Page 4 - DIY Investor Magazine | Issue 40

April 2024 4
DIY Investor Magazine ·
When the Not the Nine O’Clock News team conceived of Constable Savage, they probably little suspected how prophetic their portrayal of ‘over-zealous’ policing would prove. More than forty years on, a large and increasing number of Just Stop Oil activists have been arrested under new anti-protest legislation designed to shut down gatherings that cause ‘more than minor’ disturbances.
In challenging the ‘excessive power to the police to stifle dissent’ in the High Court, human rights group, Liberty, described it as ‘undemocratic, unconstitutional, and unacceptable’.
The erosion of civil liberties is just one topic that regularly exercises DIY Investor’s excellent social and political commentator Philip Gilbert; his column can be found here >
Inequality and division are recurring themes, and climate change is a topic that divides strongly along generational lines. The gulf between younger people genuinely afeared for their future and Mr Sunak waving from Frank Hester’s chopper could barely be wider; the government rowing back on so many of its pledges to hit Net Zero 2050, justified by still being ‘less-worse’ than other countries, is just ugly.
But don’t bother turning to Labour for the answer, it binned its £28bn ‘green prosperity plan’ as being ‘unaffordable’; what price Mother Earth?
Whether by choice or necessity, affirmative, and dramatic action will need to be taken to tackle a rapidly escalating climate emergency; gaslighting the public with schemes such as the government’s ludicrous ‘Jet Zero’ policy that would allow unfettered growth in aviation in the hope of a fairytale technical solution will quickly be exposed as greenwashing shams.
So, if there’s no cash in the public purse, and people will not tolerate ‘green levies’, how about Mr. Market? Whisper it, but Jeremy Hunt’s ‘British ISA’ was not the worst idea ever.
Sure, it was a shameless bit of jingoistic politicking, and it raises questions around qualifying investments and diversification, but the basic concept of investing in assets that benefit the common good should not be discounted.
The latest YouGuv survey suggests that Mr Hunt will not be in parliament to see his brainchild not happen, but well-diversified, thematic investments seeking climate solutions could be where crusties find some common ground with those that prefer their crusts cut off.
Elsewhere in this issue we look at investing styles, and in this context, there is much commend a fusion of growth investing
- seeking rapidly expanding companies, reinvesting in their business – and momentum investing - finding companies on the up, with rising asset values as more money is attracted.
Perhaps this is where the political lifecycle is out of whack
with the need for long-term investment strategies to tackle the climate crisis; who wants to be on the stump apologising to Miggins, M that she’s going to take some short-term pain for an improvement in the lot of future generations?
And it is not just the attitude to addressing the climate that requires a reset, the populism that has defined UK politics in recent years leads to short-termism.
The core belief that underpinned DIY Investor was that people would inevitably have to take more personal financial responsibility and that improved financial literacy was the key; and here we are – when was the last time you tuned in your Roberts and weren’t reminded of the cost of residential healthcare, childcare or the unaffordability of housing?
The climate crisis threatens us all, and it seems logical that we can all benefit from being part of the solution; if not ‘wearing a loud shirt in a built-up area after the hours of darkness’ could remain on the statute book.
‘LOOKING AT ME IN A FUNNY WAY...’
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