A tiny buy quite well regarded "one man band" ham radio antenna company some months ago announced he was packing it in, I think because he needed to find a new workshop and was finding it hard to get something affordable. He initially announced this as a fait accompli.
Then he backtracked, and announced a crowdfunder to help him in the short term - essentially people could donate to help him find new premises. This was actually done successfully a few years ago by another firm in the sector.
Then after a few more weeks of the crowdfunder slowly ticking up, and sales happening, he suddenly announced that in fact, he was actually definitely closing down and refunding the crowd funder. He sort of tacitly blamed economic conditions etc.
I mentioned this to some friends - said I suspected he was really blaming Labour, even though he hadn't said as much.
Then today, quelle surprise :
What pisses me off is that although I am really not a fan of Labour, they've hardly been in long enough to have really made a significant impact to this chap's company fortunes.
It may be that global factors have. It may be that unnecessary spending has tightened up a bit.
But it's mad how these people forget 12+ years of tory fuckery, and blame the guy tabloid TV tells them to blame.
Im sad about the guy's business. He made good stuff by all accounts. But I'm also glad I didn't donate.
I do want to be clear and say I think there is much Labour could do to help small businesses, and have not yet done it. But on some metrics the economy has improved slightly, and NHS too. And, there's only so much parliamentary bandwidth.
I can't help feeling that had his business FLOURISHED he'd have claimed all the credit. But as it's actually failed, he finds it easier to just blame the current government.
🆎
AlisonW
Dar