Spain's new government - for now

Congratulations to new Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of Spain's "People's Party" on ousting the Socialists and winning a decisive victory. The question is: will it make a difference?

In Italy and Greece democratically elected leaders have been booted out by bureaucrats in Brussels because the European elite didn't like their policies. In both cases Berlusconi and Papandreou have been replaced by what the media have coined 'technocrats'.

It is symbolic - if not indicative - of the EU that democracy can be so subverted in the interest of a project. The Euro project: the project that failed.

Austerity measures will follow in both Spain, as they have in Italy and Greece. Now in times of yore, when the IMF parachuted in to rescue countries like this they would impose austerity measures but balance it with the promise of devaluing the currency and making it more competitive. But of course with the Euro that's not possible. the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain) should never have been allowed to join the Euro since they patently lacked the fiscal and monetary discipline. They didn't play by the rules (of deficit, etc). But they were allowed to join anyway!

Now the hubris. The PIIGS are trapped in the Euro straightjacket and there are no good options. Default and withdrawal from the Euro seems the least bad option; then the Euro can revert to what it was really designed for : Germany, France plus the Benelux countries. Keeping out of the Euro has saved Britain from even greater financial disaster but we are so exposed to the bad debt of the PIIGS that we won't get away with it. And who knows, could France be next?

So enjoy your victory, Senor Rajoy. Just make sure you do what your masters in Brussels do. Otherwise you'll be out on your ear.

You say tomato, I say health scare

Another year, another health scare. And the usual over-reaction and hysteria. When will people get a sense of perspective?




A very small number of people have fallen ill, and an even smaller number have died, from e-coli poisoning. Man the barricades and reach for your tin hats, the end of the world is nigh. We're doomed I tell you - doomed!

AV or not to AV - that is the question

I always know when a campaign is fishy when I get unsolicited mail from actors or TV 'personalities' telling me what I ought to do. Just recently I received some junk mail (in the truest sense of the word) telling me to vote 'yes' in the AV referendum. The arguments advanced were simplistic and threadbare, not because they necessarily are so but because almost all the space on the leaflet was given to photos of  'celebrities' endorsing the campaign: Steven Fry, Colin Firth, Helen Mirren and Benjamin Zephaniah amongst them. A ship of fools if ever there was one.

Ed Milliband's real speech at the TUC march

Comrades -
It is truly an honour and a privilege to be standing here in front of you all. A privilege for you, that is. For I won't actually be joining in your march. That would be too embarrassing for me.

Yet it's good to be amongst friends. My own MPs didn't actually elect me, you see, but you - the trade unions - put me where I am today. So I know who my real friends are! I owe you, and we both know it. So this is how I'm going to pay you back: with words, platitudes, and the total absence of alternative spending plans. But I know you will forgive me!

There's no such thing as humanitarian war

The UN Security Council authorised 'all necessary means' to protect civilians in Libya from Colonel Gadaffi's forces. Don't let's kid ourselves, this is not just about patrolling airspace. The UN Security Council has voted for WAR.

Labour have got lucky

Some guys have all the luck. And some parties have it too. And, despite being the progenitors of the worst financial mess in living memory, Labour have actually had more luck with the timing of economic cycles than the Conservatives.

My travel guide to Prague

Prague has a bit of everything - history, culture, food and drink and although not as cheap as in the 1990s is still relatively good value......

Read the full article

Channel 4's report on Local Councils efforts to save money

Having just watched today's Channel 4 News article on how local councils are taking different approaches towards the cuts demanded of them, it's pretty clear that some frontline services to the public can be safeguarded if only councils make the right choices.

A lesson from history - you can't spend your way out of recession

Those who fail to understand the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them. In the worst financial crisis since the Second World War, there is a clamour in some quarters - particularly from some sections of the Labour Party, which bequeathed us this mess - that 'stimulus' is the way to blast our way out of recession. Spend the money and you stimulate demand. It sounds seductive. But who said this:

"We used to think that you could spend your way out of a recession and increase employment by cutting taxes and boosting government spending. I tell you in all candour that that option no longer exists, and in so far as it ever did exist, it only worked on each occasion since the war by injecting a bigger dose of inflation into the economy, followed by a higher level of unemployment as the next step."

It was actually James Callaghan, speaking at the Labour Party Conference on 28th September 1976.

3 years later the top rate of income tax reached 98%. Did it work? Did it hell.

Sainsbury's Boss is Right - There's no such thing as 'unhealthy' food

Sainsbury's Chief Executive caused a storm a few days ago by saying that 'there's no such thing as unhealthy food'.


"Well he would say that, wouldn't he?" was the collective response of many, and in particular from MPs concerned at the obesity timebomb that will soon explode, or maybe has already exploded, Mr Creosote-like, across the UK.


But the thing is - he's technically right.