Support Your Local Mini Mart

Hi Everyone

Now you must all know by now that the Senior Partner was tight with money. If she had been around today, she would not have to make sure that the shop scales were tipped in her favour or make less than 2 pence on each pound of potatoes that she sold. She would not have had to inspect the waste bin in the shop before the Junior Partner was allowed to consign the waste to the pig bin in the yard or get down on her knees with a bucket of soapy water to scrub the shop floor on Saturday night, before we could have our evening meal. Now she could have owned a mini mart selling vapes and illegal cigarettes among other illegal items. She would have been able to employ illegal immigrants working a fourteen hour day at £4 an hour. She would not have worried about a police or trading standards raid as she would be able to reopen the following day with new staff while sitting at home with the Junior Partner, counting her money. Even better, she would have been part of an organisation robbing the taxman of over £2billion in tax every year. There are two mini marts within two miles of our home, and it appears to be just another thing that our government has little or no power to stop. 

In two weeks time our Chancellor will present her budget, when she decides how to spend all our money. As she ponders with her spreadsheets and advisers, the NHS is underfunded, the prisons are underfunded, the legal system is a mess, our debt repayments are through the roof, and don’t forget the potholes. In addition, we are told that she has a £30Billion black hole to fill, so no pressure then. The Home Secretary says the Home Office is not fit for purpose, that welfare payments need to be reduced, school budgets are tight, and still the rubber boats are crossing the Channel. All that means higher taxes for nearly all us. Obviously, we have to pay taxes, and most of us would pay slightly more if it would help. That is the key, will whatever we pay help?. For me, the past few years have seen billions of our money wasted on mad ideas like HS2, and in many areas around Covid, just for a start. They talk about cost cutting but nothing about efficiency. Unless she produces a miracle, they will be voted out at the next election, with the next lot promising the impossible. As three years olds say “The wheels on the bus go round and round”.

Last week we competed with five other teams in a quiz night. In the History round one team scored eighteen points out of twenty while none of the other teams, including ourselves, scored more than five. As one of our team members said “I think that they should get out more”. Apparently, this week there was a major event that took almost five minutes to tell us about on the BBC main evening news. It was all about the final of the Celebrity Traitors TV programme with predicted high viewing figures. I used the word apparently as we have not watched any of the programmes because this type of programme is of no interest to us, and also because we have no idea who most of the so called celebrities are. With millions glued to their TV screens, perhaps it would be appropriate if we got out more.

Just a Thought:

Someone broke into a mini mark this week and staple 10 cases of beer. Honestly, I don’t know how they manage to sleep at night.

We are renaming our quiz team to “We are only here for the chips”.

I know what it takes to run a successful economy”, - Rachel  Reeves - Chancellor of the Exchequer

Brian