Monthly Archives: January 2011

                  We mainly hear discussions of the cuts to come in the public sector. The general feeling is the private sector had its bad time in the slump, wheh jobs were lost, pay frozen and short time working was common. Manufacturing has been recovering for almost two years now, with new jobs, full time [...]

              Mr Lansley’s reforms  revolve around giving the GPs a much bigger role in the management of our Health Service. They will succeed if he enthuses enough GPs to use the new freedoms and  powers they will enjoy. It will go through with little improvement if GPs grudgingly accept the reforms but do not [...]

                 This week the changes to the NHS have at last come centre stage in the UK political debate. I am starting to receive emails disagreeing with  the government’s plans.                There are two common criticisms of the Lansley proposals which I need to dismiss before we can begin intelligent discussion of them. The first [...]

Some say the Uk public finances were in good shape if we ignore the costly bank interventions and special measures needed for the Credit Crunch. The figures as published by the Office of National Statistics do not support that view. Public sector net debt rose from £323 billion in 2001 to £534 billion in 2007 [...]

                   A government trying to manage an economy is rather like a child trying to play that game of placing a number of small ball bearings into a series of slots on an  enclosed board. The game proceeds by nudging or shaking the board in different directions to try to tempt each ball into one [...]

                There has been considerable interest in my factory visit last Friday. I am still thinking about it. Like a great sporting achievement, the pleasant experience lives on in my memory.                 There were two moments  above all in the visit when I realised they were very good. The first was when I heard [...]

                For more than a year inflation has been well above target. It rose to nearly  double the 2% target last month, whilst RPI inflation is almost 5%.               None of this should come as a surprise to the MPC members. After all, some of us have been forecasting this for more than a year, [...]

                  Last week I went to a working lunch with experts from France and the UK on the Euro. I am telling you this so UKIP supporters can add me to their list of apostates who sup with the other side!                 The view from the continent is very different. They see the Euro [...]