Obama fleshes out his pitch to blue-collar America, detailing a series of tax incentives designed to bolster the US manufacturing sector

A Romney-seeking missile. That was what much of Barack Obama's State of the Union Address amounted to last night. He didn't mention the Republican presidential challenger by name, of course. That would have been too obvious. But he did dwell on those sorts of issues around taxation and jobs — including his ‘Buffett Rule’, by which, we learn, millionaires should pay at l...

Ed Miliband the consumer champion, the saviour of the squeezed classes. That, more or less, is how the Labour leader has always sought to sell himself — but this morning the sales pitch goes into overdrive. He has an interview with the Daily Telegraph in which he attacks 'Rip-off Britain'. Not the TV show, mind, but those companies that hammer their customers with extra costs ...

DoDBuzz has a great deal of coverage from SNA this week. I'm hoping, like last year, they put the videos up for all of us to see. SNA is always interesting to me, because in the past we have been able to evaluate point in time for many issues related to surface warfare. My impression so far is that the same can be said of SNA this year. While the first day focused primarily of professional is...

In London and across the country, preparations are reaching fever pitch. As Minister for the Olympics in the Foreign Office, I have been involved in the planning and preparation since May 2010. While many people are excited about the torch relay across the country and the huge variety of sporting events, the Olympics also offer

Shropshire Council is spending a million pounds on 22 new pitches for travellers. A million quid!  For 22 pitches!  That’s 45 and a half grand per pitch!  Multiple exclamation marks!  They’re a sign of a diseased mind! Let’s see how much value for money Shropshire Council are getting … How much would a 56 acre caravan

Last year was a pretty good one at B&T: shout out to James, all commenters who passed the Turing test, and everyone who visited. Let’s kick off 2012 with the irrepressible Toichi Koyama’s pitch for the US presidency. It’s from...

The Republican candidate will be fêted next week by some former colleagues as the candidate best placed to rescue the US from its economic peril

I pondered as to whether there was a connection between high marginal tax rates and the substitution of market for household working hours as a result. It seems that there is a weak connection, but only a weak one. So does anyone who knows how to do this empirical economics stuff want to pitch in

The Labour Party leader and the Conservative sports minister have led calls for Sepp Blatter to be replaced as head of football's world governing body after suggesting racism on the pitch was not a problem.