The disturbingly low price of human life
8 May 2014If stealing £13.94 is worth 10 months and manslaughter is worth 4 years, it puts a disturbingly low price on human life.
The Blog
Public consent for selling off British business is Pfizzling out, but it still doesn’t matter
7 May 2014The debate over Pfizer’s bid for the UK drugs giant AstraZeneca continues to rumble on this week. At a price of £63 billion plus, this takeover would be the largest ever of a British company, but one of its least popular. Interventions about the dangers it could hold for British jobs and industry have already… [Read More]
EU bans Indian mango imports
2 May 2014The EU has placed a ban on mangoes imported from India after an infestation of fruit flies was found in a shipment of Indian mangoes last year. The ban will be effective from May 1st this year until December 2015, out of fear that the imports could harm European salad crops. The ban has sparked outrage… [Read More]
The economy is showing some growth beyond the property bubble
1 May 2014GDP estimates are affected by increasing house prices but the effect is not disproportionate.
A showcase for civil society and civil rights in Oslo
30 April 2014It’s one of those grimly comic instances of ironic good timing that Norway – of all places – has just been slammed for human rights violations by Saudi Arabia – of all places — as part of the UN’s “Universal Periodic Review,” only days before the opening of this year’s Oslo Freedom Forum. Sometimes described… [Read More]
Labour is trying to learn from Germany’s economy, but they are ducking the difficult reforms
The Labour frontbench (and many others) have been looking to Germany for ways to nudge Britain’s economy toward manufacturing and exports, but if they look closer, they will find the root of that success rather jars with Ed Miliband’s brand of politics. The robust Mittelstand is widely credited with Germany’s rise in Europe, especially in… [Read More]
Cameron’s EU promise: fiddling with Chekhov’s Gun
29 April 2014“I would not be prime minister of a government unless we could carry out our pledge of an in-out referendum.”
New pro-European Conservative alliance highlights Britain’s divisions over Europe
25 April 2014A group of pro-European British Conservatives have formed a new party to stand in the upcoming EU elections underneath the European People’s Party grouping. The centre-right EPP grouping is the largest of the European political parties – the Tories were formerly part of this group but struggled to find ideological allies and eventually left. After… [Read More]
Criminal violence falls (again!)
24 April 2014Besides repairing the human damage, hospitals are helping the police forestall violent crime.
UKIP launch controversial campaign amid funding furore
22 April 2014Parliament is on holiday, so the media’s keen to seize on any hint of a story. This emerged yesterday: UKIP has unveiled posters for the European Parliamentary elections. Nigel Farage kicks off the campaign proper with a speech in Sheffield at 13:00. The posters’ content is stirring up a storm, as was intended.