Downing Street Humiliation Not only did the blitz of Royal, political and football celebrity have no impact in Zurich, it made the humiliation of the England bid, with only one vote (apart from our own), all the more high profile. It would appear it never stood a chance because FIFA has a policy of giving the […]
World Cup Disappointment for England Oh dear. After all that effort. And with a very slick team at the last push, combining Leadership, Royalty and Celebrity. The trouble is that the deal does not work like that. We may not know how the deal does work exactly, neither may we like what we know. Accusing those […]
Economic Recovery There are now signs that the economy is reshaping itself and recovering at the same time. House prices are continuing to fall. People and businesses are borrowing less. Mortgages are tough. Housing benefit caps will bear down on rents. The state is shrinking. Manufacturing is increasing at the fastest rate for fifteen years […]
Eurozone Trouble Ahead Yesterday Germany failed to sell all its bonds. This is an unwelcome straw in the wind. Markets remain nervous, if a little irrational. Portugal’s bonds were oversubscribed, but at a higher yield than two weeks ago. These bonds are for one year only, then the Portuguese government will have to come back to borrow more. […]
U.S. Deficit Reduction and U.K. Growth. At last the U.S. government has woken up to the need to reduce its out of control budget deficit and the Administration has asked a panel of two experts, one from each Party to come up with a plan. They have done so. It amounts to an eye popping […]
Ed Milliband By common consent Cameron gave Ed a drubbing at PMQ’s today. Since returning from paternity leave Ed’s leadership has lost its shine. Labour is getting worried. All these policy reviews are fine, but they are to take two years. Two years? A week is a long time in politics. Two years is a […]
Sarah Palin and Wikileaks Sarah Palin is reported to have said that Julian Assange, the boss and founder of Wikileaks, should be hunted down like Bin Laden. She is not reported to have commented on the fact that Osama Bin Laden remains free after nine years of ‘hunting down’. Nevertheless this tells us something of this fundamentalist […]
Deficit Deniers We hear less about these people now. Ireland has made them wonder. They will be back if the economy slows significantly as the cuts bite next year. The issue, however is not the deficit. It is the level of national debt. This is what has brought Ireland down, brought Greece to its knees, […]