So the Sugar Tax has arrived and I see one of Cameron’s ex advisors has been congratulating herself in last edition of ‘The Sunday Times’ (paywall) for persuading him to institute it. It is certainly a start. Rather like taxing cigarettes it is to be hoped it will be the start on changing behaviour. It… Read more
Why didn’t the Skripals die on the spot?
I thought this conundrum worth highlighting as ‘Aunt Theresa’s’ Strong and Stable Military Grade Novichok’ now starts to raise a painful smile. It then actually turns out that a ‘military grade deadly nerve agent’ is, as we are now beginning to learn, not necessarily especially military or deadly after all. The ‘recall’ is probably thanks,… Read more
If only you could buy happiness?
What should politicians do? Make us happier of course. UK politicians are not doing great at this – we are only 18th in the happiness league table of OECD countries.* Maybe politicians have got their priorities wrong? As I show below, as happiness and equality are related, maybe they should be doing more about inequality… Read more
Why a Universal Basic Income might shore up Neoliberalism
I occasionally read what the ex New York Times journalist, Chris Hedges, writes as it is always well written and usually hard hitting. This piece is no exception and I was drawn to it because he is railing against the idea of a Universal Basic Income – something which, although I’d prefer it were called… Read more
The only bit of Neoliberalism that isn’t Fascism is the ‘Neo’ bit
It really does seem that the only remaining difference between Neoliberalism and Fascism is a slightly more liberal social policy outlook – although even that might be debatable in some cases. I now discover that whereas Hitler started the privatisation lark, his Fascist colleague, Benito Mussolini, started the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). Admittedly, it wasn’t… Read more
‘The End of Banking’ – is it as appealing as it sounds?
I attended a talk based around an interesting book, ‘The End of Banking’ by Jonathan McMillan (in fact a made up name from two authors – one of whom works in finance so wanted to remain anonymous). The book defines banking as “the creation of money out of credit,” which nails the unspoken truth in… Read more
What industrial strategy?
The government eventually told us after the last Steel crisis that they would be formulating an industrial strategy for Britain. This was published in late 2017, and despite arguing that, ‘It sets out how we are building a Britain fit for the future.’ – it currently remains unclear what it is, except that it seems… Read more
Crowding out commercial lending
A recent Oxford University report points out that banks’ lending to the property sector ‘crowds out’ commercial lending to companies. Usually we are told that government spending ‘crowds out’ private spending. That is a fantasy, but this report shows that the private banks creation of money actually has effects. Although this is no real surprise… Read more
Voting for the Nasty Party
YouGov, a polling operation part owned by Conservative MP, Nadhim Zahawi, has been reported as running a poll that includes a question as to whether ‘those who receive more money from welfare benefits than they pay in taxes’ should be allowed to vote. Apparently (and mercifully) there was much opposition to this. It ought to… Read more
The real origin of privatisation
At the risk of proving Godwin’s law to be irrefutable I confess that this extract from James Meek’s ‘Private Island’ brought me up short. Certainly, the American academic, Sidney Merlin, summarised the true effects of privatisation as ones we’ve come to properly understand only almost eighty years later. And when, as it sometimes does, it… Read more
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