Monthly Archives: June 2009

Yesterday the Commons agreed that there should not be a further additional payment from taxpayers to the MPs contributory pension scheme, which like many such schemes is in deficit. This means that other ways will have to be examined to bring the fund into balance with the liabilities. The obvious thing to do is to [...]

Today I wish to praise Mark Francois. The Shadow Europe Minister has worked hard to create an anti federalist grouping in the European Parliament. He has helped David Cameron implement his vision of Conservative MEPs providing an opposition to “ever closer union” and the remorseless march of power to Brussels. He reminded me yesterday that [...]

Yesterday on both sides of the Atlantic there were hints that the current programmes of quantitative easing – printing money – will be the end of it. Both the Fed’s statement and the Governor implied that the existing sums pledged will be enough in their view. In the UK the Governor also attacked the government’s [...]

Ten years ago Ministers still claimed that the UK had the best system of occupational pensions in Europe. They could point to the fact that British people had more money saved in pension schemes than all the rest of Europe put together. The creation of the occupational pensions movement, and the establishment of a final [...]

Early in 2008 when interest rates were too high for comfort and likely to help bring more banks down, I called for much lower rates. At the time I said inflation would tumble anyway, as the inevitable recession bit. As expected the recession came, and inflation has fallen sharply on the RPI measure, less so [...]

Some contributors to this site and other Conservatives I spoke to over the week-end have spoken out strongly against John Bercow. BBC journalists are using vivid language to describe Conservative attitudes to John in their commentaries on the Speakership from their sources. I respect John’s skills as a Parliamentarian. He has the best memory of [...]

Last week there was an apparent disagreement betweent he Governor and the Chancellor over the dangers of mega banks. The Governor rightly warned that some banks are too big to fail, implying something should be done to stop this. The Chancellor seemed to be more accepting of very large banks, and was more in favour [...]