Every time one tunes into a current affairs programme or the news, there is waiting a queue of interested parties complaining one after another about the cuts. Whether it is the police, the NHS or social services, the arguments are powerfully put by those who believe their patch is critical to national cohesion. The latest casualty […]
I have a problem with this. Ed Milliband showed a good deal of flair in the way he brought Labour’s view of the economy to the fore, without being too specific about how to do better than the coalition. Balance means borrow more, in the hope that revenue goes up quicker. Unfortunately the eye watering […]
The IFS has speculated upon an Osborne Plan B. In the old days these were called U-Turns, made famous by Margaret Thatcher’s dismissal of the idea at a Tory conference, since when no economist or politician has dared go near the term. The new buzword is Plan B. Like the old U-Turn Plan B can be a […]
The Chancellor has set a monetarist course of cutting government expenditure by shrinking the size of the state. Pointless functions and organisations are axed and lots of jobs have disappeared. So big had the state become, it is inevitable that the shedding of its functions will reduce GDP. This does not matter, indeed it has to […]
Whilst most Western capitals have been for a very long time uneasy about the autocratic and repressive style of Mubarak’s government, they have done little to admonish a reliable ally and the only Arab country to have completed a peace treaty with Israel. There may now be a price to pay. Change is coming to Egypt, possibly […]
Commentators refer to greater confidence among delegates that things are on the mend. Maybe, but mended may not mean fixed. George Soros’s think tank head hit the key point, when he said that the banks should not be allowed to fuel another economic boom and that we may have to accept a lower level and […]
This news was bound to come and before we are out of the wood it will happen again. It plays well for Ed Balls in his new shadow economic role and will make for lively PMQs today. It also reveals an alarming lack of grasp among very senior people about the realities and fundamentals of […]
This Blog is now going to set out its stall to rebuild our financial system. No doubt the IBC will be more sophisticated, but I doubt it will be more fundamental. The Banks must be broken into distinct and financially separate arms, for what was once banking, but what is High Street or consumer banking in […]
This is a bad idea. Small government does not mean the State has no role, nor that it should not have assets. The Thatcher revolution which brought about the privatisation of state enterprise was a very good idea, but like many good ideas, it lacked the judgement to know when to stop. Thus we ended […]
It has taken a very long time and a very distinguished Commission to arrive at the same conclusion as a great many did months ago. I wrote about it in my book in 2009 and have been blogging about it ever since. Although we still have to wait until September for the official report, Sir […]