Funding the Future

Our rules of thumb are broken

Trump is trying to break government, the USA, world peace and much more. We could despair, or we could, as happened in WW2, plan for a better future. I suggest this is the time to plan.

How to pay for defence

If we need to pay more for defence the last people who should pay for it are those most dependent on the state. It’s the richest who should be covering the cost.

King Donald needs to learn from history

Donald Trump has declared himself King in the USA. He should take a lesson from history. King Canute of England, Denmark and Norway knew there were limitations on regal power. Trump does not. That’s why he’s bound to fail.

Hands off ISAs, I say

The City wants an end to cash ISAs, and that would be a mistake

Elon Musk is wrong

Elon Musk might think he’s very smart, but his management style – which is controversial in the private sector – is totally alien to the state sector because it relies on the acceptability of failure and governments must never fail.

Who are we defending in the UK?

Who and what are we defending in the UK? It’s a question in need of an answer. As politicians and politicians demand more defence spending, whose rights are we defending, and so who should pick up the bill?

When will the MAGA give up on Trump?

The MAGA put Trump back in the White House, but like Biden before him, nothing he’s doing is going to make ordinary Americans feel better off, and we know what they did to the Democrats as a result.

Could the Bank of England make life better?

The Bank of England could make our lives a lot better by changing some of its policies, but it shows no sign of doing so. Why then do we tolerate its supposed independence when that is used to undermine our well-being?

For how much longer will Rachel be in accounts?

Rachel Reeves suffers with the nickname ‘Rachel form Accounts’. Only it looks like her own accounting has not been that good, and nor is her CV all she claims it to be. But is the real story that her colleagues want her out?

Where does £80 billion extra for defence come from?

Trump says we need to spend five per cent of our GDP on defence. That would increase the spend from £60 billi0on to £140 billion. What are the consequences of that?