Bungle...

(Via Three Line Whip)

I haven't laughed so much in ages:

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comment

Affordable homes ain't no crisis

I rarely disagree with Eamonn Butler but, vaualble as his piece in today's Times is, I think he's got one fundamental point wrong:

[T]he blame for our present mess cannot be pinned on the greed or profligacy of bankers. It lies squarely at the doors of governments. It's for them to fix, and the Bank of England's extraordinary move in swapping bank assets for £50 billion of government-backed bonds is probably the right one.

...The authorities' very anxiety to keep customers safe has made them introduce more and more detailed and onerous regulation. The only banks that can afford to deal with this bureaucracy are the big ones. Regulation has made the banks fat - and their customers complacent. It would be much healthier if the banks were competitive and customers eyed them up more carefully before trusting them with their savings.

Indeed, not even the regulators

Continue reading...

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (7)

Useless at everything

So Prescott wasn't just a useless minister.

It looks like he was a useless bulimic, too.

(I realise that the phrase 'pot calling kettle black' is particularly apposite here, but then no one - least of all me - has ever called yours truly a bulimic.)

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (7)

Who'll notice?

This headline

Teachers' strike could shut 1000 schools

Belgium is heading for a record 150 days with no government

Schools in the urban heartlands of the National Union of Teachers will be particularly affected

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (3)

Sex, Science and Money

I have a piece in today's Jewish Chronicle based on Terence Kealey's new book, Sex, Science and Profits. Here's an extract:

Kealey’s basic thesis is that commerce is an activity based on trust and that, in order for trust to work as the binding agent for commerce, humans have evolved instincts such as guilt, shame and pride. This is not speculation — it’s based on scientific observation, revealed in functional magnetic resonance imaging scans which show activity in the brain. The relevant parts of the brain light up when stirred. As Kealey writes: “They [brain scans] explain how we evolved to make money, since emotions such as guilt and shame represent the internalisation of the cooperation and trust that shift an economy.”

That explains what happens. As for why it happens: “[T]he selfish genes ensure that our enlightened emotions are challenged by Manichean ones, and the triumph of

Continue reading...

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (1)