Last night’s televised debate between Nicola Sturgeon of the SNP and Anas Sarwar of Labour was as predictable as it was depressing. It was hard to concentrate on the substance of what was being said because they were persistently talking over each other, but a review of some excerpts this morning reveals that there was…
Another breathe of fresh air in what has been a very superficial debate on Scottish independence. This one’s from David Greig at Bella Caledonia who tells us that the referendum has prompted lots of serious thinking about how we manage our society. But you have to know where to look and have an appetite for…
They just don’t get it, these “experts”. Here’s Adair Turner (former Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry, former Chairman of the UK Financial Services Authority, member of the Financial Policy Committee, part-time lecturer at the London School of Economics) explaining very clearly why debt is the main problem with the UK economy and then completely…
Good article from Fraser MacDonald on theguardian.com about how the possibility of Scottish independence has energised debate about policy amongst those of us who lie between the dull tub-thumping of the Yes and No campaigns. He suggests that momentum for positive change will persist regardless of which way the vote goes. I hope he’s right.
This article by Jeremy Warner in the Telegraph is disturbing on two counts. His erroneous argument is a distraction from what’s really wrong with our economy, and it has stirred up a foul nest of malcontents (see the comments below the article) who appear to blame immigrants for everything that’s wrong with our society. Jeremy…
Good article from Tom Streithorst in which he argues that the problem we now have is a lack of consumption due to a lack of money. He suggests this is because our industry has become very good at producing stuff with very little labour, which means money isn’t being distributed widely enough to allow people…
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…
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.…
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…
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…
Views From The Boatshed 