Pakistan The scale of this disaster is said by the U.N. now to exceed the tsunami, thought not, mercifully, if measured in loss of life. The world is slowly stirring to the need for aid on a gigantic scale. Those images of shivering and frightened children haunt us. And it goes on. The rains do […]
House Prices These are falling again. This is good news. They need to fall a good deal more. I realise the pain and distress this causes to those who are over borrowed, earn their living in the housing market, or are in the replacement kitchen industry. But we cannot get away from the fact that […]
Job Losses Figures from the U.S. on the job front were disappointing recently and now we have a warning that U.K. unemployment situation, which had been better than most predictions at the start of the recession, is about to ‘stall’. This surely means deteriorate. Unfortunately this is the inevitable outcome of government funding unnecessary jobs […]
Child Protection Once again it is in the news that massive court delays, which will get worse, are placing abused children at risk and vulnerable families at risk from a wrong decision. When interviewed, representatives from the legal profession, social workers and Cafcas blame each other for then chaos. Now they have a common enemy, government […]
School Milk David Cameron has moved fast to shut down this absurd proposal from one of his junior ministers. This was an insensitive gaffe from a faction of the government that sees cuts as a virility symbol. Of course we have to have cuts, but taking the milk from little children is politically barmy. If […]
Disaster and Conflict For a while the media has been full of worldwide bad news. Not only have we had the continuing reports of security failures and deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also the terrible suffering of those caught in the floods in Pakistan and China, to which we can add the huge disruption and toxic smog […]
Praise for Cardinal O’Brien It is not often that the blog steps forward to defend and applaud a church leader, let alone a Cardinal, but the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland is greatly to be admired for his comments criticising the American attitude to the Lockerbie bomber. In an outspoken attack on America’s’ thirst […]
Fidel Castro There is something remarkable about the veteran revolutionary re-appearing in public, as if back from the dead. For staying power in the face of American opprobrium, boycotts and blockades, he takes the prize. It is reported that today he is to make a speech to the Cuban parliament, in which he will allege […]
Pakistan and the U.K. David Cameron and President Zardari have, by their own accounts, had a good meeting a reached an accord upon their long term strategic aims and immediate ways to strengthen ties and address difficulties. Cameron is showing himself to be a tough but effective operator on the international stage and the shift […]
Barclays A big improvement here in profits, but if you strip out investment banking and all those dodgy derivatives, the High Street part reflects the slow conditions in the core economy. However, though I hesitate to disagree with George and whilst I know it is akin to blasphemy to question the wisdom of Vince, I now believe they […]