Having contributed to a paper which may even appear on the Positive Money (PoMo) website in due course, I wonder if I may at last be able to shed further light on where Sovereign Money Reform (SMR) differs from Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), (which I’d love to rename Sustainable Government Finance – I can hope!)… Read more
Posts by:
Peter May
Wrong framing can often just be a subtle influence…
The headline in yesterday’s Observer was ‘NHS chiefs in standoff with Treasury over emergency £10bn’. Apparently: The row piles pressure on Sunak to find more money for the NHS ahead of his summer statement on Wednesday. The article says that, according to the NHS: “There’s a very, very significant difference between the phrase ‘the NHS… Read more
Hope nobody missed this!
Coronavirus logic – or not?
With Coronavirus outbreaks in meat factories in Anglesey and in Kirklees Council area (aka Huddersfield) there is much wondering about why food packing should be so badly hit. I would have thought this was obvious; every food processing plant has a form of air conditioning – for the obvious reason of preventing outside infection –… Read more
Any logic has long deserted our ‘government’
We are thoroughly misled if we believe Johnson’s idea of build, build, build is a cure for economic difficulty. First how long does it take to build? Second, in spite of his completely devious idea that planning issues are the problem, most developers have lots of planning permission granted land, and simply meter out the… Read more
The National Happiness Fund
Sounds like a Boris Johnson rhetorical idea but it is real in South Korea – and they have undertaken (rather timidly to me – but it is at least a start) to write off some long term outstanding debt: I think Britain could at least set out to establish a ‘National Happiness Fund’ – it… Read more
Out on the town on Saturday – or maybe not
There is an interesting survey from Hallgarten wines, which shows all too clearly how a so called ‘V’ shaped economic recovery from the covid-19 shutdown is highly unlikely. Not only do 11% of on premises not plan to open this weekend, 13 % don’t know and 22% plan a phased opening. The findings show just… Read more
The barbarians are not at the gate but actually in charge
European ‘Coronavirus’ emergency funding for the arts (approximate figures from various sources) currently stands at: France £6.5bn, Germany £900m, Italy £221m, Spain £68m, Ireland £18m and the UK – NIL. I’m ready to bet that the UK has the largest performing arts sector of any of these countries – indeed that may well be why… Read more
Your aeroplane, Prime Minister
So this is the £980k paint job painted on to an Airbus A330, which as I understand it is assembled in France, fitted out in Spain and powered by Rolls Royce engines – a pretty good example of European cooperation in fact! And it seems likely that all the British wing assembly will not survive… Read more
Should Rebecca Long Bailey have gone?
I’m not at all sure she should have. Yet I imagine Keir Starmer thinks she will imperil his progress to sort out anti-semitism in the Labour Party. I have to say that to me it looks as though the Labour Party was completely dysfunctional when – and even when there was not – that anti-semitism… Read more