In Thackery’s early 19th century satire, Vanity Fair, all of the characters are flawed in one way or another, but George Osborne is is without a doubt the most shallow, self-regarding and stupid of the lot. Fast forward a couple of hundred years to the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham. The Chancellor of the Exchequer…
http://www.pieria.co.uk/articles/the_economics_of_ed :: Here’s Frances Coppola with a good summary of why the economics of austerity that’s being peddled by mainstream politicians is the exact opposite of what we need. She directs most of her fire at the Labour party but the rest of them are equally culpable, as are our mainstream journalists who appear to be dedicated…
The Scottish independence referendum was about different things to different people, but a common theme was the hope of finding better ways of doing things: ways of tackling poverty and inequality; ways of moving government closer to communities, of making democracy more responsive; ways of encouraging an economy to thrive. For many people who are…
I’ve been following a blog for the the last few months called Flip Chart Fairy Tales, written by a business insider called Rick. His strapline is “Business bullshit, corporate crap, and other stuff from the world of work”, and from what I’ve read so far you get exactly what’s advertised: straightforward analysis of of business…
“Should Scotland be an independent country?” On the 18th of September people living in Scotland will have the opportunity at the ballot box to answer Yes or No. Since the date of the referendum was announced the onus has been on independence enthusiasts to bring forward arguments in support of their cause, and they have…
http://www.scottishgreens.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2014/08/Citizen_Income_briefing_2014_final.pdf :: Here is the Scottish Greens’ Briefing Note on a Citizen’s Income (aka Universal Basic Income) for an independent Scotland. The amount they’re proposing is barely adequate and only partially removes the need for benefits, all because they’re stuck with the idea of funding it from income tax. It is, however, a bold and…
http://www.thersa.org/events/rsaanimate/animate/rsa-animate-crisis-of-capitalism :: Here’s a good video from RSA Animate in which David Harvey shows the nonsense of capitalism in its current form. He’s coming from a Marxist perspective but don’t let that put you off. His description of the inherent flaw in finance capitalism is good and, as usual with RSA Animate, the graphics are…
I’ve just listened to playwright Kieran Hurley’s forthright and energising Aye! Talk in which he lists 25 reasons why he’s voting Yes in September’s referendum on Scottish independence. Most of the 25 reasons relate to Kieran’s own political and moral preferences, things that he dislikes about the UK that he hopes can be done better…
I’ve just watched Jim Sillars on the Aye! Talks website giving a speech about the upcoming referendum on Scottish independence. Jim is always worth listening to and here he’s as articulate and passionate as ever about why he believes Scotland should step away from the union with England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The best thing about…
http://www.pieria.co.uk/articles/hounding_the_poor :: Here’s a good article from Frances Coppola on the idiocy of the tax credit system – a cack-handed attempt at distributing spending money to people who don’t get enough of it passing through their hands every week. As Frances says at the end of the article, a universal basic income is the only…
Views From The Boatshed 