Liberal Vision

Breaking News: Mutualists Everywhere Weep!!

*literally puts head in hands and cries*

EDIT: I’ll deal with this tomorrow…

Niall Ferguson on the economic crisis

“Though superficially this crisis seems like a defeat for Smith, Hayek, and Friedman, and a victory for Marx, Keynes, and Polanyi, that might well turn out to be wrong. Far from having been caused by unregulated free markets, this crisis may have been caused by distortions of the market from ill-advised government actions: explicit and implicit guarantees to supersized banks, inappropriate empowerment of rating agencies, disastrously loose monetary policy, bad regulation of big insurers, systematic encouragement of reckless mortgage lending — not to mention distortions of currency markets by central bank intervention.”

- Niall Ferguson,  ”Dead Men Walking“, Foreign Policy. 

B-Day ! Blair at the Iraq inquiry

Ok its go go go….

I for one am fixed to my desk. TV on BBC, PC on Sky with windows open for Guardian /Politics Home and Times blogs.

More police than protestors outside - and probably more media than police. Constant buzz of the overhead helicopter adding interesting sound effect to TV and radio news reports.

I am not going to blog minute by minute updates - more gifted people than I are doing that.  For info I have found the following that all look like good options:  Guardian live blog, The Times’ live blog, Channel 4’s Iraq Inquiry blogger on Twitter, The Daily Telegraph’s live blog, Iraq Inquiry Digest’s live blog, Sky News Twitter feed, FT’s Westminster Blog,Politics Home live blog. Doubtless there are others.

Tags: Chilcot inquiry, Iraq, Tony Blair

Lib Dem Measurement Fascist strikes again….

Greg Mulholland clearly has “Measurement Mania”.  Having sought to ban the word “regular” from our coffee shops last week, he has now gone on record welcoming the law requiring pubs to serve small (125ml) glasses of wine alongside larger measures.

EDM 737  27/01/10

“That this House welcomes the introduction of the law, within the Mandatory Code of Practice, requiring pubs, bars and other similar establishments to offer the choice of a 125ml measure of wine alongside larger measures; notes that this follows campaigning since the introduction of the Sale of Wine (Measures) Bill in 2008 and a campaign by the Good Pub Guide also supported by a number of other organisations; believes that obliging venues to offer 125ml size measures gives consumers greater choice by allowing them to order smaller as well as larger size glasses of wine; further believes that this will help standardise wine measures so that it would be better understood that 125ml is a small measure of wine, 175ml medium and 250ml large; further notes that this will mean people will have a better idea of how much they are drinking at any venue; further believes that this is a simple and effective method of increasing alcohol awareness amongst wine drinkers; further notes that this measure need not mean using 125ml sized glasses of wine but that this measure can be dispensed in a 175ml glass with a measure; and looks forward to the implementation of this policy so that consumers everywhere have real choice of wine glass measures everywhere they go”.

This statement refers to the Home Office Mandatory Code Of Practice for alcohol retailers which will, subject to Parliamentary timetable, introduce the following mandatory licensing conditions for pubs, clubs etc: Banning irresponsible promotions;Banning pouring drinks directly into the mouths of customers;Ensuring free tap water for customers; and Ensuring that all on trade premises offer small measures of beers, wine and spirits to customers.

The last of these measures - the one that Greg Mulholland commends to the House - will have no meaningful effect on drinking levels in this country nor on the takings or profits of the pubs. 

Even so it’s annoying and pretty absurd that yet again this Government is telling people its not their fault if they get rat-faced, but somehow the retailers. And I cant see for the life of me why the Home Office thinks that the minority of people hell-bent on going out on a Friday night with the sole aim of getting legless will somehow now desist because there is a mandated option of a small glass of wine on the menu. As for stopping drinks promotions in pubs, that will simply result in people drinking copious amounts away from the scrutiny of responsible landlords. Then go to the pub! The world has gone barking mad. 

Speaking of which, the bit that intrigues me in Greg Mulholland’s EDM is the bit  I highlighted in blue (above).Arrgh!!!  Does anyone know where,when and why an otherwise bright, sane Lib Dem MP turned into the Measurement Facist of old London Town?

Chris Huhne was talking last week about the swathes of needless legislation that has been introduced by this Government over the last decade when current laws exist already to deal with the issues raised? So. If it is true as the Home Office says “The majority of alcohol retailers behave responsibly, but a minorityconduct irresponsible promotions or practices - the mandatory code will stop these where they take place.“, then Councils already have the power they need to stop the irresponsible few - withdraw their licences. End of.. Why the need for MORE legislation? And why is Greg Mulholland praising something that Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary must surely condemn?

Methinks someone should take Greg to a quiet corner and give him a chill pill.

Tags: Chris Huhne, EDM, Greg Mulholland, Mandatory code of practice for alcohol retailers

Obama - it’s the economy stupid

I stayed up late last night to watch the President’s State of the Union address. A year in and Barack Obama has seen his approval ratings plummet. Then again this was a man who a year ago people thought was god. It seemed that just by voting for Obama, Americans believed all their woes would be over.

When they woke up and found it took a bit more than that,  the nation was shocked and appauled. Superman had been hit with a large chunk of kryptonite and things were not all mother and apple pie at the ranch. So this was a speech designed to appeal to the middle classes of America who have shown through poll ratings - and that Massachusettes Massacre - that they expected better. They care more about jobs than healthcare reform (or more accurately “insurance reform”). Surprise surprise.

Overall it was a sound if unthrilling speech -a bit of an acknowledgement that he and his administration could do better, and quite a bit of finger wagging at the Republicans, the pundits and the media for not pulling together more. It was probably too long - and probably tried to cover too many things. It wasnt a bad speech, I dont think Obama can do a bad speech, but it wasnt a great speech.

If  Obama is capable of such a thing as a u-turn this was it. Obama has at last realised that what matter is jobs. Yes folks, it’s the economy stupid. Healthcare was indeed in yesterdays speech - but it was jobs, wealth creation, and tax incentives for business that featured prominently in the opening of his address. Obama has definitely got the message. “Jobs must be our number one focus in 2010, and that’s why I’m calling for a new jobs bill tonight” received the most rapturous applause of the speech as far as I could tell. He proposed small business tax credits on creating jobs and raising salaries; abolishing all capital gains tax on investment for small businesses and tax incentives for all businesses. (This comes after the “big spend”  jobs bill passed with the smallest of majorities in December, including some big infrastructure spending, ran into problems in the Senate. Even Democrats are running out of enthusiasm for more spending). Ok we might have heard the tax breaks for businesses line before in his campaign promises - and not acted on for a 12 months - but by jove I think he’s finally got it.

You will doubtless have read much more thorough analysis elsewhere that cover in detail the other speech highlights; cutting the defecit from 2011( the fact that it wont start for another year brought audible giggles from the floor); education; lots of green energy investment;  another predicatable swipe at Wall Street; another (equally predictable) call for bipartisanship ( have the Republicans not already made it clear that they dont want to play?) and an attack on the Supreme Court ruling last week that gutted Campaign Finance restrictions etc.

What I was looking for as much as anything was his style of delivery - his tone. Serious and repentent, acknowledging he was wrong to spend so much effort on healthcare reform and bail outs and not enough on jobs and the economy? Or the unflappable Obama of old, cool and confident.

His tone was probably about right. Relaxed (no sign of nerves here) but sombre for large swathes of the speech. Its a marginal call but I think a tad too cocky and a shade light on humility - though it, and some self-deprecation, were there to be seen - but quite definitely defiant in his attitude towards the Republicans ( a kind of “play with me or else” approach). He may have taken a few blows in the last 12 months, but he certainly looks like a man still up for the fight. One thing that struck me in particular - his advisors would have been wise to school Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi not to sit there looking quite so smug - grinning like cheshire cats. Not good given their end of year report was definitely a D/E . It is perhaps odd that having spent so much time on his speech, as has been reported, he didn’t take more time to sort out that back line - especially as they were in shot for the vast proportion of his speech.  

So, America is moving, it would seem, towards more business friendly times - and the sobering realisation that it must now turn its attention to the trillion of dollars of debt it has amassed.

Tags: Biden, obama, Pelosi, stateof the union address 2010

“That credit crunch ain’t a liquidity trap, just a broke banking system, I’m done - that’s a rap.”

Back on my now-virtually-dormant blog, I posted a rap video from across the pond to mark the start of the US stimulus package, kicked off by the legendary George W. Bush.

Now that we’re further in these stimulus attempts, I’m delighted to bring you a follow-up, to aid your understanding of the ideological Keynes v Hayek battle.

Enjoy…

Tags: hayek, keynes, macro economics, stimulus package

Sexed up documents, personal attacks on their critics.. no it’s not Iraq.. it’s Global Warming

A cause for celebration! Reports that the the Himalayan glaciers will have melted by 2035 have been greatly exagerated. Well totally made up in actual fact. 

I thought hard before deciding to post on this. I have posted on this subject  before (”I am trying very hard not to be a climate change denier “). My concerns have surrounded the over-reliance on “computer models” to predict apocalyptic circumstances; the lack of clarity on what assumptions have been input into these models, based on what ground research and with what level of confidence ? These questions have not been answered. And not only have they not been answered - but those asking these and other questions have been accused of  being “flat earthers”, ”climate change deniers” and worse. We have been told that there is a total scientific concensus on global warming and those that speak out are mad, malicious or on the payroll of some multinational.

But in reality I did not have to think about it very long. Indignation got the better of me. Because I do actually care about this planet and think the way to getting to the right course of action on the issue of climate change is with hard science, reasoned debate and honesty. Not by governments or its institutions thinking that they can short cut this because they know the problem and the answer and the rest is just media management.  

So it was with fury and frustration, not satisfaction, that I learned that the scientist behind the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report in 2007 has finally publicly admitted that the line about disappearing glaciers was nothing more than a bit of “sexing up” to put political pressure on world leaders. No evidence at all to support the notion. Nada.

This makes old Alistair Campbell’s attempts during the Iraq affair look positively amateurish by comparison. If you missed the coverage over past few days, it went something like this… Two magazine articles appeared in 1999 stating that glaciers were set to disappear by 2035. This information was then recycled by WWF in 2005 without any fact checking. The IPCC then used the WWF report as the sole basis for its assertions in 2007 because they thought it would “impact policy makers and politicians to take some concrete action“. Never mind the truth.

This was a report from the revered IPCC (”the leading body for the assessment of climate change, established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic consequences”), involving an esteemed working group and reviewed by 500+ external reviewers. So what went wrong?

Well the Global Warming Policy Foundation (Nigel Lawson’s new group) will publish an analysis of those 500 or so formal review comments tomorrow. But in essense a good number of highly regarded indidivuals and institutions did raise questions, ask for clarification, query the level of confidence and indeed urge the IPCC group to withdraw the assertion of glacier melting as patently untrue. As far as one can tell from the information available to date, they were simply ignored. 

Worse than that. And here’s another bit of  indignation… A report published by the Indian Government just last November written by geologist Vijay Kumar Raina, stating that “Himalyan glaciers have not in anyway exhibited, especially in recent years, an abnormal annual retreat” was dismissed as “voodoo science” by the chairman of the IPCC  who said “With the greatest of respect this guy retired years ago and I find it totally baffling that he comes out and throws out everything that has been established years ago.”

Last week the IPCC was forced to withdraw its claim over the melting glaciers as it has no scientific foundation. The WWF has likewise issued a retraction.  

Heads should roll over how these claims of glacier melting ever found their way into the IPCC report. But what is almost worse is the assertion by the IPCC when questioned that “everything has been established years ago”.

Yet again it calls into question the whole issue. Who should we trust? How do we even know who we should trust? How much more of the “scientific concensus” on global warming and its causes is built on so-called science “established years ago”. As I post this I learn that another IPCC claim linking global warming to natural disasters has now also come under question. Oh dear…….

Tags: climate change, glaciers melting, global warming, Global Warming Policy Foundation, IPCC, WWF

Now we want to ban the word “regular” in coffee shops!

Like all bad habits, it started as a occassional indulgence and has grown into something approaching an obsession. Reading Early Day Motions that is. I wonder if there is a Govt dept that can help me with this addiction?

I do however commend this activity to you. It provides an interesting insight into MP’s real concerns and motivations. It also throws up some shockers.

Take this one from Greg Mulholland, Lib Dem MP for Leeds Northwest. EDM 620

“That this House supports the Plain English Campaign on its attempts to prohibit the use of the word regular in coffee shops and cafés; notes that this term is a meaningless description creating confusion; regrets the Americanisation of the English language in this country; commends the Plain English Campaign for its efforts to promote clear language in public life; and calls on all coffee shops and similar establishments to use English terms and one standardised and universally understood system of measurement, such as small, medium and large.”

PROHIBIT the use of the word “REGULAR” in coffee shops?

Oh come on Greg. What is that all about? The word “regular” is confusing? Just do what the rest of us do and ask to see what size cup you get for a regular, or ask for your coffee in “one of those big fat mugs” or point at a cup and say “that sort of size”. And to say that coffee shops should be forced to use “English terms” - whatever that means - is frankly worrying.

Supposing its an Italian or French cafe? And even if it isn’t, so what if its a pretentious American cafe that prefers the word “Venti” to big or huge? A Starbuck’s venti is, in actual fact a twenty ounce coffee drink (about a pint) - from the Italian word for twenty (at least that’s what they told me when I asked many moons ago). Strikes me thats far more descriptive than “large”, which means (to the common man at least) “bigger than average” . How does that help anyone?

In any event I dont think its my place, and certainly not an elected MP’s place to start telling businesses what to call their products - no matter how silly. If customers dont like the word “regular” they will soon let them know. 

Putting this mini rant into context, only 14 others joined Greg in signing this motion -  7 Labour MPs and 4 Lib Dems (only 1 tory). Hmmmm. And we are supposed to be the home of liberalism? This sounds more like a sketch from Little Britain.

To be fair, Greg did redeem himself to some extent a couple of days later (20th Jan) with EDM 666 calling for the House to support the second reading of the Live Music bill (which will create an exemption from licences for small venues such as pubs).  Getting rid of bureacracy and needless red tape..that’s more like it.

Overall however, could do better.

UPDATE: In response to an email - the Lib Dem MPs that signed the banning of the word “regular” in coffee shops were: Mark Hunter, Mike Hancock, John Leach and Stephen Williams.

Tags: early day motion, EDM, Greg Mulholland, regular, Starbucks

Government lecturing is ruining my weekends

As is quite common these days, my much-loved weekend of sport was once again intermittantly interrupted with Government messages attempting make me a better citizen, protect me from my own stupidity, or both. I am not sure if this is a reflection of the fact that football fans have been profiled as well below par on the intelligence scale, or if its that something approaching 90% of my TV consumption is either sport or news and such ads can be found in equal abundance elsewhere.  

I know that I have moaned about this before - but the sheer volume of these ads - and the absurdity of the content seems to be getting worse. And frankly they are beginning to spoil my weekends. This weekend I was informed by those that know better, that if I kill a 5 year old whilst driving my car it will haunt me for the rest of my life; leaving my valuables in plain sight of burglars in my home is asking for trouble; taking the battery out of my smoke alarm means it doesn’t work as well (ok doesnt work at all); that I should take a clamidya test; learn new skills; visit Gov.co.uk; join the navy, or the marines;  and that I can save the planet if I will only drive my car 5 miles less each week. And I am sure I have missed some……

Television shares must surely be set to take a  tumble as it slowly dawns on people that we cant actually afford to subsidise broadcasters in this fashion any longer (just last Spring it was reported that the Government was bombarding us with 10,000 ads a day and was set to become Britains single biggest advertiser.)  I thought that I had read that Government was set to slash spending on this nonsense, but when I ask you. When?

It’s hard to say which of these many ads is most annoying. But the one that strikes me as easily the most hypocritical is the last of these - the one about driving 5 miles less each week.

Take the Foreign Secretary David Milliband. Up until May last year ceratinly this was the man seeking to hire his own private jet for overseas visits rather than catch a charter flight like the rest of us. This weekend I read that the same minister - and avowed atheist - is now sending his first born to a Church of England School some 2 miles away.  In making his selection , he has spurned a top notch (secular) state primary school just 80 yards from his home with an “outstanding” OFSTEAD report (and presumably within easy walking reach) in favour of a  faith school some 2 miles away (which I very much doubt will be reached a la foot).

The choices that parents make for their children’s education is a private matter of course. But I for one an getting a bit tired of being lectured to consistently that I should do MY bit for the environment and then witness ministers swishing around in their black limosines, put out tenders for private jets and ignore perfectly good - genuinely local - schools in favour of some school some 2 miles away with slightly better results.

More generally I am just tired of all of them. The ads I mean. They are variously partonising, tiresome, threatening or meaningless (and in some cases all of the above). Give me the Meerkats, the Evian roller babies, or Cadbury’s gorilla any day of the week.

Tags: David Miliband, faith schools, Government advertising

Photographer not a terrorist

If you are at a loss as to what today, you could do a lot worse than make your way down to Trafalgar Square with your camera 1200 til 1300..

There is a protest going on calling for the government to repeal the idiotic  anti-terror legislation that has resulted (amongst other things) in reasonable law-abiding folks, doing nothing more threatening than taking snaps of Britains beloved sites, being subject to harrassment, search and arrest. 

Much to the annoyance of professionals - bemusement of the few tourists left in this country - and indignation of those that care about our civil liberties - you hang around an urban area with a camera these days and chances are you will find yourself explaining to aggressive men in blue who you are,where you are from and what the hell you’re doing.  

The campaign photographernotaterrorist.org  was started in the wake of a series of high-profile detentions of photographers by police under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

Last week, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the stop and search powers detailed in this act breached the right to privacy. But we all know it takes a tad more than that these days to get the message through to the powers that be.

So. If you get a chance, get along Trafalgar Square 1200.  Details here

Can’t get there? Spend 5 minutes in their online shop . The hoodies and T Shirts, bags and badges are seriously cool.

Tags: photographer not a terrorist, photography, protest, section 44, terrorism act