Monthly Archives: December 2010

               I expect the Coalition will win the vote this afternoon on tuition fees. I have been asked for my thoughts on the policy.                Dr Cable’s package is not the policy I would have designed myself, but I think it preferable to Labour’s alternative of a graduate tax. A graduate tax would drive [...]

               Yesterday’s debate on the EU was lively. The strong view from most on the Conservative benches was the same – we want effective  action to curb any more  powers going to Brussels, and get powers back. The Bill places a “referendum lock” on the transfer of new competences, but it does not tackle [...]

                    There has been some surprise expressed that someone from the Office of Budget Responsibility confessed that monetary unions usually  fail. The correct statement is monetary unions usually fail, unless they help drive the creation of a new or united country. The US monetary union and the German monetary union were part of the [...]

               Finance Ministers are considering what further steps they need to take to tackle Europe’s debts and deficits, and wayward currency union. It is time to review the options that face them. 1. Germany leaves the Euro, recreating the DM. The other countries would devalue against Germany. easing some of the trading tensions and [...]

               I attended a fascinating seminar in Oxford on Saturday evening about whether the prison population could be safely reduced. Let me share some of the thoughts and facts with you which emerged, on a topic where I claim no expertise.                We were told that between 1918 and 1939 the prison population averaged [...]

            It is not that unusual for MPs in a governing party or coalition to be split three ways. Many votes have some government MPs voting against and some abstaining.            What is unusual is for Ministers to be contemplating abstaining on their own policies! Indeed, that is against the rules. As I understood [...]

                       If I had sent a sales force with a good new product to sell in 21 countries of the world I would have been very disappointed if they came  back with just one success. I would have been  even more worried, if the target was to sell to 12.                        The recent discovery that only [...]

(This post was written for Citywire and adapted for this site) Many readers of this site think the best answer to resolve the Euro crisis would be to announce the intention to re-establish independent currencies across Europe. They could each find their own level and economies would start to improve.   This is not about to [...]