Monthly Archives: August 2011

             Yesterday was not a good day for taxpayer bankers. Collectively we have now lost £40 billion on our holdings in RBS and Lloyds. The original investment cost £65.5 billion, so that means so far we have lost more than 60%.            Perhaps the last government  who thought nationalisation was a better idea than [...]

                As leftwards inclined commentators want to discuss equality, let’s post today the difficult case. If excessive pay is to be condemned,  taxed penally , or  banned, as they say we need to do, what should we do about footballers’ wages?               The Premier league is a UK success. It earns millions in tv fees [...]

      One of the least enjoyable  characteristics of some left wing commentators and politicians is their willingness to personalise and misrepresent people of different views from their own in an unpleasant way.         On Tuesday I was sent a copy of a piece written by John Harris in the Guardian. I do not recall having [...]

      One of the least enjoyable  characteristics of some left wing commentators and politicians is their willingness to personalise and misrepresent people of different views from their own in an unpleasant way.         On Tuesday I was sent a copy of a piece written by John Harris in the Guardian. I do not recall having [...]

                   So the leaders of France and Germany met. They ruled out in advance giving the markets what they said they wanted. There is to be no borrowing by Greece or Portugal, Italy or Spain, on a common credit card with Germany standing in as guarantor. I can understand the German reluctance.               Meanwhile, [...]

                In a democracy the police need to be independent in important respects. We all want the police to investigate people connected with the government fearlessly if they have good reason to suspect they have committed crimes. We wish them to resist any temptation by those in power to have their political enemies investigated [...]

            Many governments have run out of road to borrow more money. Ireland, Greece, Portugal, and now Spain and Italy are having to rein in their deficits owing to the reluctance of the markets to lend  to them. France is undertaking pre-emptive cuts to avoid a run against her bonds. The USA is now into [...]

              I was against the state bailing out RBS lock, stock and derivative. I wanted the last government to preside over putting it into an orderly administration, where depositors and other  essential interests were protected. The rest should have suffered  losses to sort the mess out quickly. A managed administration could have avoided worse systemic [...]