Macroscopic

With the Conservative Party Conference beginning yesterday in Birmingham, there is no doubt that anyone tuning in to the news over the next few days will be subjected to the annual, tiresome jubilant exultation of this current government's previous successes, basking in a honeymoon period that is set to continue indefinitely as long as the opposition is viewed by the electorate as incompetent, both intellectually and practically, which seems set to continue. Forgive me for not posting any other blogs on other political party conferences (though as this is not the BBC, balance is not a priority!), but there is a certain aspect of the current Conservative administrations which really grinds my axe. No, it is not the fact that the Conservative Party appears to pick and choose precisely what it is conservative about, nor the fact that it is no longer 'conservative' in any philosophically respectable sense, instead smuggling a form of libertarianism in by the back door (indeed J...

(I am conscious that, although the sub-heading of this blog quite clearly states 'macroeconomics' as its primary focus, there has been precious little for the reader tuning in for any comment upon such issues! My apologies -  this entry is an attempt to rectify that...well, to some degree.) Inequality, and its perception in the public eye, has seemingly become one of the key policy issues of our time. Indeed only today, the World Bank has renewed its drive against 'rising inequality' in the world, and Theresa May heads to the Conservative Party Conference with the soundbite - "A country that works for everyone". Headline figures, such as those published by Oxfam  last year, shocked many and have stoked public opinion in the direction of actions against the global super-rich. The publications of dozens of bestsellers, such as Joseph Stiglitz's The Price of Inequality (2012), Wilson and Pickett's The Spirit Level (2010),  Danny Dorling's Inequality...

On a recent visit to Prague, I came across the following passage from one of the most important literary figures of the 20th century, the modernist Franz Kafka, worth quoting in full:  "The war has led us into a labyrinth of distorting mirrors. We stumble from one fictitious vision to another, bewildered victims of false prophets and charlatans who, with their cheap recipes for happiness, merely cover our eyes and ears, so that, because of the mirrors, we fall from one dungeon to another, like through open trapdoors".  Whilst writing in a different era, in an entirely different culture and context, and obviously slightly polemic, Kafka's words seem strangely to resonate with a growing trend in politics today - what has recently been labelled 'post-truth' politics.   Brexit is widely agreed to have ushered in a new age in British politics. Yet it seems more appropriate to regard it as symptomatic of a new period which began earlier, with the Financial ...

Watching BBC's Question Time  the other night, Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's former Director of Communications 1997-2003, appeared to hit the nail on the head when he said that problem for Labour at the moment isn't Jeremy Corbyn. Rather, it is his inner circle, his organisation of the party from the top, and the fact that he has become the focal point of a social movement that in many ways stands alone from the Labour Party altogether. This is particularly worrying for a party which has ambitions of government, and I believe this is behind the revelations that an opposition party have never been further behind a current government in the polls. One thing that is clear is that there ought  to be a place in modern politics for the likes of Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn is in many ways the ultimate backbench MP - he has a clear set of principles which aren't compromised, he is elusive of the party whip and seemingly untainted by the party politics which constitutes the 'est...

Anyone who considers themselves a liberal voice in Britain should be deeply troubled by the current political situation. The triumphant 52% - 37% of eligible voters – are now in the ascendancy and will be tentatively observing the coming months, hoping that their hopes will be fulfilled by a new political agenda. The rise in hate crimes is truly shocking, with an objectionable minority believing they now have a mandate for deeply divisive attitudes. The government’s commitment to leaving the EU brings to a decisive head the divisive debate over Europe – one that has consumed the Conservative Party for the last 30 years. Theresa May’s tenure as Prime Minister will surely be dominated by a tug-of-war between the interests of the 37%, and those of powerful business interests who seek assurance that Britain will retain an openness towards Europe (in the short-term, of course – it is fallacious to argue that Britain will cease to trade freely with Europe in the long-run). Many are left...

(NB: This is slightly longer than any usual blog post, as it was actually a short summary of research carried out for the IEA in August, 2016) The ‘Northern Powerhouse’ has reached a hiatus. George Osborne’s flagship regional development policy, aimed at tackling regional inequalities within the UK, was seemingly rejected by the very people it was supposed to help when post-industrial regions emphatically voted ‘leave’ in the recent EU referendum. The narrow 52%-48% winning margin showed the extent of current divisions within British society, opened up by the economic transformation of the last 40 years between those who have been successful in the economic readjustment and those who feel powerless against capitalism’s ‘creative destruction’. As of yet, the new government have not made any formal commitment to the continuing of the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ initiative. This provokes the question: what next for UK regional development? The Brexit vote, and Theresa May’s first speech as Pri...