Monthly Archives: May 2011

                      Yesterday it was M r Huhne’s turn to launch extensive legislation to the Commons,  He choose to produce a Bill with many pages on the Green Deal, and a bit at the end on guarateeing supply of energy.                      I was mainly interested in how the government plans to keep the lights on. [...]

                 At the end of last week a wide ranging discussion about how to tackle the Greek debt crisis again led to German speculation that Greece was about to leave the Euro zone. The EU authorities moved quickly to deny that strongly.                Given that leaving the Euro and devaluing is not an option [...]

          I have dealt before on this site with the extensive  account of planned NHS reform in the Conservative Green Papers and Manifesto issued before the last General Election. I have also quoted from the detailed Coalition policy document issued under the joint signatures of Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg last summer, showing how they [...]

             The last few weeks have heard the airwaves and the election platforms resound with discussion of the cuts. I feel it is time just to remind all involved in the crucial debate over trying to get our deficit down what the government’s planned numbers show.               In June 2010 the new Coalition government [...]

                I send my congratulations today to all the newly elected Councils on the two Unitaries in my constituency. I know how hard candidates worked to secure election, and I wish them well looking after the interests of their and my constituents now elected. I would also like to thank all the volunteers of [...]

  I do dislike the fashionable explanation for Lib Dem unpopularity, that they are the government’s human shield for unpopular measures. Their poor performance in the latest local elections is largely  down to two words “tuition fees”.  This single policy has so far proved the most unpopular of all the government’s measures, and has generated [...]

                 Something important happened yesterday, whilst UK politicians were preoccupied with arguments over marginal changes to Council budgets. Commodity prices experienced sharp falls. Silver is down by around one third in a few days, and oil fell 10% in a day. Metals and agricultural commodities have also weakened.               These price falls will take [...]