Today I discovered that I was homeless for much of my childhood. As you can imagine, this came as something of a surprise to me. As I was making the baby his breakfast and listening to the radio, I heard a discussion of government plans to cap the total sum of benefits that a family [...]
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Tax evasion: the top ten biggest losers
Globally, $1 in every 6 goes illegally untaxed, squirreled away through clever accounting, tax havens and shadow companies. The Tax Justice Network has calculated the size of the international shadow economy and drawn up a list of countries and what they lose to tax evasion. Here are the top ten biggest losers, with the estimated [...]
Debtocracy
Debtocracy is a new documentary about Greece’s debt crisis. It’s by Greek filmmakers Katerina Kitidi and Aris Hatzistefanou, and they have posted it on the internet as a Creative Commons film so that anyone who wants to see it can watch it for free (like Yann Arthus Bertrand’s Home). I haven’t watched it all the [...]
The autumn statement: the good, the bad and the ugly
In July last year I wrote about the gamble that the government had taken with its austerity programme: Here’s the big gamble – government’s contribution to GDP will be slashed, with the expectation that business will take up the slack. Osborne’s budget is a love song to big business, a bid to raise the British [...]
The Eurozone is not the problem
The latest unemployment figures came out yesterday. As expected, they showed another rise, particularly among young people. There are now over a million unemployed young people in the UK. In explaining the rise in unemployment, politicians were quick to point the finger – the Eurozone. “These figures are bad news. They are I’m afraid the [...]
Why the City of London needs to be occupied
There’s been a lot in the news this week about the Occupy London protest around St Paul’s. The Cathedral has closed for the first time since the Second World War, and there is talk of legal action to move the protestors on. There is talk of health and safety, highway regulations, and the definitions of [...]
How is the government doing on its green commitments?
“The greenest government ever” was what David Cameron promised as he formed his coalition government between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. The precise policy plans were laid out in the coalition agreement. So, 18 months in, how are those measures going? The Wildlife and Countryside link is an umbrella group of many of Britain’s [...]
Ignore your debts, and save the economy
[Disclaimer: the title of this post is sarcastic. Don't actually do that.] I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse another UK politics post, but for the second time this week, I’ve heard something from a national politician that doesn’t quite make sense economically. The first was the Transport secretary’s claim that an 80 mph speed limit [...]
Why 80 mph speed limits won’t help the economy
“Britain’s roads should be the arteries of a healthy economy and cars are a vital lifeline for many. Now it is time to put Britain back in the fast lane of global economies and look again at the motorway speed limit.” That was Transport Minister Philip Hammond last week, staking the future of the economy [...]
No, sustainable development does not mean growth
Reading through the government’s new national planning policy strategy, you might think that they are finally coming good on their promise to be the ‘greenest government ever’: “At the heart of the planning system is a presumption in favour of sustainable development, which should be seen as a golden thread running through both plan making [...]
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