Distributism is an idea which is supposed to have originated from a Papal encyclical in the 1890s. Being areligious I confess this rather puts me off. But this does not mean such a declaration cannot have a valuable core. Chesterton and Belloc, both Catholics of course, saw it as a ‘third way’ (although I’m sure… Read more
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Peter May
“Moralement irréprochable”
I’m sure I don’t need to translate this, but it was the reason Emmanuel Macron gave for delaying the announcement of his Prime Minister’s cabinet. He wanted to ensure they were all on the straight and narrow. How refreshing!… Read more
Conservative Council Houses
We are learning that the Conservatives plan that a new government will be helping local authorities to build more houses and be providing land and buildings for conversion at below market value. Housing would then be able to be purchased by tenants after 10 to 15 years and the realised monies reinvested in housing. Allegedly… Read more
Corbyn’s Peace
Boris Johnson has said Jeremy Corbyn’s ideas on defence in his recent speech are “crazy”. As an Old Etonian I can understand why he might be miffed. Clearly he was convinced that craziness was a privilege that only he enjoyed…. Read more
The Leaked Labour Manifesto
The leaked Labour Manifesto is (for me at least) refreshingly radical. It suggests that they may have taken a leaf out of Rules for Revolutionaries: How Big Organizing Can Change Everything. This is a book due to be published in November but rumour has it that Labour have help from the same Bernie Sanders’ team…. Read more
Mental Health Awareness Week
This week is Mental Health Awareness Week . What an excellent time for the Conservatives to pledge an extra 10,000 mental health staff by 2020 – it’s surely just minor carelessness that they’ve managed to lose 4,800 mental health staff on their current watch so far…. Read more
‘Strong and stable’? Adrift and visionless more like
The Tory mantra is already seen by most as empty sloganising. But it is worse. It is Newspeak. Fine words which are precisely the opposite of reality. If the Conservatives had a vision for Brexit then they could motivate us all and even ‘bring the country together’ with a clear vision of life after Brexit…. Read more
Make mine Quantitative Easing please
The Tax Justice’s Network ran a blog on Thursday answering the journalists’ typical question (drawing, as usual, on journalistic domestic household experience) about additional government expenditure: “How are you going to pay for it?”… Read more
Calling it “Taxpayers’ money” creates bureaucracy
Everyone speaks of money as if the taxpayer created it and passed it across to the government, if not with outright hostility then certainly with great circumspection. But since the financial crisis we know that we spend first and tax later. Where otherwise, did that almost half a trillion of ‘Quantitative Easing’ come from? Was… Read more
Why the creation of local banks is so important
It is not only the state that seems intent on centralising power. Capital also centralises its ownership. So Lloyds and most of what is now HSBC may have been founded in Birmingham and much of Barclays came from Liverpool but they are all now in London living in the lap of luxurious central government ‘quantitative… Read more