The Sun reports a 5 point poll drop for the Conservatives which gives Labour a general election winning lead, were ballot held today. The short term cause of this is the banker and private sector/wealth creation bashing that master RedEd Miliband has been engaging in. You see he's getting the credit because instead of standing against him the Conservatives have tried to pretend they agree. Th...

A new report, launched in Brussels on Monday by the Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, shows that a European financial transaction tax (FTT) would boost growth in Europe by at least 0.25%. It would also raise revenue to combat poverty and climate change at home and abroad, and help re-balance the economy by making long-term investment more worthwhile than short-term, high frequen...

This is how a pragmatist understands US foreign policy in conjunction with the Iranian nuclear weapons crisis! Yesterday morning I wrote a short commentary on the Obama administration's lack of understanding about Iran and that country's quest to obtain nuclear weapons. The writing was in response to reports of new sanctions being placed on Iran by Washington that were ostensibly designe...

It is with nodding regret that we witness the repeat violence in Egypt and count the 200+ dead last night in Syria.   Those who lauded the freedom after Mubarak was deposed in Egypt had very short-sighted views of the real world. Whoever was most organised and best financed would always win the power vacuum - the extremists !!   Those who use the muslim faith as a weapon seem to hate fel...

Squeezed supply of Russian gas to some EU countries fell further today (3 February), the European Commission said, but added the situation had not reached emergency levels despite freezing temperatures gripping much of Europe. More »

Points charge cuts short Lib Dem's rapid ascent

We've just had a short statement from Chris Huhne — and, unsurprisingly, he's resigning as Energy Secretary. His words and demeanour, though, were strikingly defiant. He described the CPS's decision as ‘deeply regrettable,’ adding that, ‘I'm innocent of these charges, and I intend to fight this in the courts, and I'm confident that a jury will agree...

A former chief economist at the Cabinet Office has accused the Chancellor of causing lasting social and economic damage to the UK because of a refusal to ease austerity in the short-term.

When David Cameron wielded his veto at the European Council in December many Tories thought this was the beginning of a process of repatriation of powers from the EU. Myself, I thought it would be the high water mark of the government’s Euro-scepticism — and so it has proven. But things are about to get even worse for the Bill Cashes of this Parliament. In the short-term, at least.
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Hopi Sen insists that In the Black Labour (ITBL) is a Keyensian project. He explains that “fiscal conservatism does not entail short-term fiscal stupidity” and compares ITBL’s publication now to writing a paper in the winter telling people to prepare for spring. The message is that once the need for fiscal stimulus to revive the economy has passed, the principles of ITBL – ...