‘Tories’ Archives
The Eurocrisis isn’t just Financial.
The Eurozone crisis has managed to morph from a plain old currency crisis to a debt crisis, an economic crisis and now, a full-blown political crisis - although no-one seems to have noticed........ and it's not just the Eurozone: In the United [...]
Maggie’s Big Bang.
Although, in common with many others, I feel a sadness for the passing of Margaret Thatcher, there is one major part of her legacy which recent history has shown to have been an over-sold concept - The Big Bang. That was the day - 27th October 1986 [...]
Cameron versus Major
At the time, John Major was not considered to be a very dynamic leader, certainly not one judged to be a GREAT Conservative leader. In fact, he was a bit of a joke and was mercilessly brutalised by the media, notably by those pesky Latex satirists, [...]
Management: Two views
As an Executive Coach of over 25 years, there is one pet hate which I have developed - the Management Model. Every year, new models arrive and new training methods sprout like weeds. 99% of them are derivative. For instance, when applying a bit [...]
Gideon’s latest Wheeze!
Various half-arsed stimulus packages by clueless governments without properly jump-starting their economies achieve nothing but a postponement of the day of reckoning. Banks will fail, more housing markets will collapse and panicked governments [...]
FCNK – Fur Coat, No Knickers
British politics are cyclical and there are two views as to the nature of the cycle. One is that Labour is in power for a bit and then the Conservatives come along with lots of shovels and clear up the mess. The other view is that it is Labour [...]
2032
The Labour-Liberal Coalition is just about managing to cope with the constant rioting but at least immigration has been halted. No-one wants to move here anymore. Head Minister Yvette wishes that she hadn’t defeated David Miliband because her [...]
Quaint Liberals?
Quaintness pervades British Society - from our cute little village tea rooms, the genetically coded-in inferiority complex of the working classes, Barristers' wigs to the way we run our Parliament and economy. We wear 21st century clothes which [...]
50 Predictions for 2012
An economy used to depend on the interactions between consumers, commerce, politics and investors. Nowadays, we have to add banks (which used to be no more than a service industry) as an additional entity. Keynesian economics are all well and good [...]
United Kingdom and Miracle-Gro?
"Growth" is a word which is used far too rarely in all the messages and communiques which we have become accustomed to hearing emanate from the million-and-one Euromeetings. Consequently, it is refreshing to see something (anything) written-down [...]
Chancellor’s Autumn Statement – just the facts
"We will do whatever it takes to protect Britain from this debt storm" in Europe. Office for Budget Responsibility does not predict a recession in UK. OBR forecast: GDP growth estimated at 0.9% in 2011. 0.7% in 2012 (down from [...]
'The taxpayer will see its outstanding loans to Northern Rock repaid in full, with interest.' .......... Alastair Darling, February 2008 'At the end of the day banks will be paying money to the British public, not the other way [...]
Home Secretary Theresa May HAS to resign. Never mind that she is female and that David Cameron appears to be very limited in his choice of talented Conservative ladies. She has failed to manage her staff and as a result, Head of the UK Border [...]
Closet or Cabinet?
Dr Liam Fox and now Oliver Letwin have given David Cameron the sort of distractions which he does not really need. There has been speculation about each man's political future and the doom-mongers reckon that "it's all unravelling". Nothing could be [...]
We’re in the Shapps!
House building in the United Kingdom has slumped to a 90-year low. Home ownership is predicted to slump to approximately 65%. The proportion of people living in owner-occupied homes is forecast to fall to 63.8% by 2021, down from 72.5% in 2001 [...]
Gideon Floundering?
The MOST wretched Cabinet job is that of Chancellor of the Exchequer. I spent years criticising the "Iron Chancellor", Gordon Brown. During his posturing days when he was surfing the economic wave created by his predecessor Ken Clarke and even [...]
A real Legg-up
"I'm as innocent as the next man." The MPs expenses fiasco rumbles on and Parliament's reputation is still heading South. Much was made of the previous Speaker's lack of management skill and consequently he was removed from office. So where [...]
Dave’s Speech
Standing ovation? Inevitable. Interestingly enough, the autocues were not visible. Dave walked on clutching a pile of notes - which was probably a disappointment to those who expected another off-the-cuff session. He told us in true "Honest [...]
Conservative Party Conference week.
Boris Johnson once again has showed his leadership credentials by being approachable, witty and engaging. He does make the rest of them look a little bit pedestrian. In spite of his shambolic image, you can sense a rod of steel [...]
Friday October 2nd 2009
Ethiopia has suddenly become the focus for all anthropologists. An ancient skeleton was found in 1992 and it has taken 17 years for the research team to rebuild it. Why all the excitement? The skeleton belongs to an in-between species of humanoid [...]
Thursday October 1st 2009
A survey has just been published of the world's top Broadband Countries - taking into account speed etc. The United Kingdom is languishing in 25th place. The top country? South Korea. Is this another indicator of the rise of the East and the [...]
Friday September 25th 2009
Friday September 25th 2009 The mole who leaked the MPs’ expenses information to the Daily Telegraph has revealed what motivated him to do so - apart that is, from the £110,000 fee that he was paid. It now appears that his primary [...]
Thursday September 24th 2009
The Government has criticised the Football Association for not reforming itself. It has also asked the F.A to spend more time and resources on ethnics and women as well as telling them that they should provide better leadership. Perhaps when the F.A [...]
Wednesday September 23rd 2009
Apparently, there is a small but statistically significant rise in patient deaths when junior doctors start work in August. Perhaps the same survey should be done with slightly different parameters: Before pubs open and after closing time. A [...]
Tuesday September 22nd 2009
Did you see Darth Mandelson being questioned on the subject of bankers’ bonuses last night? As Business Secretary, he has the power to stop the bankers in their tracks. But he cannot and he would not answer any bonus-related questions. [...]
Monday September 21st 2009
It now appears that Womens World 800m champion Caster Semenya was tested ages ago and there has been concern over her sex for months. The issue did not suddenly materialise at the last Word Championships. The whole thing has been handed so badly [...]
Monday September 7th 2009-Friday September 18th 2009
Friday September 18th 2009 There has been some concern that Romell Broom may have suffered mental anguish when two Ohio State officials failed to find a vein in order to deliver a fatal injection. According to Broom’s lawyer, Broom had [...]