The British Unexplained Wealth Order

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David Cameron might have been a disaster when it came to Brexit, but he did absolutely the right thing with the Unexplained Wealth Order.  This is a government programme to uncover the crooks and thieves who use London to cover up corruption and theft in their home countries and to relieve them of dubious investments, often property, they have bought in the UK.

The idea is to increase transparency, opening up Companies House for free searches, forcing companies to declare their real owners, and convening a corruption summit.  HM Revenue and Customs, the National Crime Agency and the Serious Fraud Office identify people whose lifestyle looks out of proportion to their income.  Property has to be worth £50,000 or more.  

Once an Unexplained Wealth Order is issued the property owner has to show that his or her  assets are clean. If they fail to reply or their answer is unacceptable, .the property is confiscated.  The objective is to have 20 UWO’s a year, enough to frighten the crooks.  If the latter realise that their assets are no longer safe they will move on.  Of course you will have the situation where assets are nominally held by a Cook Islands Trust or a Panamanian shell company, and no one knows how judges will deal with these cases.  

Nonetheless, the UWO is wildly popular.  Foreigners with hot money have forced up the value  of homes, parking places and restaurant bills, in and around London, and most Brits can no longer afford to live there. 

My personal comment: What the UWO failed to achieve has been practically finished off by covid.  Huge numbers of shops, for instance, have closed, theatres and concert halls are struggling.  London is busy, but the sounds of foreign languages on the streets are noticeably fewer.  Is this because of the UWO, covid or Brexit?   Or all of them together in a perfect storm?  Well……..yes!

Lack of sleep and early death

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A new study has found that people who get little exercise and sleep poorly are 57% more likely to die prematurely compared to those who exercise a lot and sleep better as a result.

Bad sleepers also had a 67% higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease and a 45% higher chance of being diagnosed with cancer. The study was carried out by the University College London and the University of Sydney. (The Week 2 July 2021)

  • My comment: I go to the gym three times a week , use a walking machine at 4mph and at a 5% elevation and do it for 45 minutes three times a week And go out for more civilized wallks in between.  I still lay awake most of last night –  but then the England win over Denmark at football yesterday evening was rather exciting,

 

Quote for today

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Damian Hirst reveals that his mum is happy with his shift from provocative artworks to cherry blossom oil paintings:

“When I was making animals in formaldehyde , she said, “Oh, there are enough horrors in the world.  Can’t you do paintings of flowers?”   And I think, my God, it’s taken me until I’m 55 before I can please her.”

 

 

Friendship declining in the US

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Friendships are declining in America. According to a recent American Perspectives Survey, people reported having fewer close friends than in previous years, with roughly half of Americans citing three or fewer. Instead, they’re turning to parents and romantic partners for support.

“People have lost their fringe friends, or those friends they saw once in a while. So it’s unsurprising that surface-level friendships have decreased since we haven’t been out and about as much,” psychologist and friendship expert Dr. Marisa Franco says, citing social distancing measures and lockdowns.

Shasta Nelson, friendship expert and author of  “ Frientimacy: How to Deepen Friendships for Lifelong health and Happiness” adds that many people faced significant personal challenges during the pandemic, and as a result, became more selective in deciding which friends were worth confiding in. More than one in five survey respondents said the past 12 months have been “much more difficult for them than usual.”

“More people were willing to be vulnerable during the pandemic. They wanted to be accepted and wanted it to feel more meaningful to have deep conversations rather than surface-level ones,” she says.

Friendships have been on the decline for years thanks to increased geographic mobility and increased workplace demands, according to the survey. Americans are working longer hours and spending twice as much time with their children compared to previous generations.

“The reality is they’re just too busy and it’s hard to keep up with their non-essential relationships. And sadly, friendships tend to be the first relationships that people drop,” Franco says.

Nelson also blames the larger culture in America that sees “friendships as optional” in comparison to romantic or familial relationships.

“We live in a society where we feel friendship is a luxury for when we have extra time. And when we feel pressured for time due to work or our home lives, friendships are what we don’t feel we have permission to maintain,” she says.

“In contrast, the belief is that our parents and spouses will always be happy to hear from us, kind of like a safety net, even if we haven’t been good at reaching out.”(Washington Post)

My comment:  What these “friendship experts” leave out is individual disposition.  Are you extrovert or introvert?  To the extrovert the recent period of pandemic must have been dreadful; to the introvert a period of calm and and a chance to catch up on things undone, to exercise, and to reflect.  I should add that Epicurus was a great advocate of friendships ( plural) as essential.  But he sounds to me to have been a huge extrovert, enjoying the company of many friends and acquaintances.  To each his own.

 

Exports to EU hit by Brexit

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Food and drink exports to the EU almost halved in the first three months of the year, the Food and Drink Federation reports.

The group’s data showed that EU sales dropped by 47% compared to the same period in 2020. Covid is likely to have had an impact but the trade body said the decline was largely due to changes in the UK’s trading relationships with the bloc. The government said it was “too early to draw any firm conclusions” on the long-term impact of Brexit.

My comment: There are no apparent changes to life in London ( at least), except for the empty stores and newcomers to the main shopping areas.  But these could be explained by covid, and it’s hard to distinguish cause and effect.  You still hear foreign voices among the crowds. House prices are still apparently going up, and if covid has encouraged people to move out of London then it doesn’t seem to be reflected in property prices.  But I suspect there is a lag effect and that the results of Brexit are going to be felt gradually, over the next few years.