We will do it because we can!

If in the 1960s a government had proposed that every person who wrote a letter had to, before posting it, file details of their name and address and provide details of the person to whom they sent the letters, and deposit a photostatic copy of the letter, which the government would not open without permission from a judge, the hippies and the establishment would have united to prevent such a plan. It would not matter how much the Home Secretary protested that the plan was to prevent the IRA blowing us all up and prevent organised criminals like the Krays from operating it would not have been enacted.

My Voice is Too Small

Political connections and a strong lobby group can do things that a good cause and holding the right moral position cannot. When governments make decisions they succumb to the influence of the powerful.

Entertaining the Taxman

The feeling that there is one law for the rich and another for the poor is strongest and most easily demonstrated when it comes to tax affairs. We all have to pay tax, whether we like it or not, or suffer the draconian consequences. We have to pay promptly and devote quite a lot of our resources, if we run a business, in figuring out the various taxes and getting the money to the tax man. For this we need to employ bookkeepers, accountants and others to discharge our duty.

Why we should spend on Renewable Energy

There is a kind of unreasoned hysteria which affects some people when it comes to measures to control climate change. Those who do not think climate change a threat are doomsayers; they hold that if we spend our money on solar panels and wind turbines it will bring economic ruin, as these devices are far too expensive to be justified. They argue that such expenditure will make our lives unduly expensive and make our industries and services uncompetitive. In fact the doom and gloom spread by these ideas is at least as doomy and gloomy as the doom and gloom spread by environmentalist who want to control climate change and have nations invest in clean renewable energy.

The Euro Crisis

The European Union has tried to solve the crisis that is affecting confidence in the Euro. It seems that the wisdom of the leading Euro nations has brought together a series of proposals which may or may not involve changing the treaties governing the European Union and which have the approval of all of the 17 nations that use the Euro as their currency and some of the nations that do not use it. The United Kingdom and Hungary have rejected treaty changes and Sweden with the Czech Republic want to consult with their Parliaments. It is difficult to summarise exactly what has been agreed because as usual the EU’s policy is shrouded in loose and imprecise language which might serve to assuage local Parliaments but does nothing to explain to all of us exactly what will happen. Politicians like loose language and develop its use over their lifetimes. Generally speaking, the more successful the politician the more ambiguous the statements that fall from his or her lips.

Bank Charges

There was once, not so long ago, laws that made the charging of very high rates of interest illegal. Lending at interest is a fact of economic life and has become widespread notwithstanding the prohibitions against usury in the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Koran. When you hire the money you have to expect to pay a hire fee. However, if that hire fee is so high, so excessive, you trap people to whom you have lent, into economic servitude.

The Inconvenience of Democracy

The United Kingdom is not very united and not much of a kingdom. There is one Parliament which makes laws for the whole country and separate elected parliaments which administer and make laws for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The monarch has very little to do with the making of these laws, but signs off on them as a matter of formality. 

Back to Work for some and Benefits Withdrawn for Others?

The House of Commons has been called back to work as a result of the riots. The work in the case of the commons is to debate, have meetings, make pronouncements and generally blow their hot air around that famous chamber in Westminster. One thing that the members of Parliament may not like is a suggestion by some 100,000 people that those convicted of rioting offences should have their benefits withdrawn. 

Politicians Papers and Policemen

The scandal continues to enliven a dull July. The politicians are embarrassed because they have associated most closely with newspapers and their journalists, some of whom have hacked into people’s telephones, including those of politicians. The papers are embarrassed because hacking is a criminal offence which they conveniently ignored in their efforts to expose wrong doing and bring us our daily or weekly does of salacious gossip, in order to sell more newspapers. The policemen are embarrassed because they have been supposed to investigate crime and for many years failed to investigate this type of crime properly, because some of the police were very close to the newspapers, not only in unhealthy close contact but also apparently in some cases in receipt of largesse from the newspapers.

The Financial Crises and the Gold Standard

First it was Iceland, then Ireland, then Portugal followed by Greece. Confidence in the financial markets of many nations’ ability to repay their borrowings has been shattered. The latest nations to have their financial stability threatened are Italy and Spain. In China at least 10% of the internal lending by the Chinese State to local authorities will have to be written off as a bad debt. The Euro is in danger, and the mighty US dollar is threatened by the choice that the US government must make – either increase the budget deficit or cut back on Federal hand outs.