What's New? February 2012
Spending cuts may be fantasy but what is the alternative?
"More than £9 in every £10 of planned public service spending cuts is still to come," said Paul Johnson, IFS director ...
Tel 02 Feb 2012 Cutting the Deficit George Osborne Welfare Reform Whither Britain? Log
Britain in Debt ONS Stats Thatcherite BritainProstate cancer drug too costly for NHS
Outcry at student loan boss's tax dodge
Family life on benefits
The mood in Britain is to muddle along
Why are deficit-cutters so afraid to talk about tax?
UK debt passes £1 trillion ...
UK family debts almost double in a year
Public Sector Finances December 2011
Deficit, national debt and government borrowing - how has it changed since 1946?
Outcry at student loan boss's tax dodge
Ed Lester's £182,000 package is paid gross to his private company
Mr Lester, who was appointed chief executive of the Student Loans Company in December 2010, is paid his £182,000-a-year through a private firm he has established – rather than being paid directly.
The disclosure appears to undermine Coalition pledges to crack down on tax avoidance in the private sector and to expose ministers to allegations of double standards.
Mr Lester's use of a private company means his earnings can potentially be charged via corporation tax rather than income tax, meaning he would pay a much lower rate, and avoid paying tax on thousands of pounds worth of expenses.
There is no suggestion that he has done anything illegal ...
Documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws by the journalist David Hencke of Exaro News show that it was signed off at the Business Department by the Universities Minister David Willetts before being passed on to Mr Alexander for approval.
Mr Alexander did slice £13,000 off the salary – but he said he was not aware of the terms and conditions of the contract ...
Ind A 'Greed is Good' Wealth Log Westminster Sleaze
Gus O'Donnell's anger reflects a growing rift between mandarins and MPs
Lord O'Donnell advocates the current supine relationship between Parliamentary committees and the Executive ...
... just before stepping down as cabinet secretary in December, Sir Gus, now Lord, O’Donnell wrote to Labour’s Margaret Hodge complaining about her conduct as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee ...
Tel 01 Feb 2012 Losing Democracy Log
Wealthy families have used the welfare state as an ATM
The size of the fiscal deficit indicates that the budget has become unsustainable ...
Gdn 01 Feb 2012Family life on benefits
Unemployed father-of-seven Raymond (not his real name) and his family rent a former council house on a social housing estate in north Wales ...
BBC NEWS 01 Feb 2012 IDS Welfare Reform BillDavid Cameron defends 'fair' welfare reforms
Welfare Chart
Councils fail to spend £1m earmarked for ... homelessness
Figures show that nearly £1m of the £20m set aside to help families who could not afford rent or other housing costs in 2010-11 was left untouched by councils ...
Gdn 01 Feb 2012Nurses face eviction from staff housing
... nurses are often facing serious financial hardship as they struggle to meet their housing costs ...
Gdn 31 Jan 2012 A 'modern and compassionate party' Housing Benefit Reform Ponzi Housing Market
Fred Goodwin's knighthood: Alistair Darling leads the backlash
Fellow sharks and bankers' lackeys queue up to empathise with Mr Fred Goodwin ...
Writing in the Times, Darling said: "There is something tawdry about the government directing its fire at Fred Goodwin alone ...
Gdn 01 Feb 2012 Corporate Sociopathy Log
Greed is good, greed works
Pakistan helping Afghan Taliban - Nato
Nato has failed in exactly the same way as the US failed in Vietnam: you cannot have both military victory and win 'hearts and minds'
... the secret document details widespread collaboration between the insurgents and Afghan police and military ...
BBC NEWS 01 Feb 2012 Afghanistan Pakistan War on Terror LogObama admits use of drones in Pakistan
Self-steering bullet researched by US weapons experts
The current prototype involves a 4in (10cm) bullet which includes an optical sensor in its nose to detect the laser. This information is then processed and used to move motors within the bullet which steer tiny fins, altering the ammunition's path.
BBC NEWS 31 Jan 2012 America War on Terror LogObama admits use of drones in Pakistan
US non-lethal weapon 'wish list' revealed
US Army unveils ... helicopter drone
Santander's UK profits plunge 40%
Another zombie bank? Presumably Santander is not going to make any money by storing its ECB cash in the safe?
Santander admitted on Tuesday that it was hoarding the cash it had borrowed from the European Central Bank rather than granting new loans to customers as it revealed that profits had fallen sharply as a result of troubled property loans ...
Gdn 31 Jan 2012 Bankocracy LogBanco Santander
EU summit edges towards new eurozone treaty
The prospect of 'President' Hollande casts a shadow over Mrs Merkel's plans
The view in Brussels and other EU capitals is that Merkel needs the new euro regime to demonstrate to German public opinion and parliament in Berlin that the rest of the eurozone has adopted sound and strict rules before she can sanction increased aid for Greece ...
Gdn 30 Jan 2012The eurozone: Another step
Locked into decline?
There is an irony here: it ... (the new fiscal pact) ... enforces restrictions on spending just when the EU is beginning to question whether austerity risks tipping countries into a spiral of decline ...
BBC NEWS 31 Jan 2012This was not the crisis summit... the worst is yet to come
It is all stick and no carrot – and thus lacks credibility ...
Ind 31 Jan 2012Feeling more positive about the eurozone crisis? Don't
But the magnitude of the debt write-offs needed for Ireland and Portugal, as well as Greece, have yet to be factored into the euro equation.
Gdn 30 Jan 2012 Global Risks Government by Corporate Technocracy The Merkozy PlanEurope May Be Planning 1.5 Trillion Euro Backstop Fund
EU Summit Marred by Fears of German Domination
European Politicians in Denial as Greece Unravels
Germany wins battle on tighter fiscal rules
Greek shoppers look but don't buy
Miles to go before the Euro Crisis is resolved!
European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism
Stephen Hester's bonus is a sideshow; the real issue is what's become of our £45bn
The von Mises Institute got it right: the RBS should have been allowed to fail
If we accept that for the forseeable future the taxpayer's equity cannot be sold at anything other than a thumping great loss, what should be done? ...
Tel 30 Jan 2012RBS top bankers set to share £30m bonus pot
They are in line to take a big share of the bank's controversial £500m bonus pot ...
Tel 30 Jan 2012 A Free Market Train Wreck Bankocracy Log Bonus Culture Corporate State Log
About Wall Street jobs, wealth, and the cultural distortion of America
Alternatives to FRB Neoliberal Financial TerrorismUrgent Appeal for a Global Glass-Steagall System
Europe’s Transition ... to Oligarchy
Fractional Reserve Banking
Fiat Money Systems
Hester's RBS pay deals worth over £11m since 2008
Shareholder interest is a thing of the past
We used to have debt-free money
U.S. Drones Patrolling Its Skies Provoke Outrage in Iraq
American contractors say they have been told that the State Department is considering to field unarmed surveillance drones in the future in a handful of other potentially "high-threat" countries, including Indonesia and Pakistan, and in Afghanistan after the bulk of American troops leave in the next two years ...
NYT 30 Jan 2012 America 'Last Nation Standing' War on Terror Log
Spy planes and second-class citizensDrone aircraft are patrolling U.S. Cities
More drones patrolling U.S.-Mexico border
Superspy in the sky could soon be patrolling over British cities
U.S. Spy Drones illegally patrolling the U.S. Canada border
U.S. drones seek to curb piracy off Somalia
U.S. Drone Reportedly Kills Thirty People In Pakistan
Why are deficit-cutters so afraid to talk about tax?
Because the rich would take a bigger hit ...
'I like paying taxes," the US supreme court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once remarked, "with them I buy civilisation." ...
Gdn 29 Jan 2012 Alternatives to Borrowing Cutting the Deficit Tax DodgersNick Clegg tax proposals
'White Flag' Labour?
Tax and spending
We can now see the true cost of globalisation
A growing body of research suggests that yawning inequality isn't just a moral and political question – it's an economic one ...
Obs 29 Jan 2012 Capitalism Global Risks 2012 Globalization Log IMF
In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad
Germans want EU budget commisioner for Greece
Perhaps the Bundeswehr might also patrol the streets to prevent any more riots, Mrs M?
The Financial Times, which has a copy of the plan, calls it an "extraordinary extension" of EU control ...
BBC NEWS 28 Jan 2012 Government by Corporate Technocracy The Merkozy PlanIMF pushes Greece over budget
Greeks reject German plan for EU budget commissioner
Not fit for purpose: crisis in Britain's prisons worsens
Overcrowding in prison "warehouses" is causing violence behind bars as tensions soar among inmates, prison officers warned last night. New figures show that the population of Britain's jails has jumped by 1,000 in the past three weeks ...
Ind 28 Jan 2012 Coalition Log Prison and Probation Thatcherite Britain Whither Britain? Log
Marginalised by 'Standortkonkurrenz'
Rich and poor: deserving and undeserving
Lord Carey's attack upon his fellow bishops for resisting the government's welfare reform legislation breathes new life into that most unhelpful of distinctions ...
Gdn 27 Jan 2012 Corporate Media IDS: Welfare Reform Thatcherite Britain Third Meltdown Log Whither Britain? Log
Blog The Myth of Full Employment 'Unsustainable Burdens'Carey 'call for the humane treatment of Pinochet'
Child Poverty Map
Deserving vs Undeserving
Former Archbishop Carey under fire over arms trade comments
Joseph Merrick
UK Foodbanks
Well, hallelujah!
Financial Services Bill is unveiled by Osborne
Old wine in new bottles??
The bill will create three new bodies, the first two within the Bank of England, to regulate financial services:BBC NEWS 27 Jan 2012 Banking Commission Bankocracy Log George Osborne
- the Financial Policy Committee (FPC), which will have overall responsibility for financial regulation and monitoring the risks of the financial sector to the economy. It will oversee, and have the power to instruct, two new financial watchdog.
- the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), which will take over responsibility for supervising the safety and soundness of individual financial firms.
- the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which will be tasked with protecting consumers from sharp practices, and making sure that workers in the financial services sector comply with rules.
Financial Services Bill
Accumulating 'microplastic' threat to shores
Microscopic plastic debris from washing clothes is accumulating in the marine environment and could be entering the food chain, a study has warned ...
BBC NEWS 27 Jan 2012 Eating the Future OceansAccumulation of Microplastic on Shorelines Woldwide: Sources and Sinks
Critics Question Merkel's Fiscal Pact Proposal
... the high expectations awakened by Merkel are unlikely to be fulfilled ...
Der Spiegel 27 Jan 2012 A Two Speed Europe The Merkozy Plan
WEF's heavy hitters fail to grasp the nettle
Three big themes have dominated this year's Davos: Europe, jobs and inequality.
While it would be comforting to think that the considerable brainpower assembled 5,000 feet up in the Alps has come up with solutions to these problems, that would be stretching the truth ...
The evidence is that inequality is lowest in countries where there is solid growth, strong collective bargaining and supply-side interventions.
The high-tax Scandinavian model, in other words. Few of the heavy hitters in Davos are signed up for that ...
Sooner or later, policymakers will understand that the real threats are mass unemployment and deflation, not inflation and the size of budget deficits ...
Gdn 27 Jan 2012 Global Risks IMF WEF DavosDavos
Davos 2012
Bailed-out RBS spends millions on Washington lobbyists
According to the documents, the bank spent $4.13m from October 2008 to December 2011 on lobbyists as it tried to influence three different areas of legislation ...
Gdn 27 Jan 2012 Bankocracy Log Corporporate Sociopathy Corporate State log Westminster Sleaze
Spain's unemployment total passes five million
The fruits of austerity ...
The National Statistics Institute said 5.3 million people were out of work at the end of December, up from 4.9 million in the third quarter ...
BBC NEWS 27 Jan 2012 Global Risks Is capitalism the only show in town? The Merkozy Plan
Saving the Euro with Fiat Money Government by Corporate TechnocracySpain demands new 'realism' from EU ...
Iran Set to Turn Off Oil Supply to Europe
Many members of the EU are now heavily dependent on Iranian oil ...
Der Spiegel 26 Jan 2012 Iran Peak Oil The Merkozy Plan War on Terror Log
RBS chief Stephen Hester to get £963,000 bonus
RBS announced on Thursday that Mr Hester is to get £963,000 in shares based on the bank's closing share price on Wednesday 25 January 2012 ...
BBC NEWS 26 Jan 2012RBS chief Stephen Hester in line for £7m payout despite bonus cut
In a statement on Thursday night, RBS said Mr Hester would get a bonus of £963,000 as the taxpayer-backed lender bowed to political and public pressure to ensure its chief executive was not handed more than £1m ...
Tel 26 Jan 2012 Bankocracy Log Bonus Culture Coalition Log Corporate State LogHester's £35.5m pay deal fuels renewed anger
Chancellor George Osborne was right to give RBS chief Stephen Hester a bonus
RBS chairman waives share award
Treasury feared Hester and board would quit
RBS boss bonus 'capped below £1m'
RBS risks row over 'unacceptable' Stephen Hester £1m bonus
David Cameron: stop the madness of Europe red tape
'Mighty mouth' wants more precarity ... all workers should be on the same conditions as China's iPad workers
"Europe's lack of competitiveness is its Achilles heel" ...
Tel 26 Jan 2012 Coalition Log 'Divi' Dave Log Economic Democracy
Agency Workers Are we on the same planet?Cameron urges eurozone to take 'bold and decisive action'
In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad
Cameron moves to water down new EU job laws
Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore
Precarity
In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad
However, the workers assembling iPhones, iPads and other devices often labor in harsh conditions, according to employees inside those plants, worker advocates and documents published by companies themselves ...
NYT 26 Jan 2012 China Corporate Sociopathy Neoliberal Consumer Culture The FYB Dystopia
Flooding rated as worst climate change threat facing UK
The first comprehensive climate change risk assessment for the UK identifies hundreds of ways rising global temperatures will have an impact if no action is taken ...
Gdn 26 Jan 2012 Eating the Future Log Fire and Floods Is the Coalition eco-friendly?
Climate Change The End of Growth
Doctors advised against gagging order contracts
Last year, it was revealed that hospital doctors were routinely required to sign confidentiality agreements if they quit their job in a dispute with their employing NHS trust ...
Gdn 26 Jan 2012 Losing Democracy Log NHS 'Reform' Third Meltdown Log
Dominance HierarchyCQC puts gagging orders on six employees
Raising and acting on concerns about patient safety
Hedge Funds Bet on Profits from Greek Debt Talks
For some hedge funds, the fight over interest rates has given them more incentive to push for a breakdown of the proposed plan ...
Der Spiegel 25 Jan 2012 Corporate Sociopathy Hedge Funds The Merkozy Plan The Third Meltdown
The Social Darwinist EU
Why IDS is heading for a date with disaster
Major foul-ups in 21st-century Whitehall always centre on dodgy IT systems. Now I hear that a new one is building and it promises to be a corker ...
Tel 25 Jan 2012 Coalition Log IDS Welfare 'Reform'
Blog IT ScandalsReal Time Initiative
Welfare bill defeated in Lords
Lord Mackay said the proposals could put single mothers off seeking the financial support they were entitled to ...
Gdn 25 Jan 2012 Has the coalition abandoned children? IDS Welfare 'Reform'
We've been here before – and it suits Israel that we never forget 'Nuclear Iran'
When did all this start? ...
Ind 25 Jan 2012 America Iran Israel War on Terror Log
Neoliberal Fascism
UK economy shrinks by 0.2 per cent
The 0.2% contraction between October and December, estimated by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), is likely to be followed by a further decline in the current quarter ...
Ind 25 Jan 2012Sir Mervyn King: no reason to despair over economy
“There is no reason to despair,” he said. “All crises come to an end, and businesses will find ways to trade with each other and meet the needs of consumers ...
TelUK economy: dismal GDP figures spell trouble for George Osborne
Potentially even more dangerous for Osborne could be the reaction of the financial markets and the credit rating agencies ...
Gdn 25 Jan 2012 A free market train wreck Ed Balls George Osborne ONS StatsONS
Government debt rises to a record of £1tn
UK family debts almost double in a year
The typical debt owed by a UK family has soared by 48% since January 2011, as rising inflation has taken its toll on household incomes, according to the latest Aviva Family Finances report ... the typical UK family owes £7,944 in unsecured borrowing on credit cards, loans, overdrafts and other forms of credit, compared with £5,360 in January 2011 ...
Gdn 25 Jan 2012 Britain in Debt Consumer Culture Whither Britain? Log
Debt and DeleveragingGovernment debt rises to a record of £1tn
UK debt passes £1 trillion ...
The grim milestone, equivalent to some £16,400 per person in the UK, was reached despite a bigger-than-expected fall in borrowing in December as the Government's austerity measures increasingly kick-in ...
Ind 24 Jan 2012 George Osborne ONS StatsUK family debts almost double in a year
Public Sector Finances December 2011
Deficit, national debt and government borrowing - how has it changed since 1946?
Bank Bondholders to Be Paid While Irish Public Howls
The European Central Bank put Ireland on notice last week that defaulting on payments to the bondholders could lead to dire financial consequences, the equivalent of a financial “bomb” in the Irish economy ...
NYT 24 Jan 2012 Bankocracy Log Government by Corporate Technocracy The Merkozy Plan
Financial Terrorism
Merkel's Fiscal Pact a 'Waste of Time and Energy'
Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn is sharply critical of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's push for an EU fiscal pact ...
Der Spiegel 24 Jan 2012 The Merkozy PlanAngela Merkel casts doubt on saving Greece from financial meltdown
IMF slashes global growth forecasts
Global Risks 2012 IMF The Merkozy Plan
- Eurozone GDP expected to fall 0.5% during 2012
- UK set to grow 0.6% – sharp fall from earlier 1.6% estimate
- World growth downgraded from 4.1% to 3.3%
Alternatives to Borrowing Alternatives to Fractional Reserve Banking Positive MoneyIMF forecasts cast gloom over Davos
All Fiat Money Collapses
Fiat Money Systems
Positive Money
Companies paid £1,800 to meet ministers at networking events
The chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, policing minister, Nick Herbert, and climate change minister, Lord Taylor, have all addressed the exclusive invite-only events, organised by a networking business called the Chemistry Club, and usually hosted at the high-end Sartoria restaurant in Mayfair, London ...
Gdn 24 Jan 2012 Corporate State Log Losing Democracy Log Westminster SleazeThe Chemistry Club
Lobbying
NHS shake-up: Pressure building after critical report
The report by MPs ... focused on how the health service was doing in meeting its savings target ...
BBC NEWS 24 Jan 2012 NHS 'Reforms'
'Dignity and Compassion' in the NHS Is the NHS Fit for Purpose?
Towards a Two-Tier NHS 'Unsustainable Burdens'Nurses only opposed to NHS reform 'because of pension changes'
Lansley defends shakeup after scathing report from MPs
Health policy
David Cameron shrugs off welfare battles to soar in poll
The Tories are on 40%, up three percentage points from December, while Labour has drifted down one to 35%. The Liberal Democrats are on 16%, up one ...
Gdn 23 Jan 2012 Thatcherite BritainFrom welfare to warfare
'Europe Mustn't Just Focus on Austerity'
Belgium's new prime minister, Elio Di Rupo, met German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday on his first official visit to Germany.
In an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE, the Socialist voices doubts about German ideas for solving the euro crisis, such as introducing balanced-budget laws across the EU, and argues for more efforts to boost growth ...
Der Spiegel 23 Jan 2012 The Merkel PlanMerkel's Increasing Isolation
Europe’s Transition ... to Oligarchy
Does the housing strategy focus enough on energy efficiency?
The House of Lords debated the government's housing strategy on Thursday, where Baroness Maddock admitted she was "a bit disappointed" that there is not more in the government's strategy on energy efficiency and sustainability ...
Gdn 23 Jan 2012 Energy Policy Is the Coalition eco-friendly?Green Deal
George Osborne slams 'costly' green policies
How long until the lights go out?
Big banking sector amplifies risk of inequality
In a series of chapters for the forthcoming publication Going for Growth, Journard outlined Britain's weaknesses ...
Gdn 23 Jan 2012 Education Log George Osborne Inequality Whither Britain? Log
Will highly paid investors curb pay of highly paid bosses?
To curb the excesses of executive pay, Vince Cable has passed the buck back to shareholders. Investors will be given the power to formally veto companies' future pay policies - although, as is the case now, if shareholders dislike how businesses have implemented the agreed policy, their votes will not be binding ...
BBC NEWS 23 Jan 2012 A 'Greed is Good' Wealth Log Corporate State Log 'Do less, make it seem like more'Fitting brakes to the pay merry-go-round
Welfare reform: benefits cap would reduce payments by £83 a week
Lord Freud appears to be claiming that the benefit cap will get more people into work. He doesn't say where all the jobs are coming from.
Lord Freud defended the cap, insisting households should not be able to receive more in benefits than the average family earned from work ...
Gdn 23 Jan 2012Welfare vote: Government wins first round in House of Lords
A total of 67,000 households – 310,000 individuals – will have their benefits reduced by an average of around £83 per week as a result of the government's benefit cap due to be voted upon by the House of Lordson Monday, according to updated research published by the Department of Work and Pensions ...
Tel 23 Jan 2012 Coalition Log Welfare Reform Bill
Unemployment rises to 2.68m The Myth of Full EmploymentGovernment's benefit cap reform defeated in House of Lords
Who is legally classed as homeless?
IDS defends benefits cap before Lords vote
" ... the state that plunges you into dependency ... "
Although the work and pensions secretary admitted his department had not modelled "direct poverty" when plotting the policy, he hit out at critics who have suggested the reforms will bring about an increase in homelessness, saying their definitions of homelessness were "very misleading" ...
Gdn 23 Jan 2012 Coalition Log Welfare Reform Bill
Unemployment rises to 2.68m The Myth of Full EmploymentIDS - welfare reform plans not designed to "punish"
Britain sinks deeper into the swamp
The McKinsey Report is written - expectedly - from the view point of free market neoliberalism, and its recommendations for the UK reflect that fact. For example is strongly supports more inward migration. Even more controversial, however, is the implication that housing starts should be the driver of a return to growth. Even worse, it suggest more housing starts in the South east, justifying its recommendation by arguing that "only 13.5 percent" of England's land is 'developed', a figure which may well be true of the whole country ... but the South East?! (I can find no figures on the SE, btw). Land Use
The latest report on "Debt and Deleveraging" by the McKinsey Global Institute shows that total public and private debt in the UK is still hovering at an all-time high ...
The wider picture, of course, is the implicit assumption behind the report that growth is the normal state of affairs and will, presumably, continue into some infinite future.
Tel 22 Jan 2012The United Kingdom: Deleveraging has only just begun
Total UK public - and private-sector debt has risen slightly, reaching 507 percent of GDP in mid-2011, compared with 487 percent at the end of 2008 and 310 percent in 2000, before the bubble ...
McKinsey Jan 2012 Coalition Log Cutting the Deficit Debt and Deleveraging George Osborne Whither Britain Log
'Dystopia 2018' The End of GrowthUK family debts almost double in a year
UK debt passes £1 trillion for the first time
Density of new dwellings 1989 - 2007
Davos guide: what you need to know about the World Economic Forum
The agenda is a full one, with the mood one of caution and some trepidation. Slowing growth, financial fragility, governments teetering on the brink of insolvency and default, and clear signs of a public backlash against the excesses of the rich and powerful: all have created a sombre backdrop to the invitation-only affair ...
Gdn 22 Jan 2012 Global Risks 2012 The End of Growth W.E.F.
IDS criticises bishops over welfare reform
"I would love them to ask about the poor people on low incomes who are working hard, whose families share rooms, who are doing the right thing"BBC NEWS 22 Jan 2012 IDS Welfare Reform The Work Programme
Iain Duncan Smith Work and Pensions Secretary
A Dysfunctional Labour Market IDS & the Third Face of Power ONS Stats The Myth of Full EmploymentBishops sign open letter criticising welfare reforms
Families forced to rent whose children pay the price
... figures from the English Housing Survey ... (show) ... that families with children living in the private rental sector are 10 times more likely to move than those who own their own home ...
Gdn 21 Jan 2012 Has the Coalition abandoned Children? Ponzi Housing Market Third Meltdown LogEnglish Housing Survey
Assured Shorthold Tenancies
Shelter
'Secret jobless' could mask extent of unemployment
The Sunday Telegraph can reveal that 218,700 jobseekers were taken off Jobseeker's Allowance and moved on to training payments of equal value in the year to September 2011, while attending job-hunting courses and classed as officially "employed" ...
Tel 21 Jan 2012 Coalition Log 'Reserve Army' The Work Programme
UK 'subsidising nuclear power unlawfully'
The complaint, by the Energy Fair group, also says that the UK's carbon floor price and feed-in tarriffs amount to state aid for the nuclear industry ...
BBC NEWS 20 Jan 2012 Corporate State Log Energy 'Policy' Nuclear Power
Britain's RMS Titanic EconomyNew nuclear has 'lots of support' locally - EDF Energy
UK breaks promise on nuclear power subsidies
Energy Fair
The rise of the overclass
Even more than Britain, the United States has experienced the emergence of an arrogant and deracinated “overclass” of super-rich ...
Tel 20 Jan 2012 Blog Economic Democracy Growing Inequality
Inequality, Consumerism & BiodiversityLondon's richest people worth 273 times more than the poorest
Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore
France and Germany plan for EU-wide tax regime
The text also links existing European Commission proposals on energy taxation and a common method for calculating corporate tax to the push for new EU powers, heralding a major battle over sovereignty this spring ...
Tel 20 Jan 2012 The Merkozy Plan
Former BP boss earns £12m from Iraqi oil venture
Hayward who left his old employers with a £10m pension pot after the Gulf of Mexico blowout, exercised his rights to a 6.67% stake in the Genel Energy business ...
Gdn 20 Jan 2012 A 'Greed of Good' Wealth Log Corporate Sociopathy
Deepwater Horizon Peak OilTony Hayward
Executive pay and bonuses
Foreign aid keeps us safe, insists Andrew Mitchell
Spending on projects such as getting more girls into school in Somalia “contributes directly to our security” and should be a source of national pride like the Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee ...
Tel 20 Jan 2012 Andrew Mitchell War on Terror Log
'Unsustainable Burdens'
Covert lobby groups for business to be exposed
Campaigning groups and charities which seek to influence government policy may have to declare themselves as lobbyists under plans to be unveiled by ministers today ...
Ind 20 Jan 2012 Corporate State Britain Log Losing Democracy Westminster SleazeAnger at Tories over lobbying 'whitewash'
... it's business as usual
More heat than light on lobbying
The consensus is turning against austerity
... even in October 2010, when the austerity consensus was at its height ... those on the other side also included Barack Obama, US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Nobel Prize-winning economists Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz, FT columnists Martin Wolf and Samuel Brittan, Keynes's biographer Robert Skidelsky ...
News Statesman 20 Jan 2012 Contesting Austerity
Yvette Cooper 'deeply worried' by Army A&E medics plan
A proposal to bring in Army medics to cover a shortage of doctors is "deeply worrying", MP Yvette Cooper says ...
BBC NEWS 20 Jan 2012 Coalition Log NHS 'Reforms'
Is the NHS fit for purpose?Health trust considers Army medics to staff Pontefract A&E
Pontefract A&E closure
Afghanistan’s Soldiers Step Up Killings of Allied Forces
A decade into the war in Afghanistan, the report makes clear that these killings have become the most visible symptom of a far deeper ailment plaguing the war effort: the contempt each side holds for the other, never mind the Taliban ...
NYT 20 Jan 2012 Afghanistan America War on TerrorFrance threatens troop withdrawal from Afghanistan
Afghan soldier kills French troops
Nato troops killed by Afghan forces – timeline
Afghanistan
Phone hacking: glimpsing the truth at last
It will be for the police and Crown Prosecution Service to deal with the lies and the obstruction of those who were trying to get at the truth ...
Gdn 19 Jan 2012 Corporate Media Rupert Murdoch Thatcherite Britain Whither Britain? Log
Rupert Murdoch ... Corporate State The 'Fuck You Buddy' DystopiaWe hacked emails too
Judge orders search of NoW computers
NoW publisher accused of cover-up
Leveson inquiry live
Phone Hacking
The IMF is no longer serving its purpose
... the IMF is lending to one of the world’s biggest and wealthiest economic regions. The sums involved are consequently much larger ...
Tel 19 Jan 2012 Global Risks 2012 IMF The Merkozy Plan
David Cameron will call for 'popular capitalism'
David Cameron will set out his vision in a speech that is due to call for reforms to make capitalism more responsible ...
Tel 19 Jan 2012Cameron sets out vision for 'popular capitalism'
"We won't build a better economy by turning our back on the free market. We'll do it by making sure that the market is fair as well as free." ...
Ind 19 Jan 2012 'Divi' Dave Log Is Capitalism the only game in town?Cameron is coming for the crony capitalists – whoever they are
UK credit binge pushes debt above 500% of GDP
An international study found Britain had the highest level of debt after Japan, that the debt had risen over the past three years to more than 500% of national output, and that on current trends it would take until 2020 for UK households to return debt levels to the pre-bubble trend ...
Gdn 19 Jan 2012 Britain in Debt Whither Britain? Log
NHS reforms one year on: patients and staff deal with 'cuts and chaos'
The fact that growing numbers of patients have been waiting longer than they should – for treatment, in A&E or for a diagnostic test – during the coalition's time in power is one of the many issues facing Andrew Lansley ...
Gdn 18 Jan 2012 Dignity & Compassion in the NHS NHS Reform Third Meltdown LogNumber of NHS patients missing waiting-time target soars
NHS heading for crisis point as job losses mount
Health secretary must reveal DOH assessment of restructuring risks
NHS plans for credit rating agencies to vet hospitals
£20bn NHS cuts are hitting patients
Application of competition law to NHS foundation trusts
Health and Social Care Bill
NHS waiting times
NHS
Thames Estuary airport plans to be examined
The government is to hold a formal consultation on UK aviation - including controversial plans for a new airport in the Thames Estuary ...
BBC NEWS 18 Jan 2012 Aviation Eating the Future Log The End of Growth
Last Nation Standing Peak Oil'Boris Island' airport plan grounded
Greenpeace urges government to halt 'reckless' Arctic oil rush
The Peak of the Oil Age
Peak oil alarm revealed by secret official talks
We must end our oil dependency
Greek rescue blocked by hedge fund greed
... fears have grown in recent weeks that the hedge funds that are blocking the deal – which have been identified as including Vega Asset Management, Och Ziff, York Capital, GreyLock Asset Management and Marathon Asset Management – do not consider the prospect of a disorderly default by Athens as a financial incentive to allow a voluntary writedown deal to proceed ...
Ind 18 Jan 2012 Bankocracy Log Corporate Technocracy 'Doing God's Work' The Merkozy PlanGoldman Sachs enters £8bn 'parallel pay universe'
UK faces request for £19bn as IMF boosts bailout fund to $1tn
The IMF confirmed on Wednesday that it was looking to boost funding from $400bn (£260bn) to $1tn, a shift that would require as much as £19bn on a proportional basis ...
Gdn 18 Jan 2012 Ed Balls George Osborne IMF The Merkozy PlanDoubt over IMF's eurozone lifeline
George Osborne faces battle over giving billions to IMF
IMF push for $1 trillon rescue fund to cost UK £15bn
Goldman Sachs faces backlash over $12.6bn staff pay pot
Goldman Sachs’ staff are in line to collect $12.6bn (£8.2bn) in pay and bonuses this year despite a fall in profits ...
Tel 18 Jan 2012 A 'Greed is Good' Wealth Log Bankocracy Log 'Doing God's Work'Goldman Sachs enters £8bn 'parallel pay universe'
IMF 'planning $1trn funding boost'
... the International Monetary Fund is reportedly planning a "$1 trillion boost" to its resources ...
Gdn 18 Jan 2012 Global Risks 2012 IMF The Merkozy PlanDoubt over IMF's eurozone lifeline
After downgrades, all eyes on ECB
Britain may have to pay billions more into IMF
UK unemployment rises to 2.68m
Unemployment across the economy rose by 118,000 in the three months to November, to 2.68 million ...
Gdn 18 Jan 2012 Coalition Log Falling Living Standards ONS Stats Whither Britain? LogJobs crisis forces 1.3m to work part-time
World Bank warns of global recession
World Bank warns of global recession
There was a risk, the bank said, of the crisis in the eurozone and weaker growth in developing countries reinforcing each other at a time when the ability of policymakers to respond to a downturn was much diminished compared with three years ago ...
Gdn 17 Jan 2012 Global Risks 2012 World BankWorld Bank warns emerging nations to prepare for slump
World Bank
And lo! Gove's Bible project did run into a spot of bother
In the interests of balance, Gove should send an accompanying copy of Margaret Thatcher's 'Sermon on the Mound'
... Whitehall sources said Gove was told at the highest levels that it would be wrong to spend nearly £400,000 on the project at a time when the government was in negotiations with teaching unions over cuts to their pension entitlement ...
Gdn 17 Jan 2012 Coalition Log Michael Gove OutsourcingThe Sermon on the Mound
Green Deal could hit UK climate change targets
You can still get insulation, but it's no longer free! Instead it will go on your monthly bill.
The Green Deal is meant to be at the heart of the government's stated ambition to be "the greenest government ever" ...
C4 News 17 Jan 2012 Eating the Future Log Energy Policy Is the Coalition Eco-Friendly?
The End of Growth
Our welfare reforms will help create a sustainable, fairer system
... we must not lose sight of the fact that we currently have a welfare system whose cost has spiralled out of control, in good times and bad, and has now trapped generations into worklessness ...
Gdn 17 Jan 2012 IDS: Life on Benefits Third Meltdown Log
'On the sick' 'Prozac Nation' Social Darwinism Tax DodgersDavid Freud
Profile: Sir David Freud