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…
Read moreEconomic Statistics
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 …
Read moreDown the rabbit hole
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…
Read moreCreative Industries & Trade
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, …
Read moreCapitalism Divided
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 …
Read moreKier Starmer and Resolution Foundation
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 …
Read moreGermany’s future
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…
Read moreInterest, debt & housing prices
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…
Read moreGermany and debt fetishism
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…
Read moreWhat about the Euro?
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…
Read moreBacktracking on macro- & climate change
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.
Read moreWorld Economic Power
I was thinking about UK defence policy and considering the role of the domestic economy. I was doing this in the light of the GMB’s internal debates on defence manufacturing. These charts are dated 2017 and I believe that Italy and France have both overtaken the UK since then and the measurement in USD will…
Read moreMarini and superexploitation
I was sent this, an essay/review of Marini’s “Dialectics of Dependency” by Andy Higgenbottom. I find it a tough read and one that requires a solid understanding of Capital, the Labour Theory of Value and surplus value, which I don’t have. Frankly this needs a reread, but I highlighted these, see below, notes for my…
Read moreCentral Bank Digital Currency
The Govt have issued a consultation on how to implement a Central Bank Digital Currency. I say, that it seems to make as much difference to what we do today as a fart in a hurricane. Have I got it wrong? Consumers, that’s you and me will still pay using a card or a phone…
Read moreA living wage
It’s conference time for the GMB, and prompted by some members I looked at the state of policy development on low pay and the living wage. The GMB Policy is stated in its policy guide albeit dated 2021. I look at Labour’s “A new deal for working people” and note that the GMB’s minimum wage…
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