Iain Macwhirter
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Liar Loans: SFA from the FSA
You’ve heard of locking the stable door when the horse has bolted. Well, the Financial Services Authority, has gone one better and promised to do its job properly only after it’s been closed down. Yesterday, the boss of Britain’s financial watchdog, Lord Turner, grandly announced that the FSA was going to put an end to … Continue reading
Free personal care saves money – axe top salaries instead.
So who pays? What gets cut? Well, hardly a day seems to go by without a story in the press claiming that the cost of free personal care for the elderly is “out of control” and “unsustainable” . There are repeated calls to axe near-free prescription charges; to restore the graduate … Continue reading
Pension apartheid: just how bad are private pensions?
It’s war. Public sector unions have promised strikes and hinted at civil unrest if the government tries to cut their “gold plated” final salary pensions. But the £1 trillion unfunded pension liabilities of the public sector, as reported in yesterday’s Herald, are simply unsustainable. This is going to be an epic struggle. The unions … Continue reading
Turn AV day into Constitution Day.
Calamity Clegg rides again. The Liberal Democrats have been inviting ridicule by proposing a referendum they could easily lose on a voting system they don’t actually support. The proposed AV referendum on May 5th, the same day as the Scottish parliamentary elections, will be held at the height of the cuts controversy, with unemployment rising … Continue reading
Don’t mess with union laws.
There’s a rather ugly swagger about the Lib Con government right now. Like insecure playground bullies, they’re puffing out their chests and giving it large. Danny Alexander says 25% cuts aren’t nearly enough. No, I want 40％！ Year! Look at the size of my cuts. George Osborne and David Cameron are jeering at trades unions … Continue reading
Turn the AV referendum into a Constitution Day
Calamity Clegg rides again. The Liberal Democrats have been inviting ridicule this weekend for proposing a referendum they could easily lose on a voting system they don’t actually support. The proposed AV referendum on May 5th, the same day as the Scottish parliamentary elections, will be held at the height of the cuts controversy, with … Continue reading
Mad Max Budget – but is he serious?
After a stunned silence after the most draconian budget in modern times, the country is waking up to what the new age of public austerity will actually mean. Commentators paint a picture of a Mad Max dystopia – a country plunged into depression and decay. Crumbling schools, empty swimming pools, leisure centres boarded up. Feral … Continue reading
Osborne’s Bullingdon Budget
Prepare for a hot autumn, comrades: the class war starts here. Labour have hoist the red flag over Westminster and are preparing bonfires for the Liberal Democrat “collaborators”. This budget, they say, was Bullingdon Man taking his “ideological” retribution against the state using the coalition as cover. It will hit people on low and middle … Continue reading
Iain Macwhirter 