Monthly Archives: March 2010

On the doorsteps, and sometimes on this site, I get asked what would the Conservatives do about the economic problems? David Cameron yesterday said ” We will never forget there is no such thing as government money. It is taxpayers’ money – your money”. He pledged to root out waste, get better value, and concentrate [...]

The nub of the political argument today is over borrowing. The government claims that state borrowing huge amounts now helps recovery, keeps the economy going, and is evidence of its economic prowess. The Opposition says that borrowing too much is risky, could push interest rates up, lead to a loss of confidence, and shows economic [...]

Good news – Conseravtives still want to abolish RDAs. RDAs have failed to narrow the gap between richer and poorer regions, have often got in the way of private sector led growth and development, have failed to deliver good transport systems and have been very bureaucratic. I look forward to their abolition, and hope we [...]

Today the Prime Minister should be asked two sets of questions about Iraq. Why did he cut or limit tightly the defence budget, uniquely amongst all the budgets he supervised, at a time of war? What were the consequences for our troops of his decisions on the purchase of helicopters, body armour, and protected vehicles? [...]

New Labour was keen to preach toleration for various minority groups, but their friendly theory never did extend to Tories or the rich. Their recent witch hunt of selected Non Doms is a case in point. There is one thing much worse than seeing rich people avoid paying UK tax on their foreign earnings – [...]

Most commentators expect the Bank’s Monetary Committee to admire their handiwork and recommend more of the same. They are likely to blunder on with cheap and easy money for the public sector, a shivering small and medium sized business sector denied credit at a sensible price, and a rotten deal for savers. They call this [...]

Yesterday saw the return of the government’s Constitutional Reform Bill. The government could not resist two more studied insults to the Parliament they have done so much to destroy. The first was another ridiculous guillotine or “timetable motion”. All previous governments have followed the convention that MPs should have as much time as it needs [...]

Dear Shareholder, I told you so. I always knew the Conco offer to cut the deficit and stop borrowing and printing so much would not take off. The latest news of the polling for the Board elections is wonderful for your Board and for Uk PLC. We have been thinking about how we can reinforce [...]

Yesterday the Local Government Secretary was trying to tell us there will be no cuts in Council spending in the next couple of years. When challenged he could not give us any figures for 2011 and beyond, nor would he share with us what might come out of the 3 year spending review which Labour [...]

Just I have feared for months – and repeated first thing this morning: the pound and government bonds have been on the slide again. Today the pound has fallen below $1.50. The price for the government to borrow for ten years is now 4.1%, compared with the 3% when the problems intensified. That’s the market’s [...]