The test of any government is whether it can get its legislation through its parliament. For a coalition government this test is fundamental to its survival. The Coalition led by the Tories, with the Lib Dems enjoying the taste of real power for the first time in nearly a century, has just failed that test. […]
The Liberal Democrats are not doing well on Constitutional Reform. They botched the campaign on the A vote and now are promoting a peculiar notion of an elected House of Lords through the Coalition, of which they remain fractious members. The proposal to elect hundreds of Lords for single fifteen year terms is an unusual form […]
All the politicians want an inquiry into banking, the form of which is in dispute. This blog will therefore not comment on the specifics, but on the principle. It has become a feature of modern government that ineptitude is an integral component. This is because the quality of politicians has fallen to such a low ebb. The […]
This blog has frequently posted opprobrium about modern banking and its corrosive effect upon the well-being of the British economy, of which it is far too large a slice. The latest disaster of dishonest fixing of the LIBOR rate, drives home a simple truth almost entirely lost in the modern culture of greed and selfishness. It is that if you pay […]
This crisis is now so politically complicated that it appears beyond solution until a real calamity occurs. Everybody now more or less agrees that the following developments are a must: Fiscal Union A fully functional ECB able to print money Eurobonds Banking Union Structural Reform Balanced Budgets and less government debt In Euroland Germany has […]
There are only two ways that the euro can go forward without risk of disintegration. The first is political. The second economic. Both are linked. The reality is that in any economic structure, the most powerful segment dominates. Germany is the biggest, richest and most competitive economy in the eurozone. The German people have, over […]
No, it cannot survive in its present dysfunctional form. This flawed currency is now assailed on two fronts. The first is financial. Countries using it are completely out of step fiscally with each other, Germany has scooped up all the cash to become the China of Europe and several countries and their banks are technically bust. The second problem […]
The report of the Culture Committee has been pretty damning about the quality of the leadership and management of News Corp and News International, as well as its ability to be truthful. Whether it was wise to add the fit and proper person bit about Rupert Murdoch himself is a matter of heated argument. Certainly […]
Jeremy Hunt has never been a strong minister at cabinet level. He is affable and charming, but in a corner he is apt to be unconvincing. Whether he will be able to cling on depends in part on what Rupert Murdoch says today. It is quite clear that the old strictures regarding how to remain […]
The political crisis, which in the end is far more of a threat to the euro than the financial markets, is slowly assembling a critical mass. There is a chance of a socialist government in France, Greece is soon to vote for a new government, in Ireland voters are refusing to pay the 100 euro […]