Liam Halligan is a bit concerned about the UK printing presses.

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph economist Liam Halligan has expressed his concern about the quantitative easing (QE) being carried out by the Bank of England. This has not led to a lowering of UK gilt yields and will increase inflation. Halligan says the banks are keeping the QE cash themselves, on reserve or lending to their off-balance sheet vehicles.

Are we experiencing the green shoots of recovery?

In the United Kingdom are we experiencing the green shoots of recovery? www.searchaccountant.co.uk The housing market seems to be stabilising but there is the danger that the Bank of England will raise interest rates too early. Despite the 0.5 pct base rate mortgage lenders are still demanding high deposits and quite a few commentators consider that the British housing market is still too expensive. The relatively painless adjustment would be a few years of sideway movement combined with a rise in general prices. However, the more painful adjustment would involve increasing repossessions and general
deflation.
You don't get the sense that UK Chancellor Alistair Darling is on the top of his brief. He is not pushing through help for the British housing sector and he seems to be stalling on help for the car industry in Britain.
However, he showed dogged determination in seeing off Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who wanted the job to go to close friend and ally Ed Balls. Darling is going to have to navigate a spending statement in the winter. This will be quite tricky
and he might regret not being pushed out. Normally, when the relationship between a chancellor and a prime minister breaks down, the PM remembers he is the First Lord of the Treasury. Apparently, Darling was saved when the cabinet staged a revolt against the promotion of Balls, so we are living in extraordinary political times.

I think it is a shame that Hazel Blears is not in the cabinet.

I wonder who else thinks it is a shame that feisty northern MP Hazel Blears is not in the Brown cabinet. Politicians spend years climbing up the greasy pole and then in a fit of madness (Youtube if you want to) and it is gone. Blears must have felt more confident of her position when she directly criticised UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Her recent abject apology about her resignation was toe-curlingly bad.
It is a shame because Blears would take to the airwaves fighting her government's cause, especially when there seemed to be a deafening silence coming from No.10.
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We do have Lord Mandelson in the cabinet. A former foe of Brown, the peer has been credited with the prime minister's survival. However, Mandelson faces tough problems trying to help out the British car industry. LDV has been allowed to crash and the fate of Vauxhall looks very uncertain. Mandelson will be hard-pressed to maintain his current high reputation. However, he seems to benefit from unlimited energy and does not shirk the challenge of appearing on the news channels.

It looks like the tax master does not like paying tax.

It seems that UK Chancellor Alistair Darling likes to raise tax but does not particularly like paying tax himself with his constant "flipping". I bet HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) would be itching to investigate his affairs.
The chatter is that Ed Balls is being lined up to become the new chancellor. So Mr Darling is fighting on all fronts.
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Mr Balls did actually pay capital gains tax, which helps his cause, although he is not liked by the Blairites. He is probably finding the Children's brief a vale of tears and would like to be out of it. Even though he is not chancellor, Balls is forever making speeches about the economy.

Are there green shoots out there or not?

I suppose that the famous green shoots are out there in the UK economy but don't tell
anybody in the car industry. However, retail sales are doing well and house prices have not collapsed, although there is not the same size of market. British house prices are still discouraging the first-time buyer and mortgage lenders still want outsize deposits but physical assets retain their allure, if there is going to be major inflation.
Commentators say that the UK banks have stabilised but the spotlight has fallen on the state of the building societies with the West Brom considered to be in trouble. Then, there is the UK property sector, which is in a dire state. Apparently, the banks don't want to pull the plug and make the situation worse. The wheels have fallen off at Brixton Estate and there are mutterings about
Land Securities.
The Bank of England governor Mervyn King is not very upbeat about the short-term outlook to the consternation of the Brown regime. However, the medicine of low interest rates, a weak currency could be helped further if there was a sense of political stability.

I feel quite sorry for Gordon Brown, battered British Premier.

I thought I would never have to say this. But I am feeling quite sorry for Gordon Brown, the battered premier of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. He seems unable to
sack a pint-sized Mancunian from his cabinet, even though she has been disloyal and seems to have spent quite a bit of time playing the capital gains system. The story is that is if Gordon Brown sacks Hazel Blears, then he would have to sack Hoon, Purnell
etc.

Hazel Blears looks like she is walking the plank.

British Communities minister Hazel Blears, who is vertically challenged, recently took a pop at her boss UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. This act of bravery looks like political suicide, when Blears was found to have been "flipping" her second residences and decided to cough up over £13,000 in capital gains tax. What is quite sad is that Blears' political career is over when she was one of the cabinet's few interesting characters.
Brown himself blames the "system" but not everyone played it to their advantage. The government is quite happy to let loose the police and HM Revenue & Customs on the population. I suppose it is too much to hope that the politicians will receive the
tender treatment from these forces of control. From what I remember the old Inland Revenue used to be very particular about expenses.

PS: It looks like I was completely wrong and that Ms Blears is still going to soldier on in the cabinet together with Purnell and Hoon.