Apologies – the recent period of inactivity is caused by a period for me – of what the Americans would call ‘off grid’. For those that follow, the unfortunate details are that my mother, a widow, died at the respectably young age of 102¾… Having informed British Gas, they told me to do nothing (by... Read more
politics
Is riddled with the inconsistency that is the hallmark of this so-called government. We have train fares going up by ‘only’ 5.9% in March – less than the the usual ‘in line with inflation’ increase because actual inflation would dictate a rise of double that. So we have rail workers offered a 4% pay increase... Read more
This is from the charts contained in the the ragingly socialist FT suggesting that our winter of discontent is an inevitable result of austerity. The article link is archived – so no excuse for not reading in full and taking in those charts…. Real wages in the UK are below where they were 18 years... Read more
Merry Christmas from me – and of course from our wonderfully tin-eared, out of touch Prime Minister, who seems to think that people visiting homeless shelters should work in finance:... Read more
These are all good things that John McDonnell suggests and much to be admired – but he really does look washed out, poor man… Even more importantly, even after all those years as shadow chancellor he still has no idea that money is actually always the state’s… He talks of a control on energy costs... Read more
Capitalism and “liberal democracy” are failing and destroying our world. In this, the first of a three-part series, we explore the failure of this system and the case for change. Failure of US Western Liberal Democracies Wars are continuous and the risk of nuclear escalation is increasing. Governments seem incapable of grappling with the climate Continue reading »
In 2015, education services earned an export income for Australia of over $16 b. p.a. Those export services were expected to increase to $31 b. p.a. by 2020 from about 600,000 overseas students. Education was our fourth largest export behind iron ore, coal and natural gas. It is our major services export, ahead of tourism. Continue reading »
I would progressively wind back and eliminate the $14b pa taxpayer subsidy for Private Health Insurance and use that very large sum to fund the inclusion of dental care within Medicare and increase the funding to the states for expanded specialist services in outpatient clinics at public hospitals. A repost from May 18, 2022 The Continue reading »
Above a picture of a tired looking Xi Jinping – taken at the G20 – the Sydney Morning Herald ran the headline: The Face of Capitulation. It was as banal as it was predictable. It was for a Peter Hartcher story that crowed at having slayed the dragon (sub-text: this was Hartcher’s personal victory). A Continue reading »