We begin to get the picture. The authorities are only partly prepared for snow. They can cope if it is not too bad. When it gets for real, the complexity and inter-dependence of the transport infrastructure, which has cost countless £billions to set up, is not matched by investment in a means of keeping it running […]
The report from the Bank of England underlines just what a mess our banks are in, although it tries to sound cautious and optimistic. Not only are these banks under capitalised for what they do, they owe half a £trillion which has to be refinanced over the next two years. Furthermore the report reminds us […]
Never mind the detail. The principle is the issue and the principle is right. The NHS has become a process, not a facility. Its function is to treat every patient as an individual, just as any human life is unique, and not only put them right when their health fails, but also to keep them […]
The intervention by Bob Ainsworth is timely. The current legal framework is a complete failure and has created exactly the kind of criminal economy which existed in the U.S. during the years of Prohibition, worth £billions annually. Moreover drug use is more or less out of control and illegal substances can be obtained in every […]
The Irish Finance Minister has acted promptly to shut down the programme of one his busted banks to pay out millions of euros in staff bonuses, which the management claimed they were legally obliged to pay. This is exactly what should have happened everywhere including the U.K. The proposition that to do so would drive […]
The tuition fees saga has revealed fault lines in both parties in the Coalition government. There is no need to panic, the future still looks good, but it is a moment to take stock. Things are not as they appear. Let us begin with the Tories. The Right of the Tory party considers itself the mainstream […]
There are two versions of the Prince Charles and Camilla incident. One, the traditional one, is that in the way of Royals who will allow nothing to come between them and their duty, the pair set off for the Royal Variety Performance in the ancient Rolls, a charming relic of a bygone era, took the easy […]
Something is not right in the crowd control culture of the Metropolitan Police. I sometimes think we have one force for everything in the capital, when in a modern world we need more than one. We do not, for example, expect a GPs to perform heart surgery. There were clearly disgraceful scenes when troublemakers among the […]
Today is a tense moment in relations between China and the West, because of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo. The issue at the heart of the matter is the pace at which China develops from its old Maoist Communism into a freer more open society. The West believes that democracy […]
This new development is even more historically interesting than the Wikileaks themselves. It may have the same profound impact as the rise of trade unions in the Victorian era. The U.S. and its allies has deplored Wikileaks activities and rejoices in his arrest, on sex charges prompting an extradition request from Sweden. This Blog has […]