Labour Member of Parliament Tony McNulty is very lucky to get away with a slapped wrist for treating his parents to a rent free house with public expenses. If he had done the same claiming expenses from a company then the likely fate would be the sack. You get the sense from McNulty's protestations that he still feels he has'nt done anything wrong.
Let's hope the new wave of MPs will have more of an awareness of right and wrong given the number of expected departures next year due to the expenses scandal.
Thursday, 29 October 2009
Monday, 26 October 2009
Does the ONS like being based in Newport, Wales?
I wonder if the Office of National Statistics (ONS) likes being based in the Welsh town of Newport and as part of its revenge the ONS releases deliberately gloomy figures for UK GDP? The recent ones wrongfooted the economic forecasters and apparently caused deep disappointment at Number 10. Italy now has a bigger economy than us while France and Germany are already out of recession. The ONS figures could be revised upwards at a later date but we seem to be in a state of limbo until the general election in 2010. If I was Gordon Brown, I would have gone for a poll during October. This might have minimised Labour losses and would have given the new government (a coalition one?) a six month start to begin repairing the public sector finances. Gordon might have even won a small
majority.
These public finances do not have to be repaired all in one go but if there was a judicious mixture of tax rises and spending cuts, then perhaps the budget deficit would not have to rise so sharply. Economic policy seems to be soley in the hands of Bank of England governor Mervyn King, who is going to have to reverse the policies of low interest rates and the consequent loss of purchasing value of the pound some time. We need these stimuli for now. The UK is starting to increase exports and is benefitting from a better balance in tourism spending.
UK Chancellor Alistair Darling seems to be showing a bit of independence from his Prime Minister but he will have his work cut out to go down in posterity as a successful occupant of Number 11.
majority.
These public finances do not have to be repaired all in one go but if there was a judicious mixture of tax rises and spending cuts, then perhaps the budget deficit would not have to rise so sharply. Economic policy seems to be soley in the hands of Bank of England governor Mervyn King, who is going to have to reverse the policies of low interest rates and the consequent loss of purchasing value of the pound some time. We need these stimuli for now. The UK is starting to increase exports and is benefitting from a better balance in tourism spending.
UK Chancellor Alistair Darling seems to be showing a bit of independence from his Prime Minister but he will have his work cut out to go down in posterity as a successful occupant of Number 11.
Monday, 19 October 2009
Gordon Brown wants to save the planet again.
British prime minister Gordon Brown wants to save the planet again. However, the Labour administration has squandered various opportunities to convert the UK into a low carbon economy. Energy policy has stagnated since 1997 with the government seemingly committed not to build new power stations in the UK. The takeover of British Energy by French power group EDF might have seemed a smart idea at the time but it means our nuclear power policy is mainly up to the whims of an overseas company.
I suppose we will have the worse of both worlds: black and brown outs combined with a not very environmentally friendly energy industry. The recent report from UK energy regulator Ofgem was surprising for being non-positive from a government agency.
Apparently, British families will be facing energy bills of £2,000 a year to pay for all the nuclear power and renewable energies, which will be needed to reach the low carbon targets.
I suppose we will have the worse of both worlds: black and brown outs combined with a not very environmentally friendly energy industry. The recent report from UK energy regulator Ofgem was surprising for being non-positive from a government agency.
Apparently, British families will be facing energy bills of £2,000 a year to pay for all the nuclear power and renewable energies, which will be needed to reach the low carbon targets.
Monday, 5 October 2009
How did the Tories get into euro quagmire again?
With the Republic of Ireland approving the Lisbon Treaty, how did the Tories get into the euro referendum quagmire again? If we husbanded our oil and fish stocks like the Norwegians, then we might have made a more convincing case for independence, but like it or not we have to be pitching into the European game as there is no other one in town. Conservative eurosceptics can't turn the clock back while europhiles can't ignore the European Union's damaging policies for farming and fishing.
Conservative leader David Cameron just needs a form of words to patch over the divisions. You would have thought the Tories would be more interested in replacing Labour and putting into place their policies over education, defence, the West Lothian question etc, which could be far more reaching than worrying about European Union policies.
It would be a wonder for the EU to have policies on education, which we could use. In Sweden, there is a voucher system, which has attracted the interest of the Tories while the public systems in many European countries are suffering various stresses.
Conservative leader David Cameron just needs a form of words to patch over the divisions. You would have thought the Tories would be more interested in replacing Labour and putting into place their policies over education, defence, the West Lothian question etc, which could be far more reaching than worrying about European Union policies.
It would be a wonder for the EU to have policies on education, which we could use. In Sweden, there is a voucher system, which has attracted the interest of the Tories while the public systems in many European countries are suffering various stresses.
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