Nigel Lawson – partly to blame for 2008 and Brexit

Nigel Lawson, the controversial tax-cutting chancellor under Margaret Thatcher, has died aged 91. To Tories he was and is a ‘titan’ and a ‘transformational’ figure, who cut taxes and rolled back the state, leading the privatisation drive that put swathes of the public sector under the control of private companies.   His policies turned the … Read more

Brexit – to reverse or not, the knotty question

 Public opinion is shifting against Brexit though both political parties regard any discussion as too toxic to broach. A recent poll indicated 60 per cent of Britons now think Brexit was the wrong decision and would vote to rejoin the EU at a second referendum. Brexit was sold as a way of controlling immigration and improving … Read more

Brexit – first small steps towards a middle ground

Reality bites as support for Brexit has fallen to a record low of 32% as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt cautiously puts a toe in the waters of conciliation suggesting in time the trade barriers which have been erected post-2016 could be substantially removed while the UK still remains outside the single market. The Office for Budget … Read more

UK – a budget of little cheer ++ Brexit costs hitting home

A stolid Taurus Chancellor with a meticulous Saturn in Virgo is not a great match for a harum-scarum Prime Minister with the attention-span of a gnat and less interest in economics except when it comes to handing out largesse from the money-tree.   Yesterday’s budget seems to have pleased no one with sensational headlines about … Read more

Michel Barnier – Brexit from the inside

Michel Barnier, the dull technocrat who was the EU negotiator for Brexit has pitched his name into the ring as a right-wing hopeful for the French Presidential election next year. He has also just published ‘My Secret Brexit Diary: A Glorious Illusion’ in which he makes clear his view of Brexit as irrational and self-damaging … Read more

Post-Brexit UK – failed by abysmal politicos + Carrie

The revolving door of Boris Johnson’s government is spinning with increasing velocity as political advisers are fired or resign in a huff with leaks, tales of back stabbing, murmurs that Carrie Symonds is running the show – ferrets fighting in a sack. Michael Gove is sidelined and the unelected David Frost steps up, unbelievably, into … Read more

UK Brexit – a different reality

Down the rabbit hole into the government’s never-never land fantasy, all will be spiffing in ten years’ time according to the Dominic Raab, the UK Foreign Secretary. Which is scant comfort, if not outrageously insulting, to businesses facing bankruptcy or having to relocate part of their operations inside the EU to survive. The right-wing media … Read more