In response to the conflict in Syria there are many alternatives to military action that are infinitely more worthwhile for the innocent civilians in Syria, and for the UK’s global reputation. Bernadette Meaden gives us a few good ones here. Just because Parliament voted against getting involved in more killing doesn’t mean that we can…
Savers Should Stop Bleating And Start Investing
I feel sorry for people who have money tied up in poorly-performing financial products from which they can’t escape, but I have no patience with the likes of this lot – saveoursavers.co.uk – who seem to think that they have a God-given right to an income from money that’s lying idle in a bank account.…
Scottish Independence: “No” Is Not Good Enough
With the referendum on Scottish independence a little more than a year away the debate remains depressingly shallow. The “Yes Scotland” campaign presents us with a wishlist of policies and outcomes that it would like to come to pass in an independent Scotland without acknowledging that the only certain outcomes from the referendum will be…
US Debt Ceiling: Hatred Of Government And Love Of Money
This article on the BBC News website tells us that the US Treasury expects to reach the “debt ceiling” sometime in October. The debt ceiling is an arbitrary amount of federal government borrowing that Congress has decided cannot be exceeded. It’s a bit like an overdraft limit for the nation. The limit has been imposed…
Where Did All The Money Go? Pundits Missing The Point (Again).
Rory Bremner’s One Question Quiz on Radio 4 this evening asked Where Did All The Money Go? Most of it was predictable comedy that skimmed the surface of our financial dysfunction, but they did tell us loud and clear that banks create most of our money when issuing loans, which was unexpectedly accurate. More disappointing…
Here’s an illuminating post from Andy Wightman on media reports of booming prices for farmland. The detail is worth reading as it exposes the “news” as nothing more than market-boosting propaganda by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, whose members live off fees from property sales. A call to journalists: if you’re too lazy/incompetent to…
If you’re interested in people and place, and how they conspire with time to build human history, have a read of this piece at fifepsychogeography.com. Wonderful stuff.
Merryn Somerset-Webb at Money Week making some good points about the (probable) wasted opportunity of Scottish Independence.
I Love Zero Hours Contracts
I have been self-employed for the best part of 30 years. If I’m not doing something that a client has agreed to be invoiced for, then I don’t get paid. That’s a whole working life on zero hours contracts, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I can pick and choose who I work…
Benefits Rage: Getting Things Into Proportion
The UK government has been very successful at promoting the idea that our system of welfare benefits is at the mercy of legions of scroungers who are cheating the taxpayer out of vast sums of money and thereby contributing significantly to the annual deficit. The resulting “benefits rage” provides a very effective smokescreen, helping to…
Views From The Boatshed 