Introduction Now that we have a stabilised draft Withdrawal Agreement (WA), agreed by the EU 27 and the UK, there is effectively zero probability of altering the text significantly. It must be remembered of course that whilst the WA is just the terms of the divorce settlement, it is nonetheless a legally binding treaty. The … Read more
Charity begins with government
I’d like to start with a peon of praise as to how the Hospice de Beaune has raised as much as £12million for charity this year. I notice two things since I last attended – an embarrassingly long time ago: The auction is now run by Christies. So the auction is now properly international and as… Read more
Liberté de Mouvement, la Paix en Irlande et la Dinde de Noël
“Freedom of Movement, Peace in Ireland and Christmas Turkey” Liberté de Mouvement -Freedom of Movement The summer of ’76 lives on in the English imagination as a gloriously hot summer. For me it was a Continental one, with a DAAD scholarship in Germany from June to mid September and at the end of the summer… Read more
Last chance saloon
All the recent resignations from the cabinet seem to imply there is scope for new negotiations on the UK’s break from the EU, but as the FT says, “EU leaders have shunned the idea of reopening talks” and who, frankly can blame them? They also point out that “The prospect of the EU27 agreeing to… Read more
The Precariat and Basic Income?
Professor Guy Standing – he of ‘Precariat’ fame – has written a long article suggesting that in fact the Precariat class may give hope for change. They are the “dangerous class”. It is a “dangerous class” partly of course to itself – suicide, self harm and drug taking are, unsurprisingly, prevalent. Also a section of… Read more
Universal Basic Income is Basic Security
Professor Daniel Nettle of Newcastle University has a really excellent article on a Universal Basic Income (UBI) here. In it he outlines in original and coherent fashion just how good UBI would be from the outset, when I had reluctantly concluded – till now – that we might only get there via starting off with… Read more
Positive Money and Monetary Progress
I’ve been having some encouraging converstions with Positive Money (PoMo) members. First, let me be clear, I use MMT (Modern Monetary Theory) in the sense that the Theory is the Job Guarantee and the Modern Monetary bit is a statement of fact. This is the view that Prof. Bill Mitchell himself takes, having in fact,… Read more
Why we shouldn’t tolerate Palm Oil
Iceland is the only grocer to have removed Palm Oil entirely from their own label products and they’ve managed it in less than a year. Not unreasonably they wanted to shout about this, but their Christmas advert has been banned for being ‘too political’. After all, there have been worries about private equity and other… Read more
Is No deal Worse for Ireland than the UK?
This question is important in so far as some elements in the Tory party and the DUP are hoping that Ireland and the EU will back down on the backstop at the last minute. The short answer is NO, but there may be some softening around the edges and creative language to make it more… Read more
Brexit Negotiation Outcomes using a Sankey Diagram.
Introduction With negotiations entering the final phase for the withdrawal agreement, there is immense speculation. The actual negotiations are being held in a “tunnel” and seem have been going on forever. I am reminded of a scene from an Ian Banks novel where the players have to play a valid game of Bridge, but are… Read more
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