Will Rishi Sunak Do Anything to Improve the Life of British Ex Pats in Spain? - Page 74

Good man Ian. Mostly the same food thinking as me. I’ll admit there are times when I enjoy a good old fashion fry up of sausages, eggs, black and white pudding, mushrooms, tomatoes and fried bread and even some fried onions. No hash browns (yuk!). Oh! and some decent tea too. And of course the rashers.

Mathew, I made note in a recent post that as of November the inflation rate is was running at 11.1% and in Spain at 6.9%. The trend over two months showed the inflation rate in Spain exponentially decreasing, which is brilliant for those living in Spain, whereas the rate of inflation over the same period in the UK is increasing which is terrible.

I'm not exactly sure that the increases can be directly linked to the war in Ukraine, it doesn't help, but is not the sole reason. The mean price of crude (West Texas Light and Brent) on the spot market this morning is trading at $75 pb. much less that at the beginning of the war, yet pump prices are still far higher. Gas has increased by 4.44% to 5.723 / MMBtu, which is still lower than the start of the war. OPEC have decided not to cut production thereby keeping the downward price trend. It should not take so long to filter through to domestic suppliers. Pump prices in the UK used to change almost daily in respect to spot market prices. Now they don't. After spending almost, a lifetime in the upstream oil and gas industry, I don't understand what is going on. Could the threat of windfall taxes be the reason. Though the Oil and Gas industry do make huge profits they also experience huge losses from time to time. Their profits and losses of course are not UK centric but global, the profits from doing business in the UK are quite small in comparison to their disclosed profits.

I have never been involved on a project in the last 20 years that was not overall less $20 billion, my penultimate project for Exxon in South East Russia was in excess of $32 billion. What I'm getting at is the O$G companies invest billions back into the industry. Exploration is another extremely risky business, though never involved in drilling, I've known companies drill 30 or more dry wells before striking, sometimes they don't and sometimes the field and delivery is much lower than expected.

Getting back to energy prices, the downward price trend has been consistent for a number of months, yet domestic energy prices are still set to escalate. So, what is the reason.  Could the reason be to condition us Prol's to use less energy, create a new industry for the already mega rich, such as heat pumps and force a carbon neutral agender driven by renewable green energy? Now do not misunderstand me; we all want a cleaner planet, but what was the sense in shutting down all coal fired power stations in the UK when they hadn't yet the capacity of green renewables to replace them. I believe politicians, through their lack of technical nous have been blindsided by the likes of Klause Schwab WEF and the UN COP agenda.

I'm glad to hear that the UK government this morning has seen sense and given the go-ahead to open the UK's first new coalmine. which will be steel manufacture and export. Coal is needed to smelt steel therefore it has to be more carbon friendly than buying from Poland and shipping it to the UK.....it's common sense.       

Sounds good, we always have a full 'English' Sunday morning.

Marmite, I used to have it flown out to us, wherever we were. My wife reared a cat from a day old in Alexandria and once it was on solids it used to have a quarter of a slice of toast with Marmite on for its breakfast each day.

No one born and bred south of Watford know how to make proper Yorkshire puddings.

Tried them Stu , in Leeds , and in Bradford years ago , also in liverpool my place of birth .. not a fan to be honest  but love mushy peas hahah 

I’m a fried breakfast , casserole ( love a slow cooker ) man . It can last two or three days . Pop in from farmyard midday , quick bowl and few slices of bread and out again . In mojacar I tend to fill the fruit bowl and salad from the markets and main shop mercadona and daily bread , milk and odds and sods me old pal Thomas’s mini supermarket. Also if I can cadge a lift Lidl for ice creams and toiletries. I was born into an Irish community near Birmingham but moved to East Sussex in 1980 so spent longer down here than what I still call home Brum . We always had enough to eat but always good honest home cooked food . I never had a Chinese meal or Indian meal until I moved south . Now I like the odd takeaway but they are not a cheap meal any more , neither is good old fish and chips . I suppose like all businesses like them energy costs ,oil , fish etc have increased . But I still ask the chippy to load me up with batter bits/ scraps or whatever region calls them . 

Morning all; loosely aligned to this topic is the following information - first an apology to AndyMac1951 though - Spain are INDEED offering a tax break - but unlike Portugal, not just to Brits, but to all Non-EU Citizens. (Portugal offer a 10 year 10% tax break specifically to British migrants; the following is a 4 year 15% tax break to all Non EU citizens)

The following is a cut-and-paste directly from the N332 site

Spain’s Digital Nomad visa expected to launch in January

The much talked about Spanish Digital Nomad Visa for international remote workers is scheduled for launch from January 2023. The visa is part of a package of economic, tax and business reforms under the new Start Up Act. Spain’s Congress of Deputies approved the law with the Senate expected to ratify it before Christmas. What we know about the visa details are:

The visa applicant must have been working for a company remotely for at least a year before the application.

The visa will allow digital nomads to stay and work in Spain for an initial period of 12 months.

After a year there is an option to renew for two years, opening a pathway to Spanish residency status after five years.

Non-resident income tax will be set at 15% for at least the first four years of a nomad’s stay in Spain (usually 24%).

The financial earnings threshold is proposed to be set at at the same level as the Spanish minimum wage (£860 per month)

Only 20% of earnings can come from Spanish companies

Close relatives e.g. spouses and children can join an application

The finer details are still subject to possible alteration. But we are saying that if people are interested is knowing more about this visa once it becomes available, to register with us now and we can get in contact with you at the appropriate time.

Contact Mark McMillan in our visa and relocation team. 

I’ve just read in the New Statesman that Boris Johnson is writing a memoir. He is already contracted to a major publishing company. I think I’ll buy this memoir. Any suggestions for the title?

Johnson remembers what he forgot or Let’s Get the Memoir Done!

The blonde dumbo …

How about “Lies, damn lies and then there’s this memoir”

- or - 

“LIAR! The memoirs of a mendacious muppet”