LATEST POSTS Greek politicians will fight to stay in the euro, come what may Ever since the bailout was agreed, this blog has been predicting a Greek default. Despite perfunctory official denials, almost no one now seriously expects the Greek government to honour its obligations. What's more, it'll be a proper, château-bottled default: not a deferral of interest, but a straightforward repudiation of liabilities. I've also been predicting that Greek and EU leaders will try to keep Greece in the euro after the default. Here, by contrast, I'm still pretty much on my own. Most observers, whatever their sympathies, believe that a government which had reneged on its debts could not remain in the single currency. No one would lend it money. Simply to cover its immediate bills, it would need to price itself into the markets and print… Read More George Papandreou with Venizelos supporters in the 1920s - the surnames don't change much EU leaders are still, hilariously, claiming that Greece will avoid a default and meet its obligations. Greek political leaders, with equal comedic genius, insist that they really are going to raise revenue and cut spending. Here's a little story about Greek politicians which I came across in an old biography of the Duke of Edinburgh. Shortly after George I – Prince Philip's grandfather – had ascended to the Hellenic throne, he called a Cabinet meeting. Around the table were the patriarchs of Greek politics, men whose surnames still dominate contemporary administrations. During the discussion, the young monarch rose from the table in order to illustrate his point on a wall map. When he returned to his chair, his gold fountain pen was missing. The king… Read More 'Canada occupies a unique position in the British Empire because of its unbreakable ties with Britain and its ever-growing friendship and intimate association with the United States.' 'It is with feelings of pride and encouragement that I find myself here in the House of Commons of Canada, invited to address the Parliament of the senior Dominion of the Crown,' the Prime Minister told MPs in Ottawa. 'I bring you the assurance of good will and affection from every one in the Motherland.' The Prime Minister was, of course, Winston Churchill, and the speech contained his famous 'some chicken; some neck' line. In 1941, it went without saying that, while Britain was interested and involved in Europe's perils, her place was with her kindred nations in the free, English-speaking world. Yet when David Cameron makes a speech in the… Read More Doing the same thing that we've done 18 times before is the last thing they'll expect! The IMF's figures are pitilessly clear. The countries which decreed the biggest bailouts and stimulus packages, the countries which printed the most money, are suffering the slowest growth. The Bank of England's 'quantitative easing' was, in proportionate terms, bigger even than the Fed's. Result? Our inflation rate is higher than our competitors', our economy commensurately depressed. That's what inflation does: it disincentivizes work, punishes thrift and undermines productivity. No amount of empirical evidence, however, seems to deter the Monetary Policy Committee. As the record of its last meeting make clear, the MPC is gearing up for another splurge. Tony Benn was right all along about the anti-democratic nature of the EU So said a the audience at a packed debate in the Royal Geographical Society, by 470 to 116. I had proposed the motion alongside Christopher Booker and Frederick Forsyth. Opposing it were Denis MacShane, Philip Souta and Richard Laming of the European Movement (Charles Kennedy pulled out at the last minute). My Euro-enthusiast readers will no doubt say, 'Yeah, yeah, so what does that prove? That a bunch of tweed-wearing Spectator readers don't like the EU? I could have told you that for nothing'. It's true that the debate was organised by the Speccie. It doesn't follow, though, that its audience was unrepresentative, at least not on the issue of the EU. Have a look at these charts (hat tip, Fraser Nelson). They come… Read More 'What's worse than the Nazi Party? The Tea Party!' When he lays into the 'Tory Tea Party tendency', I'm guessing that Chris Huhne means me. I am, as far as I know, the only elected Conservative actually to have organised a Tea Party – that is, an anti-tax rally (see here). Not that the Environment Secretary seems to have our views about tax in mind. Rather, he is using 'Tea Partiers' in the sense that most British Lefties do, to mean 'horrid people'. The Environment Secretary usually claims that his opponents are like Nazis. This time, though, he's taking off the gloves. Never mind Adolf Hitler; these Right-wing Tories are like… like… Sarah Palin! The Tea Party, perhaps more than any other contemporary movement, brings out the 'Yeah,… Read More Roy Hattersley makes an honest case for redistribution: rather equality than prosperity Here's the question I'd like to see someone put to Nick Clegg: 'If you were presented with incontrovertible proof that wealth taxes were, on balance, costing the Treasury money, would you still support them?' The Deputy PM would, of course, dispute the basis of the question. He'd insist that wealth taxes do bring in net revenue, and I'm sure he'd be sincere: it's human nature to believe the facts which best match our assumptions. I might point to several surveys showing that wealth taxes in general, and the 50p rate in particular, drive away more revenue than they raise. But he might retort that I am subject to a cognitive dissonace of my own. For the sake of argument, though, let's suppose that there wa… Read More Don't be fooled by the demotic American writing style - he talks like a Brit Even when Mark Steyn is utterly wrong, he's a delight to read. In 2002, for example, he convinced himself that Osama bin Laden had been turned to talcum powder by an American missile. For years, it was one of his favourite motifs ('he's bin Laden to rest and is pushing up the daisies' etc). So, when the old monster was actually dropped in May, I went immediately to the Steyn website to see what he'd make of it. Sure enough, he was ready with a well-crafted gag: 'I jumped the gun, much like Osama's missus in Abbottabad'. Not that he's often wrong. In the run-up to the 2000 US elections, when almost everyone else was forecasting a win for the Democrats, Steyn was so confident of… Read More
Greece prepares to default within the euro – the worst of all possible worlds
A cautionary tale from George I, King of the Hellenes
EU leaders cannot legislate their way to growth
David Cameron says the right thing in the right place and in the right company
Quantitative easing demonstrably failed; the Chancellor should not allow a second bout
It's time to leave the EU
Tories, Tea Partiers, Nazis: Chris Huhne lashes out at the forces of evil
How many people would support the 50p top rate tax even if they believed it was shrinking our economy?
After America: the book of 2011
Sunday, 25 September 2011
SEPTEMBER 25TH, 2011 12:52
55 Comments
SEPTEMBER 24TH, 2011 15:51
SEPTEMBER 23RD, 2011 21:29
The glass is falling hour by hour, the glass will fall for ever,
But if you break the bloody glass you won’t hold up the weather.
SEPTEMBER 23RD, 2011 9:46
SEPTEMBER 22ND, 2011 9:12
I suspect the necessarily dry minutes fail to do justice to the comic richness of the deliberations:
Blackadder: 'It's the same plan that we used… Read More
SEPTEMBER 21ST, 2011 16:45
SEPTEMBER 20TH, 2011 15:46
SEPTEMBER 19TH, 2011 14:17
SEPTEMBER 17TH, 2011 20:35
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