Iranian Bank Sepah Teeters on Collapse: The Financial Death Knell for Tehran's Murderous Mullah Regime

The house of cards in Tehran is finally tumbling – and it's about bloody time!

Hot off the presses: Iran's banking sector is imploding, with five major institutions on the brink of total collapse, headlined by Bank Sepah – one of the country's three largest banks and the primary piggy bank for the IRGC thugs and the military machine. This isn't some minor glitch; it's the regime's financial arteries bursting wide open, courtesy of years of corruption, cronyism, and bone-headed mismanagement amplified by crushing US sanctions.

We've already seen Ayandeh Bank – a private lender bloated with $5 billion in bad loans to regime insiders – get swallowed whole by state-owned Bank Melli in a desperate bailout last October. Now, the rot spreads: Bank Sepah, along with Sarmayeh, Dey, Iran Zamin, and Mellat, are flagged as "highly imbalanced" with liquidity shortages, toxic loans, and overexposure to dodgy quasi-governmental entities. The central bank's own supervision chief called Ayandeh a "Ponzi scheme" – and Sepah's next in line for the chopping block.

Why does this spell the end for the vile, murderous mullahs who've terrorised Iran and the region for decades? Because Bank Sepah isn't just any old high-street lender – it's the lifeblood of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the armed forces. Collapse here means no more easy cash for proxy wars in Yemen, Syria, or Lebanon; no fat paychecks for Basij goons cracking skulls on protesters; no slush funds for nuclear ambitions or missile mischief. This is the cardiac arrest for the regime – a direct hit to their operational lifeline.

The grim reality biting the ayatollahs:

• Crony Capitalism on Steroids: Bad loans to regime cronies have hollowed out these banks, turning them into black holes of corruption. Ayandeh's $10 billion debt transfer to the state? Just the tip – Sepah's exposure to IRGC-linked firms means billions more in write-offs.
• Sanctions Squeeze: US and Western sanctions have starved Iran's economy, but the regime's own graft turned a pressure cooker into a bomb. Ordinary Iranians are the collateral – protests erupted over Ayandeh's fall, and Sepah's demise will fuel the fire.
• Economic Domino Effect: With Sepah going under, the ripple hits pensions, salaries, and imports. Inflation's already at 40%+, the rial's in freefall – this could trigger hyperinflation and mass unrest, toppling the theocracy like dominoes.
• No Bailout Lifeline: Merging failing banks into state giants like Melli or Sepah itself (which absorbed five sinkers in 2020) is just kicking the can – now the can's exploding. The regime's out of tricks, out of cash, and out of time.

This banking bloodbath isn't bad luck; it's the inevitable endgame for a regime built on brutality, theft, and isolation. The mullahs have sponsored terror, executed dissenters, and starved their people while lining pockets – now the bill's due. Sepah's brinkmanship is the spark that could ignite the final revolution, sending Khamenei and his cronies packing.

The Iranian people deserve freedom from this murderous cabal. Rise up, Persia – the end is nigh!

Amazon Suggested Reads – Unmask the Regime's Rot

• “The Mullahs' Money Machine” – inside Iran's corrupt economy (affiliate link)
• “Sanctions and Collapse: Tehran's Tipping Point” – why the end is coming
• “Persian Uprising: Stories from the Streets” – fuelling the fightback

Ken Frost

Professional Cynic, Chartered Accountant and unrepentant Loanbuster

www.kenfrost.net – busting global tyrants since 2005

Ed Miliband's Offshore Wind Fiasco: £91/MWh Locked In for 20 Years – Higher Bills, Lost Jobs, Shaky Security & Decades of Rip-Off Contracts

Blimey, Ed Miliband's just pulled off the mother of all green vanity projects – and we're all going to pay through the nose for it!

Fresh from yesterday's "record-breaking" offshore wind auction, the Energy Secretary is crowing about securing 8.4GW of new capacity – enough to "power 12 million homes" – at strike prices around £89-£91/MWh (in 2024/2025 prices, blended average ~£90.91/MWh). These Contracts for Difference (CfD) are locked in for a whopping 20 years (up from 15), running right through to around 2045. Miliband calls it an "historic win" and "taking back control" from volatile gas markets.

Historic win? More like historic stitch-up for the British punter!

Let's get real with the numbers, because the spin doesn't survive contact with reality:

• £91/MWh guaranteed to developers (in recent 2025 prices) – that's what taxpayers and bill-payers subsidise when market prices dip below.
• Market price for gas-fired power? Currently hovering around £55-£80/MWh (wholesale electricity often set by gas at ~£70-£80/MWh day-ahead in early 2026, with futures expecting further drops).
• Gas generation costs (including new plants) touted by Miliband as £147/MWh? That's including a fat carbon price and build costs – but existing gas plants are churning out power far cheaper right now, and markets expect prices to fall further as global supplies stabilise.

It's just not credible to claim gas is what's making our power expensive. Not credible at all. Renewables were meant to crash costs – instead, Miliband's handing out premium subsidies when wholesale is trading cheaper. When the market price falls below £91 (which it already does much of the time), we top up the difference via our bills. When it's above? Developers pay back – but good luck banking on sustained highs in a world of abundant LNG and falling gas futures.

The fallout? Brace yourselves:

• Bills will be higher – these locked-in top-ups add billions over decades, with critics warning families face "decades of higher electricity prices". Labour promised £300 cuts; instead, bills are already £200 up since they took power, and this cements uncompetitive prices.
• Energy security threatened – we're betting the farm on intermittent wind (no wind = no power) while sidelining reliable gas. In an unstable world (Middle East flare-ups, anyone?), we're more exposed, not less.
• Jobs lost – higher energy costs hammer UK industry, manufacturing flees to cheaper shores, and the "thousands of jobs" Miliband boasts? Offset by private-sector carnage from sky-high power prices.
• Stuck with useless contracts for decades – 20-year lock-ins mean we're tied to these inflated rates until the 2040s, even if tech improves, costs plummet, or better options emerge. Talk about fiscal handcuffs!

This isn't green genius; it's ideological lunacy. Miliband's virtue-signalling "clean power by 2030" obsession is costing us dear, subsidising developers at premium rates while gas – the current marginal price-setter – proves far cheaper. Renewables dampen wholesale prices? Great in theory, but when you're guaranteeing £91/MWh subsidies on top, the net benefit to consumers evaporates.

Miliband promised cheaper, homegrown power. What we've got is a generational bill hike, fragile security, job losses, and contracts that make the poll tax look like a bargain.

Resign, Ed – before you bankrupt the lot of us chasing net-zero nirvana.

Stay angry, stay vigilant, and for God's sake insulate and shop around – because this lot won't save you a penny.

Amazon Suggested Reads – Shield Yourself from the Green Rip-Off

• “The Great Net Zero Swindle” – how climate dogma costs Britain billions
• “Energy Poverty: Surviving Labour's Green Taxes” – practical ways to cut bills
• “Fossil Fuels vs Fantasy” – why reliable energy still wins

Ken FrostProfessional Cynic, Chartered Accountant and relentless Loanbuster

www.kenfrost.net – exposing the energy emperors since 2005

Labour's AI Tyranny: Kendall's Crackpot Ban on "Bad" Image Tools – A Recipe for Economic Suicide and US Sanctions

Blimey, here we go – another day, another Labour lunacy straight from the nanny-state playbook!

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall – fresh from her pulpit in the Commons – has declared war on AI, announcing that the government will "seek to make it illegal for companies to supply the tools designed to create such images." "Such images"? We're talking non-consensual deepfakes, the kind that's got the moral panic brigade frothing over Grok on X. But let's call this what it is: a ham-fisted power grab that's about as effective as banning knives to stop buttering toast.

Labour's painting this as a noble crusade against "weapons of abuse" – activating bits of the Data (Use and Access) Act to criminalise creating or requesting intimate deepfakes. Fine, nail the pervs abusing the tech. But banning the tools themselves? That's like outlawing hammers because someone might smash a window. It's overreach on steroids, and it'll backfire spectacularly.

First off, the hysteria over Grok and X is wildly misplaced. Some idiots have used Grok to whip up dodgy images – including the vile child abuse stuff that's rightly got everyone riled. But singling out Elon Musk's playground? Give me strength. Other platforms – Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, even bog-standard apps on Google or Apple – have been churning out similar illegal images for years. Why the laser focus on X? Because Musk's a thorn in the establishment's side, that's why. Labour's virtue-signalling at the expense of one US giant while ignoring the rest is hypocritical hogwash.

And here's the real kicker: any outright ban on X or Grok services in the UK will be met with swift sanctions from the USA. Uncle Sam doesn't take kindly to foreign governments muzzling American tech titans – remember the TikTok rows? Elon'll have his mates in Washington slapping tariffs or trade barriers faster than you can say "free speech." Labour's playing with fire, risking a transatlantic spat that could hammer UK exports and investment. Brilliant strategy, folks – alienate our biggest ally over a few pixels.

But wait, it gets worse. These proposed rule changes on AI aren't just daft; they're economic poison. Banning "tools designed to create such images" will, in effect, halt AI investment in the UK dead in its tracks. Who in their right mind would pour billions into British AI firms if the government's lurking with a ban hammer? We're already lagging behind the US and China – this'll send startups fleeing to friendlier shores like Singapore or Silicon Valley. Growth? Forget it – hello, tech exodus.

And don't think it'll stop at AI generators. This slippery slope will slop over into every creative tool under the sun:

• Photoshop and editing software: Adobe's got layers that could "create" dodgy images – ban that too?
• Art apps and digital drawing tools: Anything with a brush or filter could be twisted for ill – say goodbye to Procreate or Clip Studio.
• Even pencil and paper: Extreme? You bet, but once you start policing "tools designed to create," where's the line? Ban charcoal sketches because someone might draw something naughty?
• Basic photo apps on your phone: Filters, crops, AI enhancements – all could fall foul if Labour's zealots get their way.

This isn't protection; it's prohibition-era stupidity, stifling innovation, creativity, and free expression to chase a phantom fix for online nasties. Existing laws already cover abuse – enforce them, don't nuke the toolbox.

Labour promised tech-savvy governance. What we've got is Luddite lunacy from Kendall and co, virtue-signalling their way to a self-inflicted recession. Resign? Damn right – before they drag the UK back to the Stone Age.

Stay vigilant, folks. Shield your digital freedoms, diversify your tools, and laugh at the next "expert" who says this'll work.

Amazon Suggested Reads – Defend Your Tech from the Nanny State

• “The AI Purge” – how governments kill innovation (affiliate link)
• “Free Speech vs. Big Brother” – surviving the censorship wave
• “Tech Exile: Why Innovators Flee the UK” – essential escape plans

Ken Frost
Professional Cynic, Chartered Accountant and unrepentant Loanbuster
www.kenfrost.net – fighting the fiscal and digital fascists since 2005

UK Economy in Freefall: GDP Shrinks AGAIN – Experts "Shocked" (Again) While Real People Saw It Coming a Mile Off

Blimey, if this isn't the definition of economic self-harm, I don't know what is!

Fresh out of the ONS oven this morning: the UK economy contracted by 0.1% in October 2025 – the second straight month of shrinkage after September's identical 0.1% drop. Over the three months to October, GDP also fell 0.1%, marking the first rolling quarterly decline in ages and leaving growth flat since June. We're talking stagnation turning straight into recession territory, with services flatlining, construction slumping, and production limping from that Jaguar Land Rover cyber-attack hangover.

And the so-called "experts"? The City economists, the media mouthpieces, the Treasury tea-leaf readers? They're all wide-eyed and gasping: "Unexpected! Weaker than forecast! Who could've seen this coming?"

Give me a bloody break.

These charlatans were predicting zero growth or even a feeble 0.1% bounce for October. Surprise, surprise – the economy went backwards again. Yet again, their crystal balls were clouded by optimism bias, groupthink, and an unhealthy obsession with Westminster whispers rather than the real world.

If these overpaid forecasters ever dragged their heads out of their arses and actually spoke to real people – the small business owners delaying hires because of Reeves's £25bn NI tax bomb, the families cutting back on spending ahead of the Budget tax tsunami, the shopkeepers watching tills go quiet – they'd have known this was coming. The punters felt the chill months ago: uncertainty freezes confidence, tax hikes kill investment, and Labour's fiscal folly delivers exactly the pain we warned about.

The grim tally:

• Services (80% of the economy): No growth in the three months to October
• Construction: Down 0.6% in October alone
• Production: Partial rebound but still dragged by manufacturing woes
• Overall: GDP hasn't budged since June – flatline to contraction in record time
• City forecasts: "0.1% growth" – actual: -0.1% (that's a 0.2% miss, folks)

This isn't bad luck. This is the direct fallout from Rachel Reeves's pre-Budget leak-fest and her post-Budget assault on wealth creators. She weaponised uncertainty, spooked markets, and now we're paying the price: businesses battening down, consumers holding back, growth evaporating.

Yet the "experts" keep getting it wrong – month after month, quarter after quarter – and still collect fat cheques for their useless predictions. Why are we paying these clowns? Why do banks, think-tanks, and media keep trotting them out as oracles when their track record is worse than a stopped clock?

Time to wake up: the real economy is run by real people, not spreadsheets in the City. The experts are paid to be wrong – and boy, do they deliver.

Reeves promised growth. What we've got is shrink, shrink, shrink. Resign? Damn right – but don't hold your breath.

Protect what's left, folks. Diversify, shield your assets, and ignore the next round of "surprised" pundits.

Amazon Suggested Reads – Arm Yourself Against the Next "Unexpected" Disaster

• “The Myth of Expert Forecasts” – why economists get it wrong every time
• “Surviving Labour's Recession” – practical guide to weathering the storm
• “Taxed to the Bone” – how to protect your wealth from the taxman

Ken Frost
Professional Cynic, Chartered Accountant and eternal Loanbuster
www.kenfrost.net – calling out the fiscal frauds since 2005

Bank of England Scrapes Through Knife-Edge 5-4 Vote to Cut Rates to 3.75% – Too Little, Too Late for Reeves's Wrecked Economy

 

Blimey, talk about scraping the barrel!

In a nail-biting 5-4 split – with Governor Andrew Bailey tipping the scales like the swing voter he loves to be – the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee finally bowed to reality today and slashed the base rate by a measly 0.25% to 3.75%. Four hawks dug in their heels to keep it at 4%, terrified of lingering inflation ghosts.

This is the fourth cut of 2025, the lowest level since early 2023, and a pre-Christmas crumb for mortgaged families and battered businesses. Rachel Reeves is already crowing about it being the "sixth since the election" and "good news" – yeah, love, because your £40bn tax tsunami made it bloody necessary!

Let's not kid ourselves: this timid trim is damage control for the economic carnage unleashed by Reeves's Autumn Budget bombshell. Her employers' NI hammer, inheritance tax raids, and non-dom purge froze investment, spiked unemployment to a near-five-year high of 5.1%, and delivered back-to-back GDP contractions. The ONS's grim growth figures and jobs bloodbath screamed "cut now!" – yet it took a razor-thin majority to act.

The grim backdrop that forced their hand:

• Inflation tumbled to 3.2% in November (sharper than forecast)
• Unemployment at 5.1%, payrolled workers down 38,000
• GDP shrank 0.1% in September and October – stagnation city
• Private sector wage growth lagging while the public sector parasites feast
• Services inflation easing, but still sticky enough for the hawks to squawk

This isn't generosity from Threadneedle Street; it's a desperate patch-up job on the holes Reeves blasted in the hull. Her "tough choices" weaponised uncertainty, scared off hiring, and squeezed the private sector dry to feed the bloated state machine. Real people – businesses delaying expansions, families remortgaging into pain – have been yelling for relief for months, while the BoE dithered.

A full percentage point off since summer? Pathetic when you consider the self-inflicted wounds from Labour's fiscal folly. Further cuts in 2026? The MPC's muttering about a "gradual downward path" and "closer calls" ahead – translation: don't hold your breath for bold moves while Reeves keeps stoking inflationary fires with her big-state bloat.

This cut might shave a few quid off tracker mortgages and ease some loan pain, but it's no cure for the underlying disease: a Chancellor hell-bent on taxing wealth creators into oblivion.

Stay vigilant, folks. Shield your finances, diversify, and remember – this mess is homemade in Downing Street.

Amazon Suggested Reads – Defend Your Wallet from the Next Onslaught

• “The Interest Rate Trap” – how central banks bail out bad policy
• “Taxed Into Stagnation” – Reeves's roadmap to recession
• “Protect Your Mortgage in Labour's Britain” – essential survival strategies

Ken Frost
Professional Cynic, Chartered Accountant and unyielding Loanbuster
www.kenfrost.net – busting fiscal fantasies since 2005

Appalling Jobs Bloodbath: Unemployment Hits 5.1% Four-Year High – Thanks to Reeves's NI Hammer and Tax Tsunami Squeezing Private Sector Dry

 

Blimey, what a shocker – or rather, what a predictable catastrophe!

Straight from the ONS this morning: UK unemployment has rocketed to 5.1% in the three months to October 2025 – the highest in nearly five years, folks. That's a nasty jump from previous figures, with payrolled employees plunging by 38,000 in November alone (the biggest drop in five years) and wage growth excluding bonuses slumping to its lowest since early 2022.

And the "experts"? The media pundits? They're all feigning surprise again, scratching their heads over this "weakening" labour market. Pull the other one!

If these bubble-dwellers ever bothered talking to real business owners – the ones hammered by Rachel Reeves's £25bn employers' National Insurance heist and the endless parade of tax rises – they'd have seen this jobs apocalypse coming from a mile off.

Reeves didn't just raise taxes; she declared war on the private sector. Her pre-Budget leaks and post-Budget bombshells froze hiring, sparked redundancies, and sent employers scrambling to cut costs before the NI guillotine fully dropped. Businesses aren't charities – slap them with higher employment taxes, and guess what? They hire fewer people, pay lower wages, or sack the lot to survive.

The grim stats don't lie:

• Unemployment at 5.1% – highest since the pandemic hangover
• Payrolled employees down 38,000 in November to 30.3 million
• Private sector wage growth lagging at just 3.9%, while the bloated public sector struts ahead at 7.6%
• Redundancies ticking up, young people hammered hardest
• Employment rate slipping to 74.9%

And here's the real kicker: while the private sector – the engine that actually creates wealth – bleeds jobs and stifles growth, the parasitic public sector swells like a tick on the taxpayer's neck.

Public sector employment hit 6.18 million in September, up thousands while private firms slash payrolls. Lousy productivity? Through the roof in inefficiency – endless bureaucracy, gold-plated pensions, and pay rises that outstrip the private sector by miles. This bloated behemoth is crowding out private investment, sucking up resources, and starving the real economy of oxygen.

Reeves promised "growth". What she's delivered is a jobs graveyard, with the private sector paying the ultimate price for Labour's obsession with big-state bloat.

This isn't bad luck. This is deliberate sabotage – tax the creators, featherbed the takers, and watch unemployment soar.

Time for Reeves to own this mess. Resign? Damn right. But don't hold your breath – she'll blame everyone but her fiscal folly.

Protect your livelihood, folks. Diversify, shield your wealth, and pray the BoE slashes rates to stem the bleeding.

Amazon Suggested Reads – Battle-Proof Your Career in Labour's Britain

• “The Great Jobs Heist” – how government taxes kill employment
• “Survive the State Squeeze” – protecting your income from public sector parasites
• “Private Sector Survival Guide” – thriving despite Reeves's raids

Ken Frost
Professional Cynic, Chartered Accountant and relentless Loanbuster
www.kenfrost.net – exposing the fiscal vampires since 2005

UK Economy Shrinks Again: Reeves's Tax Terror Delivers Double Contraction – And the "Experts" Are Shocked? Pull the Other One!

Blimey, here we go again – another day, another dose of fiscal self-sabotage from the Reeves Treasury!

Fresh from the ONS printer this morning: UK GDP contracted by 0.1% in October 2025, marking the second straight month of shrinkage after a 0.1% drop in September. Over the three months to October, the economy fell by 0.1% – the first rolling quarterly decline since December 2023. No growth since June, folks. Flatline city, with a side order of backward slide.

And the media circus? The so-called "experts"? They're all gobsmacked, clutching pearls and muttering about how this was "unexpected" and "weaker than forecast". City economists were pencilling in 0.1% growth for October alone. Surprise, surprise – it went the other way.

Give me strength!

If these ivory-tower pundits and Westminster bubble-dwellers ever pulled their heads out of their arses and actually talked to real people – you know, the ones running small businesses, juggling bills, or trying to scrape together a pension – they wouldn't be "surprised" one iota.

We've been screaming it from the rooftops: Reeves's pre-Budget leak-fest of tax hikes, employers' NI bombs, and inheritance death duties created a tsunami of uncertainty that froze investment, hammered confidence, and sent consumers battening down the hatches. Businesses delayed hiring, delayed spending, delayed everything while waiting for the Red Box guillotine to fall.

The numbers lay it bare:

• Services (80% of the economy): Flat as a pancake at 0.0% over three months
• Production: Down another 0.5%, with car manufacturing still limping from that JLR cyber-hit (only partial recovery in October)
• Construction: Slumped 0.3%
• Wholesale, retail, and scientific research: Major drags, offset by feeble picks in rental/leasing

This isn't some random blip. This is the direct fallout from Labour's "tough choices" – code for taxpayer torment. Reeves spent weeks drip-feeding the worst bits to her lobby mates, spooking markets, and now we're reaping the whirlwind: stagnation turning to contraction.

Yet the Treasury trots out the same tired script: "We're determined to defy the forecasts on growth..." Yeah, love, you're defying them alright – by making them worse!

Real people knew this was coming. The punters in the pubs, the shop owners watching tills go quiet, the families cutting back before the tax grabs even hit – they felt the chill months ago. But no, the "experts" were too busy schmoozing politicians and polishing their models to notice the bleeding obvious.

This is what happens when you weaponise uncertainty: growth evaporates, jobs get jeopardised, and the squeezed middle pays the price. Again.

Reeves promised "growth, growth, growth". What we've got is shrink, shrink, shrink. Time to face facts: the Chancellor's playbook is a recipe for recession. And if the BoE doesn't slash rates next week to counter this mess, we'll be staring down the barrel of something far nastier.

Stay vigilant, folks. Protect what you've got left – because this lot certainly won't.

Amazon Suggested Reads – Fortify Your Finances Against the Next Assault

• “The Death of Economics” – why government meddling kills growth
• “Survive the Taxman” – essential shields for your wealth in Labour's Britain
• “Recession-Proof Your Money” – because history repeats, and Reeves is repeating the worst bits

Ken Frost
Professional Cynic, Chartered Accountant and eternal Loanbuster
www.kenfrost.net – busting the myths since 2005

Rachel Reeves’s Pre-Budget Leaks: £3 Billion Pound Market Meltdown, Pension Panic & Why the Chancellor Should Face Trial for Economic Sabotage

Blimey, talk about lighting the blue touch-paper and running for the hills!

In the single most cack-handed display of economic incompetence since Gordon Brown sold Britain’s gold at rock-bottom, Rachel Reeves and her Downing Street puppets spent the weeks before the 30 October Budget deliberately leaking the most toxic parts of her fiscal bombshell. The result? A record-breaking £3 BILLION was yanked out of UK equity funds in November alone – the biggest monthly exodus since records began. Pension funds, wealth managers and ordinary punters with ISAs all hit the panic button at the moment the whispers of £40bn in tax hikes, employers’ NI carnage and capital-grab raids hit the wires.

And make no mistake – this wasn’t an accident. This was market manipulation on an industrial scale, orchestrated by a Chancellor who knew exactly what she was doing.

Every calculated “leak” – the £25bn employers’ National Insurance heist, the inheritance-tax farmer massacre, the non-dom purge, the pension contribution relief rumours – was deliberately dripped to the lobby journalists days and weeks in advance. Why? To soften us up, to bounce the markets into pricing in the pain before the Budget statement, and to give her mates in the City time to reposition while the rest of us got shafted.

The numbers don’t lie:

• £3bn net withdrawals from UK equity funds in November (Calastone Fund Flow Index – worst on record)
• £1.2bn ripped out of UK-focused funds in the final week of October alone
• FTSE 100 dropped 4.5% in the run-up to Budget day
• Defined-benefit pension scheme deficits ballooned overnight as gilt yields went haywire
• SIPP and ISA investors stampeded for the exit, crystallising losses just to avoid Reeves’s looming capital gains tax grab

This, this is the textbook definition of using privileged information to distort markets. If a hedge-fund manager did this he’d be in cuffs before breakfast. When a Chancellor does it, she gets a standing ovation from the Labour backbenches.

Let’s call it what it is: state-sponsored market manipulation.

Reeves knew the contents of the Budget weeks in advance. She authorised selective briefings that moved billions. Real people – pensioners, small investors, business owners – lost real money while the Treasury played politics with the nation’s wealth. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a criminal offence under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and the Fraud Act 2006. Minimum sentence? Up to ten years.

So here’s the Loanbuster verdict, loud and clear:

Rachel Reeves should resign tonight.

When she refuses (because narcissists always do), the Director of Public Prosecutions should open an immediate criminal investigation into market abuse, misconduct in public office and conspiracy to defraud the British public.

This wasn’t incompetence. This was a deliberate act of economic sabotage dressed up as “tough choices”. History will judge her as the Chancellor who weaponised terror, who turned the Red Box into a sawn-off shotgun and pointed it at every saver and investor in the land.

We’ve seen this movie before – Brown, Osborne, Kwarteng – but none of them ever sank to premeditated, market-rigging leaks on this scale. Reeves has form: remember her boast that she wanted markets to “mark her homework”? Well they did, love – with a great big red F for Financial Vandalism.

The British public deserve better than a Chancellor who treats the stock market as her personal plaything and our pensions as collateral damage.

Resign. Face the music. And yes – stand trial.

Because if the rule of law means anything in this country, no-one – not even the Chancellor, not the Prime Minister, not the entire bloody Treasury – is above it.

Stay angry, stay vigilant, and for God’s sake move whatever you’ve got left out of Reeves’s reach before she comes back for round two.

Amazon Suggested Reads – Arm Yourself Before the Next Raid

• “The Big Con” – how Britain’s economy was hijacked 
• “Taxed to Death” – the ultimate guide to protecting your wealth from HMRC predators
• “Crash Proof Your Portfolio” – because Labour certainly won’t

Ken Frost

Professional Cynic, Chartered Accountant and unrepentant Loanbuster

www.kenfrost.net – fighting the fiscal fascists since 2005

Reeves' Tax Tsunami: Budget 2025 Delivers £26bn Sting – Growth Gutted, Taxpayers Tormented, and Britain Broke-er Than Ever!

 

Rachel Reeves has just unleashed her much leaked late Autumn Budget 2025 like a wrecking ball at a glass factory – £26 billion in tax hikes crashing down on workers, savers, and investors, all while the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) quietly downgrades growth forecasts to levels that make the 1970s Winter of Discontent look like a balmy barbecue. Delivered today, November 26, 2025, this fiscal fiasco isn't "fixing the foundations" as Starmer's spin machine claims – it's fracking the economy for short-term scraps, leaving taxpayers poorer, businesses battered, and growth on life support.

Hold onto your wallets, folks: the OBR's leaked-then-confirmed Economic and Fiscal Outlook paints a picture of stagnation so severe it's got economists reaching for the smelling salts. GDP growth? Upgraded to a measly 1.5% for 2025 (from 1% in March – whoop-de-doo), but that's before the tax torpedo hits. Productivity? Slashed to 1.0% medium-term growth, 0.3 points slower than hoped, dragging borrowing up by £7bn per 0.1% slip. Tax as GDP share? A post-war peak of 38.3% – the highest since Churchill was chain-smoking in the war rooms. Welcome to Labour's "renewal": more red tape, less rocket fuel.

The Key Carnage: £26bn Tax Raid – Who's Getting Hammered?

Reeves' big swing? A cocktail of stealth taxes and outright grabs designed to plug the black hole she blames on Tory "mismanagement" (pot, kettle, anyone?). Total haul: £26.1bn by 2029-30, freezing thresholds and tweaking rates to suck in 920,000 extra higher-rate taxpayers. No mercy for the middle class – this is fiscal drag on steroids, where inflation pushes you into higher bands without a penny raise.

Here's the hit list, straight from the red box of doom:

1. Frozen Personal Allowances & Thresholds: Basic rate band stuck till 2029 – if you're earning £12,571-£50,270, kiss goodbye to £1,200 extra tax per year as wages rise with inflation. Higher earners? Bam – 40% band kicks in at lower real terms. Result: 920,000 more in the 40% club, pure stealth squeeze.
2. National Insurance Nightmare: Employer NI up 1.2% to 15%, plus lower threshold – that's a jobs tax hammering businesses, who'll pass it straight to you via frozen wages or pink slips. OBR says it'll "weigh on growth" for years.
3. Dividend Tax Spike: Rates up 2 points across the board – basic from 8.75% to 10.75%, higher from 33.75% to 35.75%. Investors and small biz owners? Your side-hustle dividends just got devoured.
4. Pension Predation: Annual allowance trimmed, lifetime allowance revived – savers over £1m? Expect a 55% tax whack on drawdowns. Reeves calls it "fairness"; I call it raiding your retirement rainy-day fund.
5. Mansion Tax on the Mega-Rich: 2% stamp duty surcharge on homes over £500k for non-residents – good luck enforcing that without scaring off foreign buyers and tanking London prices.
6. VAPE & Booze Levy: Sin taxes on vapes (£2.20 per 10ml bottle) and a 6.7% cider duty hike – "health" my foot, it's just another fag on your Friday pint.
7. Electric Car Killer: Scrappage of EV incentives – OBR warns it'll "discourage take-up," slashing green growth while raising £1.9bn long-term from road taxes.

Spending side? A crumbly £5bn "national renewal fund" for infrastructure (yawn – we've heard that before), plus lower energy bills via windfall taxes on oil giants. But here's the kicker: spending as GDP share jumps to 45% next year before dipping back – that's 5 points above pre-Covid, all funded by... you guessed it, your wallet.

What It Means for the Economy: Drag, Decline, and a Dash of Despair

For the economy? This Budget's a brake pedal mashed to the floor. OBR's crystal ball: borrowing tumbles from 4.5% GDP in 2025-26 to 1.9% by 2030-31 (lowest in six years, Reeves crows), debt peaks at 97% GDP in 2028-29 then eases to 96.1%. Sounds peachy? Nah – that's after £26bn in growth-gutting taxes. Cumulative nominal GDP growth from 2025-30? 0.9 points lower than March, skewed to labour income over profits (businesses fleeing already).

• Growth Drag: NI hikes and freezes = investment strike. OBR: "Persistent weakness in labour market and productivity" – unemployment up, vacancies weirdly rising, inflation at 3.6% (from 1.7% low). UK's now G7 laggard, per forecasts.
• Inflation Irony: Tax rises shave 0.3 points off CPI in 2026, but higher energy duties? They'll bite back.
• Debt Dud: Primary surplus by 2027-28 (first since 2001), but each productivity blip adds £7bn borrowing. Public sector net worth? Improves a smidge to -68% GDP by 2030 – still a black hole bigger than Blackpool Sands.

Bottom line: Reeves' "plan" trades short-term fiscal flex for long-term limp. Britain grows 5.3% since Covid, but per head? Just 0.8% – this Budget bakes in more of the same.

Taxpayers Tormented: Where You'll Feel the Freeze (And How to Fight Back)

Ordinary punters? You're the big losers here – no income tax rise, sure, but the stealth stuff stings worse. Families: two-child benefit cap scrapped (huzzah, £2.5bn for 400k kids), but frozen thresholds mean £500-£1,000 extra tax per household. Workers: NI drag = wage stagnation, 1.5m more in poverty per OBR. Savers/Investors: Dividend and pension hits = £500m annual raid on your nest egg. Pensioners: Triple lock safe, but inheritance tax tweaks loom (non-dom crackdown).

Worse off? Middle earners (£30k-£60k) – fiscal drag turns pay rises into pain. Businesses: Compliance costs up 10%, hiring down 2%. Even the rich feel the pinch on EVs and vapes. Good news? Lower borrowing means... er, marginally cheaper mortgages? Small mercies.

Shield Your Shillings: Grab These Lifelines Before Reeves Raids 'Em Next

While the Chancellor's busy cooking the books, savvy Loanbuster readers are battening down: diversifying investments, maxing tax wrappers, and arming up with intel. Here's your starter pack – click through and protect what Reeves can't touch:

• Master the tax dodge basics: The Tax-Free Wealth by Tom Wheelwright – blueprint for keeping HMRC at bay amid freezes and hikes. Snag it on Amazon
• Pension-proof your future: The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins – idiot-proof guide to index funds and beating the allowance squeeze. Essential now
• Investor armoury: The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham – timeless tactics against dividend doom. Warren Buffett's bibl:

Shift to ISAs, eye dividend alternatives, and track every receipt – before the next Budget bazooka.

The Bitter Bottom Line: Labour's Legacy? A Leaner Wallet for All

Rachel Reeves' Budget 2025 isn't renewal – it's a rude awakening. £26bn tax tsunami, growth downgraded, taxpayers twisted. Borrowing falls, sure, but at what cost? A slower, smaller economy where you're working harder for less, while ministers pat themselves on the back for "stability."

Britain deserves better than this managed misery. Share this if you're fuming, grab those books to fight back, and let's hope the 2029 election brings a real reset. Until then, stay sharp – or get sheared.

Mortgages To Rise to 5% by 2029

 

 

Anyone with a mortgage ha better start paying it down. 

 

Budget leak (par 2.57) shows interest rate on mortgages will go UP from 3.7% in 2024 to 5% in 2029.

 

OBR leak doc. 

The OBR is Shite!

Tin Hats Everyone!

OBR Bombshell: Reeves’ Britain Now Officially on Course for the Most Miserable Growth Forecast Since… Well, EVER!

Hold the front page, folks – the Office for Budget Responsibility has just taken a flamethrower to Rachel Reeves’ “decade of renewal” fantasy and torched every single growth forecast for this entire parliament. Yes, you read that right: slower growth in 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028, and 2029 than they thought just eight months ago. That’s not a “revision”, that’s a full-blown economic obituary penned by the government’s own independent watchdog.

Welcome to Stagnation-on-Steroids 2.0 – now with extra misery sprinkles!

The OBR’s latest Economic and Fiscal Outlook dropped yesterday like a lead balloon in a paddling pool, and the numbers are so grim they make the Truss mini-budget chaos look like a minor hiccup at a village fete.

• 2025 growth slashed from 2.0% to a pathetic 1.1%
• 2026 cut from 2.0% to a limp 1.0%
• 2027 down from 1.9% to 1.3%
• 2028 and 2029 both trimmed to levels that wouldn’t get a hamster excited

Translation: the British economy is now forecast to grow slower under Labour than it did under the last five years of Tory austerity, Covid, and Brexit combined. Let that sink in while you’re queuing for the food bank you never thought you’d need.

How Did We Get Here? Let Me Count the Reeves Ways…

1. £40 billion tax raid on jobs (hello, National Insurance hike – the tax on work)
2. Crushing business confidence faster than you can say “investment strike”
3. A Budget that even the OBR says will “weigh on growth” for years
4. Energy prices kept artificially high because, well, Net Zero virtue signalling doesn’t pay the bills
5. Public sector “investment” that somehow never translates into actual productivity

The OBR politely calls it “persistent weakness in the labour market and lower productivity growth”. I call it a self-inflicted wound delivered by a Chancellor who thinks wealth creation is something you tax into existence.

The Really Terrifying Bit They Don’t Want You to Notice

Buried on page 87 of the report: the OBR now thinks potential output – the speed limit of the economy – has been permanently scarred. That’s economist-speak for “Britain just got poorer forever because Labour scared the investors away”.

Remember when Sir Keir Starmer promised “the fastest growth in the G7”? Turns out that was just the fastest growth in fairy tales. Britain is now officially projected to be the slowest-growing economy in the G7 for the next two years. Congratulations, comrades – mission accomplished!

What Should You Do Before the Next Budget Hammer Blow?

While Reeves is busy rewriting economic reality, here’s what smart readers are doing right now:

• Protecting what little wealth they have left 
• Diversifying out of sterling before the pound gets another kicking
• Stockpiling anything that isn’t nailed down by HMRC

Protect Yourself Before the Next Hammer Blow Lands

While Reeves rewrites economic reality with all the finesse of a bull in a china shop, here's what my sharp-eyed readers are doing right now to batten down the hatches:

• Arming up with battle-tested guides to outfox the fiscal fools: Snag The Tax-Free Wealth by Tom Wheelwright – the ultimate playbook for keeping HMRC's mitts off your hard-earned brass (a bestseller that's saved more fortunes than Starmer's got excuses). Grab it here on Amazon: link

• For a proper chuckle amid the chaos (because laughter's the best tax dodge), dive into Death by Bureaucracy by Kenneth J. Glassman – eviscerates government waste like I do Reeves, but with footnotes. Your copy awaits: link

• And don't sleep on The Deficit Myth by Stephanie Kelton – skewers the "broke government" bollocks from a MMT angle that'll have you rethinking (and protecting) every penny. Essential reading: link

• Shifting savings out of sterling before the pound takes another pasting

• Hoarding anything that isn't yet on the Chancellor's chopping block

These aren't just books – they're your financial flak jackets. Click through, buy smart, and let's turn those OBR downgrades into someone else's problem. 

The Final Nail

The OBR has just confirmed what anyone with a calculator already knew: Labour’s “plan for growth” is the economic equivalent of putting diesel in a Formula 1 car and wondering why it’s going backwards.

Five years of downgrades. Five years of excuses. Five years of watching your living standards evaporate while ministers tell you it’s all “global headwinds” (funny how France and Germany are managing just fine, eh?).

Britain didn’t vote for decline. But decline is exactly what this government is delivering – and now even their own referee has blown the whistle.

Wake up, Britain. Before there’s nothing left to wake up to.

UK GDP Sputters to a Woeful 0.1% in Q3 2025: JLR Hack Takes the Blame, But Don't Kid Yourselves – It's Reeves' Tax Fiasco That's the Real Economy Killer

Blimey, what a shower. Just when you thought the UK's economic woes couldn't get any more farcical, today's Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures land like a damp squib on Bonfire Night. GDP growth for the third quarter – that's July to September 2025 – clocked in at a pathetic 0.1%, barely enough to register on the national misery index. And if that wasn't grim enough, September alone saw the economy shrink by 0.1%, following a flatline in August. We're talking stagnation on steroids, folks – the sort of "growth" that makes you wonder if the bean-counters in Whitehall have been at the sherry.

Now, the chattering classes are pointing fingers at the cyber hack that crippled Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) over the summer. Fair dos, it was a belter of a blunder: hackers shut down production for weeks, costing the economy a cool £1.9 billion and rippling out to over 5,000 organisations. Manufacturing output took a nosedive, dragging the whole shebang down like a lead balloon in a gale. Some boffins reckon it shaved a full percentage point off quarterly growth – extraordinary, innit? But let's not get carried away with the excuses. For the UK's vaunted economy to hinge on one car firm churning out posh wheels for the toffs? That's not resilience; that's a right laughable house of cards. We've got North Sea oil ghosts in our past, and now we're betting the farm on luxury SUVs? Pathetic doesn't even cover it. Time to diversify, lads, before the next spot of bother leaves us all skint.

And here's the rub: this isn't some freak cyber blip. Growth's been utter tripe for yonks. Remember the heady days of early 2025? We were crowing about 0.9% in the first half, but that's ancient history now. The ONS reckons the three months to September saw a measly 1.3% uptick year-on-year, but strip out the fluff and it's clear – we're limping along on life support. Wages stagnant, unemployment ticking up, and a cost-of-living squeeze that's got households choosing between the leccy bill and a decent cuppa. It's the same old story: promises of green shoots turning to withered weeds before your eyes.

Enter stage left: Rachel Reeves, the Iron Chancellor who's about as cuddly as a tax demand on Christmas Eve. Her fiscal wizardry? More like a sleight-of-hand that picks your pocket while promising jam tomorrow. Those tax hikes she's been brewing – NI contributions jacked from 13.8% to 15%, whispers of income tax fiddles, and a clampdown on pension perks – are set to choke investment and hobble growth like a three-legged race at the village fete. The EY Item Club's crystal ball doesn't lie: expect sub-1% growth in 2026, thanks to businesses battening down the hatches rather than splashing the cash. Reeves bangs on about "fixing the foundations," but all I see is her shovelling more sand into the cracks. Labour's inheritance tax was meant to be a "one-off," my eye – now we're staring down the barrel of more pain in the Autumn Budget on 26 November. No wonder the CBI's moaning about a "fragile recovery" on the brink of flatlining.

Worse still, zoom in on the per-head figures, and it's a proper gut-punch. UK GDP per capita's hovering around $54,280 for 2025 – that's peanuts compared to the Eurocrats in Germany at $59,930, and we've slipped behind the pack in the G7 league table. With population ticking up and productivity in the doldrums, every man, woman, and child is effectively getting a smaller slice of the pie. It's not just lousy growth; it's lousy growth per person, meaning the average punter's worse off than they were a decade ago. Reeves' tax policies aren't mending the roof – they're kicking the ladder away from the rest of us.

So, where does that leave us? Scratching our heads, tightening belts, and eyeing the exit from this endless loop of mediocrity. If the JLR hack's a wake-up call, fine – but let's not scapegoat silicon bandits when the real villains are in No.11, wielding the red pen like it's Excalibur. Time for some proper grown-up economics, not this reheated austerity with a side of greenwash.

Fancy arming yourself against the next fiscal fiasco? Pop over to Amazon and snag a copy of The Deficit Myth by Stephanie Kelton – it'll blow the lid off why we're all skint despite the spin. (Affiliate link: Buy now on Amazon – your purchase helps keep Loanbuster ticking without adding to the national debt.) Or if you're after a laugh amid the gloom, Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner is a belter for spotting the daft incentives driving this mess.

What do you reckon – is Reeves for the high jump, or are we stuck with this lot? Drop a comment below, and let's chew the fat.

Ken Frost is the editor of Loanbuster and a veteran scribbler on all things fiscal folly. Follow the madness at www.kenfrost.net.

ONS Data Debacle: £2 Billion Borrowing Blunder Exposes UK's Broken Statistics Machine in 2025

 

In a year already marred by a torrent of statistical scandals, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has delivered yet another humiliating blow to its credibility. On October 8, 2025, the agency sheepishly admitted to overstating UK public sector net borrowing by a staggering £2 billion for the January to August period, thanks to a glaring error in value-added tax (VAT) receipts data supplied by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). This isn't just a minor slip—it's the latest symptom of an institution in freefall, churning out unreliable figures that mislead policymakers, rattle markets, and erode public trust. As economists scramble to untangle the mess, one thing remains painfully clear: ONS data in 2025 isn't just inaccurate—it's worse than worthless.

The VAT Fiasco: How ONS Got the Nation's Finances Spectacularly Wrong

Picture this: Treasury officials and investors poring over ONS reports, basing billion-pound decisions on provisional borrowing figures pegged at £83.8 billion for the fiscal year to date. Then, poof—overnight, that number shrinks to £81.8 billion after HMRC confesses to botching its VAT cash receipts reporting. The error? An omission of key payment streams, inflating the deficit outlook by £2 billion and handing Chancellor Rachel Reeves an unexpected £3 billion windfall for her upcoming Budget.

HMRC has owned up, stating it "identified an error in our VAT cash receipts outturn which impacts provisional 2025 to 2026 year to date receipts," boosting April to August figures by £2.4 billion. But make no mistake: ONS, as the guardian of these stats, bears the brunt. This revision doesn't just tweak the numbers—it rewrites the fiscal narrative, potentially easing pressure on borrowing costs and altering spending plans. Yet, in true ONS fashion, the correction arrived months late, after the damage was done.

For businesses and households grappling with economic uncertainty, this isn't abstract. Faulty borrowing data fuels higher interest rates, spooks the bond market, and distorts everything from tax forecasts to infrastructure investments. If you're searching for "ONS borrowing error 2025" or "UK public finances VAT mistake," you're not alone—queries like these have spiked as frustration boils over.

2025: ONS's Year of Relentless Inaccuracies and Delays

This VAT debacle isn't an isolated hiccup; it's the cherry on top of a 2025 catastrophe for the ONS. From retail sales to inflation, jobs, trade, and GDP growth, the agency's outputs have been a parade of provisional promises followed by painful revisions. Critics are calling it a "data quality slump," with regulators demanding urgent fixes.

• Retail Sales Shenanigans: In August, ONS delayed its monthly release over "quality concerns," sparking fresh doubts about data reliability that underpins policy. When the figures finally dropped in September, they revealed weaker-than-expected growth: quarterly retail sales revised down from 1.3% to 0.7% in Q1 2025, with July's monthly uptick at just 0.6% after error corrections. This isn't progress—it's proof of systemic rot, leaving retailers and economists "flying blind."

• Inflation and Growth Gaffes: Back in March, ONS issued stark warnings about errors in its GDP figures, tied to flawed price data that skews the economy's true size. Inflation metrics, crucial for Bank of England rate decisions, have fared no better, with cascading revisions muddying the post-pandemic recovery picture.

• Jobs and Trade Turmoil: Unemployment and trade balance stats have been equally unreliable, with delays and downgrades eroding confidence. An independent review in June slammed ONS's "performance and culture," highlighting underfunding and poor prioritisation that delayed error detection across teams.

By April, the agency was so battered it announced cuts to non-core data work to refocus on essentials—admitting, in effect, that it couldn't handle the basics. Fears now swirl that these woes could torpedo Reeves's Budget, with sources warning of a "muddied economic picture" for the Treasury. If 2025's ONS track record teaches us anything, it's that "provisional" often means "profoundly wrong."

No Accountability, No Change: Why ONS Firings Are as Rare as Accurate Data

Here's the kicker in this farce: accountability? Forget it. As per the dismal tradition of UK public bodies, no heads will roll at ONS for this litany of failures. The June independent review by Sir Robert Devereux exposed deep cultural failings and capacity shortfalls, yet it led to... more reviews and vague promises. Officials were reportedly "kept in the dark" about internal breakdowns until it was too late, per Bloomberg investigations.

The UK Statistics Authority has labelled reversing this "data quality slump" as "critical," giving ONS a mere four weeks in April to act. But where are the consequences? No resignations, no sackings—just endless hand-wringing from an agency that's cut staff and begged for funds while delivering dross. In a private sector equivalent, CEOs would be ousted faster than you can say "revision." At ONS, it's business as usual: errors excused, trust shattered, and taxpayers foot the bill.

Worse Than Worthless: The Poisonous Ripple Effects of ONS Mistruths

Let's cut the euphemisms—ONS data isn't merely flawed; it's actively harmful. "Worse than worthless" because it doesn't just fail to inform; it misdirects. Policymakers chase ghosts with bogus inflation reads, leading to mistimed rate hikes that crush growth. Markets overreact to phantom borrowing spikes, hiking yields and mortgage rates for families. And for everyday Brits? Garbled jobs data sows job market panic, while skewed retail figures lure investors into dud sectors.

This toxicity extends globally: International bodies like the IMF rely on ONS inputs for UK forecasts, amplifying errors worldwide. In 2025 alone, the cumulative fallout—from delayed retail insights to GDP distortions—has cost the economy dearly in lost productivity and misplaced billions. Searching "ONS data reliability crisis" yields a damning verdict: an institution that's not just useless, but a liability.

Time for Radical Reform: Dismantle the ONS Dinosaur Before It Sinks the UK Economy

Enough is enough. The ONS's 2025 implosion demands more than platitudes—it screams for overhaul. Boost funding? Sure, but tie it to ironclad accuracy benchmarks. Mandate independent audits for high-stakes releases? Absolutely. And yes, enforce real accountability: Fire the architects of this mess and rebuild with tech-savvy talent unburdened by bureaucratic bloat.

Until then, treat every ONS bulletin with scepticism. The £2 billion borrowing blunder is just today's headline; tomorrow's could be catastrophic. For reliable UK economic insights, look beyond the official spin—because in the house of statistics, the emperor has no clothes.