Making The Pips Squeak

Nothing To Do With Wilfred, Either

I suppose a bit of explanation is in order, because your mind may not be as full of nonsensical rubbish as Conrad's.  Art!

     There you go.  Conrad doesn't ever remember reading this strip from the "Daily Mirror", so I'm not entirely sure how I knew of it, and it ended long before I graced the scene.

     No, what I refer to is a statement from Denis Healey when he was Chancellor, where he gleefully, or even ghoulishly, advocated that he'd " - squeeze the property speculators until the pips squeak".  Meaning that he was going to get lots of money out of them, in case you're not familiar with British idiom.  Government taxes, you see.  Nobody likes them except the Chancellor.  Art!

     This is the Boston Tea Party, which is loudly bruited about in South Canada as being the noble and long-suffering natives justifiably revolting against evillllll British taxes that went towards funding Satanic covens and serial killer sojourns.

     The truth is rather more nuanced, as you may guess from my splenetic exaggeration.  Art!

     Tansy Kelly Robson over on Twitter put up a paragraph or two from this work, which rather shoots down the South Canadian mythos about their partying with tea.

     You see, they were actually smugglers who were illegally importing various types of tea into the Colonies, tea that was as cheap and nasty as a used plaster.

     What the evillllll British government did in relation to this lucrative trade, because dammit the Colonies needed their tea! was to abolish the 25% import duty rate on wholesome tea imported by the East India Company.  Instead they imposed a local Colonial tax of three pence per pound of tea, which approximated to an 8% tax rate.  Art!

The East India Company's flag.  No confusion about where their sympathies lie.

     You may see where this is going.  The locals were still enduring taxation without representation, yes by gum those from Dum-Dum, yet it had been cut to. a third of what it had been.  Not only that, it was the very finest Indian exported product, not the sweepings that the smugglers sold.

     Those young braves tossing tea into the harbour at Boston were smugglers trying to get rid of a commercial rival by main force.  So much for taxes!

     Now we come to the meat of the matter, which is a set of ways and means that a particular government is using to raise money.  Said increases were quietly instituted in early July, when most people were on holiday, in the fervent hope that nobody would notice.  Art!

     Sadly for them, this particular somebody did.  This is Konstantin of "Inside Russia", hereafter Big K.  He listed various pip-squeezing measures that he'd discovered.

UTILITIES: Formally 'Housing and Communal Services'.  Prices for water, electricity, waste removal and heating all went up, supposedly thanks to an increase in production costs.  Big K suspects this is drivel and the real reason is the need to feed the gaping maw of the military budget.

DOMESTIC GAS PRICES:  The export market for gas has gone, and for good, so domestic users in Modern-day Mordor are having to make up the loss.  Prices were increased last December by 8%, and as of July 1st were raised another 11.2%.

MORTGAGE SUBSIDIES:  Gone.  No money for them any longer.  Homebuyers are looking at interest rates from 17% to 22%.

STATE DUTIES AND FEES: Prices for things like work permits or parking have gone up, by 10% or even 20%.

MEDICAL SERVICES: According to Rosstat, the cost of same has increased by 11.6%.  Big K, however - O my favourite word! - reckons, from personal observation, that the actual figure is a lot higher, possibly as high as 25%.  Medicines themselves have increased in price by 15% in only one quarter.

RAIL FREIGHT CHARGES: Increased in January by 10.7%, with a subsequent increase in delivery time by 200%.  This is stated to be thanks to an increase in the price of diesel (which is true), a lack of drivers (probably mobilised) and increased tolls, which seem to be the rights-holders simply gouging as much as possible.  Art!

     

     There's also the possibility of Ukrainian 'kinetic sanctions' interfering.

     It would be great to see an official Rosstat quote as to how much they think these measures will raise.  You can only starve a people for so long before they get agitated in the pants and look for a regime change.  Squeak, pips, squeak!

If It's Stupid But It Works -

Then it's not stupid.  Art!

     This, ladies and gentlemen and those unsure, is a Yakovlev Yak-52, an elderly airplane intended for use as a trainer.  It came into use in the Eighties with the Sinister Air Force and was intended to be used for aerobatic training.  By all accounts it is a delight to fly, being light and manoeuvrable.

     Well, the Ukrainians are known to be brave, clever and good at improvising.  They took several obsolescent Yak-52s and painted them in a camouflage scheme, and then sent them aloft.  Art!

Drone-eye view of about to get shot.

    They are being used to hunt Ruffian aerial drones.  The orcs were initially tickled by this, until one Yak downed it's eighth drone, and the amusement turned to frothing indignation, because a single Orlan drone costs in the region of $100,000.  The petrol for the Yak's flight probably costs $500, and bullets come for pennies.  

"City In The Sky"

The Doctor, having seen off the Lithoi invasion, now has to hop back to Australia from the Namib Desert.

When he emerged from the TARDIS to inspect, the view confirmed what he’d seen on the scanner: a column of helpers getting people and products from Arcology One and into horse-drawn transport.

     Excellent!  All this technical expertise will be distributed along the Eyre Highway, starting in a few days.  Without the Lithoi spying and manipulating and destroying, these people are going to come on in leaps and bounds.  The Americans will have their shuttle operation back in working order in a matter of weeks.  Why, the others spheres Upstairs might even use this method to return themselves.

     Amidst all the frantic labour and activity beyond, a single figure stood out: a young woman who stretched to her full height in a boilersuit, craned her head to detect where the strange yet familiar sound had come from.  Her silhouette, a minute black dot on the dry red earth, changed in orientation and began to slowly grow larger, approaching the TARDIS. 

     Fully five minutes after he’d materialised, the Doctor greeted Ace in a flurry of arms, hugs, Nullarbor dust and horsey sweat.

     ‘Ooof!’ he exhaled.  ‘Pleased to see you!’

     Ace beamed at him, standing back to throw an errant lock over her temple.

Bring On More Roy!

Roy Cross, that is, resident Airfix box artist, responsible for a great many young lads parting company with their pocket money.  Art!

     Talk about kinetic!  This is a cropped version of a larger painting Roy did of the IDF Mirages in action against the Egyptian air force's Mig 15s, which have been caught with their pants down.  

     Conrad not sufficiently knowledgeable on the matter but is guessing this is the Six Day Unpleasantness, unsure if it's an actual event or just Roy being creative.  Art!

Conrad Points And Laughs

It's nice to see a seedy, sleazy, crooked politician get their sweetly-deserved come-uppance, and take a look at this.  Art!

     Matey was taking bribes from foreigners to help promote them in South Canada, and got caught.  Not only is he going to lose his liberty, he may be getting a divorce to boot. 

His lawyers had attempted to shift blame to Mrs Menendez, portraying her as a financially troubled individual who hoped to "get cash and assets any way she could".

     Way to go.  What a heel.  In trouble? quick, throw your wife under the bus! and hope you get out of jail before she does.