Not getting it right on booms, slumps and austerity
The following from Professor John Weeks and Ann Pettifor of Prime Economics was published on 15 March 2016, a day ahead of the UK Budget speech by the Chancellor, in the Guardian newspaper:
Budgeting for stagnation
George Osborne's latest budget has reconfirmed Britain's prolonged collapse in economic activity, as he thrashes around for supply-side "solutions".
The imminent bankruptcy of the private finance sector?
The Autumn Statement reveals but one thing: the Chancellor and his advisers are both ill-advised and dangerously ill-prepared for the forthcoming prolonged Depression.
The wrong economic telescope, chancellor
Once again, as the budget looms, the government is looking down the wrong end of the economic telescope.
The grand vacuum
We here in the UK have had blanket coverage of the Pope’s visit, which has apparently been global. On the whole the coverage irritated me, because, as always, the trivial dominated public debate. ‘Pope’s battle to save Christmas’ was a typical headline. ‘Pope: don’t let the PC brigade wreck Christmas’ – screamed Murdoch’s Sun newspaper. These headlines derive from the Pope’s speech at Westminster where he was quoted as saying that “there are those who argue that the public celebration of festivals such as Christmas should be discouraged, in the questionable belief that it might somehow offend those of other religions or none.”
On a collision course with austerity
Today the public, and particularly the Liberal Democrats, appear nonchalant as George Osborne steers the ship of state straight towards the Austerity Iceberg.
Digging ourselves into further recession?
In the run-up to the government's 'emergency budget', the overwhelming political consensus, parroted each day by the BBC’s economic correspondents, is that ’balancing the budget’ and ’slashing the deficit’ is now a national priority.
Stuck in a deflationary spiral
What do yesterday's announcements mean in terms of tackling the economic crisis, its main victims, and the climate change challenge? Here is my more or less immediate response to Alistair Darling’s final budget.
We have enough grumpy old men
The week started for me on Saturday in the glorious setting of Cathedral Green, Exeter.
Science-informed, faith-inspired, and hope-driven
I’ve done it at last. It took courage, a stiffening of the spine (and of a range of other joints!) and a couple of hundred quid...
