Sunday PS: European (day) dreamin' on such a winter's day
SOME daydreams never go away. One of them is that if only Britain were to become fully committed to the European Union (Community, as was), then it would be able to influence the development of this...
View ArticleSunday PS: Revolt of the salariat?
YOU wouldn’t know it, given a certain lack of media interest, but the biggest civil service union, PCS, will next week open a strike ballot over a five per cent pay claim. I have a funny feeling that...
View ArticleSunday PS
HANG round long enough and a bad idea the fag end of which you can just about remember from last time round will resurface in a slightly-altered guise, yet much the same arguments will be trotted out,...
View ArticleSunday PS: The Grand Illusion (again)
MANY years ago, when the European Union's Nice Treaty was being put together, I was tipped off that the draft contained a proposal under which all member states would have to pony up financial aid were...
View ArticleSunday PS: Is restraint back in fashion?
CERTAIN phrases are redolent of a time that has passed, although when exactly it passed always seems rather vague.No one ‘runs in’ a new car anymore, nor would estate agents bother to mention that a...
View ArticleSunday PS: Feel the Sterling crumble
JUST how smart is it for the central bank to let it be known it is happy to see the currency depreciate?After all, history suggests that when word gets about that the authorities would like to see the...
View ArticleSunday PS: Open wide!
BUDGET time is coming round again, a fact that I suspect is about as welcome to George Osborne as news of a lengthy appointment with the dentist.At the best of times, Budgets aren't as much fun as they...
View ArticleSunday PS: Hold me back!
TIME was when leaders said: 'Trust me.' Now, they are more likely to say: 'Trust me - you don't have to.'Just as we once sought a 'framework' to control the trade unions, now we seek one to control the...
View ArticleSunday PS: Anticipating Chancellor Balls
FORENSICALLY, objectively it is time to advise readers, as I do in my column in today's edition of The Mail on Sunday, to get ready for Labour back at the Treasury. The Budget was a waste of space on...
View ArticleSunday PS: Sorry seems to be the hardest word
MY column in today's edition of The Mail on Sunday takes a trip down memory lane.It is the autumn of 1997, in Birmingham, where the Confederation of British Industry was holding its annual conference....
View ArticleSunday PS: In search of the wrong turning
SO commonplace are claims that, as Chancellor, Gordon Brown 'let rip' or 'lost the plot' as an explanation of our current woes that it is easy to overlook the fact that there is very little agreement...
View ArticleSaturday PS: That shrinking feeling
MAYBE ten or more years ago, I first appreciated the extent to which someone’s position in age in relation to their siblings influenced them in adult life. Put simply, a chap running his own craft...
View ArticleSaturday PS: Third time unlucky?
ROLL on Thursday, when we find out whether the economic rollercoaster is heading down for another plunge into recession, the third since 2008 hence the 'treble-dip'.April 25 will see the first estimate...
View ArticleSaturday PS: They also serve...or maybe not
NOW we know (or think we do) that the economy grew by a respectable 0.3 per cent in the first three months of this year perhaps we will hear rather less about the 'paradox' of a buoyant labour market...
View ArticleSaturday PS: How does it feel?
BACK in the (apparently) endless high summer of Gordon Brown's Chancellorship, we were told that the impact of monetary policy (i.e. changes in interest rates) would take about 18 months to feed...
View ArticleWednesday PS: Trust me, I'm a professional
ON Tuesday, it was with great pleasure that I was a member of a panel assembled by the Institute of Ideas and PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers, as was) to debate in front of an invited audience at the...
View ArticleSaturday PS: Just the job?
LATEST unemployment figures are due on Wednesday, apparently threatening to kick over the one unadulterated piece of good news since the start of the current marasme in 2007-2008.Regardless of whether...
View ArticleSaturday PS: Just when you thought it was safe....
THURSDAY evening saw (or rather heard) me on LBC, talking about Sir Mervyn King's (apparent) suggestion that the economy has turned the corner. In fact, what the outgoing Bank of England Governor said...
View ArticleSaturday PS: Welcome to the Dreamworld Caledonia
SHOULD you be at a lose end this bank holiday and need cheering up, there are plenty of laughs to be had from reading Scotland's Economy: The case for independence, published earlier this week by the...
View ArticleSaturday PS: The economic consequences of the political class
THERE is a group of people in our society whose full-time job is the seeking of public office. That is the real meaning of the phrase 'political class'.Few seem to find anything strange about the...
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