Kwasi Kwarteng is clearly a believer in animal spirits, or more specifically, the animal spirits of the UK private sector. The term ‘animal spirits’ was used by the economist J. M. Keynes to describe the spontaneous forces of vitality that drive human action. Apparently these animal spirits have been held back by too much taxing and … Continue reading Animal Spirits, Taxing and Borrowing — Editorial
Economic Policy
Labour under Blair and Starmer
The Labour Conference and the Party under Blair and Starmer By Eamon Dyas What can we take from the Labour Party Conference at Liverpool? Keir Starmer acknowledged the importance of trade unions several times in the course of his speech and he indicated that he understood the relevance of proper training schemes and apprenticeships for … Continue reading Labour under Blair and Starmer
The Cost of Rail Privatisation
by Pete Whitelegg With the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979 most of the state-owned industries were privatised including many of the businesses operating within the umbrella of British Railways. Sealink Ferries and British Transport Hotels were sold by 1984. Travellers Fare catering by 1988 and British Rail Engineering (train building) by 1989. But it … Continue reading The Cost of Rail Privatisation
Notes on the News
By Gwydion M. Williams Trickle-Down – a Swindle Who Needs the Multi-millionaires? The World Shanghaied? Russo-Ukrainians Forbidden Democracy? Sweden and Italy, Overstrained Communities Italy, Also Overstrained Two Nice People, Unfit For Their Jobs Snippets More Tory Failures Turkish Inequality Trickle-Down – a Swindle President Biden recently denounced Trickle-Down.[A] Then Liz Truss affirmed the idea: tax cutting … Continue reading Notes on the News
Electricity in France and the UK
Price of electricity in France and England By Froggy I wanted to find out why my electricity bill here in England is so much higher than that of my relatives in France. Take for example my bill for period ending 31 May 2022: it charges me 29.332p/kWh (= 0.3 euro); my sister’s bill charges her for … Continue reading Electricity in France and the UK
Animal Spirits
Unleash the animal spirits! The Truss Kwarteng philosophy By Feargus O Raghallaigh It seems to me that many people do not quite get what Truss and Kwarteng are up to, which is attempting to give political and policy expression in government and in power to a religious belief or a religio-economic belief in effect. The core of this … Continue reading Animal Spirits
The Energy Debate —Parliament Notes
Debate on Energy 8 September 2022, House of Commons https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2022-09-08/debates/6911DA71-90B4-466D-8B51-DF427AB29B53/UKEnergyCosts The Prime Minister Liz Truss started the Debate by laying out the measures taken to help households and businesses to bear the cost of risen electricity bills. She then said the aim was to make Britain more self sufficient in energy, in particular by building small … Continue reading The Energy Debate —Parliament Notes
The Mini-Budget — Parliament Notes
Text of the mini-budget by Kwasi Kwarteng, called ‘The Growth Plan’ in Hansard, which caused great excitement as well as a drop in the value of the pound, and is already being watered down. See editorial for comment. https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-growth-plan-2022-speech Mr Speaker, Let me start directly with the issue most worrying the British people – the cost … Continue reading The Mini-Budget — Parliament Notes
Gas Must Be Rationed—But Not By Price
Editorial 1 There is a substantial difference between gas supply and gas demand in Europe. The shortage in supply is not due to any physical shortage of gas as a natural resource but rather because European countries have decided to support attempts of the United States to weaken Russia by imposing sanctions on the import of … Continue reading Gas Must Be Rationed—But Not By Price
Freezing for Zelensky
Editorial 2 Boris Johnson told the British public on 24th August that they must make significant sacrifices of their living standards to protect the freedom of the Ukrainian people. If this means high fuel bills, freezing or going hungry then so be it. Labour Affairs and others have already exposed the lies that underpin this rhetoric and we … Continue reading Freezing for Zelensky
Rail Strikes
By Pete Whitelegg Back in April of this year Mick Lynch, General Secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) called an all member zoom meeting with members of the NEC. The message was a simple one, they are coming for us. Mick Lynch outlined what he had been told by the TOCs (Train … Continue reading Rail Strikes
The Struggle for Publicly Owned Land
LABOUR AND HOUSING – Part 9. The struggle for publicly-owned land (cont.) By Eamon Dyas [In the Seventies Labour endeavoured to stop profits from property speculation and development exceeding profits from industry.] The previous part of this exploration into the history of the relationship between private landowning and public need ended with an explanation of the … Continue reading The Struggle for Publicly Owned Land
Notes on the News
By Gwydion M. Williams Heat Waves, Floods and Drought The Mixed Economy – Thatcherism’s Secret Vice Technology: the World Not Set Free Inheritance – Preserving Small Businesses? Women Hated for Not Being Inferior Snippets China Fine for Useful Foreign Businesses Religion and Superstition Free Speech and Arab Winters Korea & Turkiye. Heat Waves, Floods and … Continue reading Notes on the News
The Anarchy of Production
By Gwydion M. Williams Most of the Cold War was fought by the West in defence of the Mixed Economy. Many of its defenders would have denied that the Mixed Economy was even capitalism. Rather more agreed it was capitalism, but an improved Mixed Economy Capitalism. Something that worked much better than the capitalism that caused … Continue reading The Anarchy of Production
Mick Lynch—In His Own Words (2)
Mick Lynch in his own words 4th August 2022, on the channel “Double Down News”. https://www.doubledown.news/watch/2022/august/4/mick-lynch-dismantles-the-media-keir-starmer-war-on-freedom-extreme-right-wing-tory-government [Extracts] “Division is fatal for working class people, we cannot allow that to happen, all workers are one and that’s the attitude we have to take forward, mobilising our people together, all workers of every identity in one mass movement. … Continue reading Mick Lynch—In His Own Words (2)
Editorial—The Fall of Johnson and The Energy Crunch
Why the political parties don’t want to tell the truth. Foreign and domestic policy are often related. Countries seek mutual benefit through trade and take measures to protect their own trading routes. They make long term arrangements for mutual exchange of products and services. In the contemporary world, the manufacture of a particular product often … Continue reading Editorial—The Fall of Johnson and The Energy Crunch
Political speaking before lies and propaganda
Read in this issue of Labour Affairs a speech by Winston Churchill in 1909, on taxing empty property: not only does the speech use arguments the Labour Party could deploy, but it is also a model of plain speaking (as well as witty), in the days when politicians called a spade a spade. [Tax on Capital … Continue reading Political speaking before lies and propaganda
Churchill arguing for a land tax
Winston Churchill and the 1909 Land Tax proposals Herbert Asquith became Prime Minister on 5 April 1908. In becoming Prime Minister at this time Asquith had not been elected but rather inherited the position in mid-term due to the ill-health of Campbell-Bannerman who in fact died just over two weeks later. On 30 April 1908, … Continue reading Churchill arguing for a land tax
Labour Affairs 