Note to Coalition government: The deficit is as it is due to the need to protect the collapse of the retail banking industry. This collapse was caused by the falling apart of lehman bros, an American investment house. The problems were caused by 'sub-prime' mortgages, where the property was not valuable enough to sustain the debt. Therefore, banks were unable to make good the monies they loaned between themselves. Lehman's collapse destroyed the banks' confidence to lend between themselves (what was referred to as the 'credit crunch'), and so there was a real risk that all lines of national credit would stop. This would have literally caused the holes in the wall to stop handing out cash. Yes, greater regulation of the banks was needed, but that started in the 80s. However, this was started over the pond, and due to our position as an entrenched global financial hub it spread to us.

The Cuts Won't Work: Willetts, Barclays...

The Cuts Won't Work: Willetts, Barclays...: "David Willetts, the Conservative Universities minister whose idea of explaining something to the country's students is to repeat himself at ..."

Willetts, Barclays...

David Willetts, the Conservative Universities minister whose idea of explaining something to the country's students is to repeat himself at ever decreasing speeds, has started criticising institutions who have announced or are considering charging the full £9000 a year as soon as they can. Apparently the government are afraid that if too many charge the £9k then they won't afford the upfront costs. This seems to me to be yet another example of this government's failure to think anything through. Every time they make a policy announcement, it is accompanied by the sounds of the collective knees of the Cabinet hitting their desks. They are cutting the teaching grants for the vast majority of subjects by 80%, and now they are threatening further cuts if the universities don't take what they now see as necessary steps to secure their future existence? I loathe the cuts and the fee hike, it stands against everything i think is right, but if I was a chancellor of a university, I would be considering this. What exactly did you think they would do David?
The story is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-12499265

And in spite of this, Barclays Bank paid us £113m in 2009, whilst making a $4,85bn profit. Vodafone owe us billions, Philip Green owes us billions, so do Boots, Tesco, and, oh yes, Lord Ashcroft. We suffer, our children suffer, our service suffer, but tax avoiders get a nice suntan.

Deficit obssession

I have just finished watching Question Time tonight (17th Feb), and yet again, the Government showed their real concerns. It must always be about cutting the deficit, as this will apparently cause growth on its own. Yes, as Yvette Cooper said (or tried to say), of course the deficit went up as the economy needed supporting (otherwise it wold have been our retail banking sector that collapsed, taking the high street and businesses with it). Yes, of course it needs to be reduced, but why eradicate it so brutally? The US did not respond so quickly to support their own systems as we did, and now they have been trying to play catch up. Their deficit is currently around the $1 trillion mark, what is that as a % of GDP please Vince?

And one last thing (to be dealt with in more detail in a later post, when I'm not so tired). Vince Cable spoke in praise of Lansley's NHS reforms, on the same day that two major South London hospitals announced cuts of around 500 jobs each.