It is easy to mutter about the dithering MPC, but the hand of cards they hold is not easy to play. There is a clamour from some quarters (including this Blog) to increase interest rates to combat inflation. There is an equally loud, maybe louder, cry to keep the record low bank rate on hold. The mostly […]
There are at the heart of this military adventure a number of miscalculations. The rebels are not a competent military force. Gaddafi enjoys more support in depth among his population than the West thought. He is a wily and resourceful commander. His forces, with a backbone of mercenaries, have shown adaptability similar to the North Vietnamese, whose tactics neutralised […]
Slowly, very slowly, the truth is beginning to dawn. When borrowing gets out of hand it forms a dark and virtuous circle. Eventually the interest payments are such a drag on the economy that they hold it in stagnation, making reduction of the loans a sheer impossibility. Greece, Ireland and Portugal are already there. Without defaulting, they […]
As the European Finance Ministers meet in Budapest there will be officially discussing baling out Portugal. This is strange when you come to think of it. Portugal is bust (like Greece and Ireland) and needs a fresh start. This cannot happen with the country weighed down by debt, which it will find it hard to service […]
Portugal’s arrival with its begging bowl was inevitable and foretold. Spain struggles on. It may be next. A hard nosed assessment of the state of its banks would predicate that it is next in line. Hovering at the side, it hopes that property assets will pick up in value to the notional figure that its banking […]
It is now clear why Ed Milliband hesitated to appoint Balls to Shadow Chancellor. He is no good. Milliband has been playing well on the economy, voicing anxieties of ‘families up and down the ccountry’ and the ‘squeezed middle’. Having raised the anxieties, you have to offer a plan. This is where you turn to your shadow chancellor […]
This blog fully supports the NHS reforms. It is absolutely essential, in order to create a modern patient focused health service, to put the GPs at the centre, as it their ownership of the patient which will bring a much more logical thread to the way health care actually operates. This is all in my book, […]
There is a lot going on for the Coalition. The waters have become quite rough. The voyage ahead will not be easy. First Libya. There is deep unease about this across the country. A poll shows only 38% in favour, lower than even the Iraq war at the outset. With cuts at the fore, the cost […]
The Sure Start programme is one of the best legacies of the last government. It not only teaches toddlers, but as important these days, it helps mothers (and fathers) acquire parenting skills, which they so often lack. Since the sixties many of the old wisdoms have been cast aside, so that parenting is no longer instinctive […]
Clearly there is unlikely to be a military solution to the Libya crisis which does not cost many civilian lives. This is what UNSCR 1973 is designed to prevent. NATO, now in command, takes account of the letter and the spirit of the resolution, has ruled out arming the rebels, says that the arms embargo […]