What Price Democracy?
The politics of austerity has many political objectives but an important one you learn about quickly as a local councillor is its use as a mantra to incapacitate you. Anything you might want to do...
View ArticleHow Public is Public Money?
Of the many deceitful slogans which the Conservatives used when they came to power the 'bonfire of the quangos' has perhaps had the least justification in practice. A whole range of boards and...
View ArticleHow Rising House Prices Serve George's Friends in the City
There is a lot of controversy about the potential of the Help to Buy scheme to restart the housing bubble. I must say that I share this concern and am disturbed by the thought that Osborne may be...
View ArticleGet a Life not just a Living Wage
I spent Saturday at a conference on the living wage organised by the regional TUC. It seems sad that you need to campaign for the right to earn enough money to live on but this is the reality of the...
View ArticleThe Troika, the US Hedge Funds and the Diversion of Taxpayers' Money
A guest post by Stephan LindnerDo you remember John Paulson? In 2007 he became famous for having the highest income of all hedge fund managers on Wall Street, because he bet against the US housing...
View ArticleOwen Paterson: The Badger Bites Back
Since I was given the opportunity to respond to his inane remarks about fracking back in the summer I have taken an increasing interest in the escapades of Environment Secretary Owen Paterson, whose...
View ArticleDeconstructing Austerity I. Money
The narrative of austerity as proposed by Osborne and his cronies is that our huge national debt is the responsibility of feckless Labour politicians and their uncontrolled spending. An examination of...
View ArticleDeconstructing Austerity II. Jobs
Aside from fallacious claims about reducing the national debt, the Conservatives' second claim to economic success--the creation of millions of private sector jobs--is also requires exploration. The...
View ArticleDoes the Hinkley Deal Involve Subsidy?
There has been some confusion since Ed Davey’s announcement of the details of the plan for building a reactor at Hinkley C in Somerset, and some of this confusion may not be accidental. First, we have...
View ArticleStreet School Economics
A guest post from Dr Gail Bradbrook, an activist based in Stroud who is active in the Transition and Tax Justice movements and sees economic literacy work as a way to pull these concerns togetherA few...
View ArticleTories Attack Green Levies to Defend their Carbon Interests
For a Green who came into the movement more because of social justice than environmental concerns it is heartening for me to see the opposition to equality and to environmental protection beginning to...
View ArticleA New Carbon Budgeting Tool
A guest post from Aubrey Meyer of the Global Commons InstituteIn the light of the positive attention to 'Contraction and Convergence' shown by the Gaian Economics blog, please may I introduce you to...
View ArticleLiving off Our Children
On Wednesday next week, 20th November, students across the country will unite under the banner of the Student Assembly Against Austerity to protest the planned privatisation of the Student Loan...
View ArticleRoyal Bank of Scandal Reaches New Low
The Tomlinson Report into the practices at the Royal Bank of Scotland, compiled under instruction from Vince Cable's Business Department, has been passed to the Financial Conduct Authority we read this...
View ArticleSmile: It's a Co-operative Bank
It's been a challenging few weeks for those of us who hold an ideology to the left of the political spectrum. I don't know whether I was more astonished to discover that the road to serfdom goes via...
View ArticleBursting the Bubble of Carbon Finance
The idea of a carbon bubble first came to my attention when I was researching a submission to the Environmental Audit Committee's Inquiry into Green Finance on behalf of the Green House thinktank....
View ArticleIf Ireland Represents a Success then the Model is Broken
Whatever your position on the Eurozone crisis it is an important day for Ireland. Today the country returns to being a democratic sovereign state after three years during which power was held by...
View ArticleSecular Stagnation or Spiritual Growth?
One of the techniques that economists use to control the global economy and corner its value is to create concepts that constrain our thinking about what is possible and how much change we may be able...
View ArticleWafer thin MINT theory
Ever since I first heard the idea of grouping together a number of countries under the heading BRIC I began to wonder what on earth was going on and what these countries might have in common. The first...
View ArticleReclaiming the Economy
Davos 2014: Who is Wearing the Trousers? Surely one of the important roles the media plays in our modern society is framing the narrative, determining the parameters within which we understand...
View ArticleUS Monetary Selfishness is Devastating for 'RoW'
Remember the World Series? The naming of this League has always struck me as an interesting insight into how the US sees the rest of the world. In reality only US teams play in the league, implying...
View ArticleChronicle of a Crisis Foretold
A guest post by Paola Raffaelli, who is an expert in the Argentinian social economy and is studying for a PhD at Roehampton UniversityThe crisis that occurred last week in Argentina is the unleashing...
View ArticleA Common European Home
Cameron's meeting with Hollande last week underlined again our isolation from the central European debates, while last month's vote European Parliament indicates the strong majority in favour of total...
View ArticleGarden of Eden Accessible by High Speed Rail
Q. When is a garden not a gardenA. When it's a quarryIn spite of Kent's claim to be the Garden of England, one might not have automatically thought of Ebbsfleet as the most likely site for the...
View ArticleSovereign and Sovereignty
I am wondering whether I can persuade the cast of Blackadder to assemble for one last hurrah. The plot will revolve around the growth of greed in Regency England. It can make refer askance to the South...
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