#SouthamptonBoatShow a personal take

My brother Mike and I had a day visit to the Southampton Boat Show yesterday. The SBS is an annual event - we have both been before over the years but neither of us have been for some time. We were not a dream visitor for the show because neither of us had any intention of buying a boat - ha! However our intention was to have a good look around to see what was on offer both in terms of boats and particularly in our case - in terms of equipment for sailing.

The layout was much as I remembered it and the atmosphere was obviously the boating vibe you would expect - it was a very enjoyable day out.

Essentially the show is divided into two parts - the boats tied up alongside the pontoons (marina) and the onshore stuff.

The SBS covers all aspects of boating. The marina is where you go to inspect the boats on offer and literally there are millions of pounds worth tied up against the pontoons for people to view - and of course order - if the sales teams are lucky.

From what I can gather all aspects of boat sales are in the doldrums a bit across the board. I am not suprised. Boats are so expensive. There was a whole flotilla of £500,000 + ex vat luxury Cats for sale. £250000 doesn't buy anywhere as much as you would expect in boat terms and £100,000 is relative peanuts. Just byway of an incredible example - a 16 ft Orkney Longliner - a small open fishing boat with a decent outboard and a trailer is over £25000 now.

My impression of the marina display was sail boats were under represented which was a shame. There were masses of motor cruisers - the Sunseeker types - the gin palaces - the so called glamour end of boating. No interest for us whatsoever - not my idea of boating. There are also lots of "rib" type boats in all sorts of configurations - black tubes are definitely the in colour. They look menacing which I guess is the point. On a positive note everything was presented well on the pontoons and is an excellent place to view the boats if you are in the market for one.

On the onshore side there is a big offer - but not so much as I remember. We chatted with one chandler and basically she said that on line sales is changing everything as it is in most aspects of retail. Mike was interested in buying some foulies. I am not particularly proud of it but the way to go for us and I think many people now is to view the goods in the shop - even try them on - and then buy them online later to get the price point. This is bound to have an impact on the good business sense of setting up a stall and this is something the SBS and all retailers will have to grapple with going forward.

From a personal point of view I came away with the following thoughts :

It was a good day out.

I have spent a fair bit on refitting my little sailing boat and I have reflected could I have done better for my money. However it is clear after looking around the show that what I have spent is relative peanuts and actually I have achieved good value - fingers crossed!

My final thought is there are so many different types of boats in size, configuration and cost. What to choose ? The answer is clear to me. You have to decide in advance what you want the boat for, how are you going to use it - what do you want out of it. Compromise is needed. That is not easy - needs evolve - needs change. In my case I am not interested in speed. I am not interested in luxury. What I want from sailing is getting away from it all - back to nature - pottering - simplicity. My idea of boating is akin to the joys of camping. There is the old adage - the bigger the boat the bigger the problems! Who wants big problems - ha!

Dreams alive  ! xxxx   

#UK heading for disaster - both economically and socially.

I have just been on my early morning bike ride. Thinking time. Exasperation. Laugh or cry.

I do not have much time so I am going to rattle off this statement of the obvious.

A prime objective for any government is to encourage and motivate its citizens to do the right thing.

In simple terms the right thing is :

Uphold the rule of law.

Almost the first thing the Starmer led new Labour Government did was let prisoners out early.

They also rushed through asylum applications and 95% of illegal immigrant applications were subsequently successful. Illegal migrants have won and the message it sends - come on over !

Work to support self and your family. 

Work must pay. However high taxes are a disincentive to work. What is the point of working hard only to get taxed to the hilt? Also the black market flourishes. People want to be paid in cash. Tax revenues fall.

If the Welfare safety net is too high people can rely on it instead of working. This is exactly what is happening. Not working has become a lifestyle choice. The hardworking increasingly feel they are mugs to be laboring to pay for others to sit around and do nothing. A disincentive to work.

Provide for your old age

Starmers government are now after your hard earned pension pot so they can use what you have earned and saved to give to someone else who hasn't. So what is the point of saving you might ask ? They are going to take it off me. I might as well blow it and have a jolly and live off the state like everyone else. Not a very healthy mindset for a nation.

Pay fair taxes to pay for descent public services and infrastructure.

Rachel Reeves is sat there thinking of every possible thing she can tax you on. At the same time there is a feeling the taxes rises are not being spent on the things that matter to ordinary hard working people. (removing the winter fuel allowance for pensioners is an incredible decision). Billions are being spent on migrants. Our infrastructure is broken because of uncontrolled population growth. The NHS is broken because of increased demand. We can never build enough houses. But it continues. Hard earned taxes are being flittered away. What message does it send to working people ? Why bother ?

In a similar way government need to encourage business, entrepreneurship, research and investment because they provide the jobs and the tax revenues to keep public services going.

The world is a global village. Why set up businesses in the UK if corporate taxes are high - red tape is out of control - employee and union power is increasing. Where is the incentive to do business in the UK ?

Why would a budding entrepreneur start a business - put everything on the line - only to be taxed to the hilt. 

Increasingly they won't. The socialist government are not focused on creating wealth - all they are focused on is spending it.

As far as I can see the Starmer government is doing the exact opposite of what needs to be done. They are demotivating people to be good citizens, to pay fair taxes, to work hard for the future of self and family - to not be a burden on the state. They are not going to increase business activity - their policies are in effect anti business. They is no chance of growth in GDP in real terms and particularly no chance of per capita growth. The UK is heading for the rocks. There will be increasing unemployment and business failures. The welfare state bill will continue to grow and we will have damaging inflation as the UK is perceived as a basket case and a risk to investors. It has happened before and that is sadly where it is heading again.

I won't recount the ant and grasshopper fable here - look it up - but the socialist outcome is the grasshopper do not learn from the industrious ants because the socialist government takes it off the ants to give to give to the lazy grasshoppers. In the end the ants decide there is no point - become like the grasshoppers - and the outcome is they all starve in the next winter.