Regular readers will know I am engaged on a book project, so new posts on this blog are less frequent. In the last several days some interesting things passed by without a comment, but I am now going to revisit three speeches and come up to date with today’s vote in the German parliament. Obama’s […]
Two things of significance emerge from the meetings in Washington. The first is that the the various countries of the euro zone have at last woken up to the fact that they are in dire trouble. The second is that somebody among them has done the maths and a partial 50% default by Greece is being […]
There is a difference in this crisis compared to all the many crises, both political and economic, since WWII. This time nobody knows what to do, or if they know, they cannot act. There is a political paralysis in the euro zone. It is made worse because there is political dysfunction in the U.S. There […]
The Liberal Democratic Party has lost confidence through nervous perception rather then just cause. Yes there was the car crash of the AV vote. Electoral Reform is not only off the radar, having been the focus of so many members for so long, but it was decisively rejected by voters. Then there were tuition fees. […]
Things are now very nearly out of control. There is a runaway engine and no driver. Just as in the birth of the United States, when the founding fathers used opaque words to reconcile the issue of state sovereignty to secure agreement when there was none, so European politicians have pressed forward to ever closer […]
The Vickers Report spells it out. Action is a must. Osborne accepts that it must happen. All the country is behind him, save for the Tory banking lobby, the Daily Telegraph and a few others who either cannot follow the numbers or refuse to do so. The U.K. Banks are potentially at risk from a […]
This is a long overdue visit. Labour made a complete horlicks of relations with Russia, especially Brown and Milliband David. Britain must learn once and for all, that it too has skeletons in its cupboard and aspects of our society are malfunctioning or unfair. Lecturing everybody on their faults is an immature and fruitless way […]
So much is being written and said about this tragic moment in modern history, it is difficult to offer any perspective which has not already been explored elsewhere. Nevertheless there are some thoughts worth putting down. The first thing that strikes about the footage everywhere being replayed, is just how terrible an event or set […]
The Foreign Secretary, William Hague, has announced a considerable beefing up of the coverage and capacity of the Foreign Office, in spite of the cuts in its budget, which represent very welcome news. He has also remarked on the evident dysfunctionality and peculiar rivalries at its heart, revealed when he took over. This blog has in the […]
One of the challenges of being Chancellor of the Exchequer is the torrent of advice from many economic experts who think they have better ideas and City lobbyists who have interests to protect. None of these people present a rounded picture. Osborne and his team have to do that for themselves. At present they are […]