On the 30th April 2024, the UK introduced physical inspection for imported goods from the EU. This has been delayed five times due to an unpreparedness of the agencies and a fear of the economic consequences with price rises and shortages predicted. The EU have been conducting these checks since 1st Jan 2021. There is…
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James Muldoon has written a book, Platform Socialism: How to Reclaim our Digital Futures, reviewed here, and was invited by the “Different Class” programme to join a seminar discussing it. When I first heard of the book, and read reviews I wasn’t impressed. A lot of what he said has been said before however on…
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This isn’t going well. “The Office for Budget Responsibility on Wednesday said its long-running prediction is “broadly on track” to show a 15% fall in trade and a 4% reduction in the UK economy’s potential productivity compared to if the UK had stayed in the EU”. Here are some notes and links …
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This is a note, I might convert it into an essay. What’s the difference, I write the notes for me, I write essays for at least one other person. I am not sure this is finished, but as it stands, a bit of Corey Doctorow, and a bit of me. Corey Doctorow has turned his…
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I found a couple of sources while researching some recent articles. Here are some links and comments. These articles are ‘coming soon’, and we all know what that means …
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I am not sure where this started but I have known about Professor Danny Dorling‘s work for a number of years. He has written a book and authored a white paper called variously Shattered Nation or Shattered Britain. I watched the launch of AEIP’s joint report which he authored, “Brexit: A failed project in a…
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I have looked at whether the UK’s creative industries are net contributors to the nation’s wealth i.e. Do we import more than we export? The music industry on the BBC are both very proud of their export data, but discovering important facts is much more difficult. Here are my notes and links, …
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I am reading this, by Geoffrey Ingham and making some notes. At the moment, i.e. where I am in the book, he is examinimg why the British state is not acting as the executive committee of the [industrial] bourgoisie. As ever, here below or overleaf are my links and notes …
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At the launch of the Resolution Foundation’s report, “Ending Stagnation”, [Press Release], they had a bunch of speakers, including Sir Kier Starmer, Labour’s Leader, whose speech is posted at Labour List. It seems Hunt was also there. Here are some notes and links …
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OpenAI just did a boomerang firing of its CEO, Sam Altman. The press went mad as did the stock price. Their major investor and most of the staff demanded his reinstatement and got what they wanted but why? What did and does Altman bring to the company, he seems to be a venture capital manager,…
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In this article in the New Statesman, Walter Münchau looks at the macro-economics and industrial policy of Germany and predicts its failure and notes the effect of ‘leaving behind’ the old East in particular in its politics with the rise of the AfD. The article is subtitled, “The country is in economic and political crisis…
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I came across the video from the i linked to below and wondered how much the assertion that the UK has never had such a malign nexus, oh high inflation, high interest rates and high consumer debt. I was shocked at the Schroders report that the price to income ratio is now nine i.e. a…
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The stability and growth pact (SGP) is the EU’s public debt management rules and embedded in a separate treaty to the T[F]EU treaties. I have commented on these treaties elsewhere on this wiki. Elsewhere in several articles, on the blog, I criticise the SGP on my blog, including here, here, and here. My main criticism…
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Should we campaign to rejoin the Euro? In my blog article, Say no to extrawürst, I look at Niall Ò Conghaile’s arguments on EU re-entry terms and dovetail them with my realisation that the UK’s previous unique deal and its opt-outs are gone. I have felt there is room for a deal on the Euro…
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What’s going on with Labour’s policy making? We are waiting for an NPF meeting, but that doesn’t seem to inhibit the front bench? This is a note on Reeves, her rules and macroeconomics.
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