Amongst all of this weeks budget announcements, one stood out to me – more sanctions to force people on benefits to take on more hours: This is the familiar story of the benefit trap – people are better off on benefits and there is no incentive to seek work, in this case more work. It… Read More The Budget and Benefits | 12 years of expensive failure

Is Donald Trump a fascist? Donald Trump spent most of this week in court, facing charges of mishandling state secrets, and massive tax fraud. Other courts cases are pending, criminal and civil in New York and in Georgia. Instead of being angry with Trump Conservatives in the US have been in a state of fevered… Read More Is Trump a fascist? | Where fantasy, history and desperation coincide

Apologies again the the odd quiz title….

Maggie Thatcher once memorably claimed “the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money” During the credit crunch we discovered that deregulated free market capitalism had exactly the same problem, just on a much bigger scale. This week is the 30th Anniversary of Black Wednesday when HMG raised interest rates… Read More 30 years on from Black Wednesday | Could it happen again?

Unless I am very much mistaken Liz Truss will become Prime Minister next week.   You won’t be surprised to know that I fear she will be a disaster, and may not even last all the way to the next General Election. The runner up, Rishi Sunak gets a bye into the Semi-Finals of Masterchef,… Read More Liz Truss | The Tory Corbyn