Monthly Archives: February 2011

As a corrective to the various journalistic and political flutterings about advisers, the restructuring of Number Ten and general political positioning, I spent a happy half hour earlier reading an article about the Roman Imperial court as viewed by the … Continued

Eighteen months ago, I found myself in conversation with a thoughtful Labour MP who was concerned about the politics of austerity. I politely disagreed with him. It wasn’t a politics of austerity the left needed, but a politics of growth. … Continued

An excellent article in the Independent by Steve Richards on the continuing influence of former SDP politicos. In part, this successful diaspora is a direct result of the failure of the SDP. Twenty-five years ago the SDP appeared a political … Continued

I don’t know enough about Libya to discuss what’s happening there, but domestically it has rapidly become clear that what is happening in Libya is entirely Tony Blair’s fault for not invading North Africa when Colonel Gadaffi renounced his development … Continued

If you ever want to delineate the difficulties in “evidence based policy making”, Paragraphs 13-17 of the current minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England provide a perfect example. In four paragraphs we learn that the … Continued

So, while David Cameron is touring the Middle East, promoting arms deals, democracy, his Number Ten team are busy moving in extra people to ensure the centre has a grip on the activities of bumbling ministers. Next they’ll be moving … Continued

With all the momentous changes in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and elsewhere, my focus on British politics seems more than usually small in scale and minute in interest. I suppose I could draw out some grimace-inducing parallel between the urge … Continued

Lefty Bloggers, eh? Can’t trust em. Go round saying they’ll blog occassionally while on holiday, and then, when they get to the beach they decide that they can’t be bothered. In fairness, an unfortunate incident involving my netbook, a bottle … Continued

I’m off to South Africa for two weeks. Holiday. Family wedding, (not mine). Huzzah for me. I’ll still be blogging, but sporadically and it may involve pictures of beaches and sunshine. Think of it as nudge economics to encourage you … Continued

Today is the centenary of the death of Robert Tressell, the author of Socialist classic, “The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists”. Sadly, he died before his book was published and his brilliance recognised. Tressell himself was buried in a paupers grave. A … Continued