The Federal Reserve has given the markets a fillip with its decision to keep pumping new money into the financial system, known a Quantitative Easing. The reason is that the US recovery is not yet secure and unemployment is not falling fast enough. In other words improving but not yet well. It is much the […]
The vote by the British parliament to block the military strike on Syria was described by this blog as historic and has turned out to be so. It caused chaos in Washington, which suddenly realised that without its closest ally it lost the mantle of protector and took on one of aggressor. The American people […]
The Chartered Surveyors were right to call on the Bank of England to keep house inflation at moderate levels, but their suggested rate of 5% per year is too high. House prices are already far too high and must actually fall in real terms over the next decade, if the economy is to enjoy any […]
Some commentators are suggesting that John Kerry made an off the cuff slip, when he suggested the US would call off military strikes if the Assad regime gave up its chemical weapons stockpile, and has thus handed the advantage to the Russians. This is nonsense. First, President Obama has admitted to discussing the idea with […]
Ed Milliband knows that he has both public opinion and the majority opinion of rank and file union members on his side, when he talks of reforming the relationship between the Union movement and its political party. There is certainly a case for modernisation to a model which suits the world in which now we […]
George Osborne claims, with justification, that things are moving up rather than down and there is a slow recovery under way. It is certainly broader based than the ‘no more boom and bust’ model driven into the ditch by Labour, which remains confused about what it would actually do to make things better rather than […]
There is further controversy surrounding this project, focussing once again on the financial argument that it is not worth the money. The problem with Britain, and in particular England, is that its infrastructure falls short of modern needs. It is not just about money, it is about political will and the venerated status of the […]
To many the declaration by President Putin that Russia may be willing to back the use of force in the UN against Syria, if it can be shown beyond doubt that Assad was responsible for the chemical atrocity, comes as big a surprise as the UK Parliament’s No vote. Yet, however high the bar he […]
Unfortunately the response to the horror of gassed children foaming at the mouth and dying on camera has revealed a fissure between politicians and people which might prove to be a pivotal revolution in the development of public policy. All across Europe and the United States polls show a very substantial majority of the public […]
Yesterday’s unexpected vote rejecting the flawed policy so heavily driven forward by Cameron and Hague, was perhaps the most significant for a century, with repercussions which will travel far beyond these islands. The policy of confrontation and intervention which both the State Department and the Foreign Office have followed with such calamitous outcomes since 9/11 […]