Monthly Archives: March 2011

The capital gains tax paid this year will reflect transactions at the old rate prior to the hike from this government. The OBR forecasts £3.2 billion in receipts. For 2012-13, when the new higher rate system will be bedded down, they forecast just £2.9 billion, a fall of a tenth. They seem to agree with [...]

               I spoke in the Commons after the budget and will post that speech tomorrow when text is available.               The budget confirms the same plan as before – deficit reduction through big increases in tax receipts. It relies on above trend growth for three years. I will comment more tomorrow on the various [...]

              On Monday I attended the debate on Libya, but decided not to vote. I should explain why.               I of course support the United Nations in its wish to protect civilians in Libya from the barabrism of its government. I could not disagree with the main sentiments of the Commons motion. We would all [...]

               Inflation has continued its rapid upwards movement. The RPI was 5.5% higher in February 2011 than a year ago, and the Bank’s target rate CPI was 4.4% up, or 120% above the 2% target. We are paying the price of the devalued pound, the low interest rates and the quantitative easing. These high [...]

                Reform have produced a sensible pamphlet entitled “Off balance” prior to the Budget. Unlike many commentaries about the last five years it agrees with this website that large errors made by Central Banks and Banking Regulators in leading western economies caused the violent boom and bust cycle. It was avoidable, if they had [...]

 The government has a target to cut the administrative overhead by 30% over the life of this Parliament. This is a demanding target, but one that can be hit. It will be easiest to do so, if full use is made of people leaving public service to retire or take jobs elsewhere. It’s cheaper and [...]

                     It is worrying to hear that Gaddafi has moved his troops and tanks into urban areas before UN forces can take action against him, but not surprising. The offer of a cease fire was evidence that he will play to the gallery, and exploit what he sees as the West’s weakness. He despises [...]

I awoke to the BBC revealing some of the details from 1979-80 from the Thatcher archive. As always, and as then, the talk was about the cuts not working. If they cared to look back at the figures, they would see that in her first year in office Margaret Thatcher’s government put through a huge [...]

Japan makes seven times as many cars as the UK.  China produces fifty seven times more steel than the UK. Neither China nor Japan have a carbon tax or price for carbon in their energy costs. The UK used to be the workshop of the world. It was famed for its ships and steel, its cars [...]

The United Nations has late in the day decided to stand up to the Libyan dictator. Their task would have been easier if they had acted when David Cameron first raised the issue. Under the remit the coalition of the willing that forms to carry out the task could keep Libya’s jets from bombing their [...]