Monthly Archives: August 2009

The government used to tell us we were best placed of the major economies to weather the “global storms”. The government suggsted we would be first out thanks to the massive public sector “stimulus” administered. They ignored the UK hurricane they had created by their mad monetary and banking policies of the previous ten years. [...]

I was most suprised to read the Rothschild “road privatisation” story on the front of the Sunday Times business pages today. I will reverting to this story when I have made some enquiries next week. In the meantime I wish to make clear that I last worked for Rothschilds in 1989 before becoming a government [...]

I have been fascinated to read responses to my proposals on roads from people usually up for a smaller state telling me I am going too far. If you can’t take government out of the main road business, what can you take them out of? It should be one of the easier ones. The criticisms [...]

On Wednesday I had to give in and pay to drive in central London after 7 am. I had to deliver a heavy package to one place, drop off a print for framing at another, and fit in a haircut at another. I could not do all this on foot or by tube, and I [...]

First, the magazine industry lobbied MPs hard about the way the BBC moved into their business, using its own free ads for its own products to gain entry to their market. Next, the local and regional papers lobbied MPs about the impact the free BBC web and media service was having on their sales. Now [...]

The war in Afghanistan is the defining action of Mr Brown’s administration, just as the war in Iraq defined Mr Blair’s. Now the first round of the election is over, it is time to ask what is the purpose of our mission, how long will our troops need to be there, and when will the [...]

The Bank’s last official Statement, and the Deputy Governor Mr Bean’s recent remarks, tell us that the Bank has little idea how much quantitative easing to do, or how to assess its impact. The Bank’s main economic view is based on the economic theory that if there is excess capacity in an economy then you [...]

The idea that we should now tax bank transactions to stop them paying mega bonuses is absurd. The government says it wants the banks to lend more money to business. The Regulator says the banks need to have more cash, capital and reserves before they can lend more to business. The best way for them [...]