This Blog has always been an interest rate hawk. Indeed worse than that. I believe, unlike almost every economist anywhere, that control of currency and interest rates by central banks has been a mistake. It has had advantages for global business, but its impact on ordinary lives has been negative, the gap between rich and […]
The answer must surely be no. For whilst the entire Democratic party in Washington is drunk on the Russia connection in all its forms and manifestation, prosecutors, investigations and committees, there is a country out there with people in it who need looking after. They are Americans, so they do not need spoon feeding and […]
As predicted in an earlier post, the DUP is playing hard ball and no agreement is yet reached with the tottering May. It is also the case that, behind a carefully arranged veil that the argument could be about money, it is more to do with the political risks of propping up a government short […]
If there is a terrorist incident or some other threat or event involving national security, there is a seamless response programme which mobilizes all relevant services under the COBRA umbrella, delivering exceptional outcomes in often challenging and heartrending crises. But we have seen several instances of what might be called civil threats, for example the […]
The political landscape has so many different aspects that to blog about the whole picture is too complex in a reasonable length post. So I shall be making a number of key points over the following days. Readers can join them up or just remember the things that grab their attention. Today let us take […]
Once again we find ourselves expressing horror and sharing the pain of the victims and their loved ones caught up in tragedy. We are familiar in these islands with violence between Protestant and Catholic. We have suffered terror attacks from a perversion of Islam called IS. We cannot now go down the road of attacking […]
In a period when political developments cascade down at unprecedented speed, there is now a whispered question, could the government fall at the end of the Queen’s Speech debate? On the face of it, the answer is no, because the DUP will prop it up. But those cold political maths ignore two new elements. The […]
In a country numb and overshadowed by the terrible events at Grenfell Tower, the news of Tim Farron’s resignation has passed almost unremarked. But as political resignations go, his reasons were unique in modern times. Once politics and religion were one. But now within formerly Christian societies, this is much less the case. In England […]
If it is possible to imagine something worse than screaming families being burnt alive in a raging tower block inferno, this Blog cannot think of it. The whole country is transfixed with shock and dismay that something which all thought was impossible, has happened. But following upon the desire to help, contribute, shelter and comfort […]
The fire in Kensington is horrific. I had no idea these tower blocks could go up like a torch! People are missing. One dare not think what the death toll may be. Once again this nation will have to stand united in grief. The thoughts of the whole country are with the victims and their […]