Blog 2023 Malcolm Blair-Robinson

Breaking up the Banks

This is the right move, provided there is no hint of a so called investment arm to these new banks and they do not act as traders in the casino at Canary Wharf.  I  would retain state control of the majority of the shares. First because it is time for the taxpayer who paid for all this to build up some decent assets which make a profit in dividends and taxes. Second because without a state presence in the High Street instability will prevail. I am more confident of HSBC than of Barclays.

The condition of the banks remains uncertain. A further £30 billion is going in, of our money, to shore it up. I remain of the view that we should have nationalised the retail banking sector and bust the rest. Lessons need to learned. It would also have been cheaper.

Labour Leadership

Interesting this. The safe pair of hands, Alan Johnson, has fumbled with an unnecessary spat with some opinionated scientists over drugs. There is no point in asking for advice, ignoring it, then sacking the adviser when he complains that you have taken no notice of  his conclusions. Maybe those hands are not so safe after all.

Meanwhile the anti-Russian Milliband is off to that country, hopefully to listen a lot and lecture a little. He needs a boost. Afghanistan is moving from difficulty to disaster and his Blair motorcade is in the ditch. Meanwhile Blackadder glides silkily around Whitehall plotting and smiling.

I refer of course to Lord Mandelson.

Schools

We are in a tangle here. Either all schools are of a high standard so the nearest in your neighbourhood is right for your child or, if they vary, and there are not enough places in the best schools, there has to be a system of selection. The mantra is parents should have choice, but if the choice is between the best and the worst it is not a choice at all.

What is needed is a real choice of learning paths with different destinations to suit the diversity of need in our society and economy, so that proactive choice by parent and pupil, based on attainment and aptitude, leads to qualification or skills for a fulfilling life to come.