After a decade of paralysis, at last the direction ahead for Britain is clear December 18, 2019 What a difference a decade makes. Ten years ago, as we prepared to ring out the noughties, Britain was in the grip of a financial crisis after an excess of good living had turned sour. Gordon Brown’s government was in its death throes, its desperate economic position highlighted the following year by the outgoing chief [...]
A lesson in cognitive dissonance for the Corbynites December 18, 2019 Behavioural economics — which extends the ability of economics to explain the world — has become very fashionable. Richard Thaler, Nobel Prize winner for his work in this area, observed that most of the time, the rational choice model of standard economics works well. People gather information on the various alternatives open to them, and [...]
A no-deal EU exit is still an unlikely outcome December 17, 2019 Well, that didn’t take long. Just a few days after Boris Johnson’s thumping majority sent sterling up to pre-referendum highs, his flirtation with a no-deal exit brought it back down to earth yesterday. Read more: CBI welcomes Prime Minister’s Brexit trade deal deadline But are the markets (heaven forbid) missing something? The government is embarking [...]
Bojo issues snow-go order after banning ministers from Davos December 17, 2019 BORIS Johnson has taken the surprise step of boycotting Davos next year, banning his ministers from attending the annual World Economic Forum jamboree. Buoyed by his thumping new majority in Parliament, the Prime Minister has decided to turn his back on the Swiss resort, which has become the premier networking event on the global calendar for the [...]
US leaders tussle as vote for impeachment draws near December 17, 2019 The stage is set for a historic vote on Capital Hill tomorrow, where US politicians will decide whether to impeach Donald Trump after months of intense debate. The House of Representatives is expected to approve articles of impeachment against the President, paving the way for a trial in the Republican-controlled Senate on whether Trump should [...]
CBI welcomes Prime Minister’s Brexit trade deal deadline December 17, 2019 The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has thrown its support behind Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plans to leave the EU with or without a Brexit trade deal come December 2020. Often vocal in its opposition to the government’s stance on a no-deal Brexit, the CBI today welcomed Johnson’s decision to block any further Brexit delay, [...]
Gove insists UK-EU trade deal possible by 2020 December 17, 2019 Michael Gove has insisted the UK will get a trade deal before the end of transition this time next year, as he defended Number 10 plans to rule out an extension. As reported by City A.M., Boris Johnson’s team has rewritten the Withdrawal Agreement Bill ahead of being brought back to parliament on Friday. Concessions [...]
‘You ain’t seen nothin’ yet,’ Boris Johnson says as he promises Tories will represent new voters December 17, 2019 Boris Johnson has promised to represent voters new to the Conservative party, telling his Cabinet ministers they must work “flat out to change our country for the better”. At his first Cabinet meeting since securing an 80-seat majority, the Prime Minister by noting that last week’s election had redrawn the political map of Britain – [...]
How Boris Johnson became the heir to Blair December 17, 2019 Politics is the art of winning and keeping power. New Labour understood this. They were the greatest election-winning machine of modern times. But to the Corbynistas (Old Bennite Labour revived), New Labour are the enemy of true socialism. Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour want nothing to do with New Labour’s people, policies, or campaigning techniques. Unfortunately for [...]
This is a political renaissance — but can British business adapt? December 17, 2019 “A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse.” As history buffs will know, the Battle of Bosworth Field didn’t work out well for Richard III, and with it the last of the titanic struggles of the War of the Roses. Described by Shakespeare as “the one big battle”, this event was to finally settle [...]