline of the Watts/Wyman rhythm section providing something different to the regular four to the floor dance groove. The spoken word bit is a classic, "I've been walking Central Park, Singing after dark, People think I'm crazy" as is one of the greatest wordless "ooh" choruses ever.

9. Under My Thumb

From 1966's 'Aftermath' album. This one has a bit of a Motown feel about it but with blatant sexist, misogynistic lyrics. According to Jagger, it was a revenge song about an overbearing ex. Under My Thumb is also notable for Brian Jones' use of marimbas and dulcimer which add so much to its sound. Despite all that its still a classic.

10. 19th Nervous Breakdown

The title came from a comment Jagger made in passing to the rest of the band at the end of an exhausting US tour. The song is self was allegedly aimed at Jagger's then girlfriend, Chrissie Shrimpton who he conceded was "a neurotic bird". Still, its another Stones classic that really rocks from start to finish.

11. Get Off My Cloud

From the 'December's Children' album, this was the follow up to 'Satisfaction', Keith Richards never rated the track claiming it was one of Andrew Loot Oldham's worst productions. It might have been rushed at the time but that gave it a certain, almost punkish edge to it. It may be sloppy but it still has attitude by the bucket load.

12. Angie

From the 'Goats Head Soup' album, this 1973 track, rare for The Stones in that it's actually an achingly beautiful ballad featuring the piano of Nicky Hopkins. The lyrics have an almost timeless appeal. It was portrayed as a love letter from Mick to Angie Bowie, though it was actually a Richards track that he wrote about the last, doomed days of his relationship with the Italian actress, Anita Pallenberg.

13. Let's Spend The Night Together

This 1967 number one caused controversy in both the UK where the BBC banned it, and in America where they were forced to change the lyrics to "Let's Spend Some Time Together" before performing it on The Ed Sullivan Show, interesting that, despite containing drug taking references, the first verse was broadcast in full. Nevertheless its still one of the biggest hits.

14. Beast of Burden

1978 track from the 'Some Girls' album. Containing a bit of a slippery, relationship dodging Jagger lyric, Beast Of Burden is a bit of a down beat tune built around a characteristic Richards riff. Although it was released when punk was sweeping through the UK you'd never have guessed it.

15. Undercover Of The Night

This was from 1983's 'Undercover' album and saw The Stones delving into foreign politics. Even though it's now 30 years old this track is probably their last truly great track. Jagger's lyrics explore the political clampdowns and sexual tensions of the time that were going on in South America.

16. Fool To Cry

From the 'Black and Blue' album, another slow track in the same vein as Angie. 1976's Fool To Cry is a truly soulful lament that instantly dissolves the Rolling Stones' hard rocking outlaw's image. It even features the word "daddy"

17. 2000 Light Years From Home

The Beatles embraced psychedelia with tracks like Tomorrow Never Knows, The Stones never really seemed to go for it though. This 1967 track from 'Their Satanic Majesties Request' album is probably their best attempt. 2000 Light Years From Home contains a looping, Bill Wyman baseline creating a real hypnotic space rock sound.

18. Gimme Shelter

Opening track on 1969's 'Let It Bleed' album, Firstly the way it comes in with a strange time signature and delay and then kicks in proper, you can't quite believe that rock can be this dark, sexy and exciting.

19. You Can't Always Get What You Want

Another 'Let It Bleed' track. You can actually feel Mick Jagger's pain in his voice when he sings this wonderfully sad song about watching your girlfriend become seriously addicted to heroin (Marianne Faithfull maybe ?). Also notable is the a cappella intro to the track by a choir.

20. Sympathy For The Devil

From the 'Beggars Banquet' album of 1968. Possibly The Stones, most unusual track in terms of both arrangement and lyrics. In the second verse, the music perfectly mirrors the anarchy portrayed in Jagger’s lyrics, as he describes the overthrow of the tzars and the blitzkrieg. At the same time, Jagger’s voice becomes less controlled, singing, shouting now, although still showing perfect enunciation on words like “stank.” All in all, a brilliant, unique track.

21. Start Me Up

Opening track which kicks off the 'Tattoo You' album in rocking good style. A riff-rocker in the tradition of "Honky Tonk Women" or "Satisfaction," a tough little rock & roll song powered by one of Keith’s trademark riffs and a solid Charlie Watts backbeat. The riff and the backbeat are so good, in fact, that it's easy to ignore the fact that, the song never actually goes anywhere: other than the repeated "You make a grown man cry" bridge, the verse is the entire song. One of the last great Rolling Stones songs though.

22. Honky Tonk Woman

Probably their last great track of the sixties. Honky Tonk Woman greatness is underwritten by Charlie Watts' funky, no-frills drumbeats, which lead off the song and ricochet throughout with great authority. Although rock & roll, there's a lot of country and blues influence, perhaps even more country than blues in this song. Just get a few drinks down yer and enjoy it.

23. Play With Fire

This was actually the ‘B’ side to 'The Last Time', and one of their more effective moody ballads. For probably the first time, the group was writing about their experience as young men in sixties London rather than aping what they thought a blues song or pop hit was supposed to be. There’s a folk-rock feel to this track, with its acoustic guitars (one played by Phil Spector) and doleful tambourine bashes. In many respects, it’s better than the ‘A’ Side.

24. Jumping Jack Flash

The lyric of this 1968 classic was inspired by Richards' gardener, Jack Dyer, who slogged past as the guitarist and Jagger were coming to the end of an all-night session. "Who's that?" Jagger asked. "Jumpin' Jack," Richards answered. The song evolved into supernatural Delta blues by way of Swinging London. The Stones first performed it at their final show with Brian Jones.

25. Champagne and Reefer

From the 'Shine A Light' live album released in 2008. Champagne and Reefer is The Stones at their blistering best, perhaps their best blues tinged song since "Little Red Rooster" they are joined by Buddy Guy, even Mick’s Harmonica gets a solo! Keef, Ron and Charlie play up a storm in the background.

Is The Day The Lights Go Out Coming ?

Yet again the Government continues to stall on investing in the Power industry, putting off something they really needed to have done 10 years ago. They continue to play short term party politics when they should be thinking about what we need in 2023.

Why you may ask, am I worried about this, its not like they'll be power-cuts like in the seventies, the lights aren't going to go out ? Well, when you understand what's happening now maybe you'll be as concerned as me. I know its boring, but here's the FACTS :

UK Power Generation is currently in the region of 40,000 MW and is expected to rise to 70,000 MW to satisfy rising energy demand in the immediate future. That sounds reasonable to me.

Now how is the current 40,000 MW generated ? Well it is currently roughly split as follows :

20%  Nuclear

25%  Gas

40%  Coal

10%  Renewables

5%   Other (eg energy from waste)

Coal

Now let's first look at the largest contributor, coal. At the beginning of the year, these were our remaining coal fired power stations, and what they generate :

Aberthaw - 1500 MW

Cockenzie - 1200 MW

Cottam - 2008 MW

Didcot A - 2000 MW

Drax - 3870 MW

Eggborough - 1960 MW

Ferrybridge - 1995 MW

Fiddler's Ferry - 1961 MW

Ironbridge - 970 MW

Kingsnorth - 1940 MW

Lynemouth - 420 MW

Ratcliffe - 2000 MW

Rugeley - 1006 MW

Tilbury - 1131 MW

West Burton - 1972 MW

Wilton - 197 MW

TOTAL - 26130 MW

Now, as a consequence of pollution restrictions introduced by the EU the owners of a number of coal fired power stations have chosen to opt out and to close their power stations altogether rather than upgrade their pollution controls. So far the following are effected :

Cockenzie - Closed 15th March, 2013

Didcot A - Closed 22nd March, 2013

Ferrybridge - Will close by 31st March, 2015

Ironbridge - To close by end of 2015

Kingsnorth - Closed 28th March, 2013

So that's 8105 MW generated of our 40,000 MW demand already closed or about to. Remember that figure. Let's now look at Nuclear

Nuclear

The UK currently has 15 nuclear reactors in eight nuclear power stations (detailed below). All bar one of these existing nuclear power stations have scheduled closure dates between 2016 and 2023. They are

Wylfa 1 - shutdown September 2014

Dungeness B1 & 2 - shutdown 2018

Hartlepool 1 & 2 - shutdown 2019

Heysham I-1 & I-2 - shutdown 2019

Heysham II-1 & II-2 - shutdown 2023

Hinkley Point B 1 & 2 - shutdown 2023

Hunterston B 1 & 2 - shutdown 2023

Torness 1 & 2 - shutdown 2023

Sizewell B - shutdown 2035

These power stations contribute c13,000 MW of power. With all the shutdowns, by the end of 2023 that's another 12,000 MW down.

Getting the picture ?

So are you starting to get the picture, just looking at the closures of coal fired and nuclear power stations in the next ten years, we're losing over half of our CURRENT generating demand.

So what we doing to build some new ones ?

Well at the moment, nowt !! 

On the 26th March, 2013, the Government published a strategy paper which stated that the nuclear industry has plans for 16 GW of new nuclear power stations by 2030. This equates to 12 new nuclear reactors at five sites, these being : Hinkley; Moorside; Oldbury; Sizewell and Wylfa. The first of these was supposed to be on-line by 2018, it won't be, these things take ten years to build and they still can't agree the funding, the strike price or (in the case of Wylfa and Oldbury) the reactor design. So, realistically, don't expect to see the first one live before 2025.

All of this begs the question where will our power come from in 2023 ?

Coal Fired, Carbon Capture and Storage ?

Government is expected to discuss terms for front end engineering design STUDIES for the Peterhead Project in Aberdeen and the White Rose Project at Drax. However a final construction investment decision is not expected until 2015. Best not count on that then.

Energy from West Schemes ?

Lots of schemes around but persistently held back by planning restrictions and a general NIMBY attitude from people who don't understand (or don't want to understand) how they operate. To be fair, I wouldn't want one in my back garden either. The schemes that get built will contribute but only to replace some of the power lost through the coal fired closures.

Wind farms?

Wind farms in the UK currently generate c1900 MW of power, growth capacity is deemed to take us to around 8800 MW. So assuming this actually happens, (and there's no current indication that it will or even that we're willing to invest heavily) then that's the coal fired power stations that have closed to-date replaced. But its still not enough.

Solar ? Wave ?

Small fry in the whole scheme of things without significant capital reduction and technological development they aren't going to fill the gap.

Gas ?

This is the obvious short term fix. With the buoyant activity in the upstream oil and gas sector and the potential 'fracking' of shale gas, the immediate future points to the construction of gas fired power stations and gas storage facilities. A number of gas fired power stations are currently under consideration, though not enough.

SO WILL THE LIGHTS GO OUT ?

Unless the Government wake up and smell the coffee then YES, the lights will be going out after 2023. Sure, we might be able to eek out another couple of years out of the existing nuclear power stations but that's just delaying the inevitable.

If attitudes to energy from waste schemes and to fracking of shale gas changes then we can narrow the generating gap. So will greater investment in new gas fired power stations and wind farms but it still won't be enough to feed our burgeoning demand for more and more power.

The only real solution this country has is start to build the new nuclear power stations now, not in five or ten years time but now. Government are so adamant that they're not funding these power stations that they're even talking to the Chinese about them taking a 20% stake in Hinckley Point.

How on earth have we got to this stage where most of our power companies are foreign owned (including foreign governments) and we have to go cap in hand to the Chinese because we can't afford to build one nuclear power station by ourselves. Provision of our utilities should have remained the states responsibility, as far as I'm concerned, selling it off was a mistake of the Thatcher Government that's come back to haunt us. Labour side stepped the issue when they were in power leaving it to this lot to imply their sorting it whilst they're really dithering and U-turning over it. Show some balls Dave and get it sorted.

Will the last person to leave the country please turn out the lights ? Presuming they're actually still on !!!

One Direction and the Dead Generation

Is It Me? Maybe.           Am I getting old? Maybe.

How long has the durge that the pop music industry churns out at the moment stayed the same for? Seems like an eon to me. Today’s pop music is just light-weight, same-sounding lift music and there’s not really been any change in years. What have we done to deserve this lot ? :-

Coldplay          

Utter middle-class shite, Dire Straits for the digital generation.

Rihanna            

Wearing barely anything seems to be the only way she can sell herself.

Justin Bieber      

Kurt Cobain killed himself a month after Justin Bieber was born. Says it all really.

One Direction   

A young, talent show boy band – nothing new there, that genre goes back to the Monkees in the Sixties.

This lot are the dead generation, how many will still be around in 20 years time ? None I hope.

What we’re missing is the next ‘youth revolution’. But will it ever come ?

Mr Manchester, the late, great Tony Wilson, founder of Factory Records and Granada Reports presenter had a theory about all this, he’s quoted as saying :

“I used to have this 13 year cycle theory that British youth culture exploded every three years. It wasn’t much but I noticed that the Beatles happened in 1963, then punk in 1976 and ’89 was acid house. Then someone pointed out that if you go back 13 years from ’63 you get teddy boy. Anyway, it suddenly made some kind of sense.”

Maybe he had a point, maybe not. Nothing happened, as far as I can remember in 2002, maybe it skipped a generation and something will happen in 2015, maybe not.

Maybe the youth of today have everything they want. Maybe they don’t feel the need for a ‘youth revolution’ anymore. Maybe they just can’t be arsed getting up off their X-Box, PS3, PC, Tablet etc etc to revolt.

Where have all the Musical Genres Gone ?

It’s a shame how the music charts have gone in the last decade, the genres of music they contain have gone, some forever. This is the Top 40 for this week in 1980    

Look at the variety of musical genres in that chart : Rock, Pop, Soul, Disco, Punk, Heavy Metal, Reggae, Two-Tone, New Wave, Easy Listening, Electronic, even Rock-a-Billy is in there. Also there are a number of true legends and tracks that are still played today.

The music also influenced the fashions then, if you liked a certain genre you wore their style of clothes, another thing long gone, everyone dresses the same now.

Formulaic Drivel

What we need today is a move away from standard, formulaic, process driven pop. A move away from X-Factor drivel. We need to get some youth anger and angst back into it. We also need some stars emerging that we’ll still want to listen to in 20 years. 

So let’s hope Tony Wilson was right and his theory did just skip a generation – otherwise we’ll have the ‘dead generations’ stalking the charts for the foreseeable future.

Bigger Pictures ?

Looking at the even bigger picture. Maybe its part of the whole drive for everything and everybody to be the same. Clothes, music, the shops we shop in, the look of our high streets. The nanny state will decide what is good for you and what is dangerous, we’ll all be the same, individuals will not be tolerated, it’s the route that capitalism is now driving us down and is not dissimilar to the communist doctrine that we so fight against. Regulate less and give us true freedom is what I say.

The Death Penalty – Bring It Back !!

Civilised Society

I’ve always been of the view that we are right in this country not to have the death penalty. We are supposedly a civilised society and in a civilised society you don’t execute people.

Mind Changing

In the past month I’ve had my mind changed twice. The first, being the brutal killing on our streets of Drummer Lee Rigby. The second was the sentencing of the cop killer who openly admitted killing four people, Dale Cregan. In both cases the killers not only didn’t deny their crimes but openly flaunted it. Lee’s killers didn’t even run, they stood in the street shouting about what they’d done.  

This is the game changer. Here you have animals who revel in what they’ve done, they don’t deny it; there are no errors in judgment or doubt that we’ve got the wrong person. Why should we allow there type to live in our civilised society (even if it is in prison) ?

The other major game-changer is technology. DNA, forensics and digital media all combine to prove guilt conclusively, something we didn’t have when capital punishment was abolished.

So what are the real issues, why can’t we bring back the death penalty for murderers ?

Innocent people may be put to death?

The long and complex processes involved in murder cases these days mean that the chance of being wrongly convicted for a crime such as murder are extremely low. DNA evidence and new forensic advances make proving cases much easier. Judges will not apply the death penalty where there is even some doubt as to the strength of the conviction, as it is vital that innocent lives aren’t taken.

Historically, the claim that the chances of being wrongly convicted existed in the British justice system. The Birmingham Six would have been executed. Stephan Klijsko would have been executed. However these were in different times, today forensics and technology would have eliminated them before they even got to court.

It costs too much, to keep repeat murders in our already bulging prisons.

Cost has never really been an issue in this country when it comes to dealing with crime. The justice system seems to happily carry out expensive, lengthy trials that result in not guilty verdicts and don't complain that money has been wasted. Dale Cregan’s trial cost over £5 Million and he pleaded Guilty !!

The cost to keep someone like Dale Cregan in prison for the rest of his life is a massive cost to the tax payer especially if he lives 60+ more years which is entirely possible. This cost could easily be negated by his early execution after conviction.

It would act as a moral guideline.

If we live in a society where there is capital punishment it will make would be murderers and the violent criminal think twice. As for terrorists, I believe they would be only venerated by a tiny minority so executing them would have little effect. As a moral guideline it would have a good psychological effect as certain people in ‘Gangland Britain’ would wake up to what is right and what is wrong. It will firmly establish what the population find unacceptable.

It’s a cruel and immoral punishment

Maybe so, but the punishment is for a cruel and immoral act carried out by the convicted person. Therefore not unfair. You live by the sword, you die by the sword.

The other side of the argument is that punishing like with like isn't how our justice system works. When someone steals a telly we don't take their telly off them as well, we remove them from society. Similarly, those who commit fraud don't get fined comparable amounts to the money they defrauded. So, defining murder as bad and then killing the murderer could be deemed hypocritical. To be fare there are one or two merits to this argument, but only for lesser crimes than pre-meditated murder.

EU Says No

Capital punishment is expressly forbidden under Article 2 of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights for an EU member state to impose capital punishment to which Britain is a signatory.

Simple solution which works on so many fronts (see some of my previous blog posts) is we leave the EU.

It doesn't do anything to bring back the victim

Neither does a prison sentence, however it will probably give the victim's family more of a sense of closure. The family will know that, unlike prison sentences that can be cut short by a mixture of good behaviour and government incompetence, the murderer will never be a threat to another human being again. The death penalty is the ultimate form of vindication.

It may not do anything to bring back the victim, but you can guarantee there won't be a second one!

The death penalty as a deterrent

An actively used death penalty has to act as a deterrent. It would certainly make many potential killers think again, especially those who operate in our inner-city gangs.

Whilst murder is often an impulsive act, it is not always. Most impulsive murderers wouldn’t get the death penalty. That should be reserved for repeat offenders, mass murderers, serial killers, child killers and cop killers.

As it currently stands, the criminals of today have nothing to fear, they can get arrested, get life in prison. Prison today is not a punishment like it used to be. They don’t wallow in a hole with nothing but bread and water, they are given beds, television, pool tables, computer consoles, jobs, in essence they’re treated like a normal person when they are not normal at all, they are evil.

CIVILISED SOCIETY HAS CHANGED; IT’S A DIFFERENT WORLD NOW

We now live in a modern world where science and technology play a potent role in identifying people that commit crimes. With these measures in place there can never be a wrong death via execution. The science today is fool proof.

Our civilised society today cannot be maintained if we let killers live. If your child or someone close to you was murdered you would want justice; you would want to see the killer die for what they have taken from you. This doesn’t make us worse than the people that kill; we aren’t killing because we want too. No we want to see them die for something they have done, someone they have taken from us; some family that will never be the same because of that person. That is not wrong; that is not stooping to their level. It’s simply removing someone that can never destroy a family or loved ones ever again without reason.

For these people that kill another, particular those that murder children, death is probably too good for them, but death via lethal injection is a true justice rather than being put in a prison holiday camp to sponge off the state. Bring it back I say.

Risk. A Risky Business If We Want Growth

Throughout history, one thing you could never accuse the UK of was not being an innovator, we were the great inventor. Over the years so many items that we now take for granted in our day-to-day existence, have come through British invention and engineering such as : 

• The Telephone
• The Train
• The Jet Engine
• The Electric Motor
• Radar
• The Light bulb
• The Computer AND the World Wide Web

We invented materials too, including :

• Cement
• Stainless Steel
• Carbon Fibre

 In medicine we pioneered :

• Penicillin
• Hip replacements
• Vaccines for smallpox and typhoid
• Test tube babies

In recent years the medical developments have carried on, bio-science development is growing and is being actively funded by Government. Similarly materials development has continued, the discovery of Graphine being the most recent example. However, what has happened to innovation and invention in our engineering sector? The ‘Made in Britain’ stamp has disappeared along with the decline in the country's manufacturing base and this is now stalling economic growth.

World Beaters

After the war we were truly world class, with the development of things like the jet engine and the computer. We developed true examples of world leading engineering but we always failed to maximise on their sales. Other countries often took our basic design and developed it into something with world beating sales that should have been ours. Even when we really had something unique such as the Harrier jump-jet and Concorde we still failed. Why ?

Quite simply, we developed things for our own use, to our own specifications rather than to something more general that the whole world would buy. Best example of this is the Trident passenger plane, development cost a fortune as it was designed and built specifically to BEA’s (British Airways predecessor) specifications. Its size was what BEA and BEA alone wanted so we built it that way, low and behold we couldn’t sell it to anyone else. The Americans took, what was essentially the Trident design and built the Boeing 727, they made it the size airlines wanted and sold 1832 of them, how many Tridents did we build ? – 117 !!

Often we couldn’t get the money side to match the development, how many British built projects have been cancelled because the investment needed to develop them was unpredictable or even unquantifiable and ended up shooting through the roof ?

Computer Says No

Instead of learning from all this and developing the next range of products the investment stopped, the accountants, the banks and the bean-counters got involved. This all coincided with the advancement of today’s risk averse culture. You can’t do anything these days without a risk assessment and if “Computer Says No” then it doesn’t happen.   

The over-riding issue with the UK economy is lack of any real growth. However the Left dress it up, this growth isn’t going to be brought about by a bit of government spending or moving public money around. The reason Britain lacks any major growth, is due to the culture of risk aversion, which has seeped into all areas of society, including the economy.

The UK also needs to drop the ridiculous notion of ‘sustainability’ if we want to see real economic growth. Sustainability by its very definition sustains what we’ve got.  We don’t want to sustain the UK economy in its present state; we want real growth that will lift us out of it.

Risk Aversion

Many businesses are no longer prepared to take the risks needed to recreate a dynamic economy with a thriving manufacturing base. Risk aversion means businesses would rather shuffle their money around the financial and property markets, rather than take a real risk by putting it towards large-scale capital investments, and research & development. These investments may, sometimes reap big returns; the rewards for success can be great. They may also bring a loss and that is simply unacceptable in today's Britain, so the risk isn’t taken, the opportunity is stifled at birth.

This conclusion hasn’t been arrived at on a whim; it’s backed up by fact. The country’s business’ refusal to take risks with their money can easily be demonstrated by the simple fact that UK businesses have approximately £60 Billion in cash sitting on their balance sheets, not doing anything productive.

Good Capitalist Principles

I was always taught that a capitalist economy relies on risk taking entrepreneurs putting themselves and their money on the line in order to create more money. This is totally the opposite of the risk adverse climate that exists in the UK today.

This culture of risk aversion is prevalent in the UK’s private sector, with the refusal to build the third runway at Heathrow, or the floundering over building new nuclear power stations because there’s too much risk in the tariff the Government will pay the power companies. What the power companies should be doing is building them themselves and setting their own tariff instead!!

Until we see a major cultural shift away from risk aversion, we won’t see a return to the dynamic economy, with the real growth we all crave. This government needs to lead by example, ‘Call Me Dave’ needs to get his head out of his arse and be a REAL Prime Minister, he needs to provide REAL leadership to the country, something that has been sadly lacking from him and his predecessor. Despite proclaiming he isn’t, Dave is a ditherer who tries to please all the people all the time, this is evidenced by the number of U-Turns he’s made.

Dave's Moment

Mr Cameron, now is your moment, you’ve two years left to LEAD us, show your true Tory credentials by empowering the private sector to ditch the risk assessments, the risk analysts and the computers that say No (removing the shackles of our EU membership would also help) and create some real growth that won’t just sustain us but turn us into the world beaters we once were.  

You should be encouraging the UK private sector to take full advantage of the new shale gas reserves in the North West, and not listen to the professional, comfy shoe wearing, Guardian reading, scare-mongering greens amongst us. The construction of ‘Boris Island’ in the Thames, or a new look into the third runway at Heathrow would not go a miss. Neither would an increase in investment (not just tax breaks) for research and development, in an attempt to boost Britain’s highly skilled manufacturing sector. If you don’t, these highly skilled guys will go elsewhere and bring wealth to other countries who are prepared to invest in them.

!!! Something needs doing now !!!

We used to develop and build cars, trains, planes and ships, we don’t anymore. Excessive risk aversion just stifles innovation, invention, development and ultimately growth, it’s a culture that needs eradicating.