With the release today of more than 90,000 documents showing the reality of the war in Afghanistan, the governments of the UK and US are arguing that the real travesty is the fact that the documents were leaked in the first place. The time for passing the buck is over. It is important to bear [...]
Archive of posts tagged Government
French Veil Ban
France’s lower house has passed a bill that will see the niqab and burka banned from public life. Both are garments worn by some Muslim women and cover the face. The niqab leaves only the eyes visible while the burka covers the whole face with only a mesh panel through which to see. As someone [...]
Cuts, cuts and more cuts
As the glorious days of the British summer – and we are having a magnificent one this year – pass by, the sound of scissors can be heard the length and breadth of this country. Snip, snip, cut, cut, as the new coalition continues to announce cut after cut of public spending. Today’s announcements: civil [...]
Alternative Vote
The Coalition Government has announced that a referendum will be held next May asking the country whether they would like to switch from the First Past the Post system of electing MPs to an Alternative Vote format. First past the post is exactly as it sounds: the first person to gain a plurality – not [...]
Austerity Measures Don’t Work
More evidence today that the UK’s austerity budget will end up hindering economic growth more than it will help. The Guardian has reported that up to 1.3million jobs will be lost in the next five years according to Treasury officials. On average that is 600,000 jobs in both the public and private sector so no [...]
The Budget
The Budget has been announced. A summary of key points can be found in any of the links below. The VAT rise is clearly going to affect everyone. Everyone buys goods and services which have VAT; but, for millions of people who work in the public sector, this rise in tax will now coincide with [...]
The Budget: the day before
I don’t understand economics. I didn’t major in it, I didn’t study it at university; I am a layman of the most basic degree when it comes to how economies work. What I and most of the British public do understand, however, is how much we take home in our weekly or monthly paycheck. The [...]
No one likes change
Amongst today’s headlines including the continuing BP oil spill fiasco, the changes to the Bank of England by Chancellor Osborne, further Bloody Sunday Inquiry reaction and the vindication of the Shannon Matthews social workers I discovered this interesting piece in the Telegraph. The title caught my eye: “Expenses: MPs being ‘thrown to the dogs’”. For [...]
Bloody Sunday Inquiry: the report and conclusions
Today saw the landmark publication of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry report as discussed on here last week. In the end, the report officially denounced the killings as “unjustified and unjustifiable” and vindicated all victims from any questions of attacks on soldiers. The soldiers opened fire on unarmed civilians with no provocation. They were under the [...]
New immigration requirement
I have struggled to find anything to write about today. I don’t know enough about economics to comment on the adjusted predicted growth forecast or whether cutting public spending will, potentially, lead to a ‘double-dip’ recession. I haven’t made up my mind about Obama’s allegedly ‘anti-British’ rhetoric. There are plenty of news stories about on [...]