Category Archives for politics
Three Dickensian obituaries (YP 23 Dec 2011)
Tweet Published in the Yorkshire Post 23 Dec 2011 Sir Wilkins Micawber OM was a Nobel prizewinning economist, whose optimistic theories strongly influenced the formation of the euro. Troubled until middle age by profound economic insecurity, he emigrated to Australia … Continue reading
Autumn Statement: economically irrelevant but sticking to a political script
Tweet published in www.politics.co.uk 29 November 2011 Some years ago I was flying in an airliner when suddenly one of its engines began to sputter and cough. Anxious passengers understandably began to carry on rather than keep calm. The captain’s … Continue reading
Politicians and their money 3: Blair has sold himself to a foreign power
Tweet published in www.politics.co.uk 13 November 2011 It could become a pub quiz question: who was the first British Prime Minister to sell himself to a foreign power? But it might be too easy to guess the answer – … Continue reading
Politicians and their money: 2 The House of Lords
Tweet Recently I described my long expedition in search of ex-politicians’ money, especially Lord Mandelson’s, and its fruitless start in the barren fields of ACOBA (the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments). Having learnt nothing from ACOBA, I turned to … Continue reading
Politicians and their money: 1 ACOBA
Tweet Published in www.politics.co.uk on 4 November 2011 with italic passages deleted I am incurably inquisitive about Peter Mandelson’s money. I knbow I shouldn’t be but I am. The condition has lasted since 1997 and just when I think I … Continue reading
The Bank of England should give the next load of QE money to the National Lottery
Tweet published in politics.co.uk 26 October 2011 As the Doors once remarked in another context, strange days have found us and our economy. The government and the Bank of England are trying to do completely different things with it. The … Continue reading
David Cameron’s desperate effort to sound in charge of the British economy
Tweet published in politics.co.uk 5 October 2011 David Cameron had one overwhelming priority in his Party Conference speech: to suggest (in the face of overwhelming contrary evidence) that he was actually in control of the events which would shape … Continue reading
Even with sound and vision restored, Ed Miliband did not make a good speech
Tweet Published by www.politics.co.uk 27 September 2011 “My message to the public is this” – at which precise moment all broadcast coverage of Ed Miliband’s Labour Party Conference speech was cut off. For some moments television viewers saw his face … Continue reading
YP 30 Years Ago Denis Healey Saved The Labour Party For Tony Blair
Tweet Published in the Yorkshire Post 24 September, although actual anniversary was 28 September Thirty years ago I waited in Brighton Conference Centre for the result of the Labour Party’s Deputy Leadership election. The hall was overheated in every sense … Continue reading
