Monthly Archives: January 2011

               A little while ago I argued on this site that the squeeze is and will be tougher on the private sector this winter and well into 2011 than the squeeze on the public sector. Indeed, overall the 7%  increase in public spending  under this government so far compared to a year earlier shows there [...]

                       In the 1980s and 1990s, especially around the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the world lived through a series of notable democratic revolutions. People threw off the communist or dictatorial yoke, by refusing any longer to obey their governments. In most cases the regimes fell quickly and with mercifully few [...]

              One of the interesting features of the poor GDP figures for the last three months of 2010 was they occurred at a time of rapid increases in overall public spending. Total current spending is up around 7% on the previous year, and in November was up by a double figure percentage increase compared [...]

              I like trees. They are an important part of our landscape, especially the native deciduous varieties. They may shed their leaves, causing trouble to the nationalised railway, but they are at their most magnificent in the autumn when they change colour.            I look out at home at trees in my neighbours’ gardens. [...]

             This week’s politics have been dominated by the economy. The GDP figures will lead to further measures to promote growth, and to much more debate about where we are heading. Meanwhile, business on the floor of the Commons has been dominated by the government’s EU Bill.               The Bill was meant as reassurance to [...]

                    Yesterday I agreed with much of the Governor’s analysis in his speech. He was right to stress that the high inflation we are experiencing has come from increases in the prices we have to pay for commodities and energy, all imported. He is right, as I have been pointing out, that the big [...]

              The problem with the provisional figure for GDP in the last three months of 2010 is it was a long way short of the consensus. That means many people have to explain and change their viewpoint. It will mean a greal deal of politics will be generated around it.                Labour and their friends [...]

Thank you for your letter of 30 November 2010 to the Home Secretary enclosing comments from readers of your website about the Intra-Company Transfer (ICT) route.  Your letter has been passed to me to reply.  I am sorry for the delay in responding to you. We are clear that the UK can benefit from immigration, [...]