Monthly Archives: March 2009

When Mr Clarke yesterday called a manifesto promise and a firm policy pledge an “aspiration” the BBC and Labour went into overdrive. Here they hoped was manna from heaven. Here they drooled was a major Tory tax war, here they salivated was proof that Clarke was taking over as Shadow Chancellor, here was an opportunity [...]

The problem with seeing politics as just a media strategy is you have to keep appearing on more and more shows, and finding different things to say to keep the audiences interested. It can also lead to media blunders, as it did with the unfortunate remarks about disability. Such “events” come to have more significance [...]

Today I would like you to spare a thought and a few billion for the public sector fat cats. They have been going through a miserable time lately. Fred Goodwin has been pilloried for his noble action in creating the largest loss making bank in UK financial history and for delivering it safely into the [...]

In between their bouts of overspending and money printing, the PM and Chancellor have set out their latest political wheeze to upset the Tories. They propose a 45p tax on earnings over £150,000 a year. Their left wing is delighted. If the Tories oppose it they can say the Tories are the party of the [...]

How much more will the government have to borrow next year? Lots Does it matter? Yes it does. The government only has one policy to get out of this mess – spending more. They will spend and spend, to the limits of their ability to borrow and print it. There is one huge problem with [...]

Mr Mandelson said tonight that the government is not a bail out fund. He was talking of the car industry. Meanwhile down the road at the Treasury that is exactly what the government is – a bail out fund for mega banks which have lost mega bucks, still wanting to pay their top employees mega [...]

The Fed has now joined in the fun of printing money and buying up its own government bonds, to try to reassure investors that all is well with the world. Monetarists assure us that this will create more deposits in banks, which in turn might be spent and start to lift the recessions. That would [...]

The proposed migrant tax on immigrants from non EU countries is a typical response of this government. It tackles a problem of the government’s making in the wrong way. Why has it come forward now? Because the polling shows them that people are very worried by immigration on Labour’s watch. Many people think the government [...]

Lord Turner is an intelligent and hard working man. He is untainted by the failures of the bankers and their regulators over the last giddy decade of excess credit. Let us hope he shows some wisdom in responding to the present crisis, and let us hope he understands that Regulators have to look ahead. The [...]