Boris Johnson, Greenwich, 3rd Feb 2020: “Coronavirus will trigger a panic and a desire for market segregation that go beyond what is medically rational to the point of doing real and unnecessary economic damage” And now, more than 100,000 deaths later and with more deaths per head than anywhere in the world: “We truly did… Read more
Category:
Covid-19
Groundhog day or excellent advice?
If only government would listen for just one and a quarter minutes… It is remarkable (to me at least) how the government keeps trying to kickstart the economy at every opportunity – and which simply results in another lockdown principally because there is no functioning test trace and isolate system. And it happens again and… Read more
The noise of government ‘playing’ us
According to this shameful article by Housing Secretary and three houses Robert Jenrick, who has even now, failed to resolve the cladding crisis caused by the Grenfell Tower fire, nonetheless now he has time, in the middle of this pandemic, to turn his attention to the important matter of statues and streetnames as written up… Read more
An advantage Labour should not pass up
There is an interesting article here by UK in a Changing Europe, examining the population decline in the UK. Of course those terrible, pesky immigrants have left – in large numbers, maybe even up to a million. Surely we should be no more than relieved? Perhaps…And this is not necessarily of consequence – though those… Read more
Government is killing us
The UK has more excess deaths in 2020 than at any time since second world war. That is an extra 91,000 deaths in U.K. in 2020. Last time we saw mortality per head on this scale was 1929. There is no excuse for the death toll we have endured. We have a long failing privatised… Read more
Whither free broadband?
According to John McDonnell MP When I published Labour’s policy on free broadband in November 2019 I said “It’s about large numbers of children being able to do their homework properly, and have the speed of connectivity.” The BBC described it as Broadband Communism. Interesting how relevant it’s now become. Isn’t it just? Mind you… Read more
Towards understanding our right wing populist government
I have stumbled across a review of Anne Applebaum’s book Twilight of Democracy: The Failure of Politics and the Parting of Friends on populism. I understand that she suggests that a society based on merit may sound fine if you want to live in a country run by talented people. But what if you are… Read more
Has the pandemic taught us what the economy is for?
Next week I have to give a short talk on this subject. Well, short is the word because in fact they preferred that I put together this short paper rather than that I yammered on…. so this is what I’ve suggested that people read before we launch into a Zoom discussion… During the current pandemic… Read more
The money tree is not magic but real
We used to think, with good reason, that globalization had defanged national governments. Presidents cowered before the bond markets. Prime ministers ignored their country’s poor but never Standard & Poor’s. Finance ministers behaved like Goldman Sachs’s knaves and the International Monetary Fund’s satraps. So commences this excellent piece from Yanis Varousakis (well worth reading in… Read more
Repeated UK government failure means the Germans are starting an air bridge…
According to Bloomberg, what Britain did for Berlin, Lufthansa is now doing for Britain, flying in food! And the queue of thousands of truckers in Kent were not fed by any government operation but by meals prepared by Khalsa Aid – a UK based Sikh International humanitarian relief organisation, some of whose members delivered from… Read more