Monthly Archives: April 2011

                    I read that Ed Balls is querying the wisdom of the UK helping Portugal with a bail out. As an opponent of expensive bails outs in general – they do not solve the underlying problems – I welcome that. As a  stronger opponent of UK contributions to Euro bail outs –  as we [...]

                     NATO is clearly looking for new ways to continue its intervention in Libya. We have heard of the use of drones and military advisers in recent days.  It needs to remember it is operating under a UN Resolution which only allows it to help save civilian lives. It does not have legal cover [...]

                 Yesterday’s news broadcasts usually referred to the 0.2% increase in retail spending in March. I did not hear any BBC news broadcast mention the fact that public spending was 5.1% higher in 2010-11 than the previous year, though that too was announced yesterday.             As the BBC seem to welcome every spending increase and [...]

                  Easter is a  bitter sweet festival. First comes the grim Friday. Churches are stripped bare. Christians are in mourning. The Gospel story is at its most harrowing, the story of the judicial killing of  a man who had done no criminal wrong. For the rest of the country it is a day off. [...]

                Today we see figures for the state of the public finances over the last financial year, 2010-11.               Current public spending is up by 5.1%. Tax revenues are up by 6.9%. Additional  Public Sector Net borrowing after financial sector interventions  falls from £156.5 billion 2009-10, to £141 billion 2010-11.  In other words every [...]

                You could not make it up. The EU is busy lecturing all its member states to get their budget deficits down. Well they are not always wrong. They are telling states to cut spending and raise more tax revenue. At the same time they want them to pursue a growth strategy, which needs [...]

                 There are three big areas where public spending can be cut without touching the core public services which are popular with many voters.  These are unemployment costs by getting unemployment down, money given away overseas, and the costs of regulation. Cutters can also look at  services and activities not valued by so many or [...]

                The decision to supply protective clothing and now to offer military advisers to the rebels in Libya is an important development  in the UK’s mission. This is more than operating a No fly zone, more than using high flying military intervention to prevent the Libyan  government using warplanes and tanks in open ground against Libyan people. [...]

                            The US has been able to borrow larger sums for longer than European countries. More people and countries around the world will accept dollars and lend money to the USA.                           Even the USA will discover there are limits to how much other people’s money you can spend before they refuse to lend [...]