Monthly Archives: January 2011

Saturday was supposed to be the big demo day in London. It was rather a damp squib. Late in the afternoon I found myself trailing a band of demonstrators in Oxford Street, where they danced outside Starbucks to the percussive … Continued

I was reading about the Geddes axe and the Lloyd-George/Conservative 1919-22 Coalition last night. Fascinating stuff, which not least introduced me to the long, fascinating political career of Christopher Addison, LLoyd-George’s minister for Health in a Tory dominated coalition, and … Continued

After the bad GDP figures came out, I said I expected pressure from the right of the Conservative party to embrace a more “Conservative” economic growth package. Lo and behold, Boris Johnson , popped up at Davos to call for … Continued

I’m doing a training session on Saturday to advise people who might want to blog. So far my notes are 1. Set up Blog. 2. Write Blog. 3. ????? 4. Profit I fear this will not fill the hour. What should … Continued

Boris Johnson throws the hand grenade I’ve been expecting from the Tory right ever since the GDP figures come out. Interestingly, he praises Osborne, and does not mention the Prime Minister.    

George Osborne has had a terrible week. It’s not just that the growth figures were bad, though they were, it’s that his reaction to them was so abysmal he had to disappear from our TV screens for the week. It … Continued

One thing is for certain, the economic data gives Ed Miliband some interesting things to say on the Economy tomorrow. I’m not going to use the old “open goal” cliche, because Cameron’s a smart politician, and will come out fighting … Continued

In no particular order. Some things I’d be worried about if I was in the Treasury, and some things I would repeat to myself in comforting fashion… Any others I should add in? 1. A major cold snap in February … Continued

The new GDP data is really, really bad. It’s completely fair to say the snow impacted the economy, and the early data will be subject to revisions, but even when you allow for weather and error, this is a sharp … Continued

A really interesting speech by Richard Lambert (Number one with a bullet on my “why oh why aren’t they in the House of Lords?” list) Obviously there are major criticisms of the government, and slightly more veiled ones of the … Continued