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Tuesday 18 October 2011

Verity Murphy | 14:27 UK time, Tuesday, 18 October 2011

Tonight Joe Lynam will be looking at who the winners and losers are from today's announcement that inflation rose to 5.2% in September from 4.5% the month before, matching the record level set in September 2008.

Paul Mason will be reporting on the spread of the Occupy Wall Street protest to London, where St Paul's cathedral has become an unexpected focal point in the debate over the future of capitalism.

Plus we will be speaking to Oscar-winning film maker Michael Moore about why he backs the movement and how he thinks it should and could evolve.

David Grossman will have analysis of what Sir Gus O'Donnell's report into former defence secretary Liam Fox's association with Adam Werritty contains and will be looking at the broader questions about how the government conducts itself that the row has laid bare.

Mark Urban will give us his take on what the wider impact will be of the exchange of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

And we will have the first interview with tonight's winner of the Man Booker prize.

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    brilliant NN well worth using the iPlayer, but very very disappointed in Jeremy letting that woman off with a meek interview over the Assad butchering of his own people, Jeremy gave the guy who had been shot a hard time saying 'you don't know where this will end ' what a travesty of a question, what a complete insult to the three thousand that have died at the hand of the security forces, so how do you defend the fact that surgeons have been shot for trying to save the lives of demonstrators, what would you say, Jeremy to the surgeons....'don't treat them, you might invite in the Muslim fundamentalists' what an absolutely immature position to take. Jeremy, you should be ashamed of yourself. Sur Lloyd Roberts went undercover and risked arrest to bring us a report well worthy of the license fee and all Paxman could mutter was to defend in the studio that woman apologist for Assad and to grill the freedom fighter....hardly in the best traditions of Newsnight.

  • Comment number 2.

    I was in Israel when the Shalit deal was announced.
    The cynic in me cant help but kick into process.
    Fatah: who had renounced violence as an organisation and had gone for
    the UN route, (which i wholeheartedly commend) which as a result were
    eclipsing the extreme and violent Hamas as a representive for the
    Palestinian national identity cause, has now a reinstated Hamas to
    contend with.
    The "national reconcilitation" process which the Palestinians have been
    involved in rather tentatively can take 2 fronts from here. Either that
    they have a military in the form of Hamas and a political body in the
    form of Fatah, or the reconcialition process breaks down and they go
    back to polarity.
    This may have saved Bibi's poltical career in the short term, but in the
    long term, im not sure. Hamas will undoubtedly start the kind of killing
    spree that they indulged themselves in throughout the 90's when Bibi was
    in government. Wrecking any chances of peace and being triumphant about
    it too. For Bibi, he has reassured the social contract between the state
    and the individual and that in itself will galvanise Israel despite the
    contentions. When i asked friends and relatives at a family gathering on
    a Kibbutz what they thought about it they said "arent you glad to be
    here in this holiday time on the day that Shalit has been released?" I
    said, it was good to see him come home, but about the conversion rate?
    1:1000; with 400 of them being hardcore Hamas Military activists. Not
    just the footsoldiers, but the majors, the corporals and the sargeants
    of the organisation. Another relative responded "these deals are never
    win or lose, they are always win-win AND lose-lose. Its as good as it
    gets"
    A high price to pay, considering that it has been very peaceful in
    comparison to the waves and waves of suicide bombings in the 1990s (even
    right after Oslo) and also the second intifada of the early 2000's after
    camp david.

  • Comment number 3.

    DO WE HAVE ANY INDICATION THAT G.O.D. IS OF UNQUESTIONABLE INTEGRITY?

    There was some secret 'business' over the correspondence between Bush and Blair, well-prior to their private war. He is said to have refused public domain disclosure, and given his reasons only to Chilcot. Not conducive to my trust!

    How does one man get so much power (and pay)? Does not 'power corrupt'? What job will he acquire after leaving office . . .

    I suppose it is just another 'Westminster thing'.

  • Comment number 4.

    Lobbying? Last night Mr Butler (Cabinet Secretary 1988-98) revealed himself to have been a most effective facilitator of Thatcherite/Blairite erosion of the Civil Service (Small DIY Government as Libertarianism). The 600 odd MPs comprising the House of Commons (and similar number of Peers) are supposed to hold inquiries and spend much of their time working on Committees taking evidence from experts in the Public, Private and Third Sectors, So what are all these Special Advisors and Lobbyists ("Casino Jacks") doing if not acting as non-democratically elected agents of anarchistic Libertarianism? Are we to believe that they are just performing as Thespians? People functioning on the public stage for a gawping public because most of the substantive work is done anonymously by the Public Sector? Ultimately it is the function of MPs and Peers to legislate, but that is a slow process. In that process, the 600,000 Civil Servants are supposed to help run the engine of governance which comprises ~6,000,000 Public Sector workers. This is how the nation used to be regulated, but what if there is no nation state? See below....

    Are the "autonomous" protestors (the Guy Fawkes masked ones for those
    unfamiliar) our Civil Servants and Public Sector workers? It wouldn't surprise me given they have the most to lose via all these USA/IMF/Financial Service sector driven "austerity measures" which are basically just efforts to grab assets from the Public Sector . The "autonomous", are, after all, the main targets of these agents of anti-Government (paradoxically MPs and Peers) who appear to be happily shooting themselves left right and centre - but in aid of what you may ask? These are not stupid people, just politicians.

    Listening to Mr Butler last night, this appears to be what has been facilitated by the likes of him (i.e agents of dis-establishment) for several decades. Public Sector inertia, and its demise at the hand of its own Mandarins? He would just have been doing his Prime Minister's bidding after all.



    So I say to all those who call for change - BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR as it may be exactly what some behind the scenes are after and not at all what you envisage. Look at what happened in Gaza in 2005, in Iraq/Afghanistan, and more recently, in North Africa after Arab Spring.

    JohnConstable wrote: "All we English need is for our fellow English people to finally understand that that we live in England, not Britain (politically speaking), the we English will get somewhere."

    Good point, but does it go far enough? England has been Balkanised into Regional Development Agencies or Eurostat NUTS of about 6 million each (like Scotland). Hence some live in London ' overseen' by light-touch Mr Johnson. They don't live in England. The rest of the EU NUTS are slowly becoming aware of their isolation too. Is it for the best, or is it just in the best interests of those who benefit from milking consumers as shareholders, many of whom may not be domiciled here, that is the question. There can be no national Public Sector ultimately. How could there be, if there is no nation?

  • Comment number 5.

    "the debate over the future of capitalism."

    I sincerely hope that first and foremost that the piece from Paul spells out that we don't really have Capitalism in this country! See:



    "The banks got bailed out, and we got sold out" is the mantra from the OWS protesters.

    Making this an argument of for / against Capitalism just sets up the same futile straw men arguments and leads us into spurious debates.

    We are suffereing from Crony Capitalism, and this should unite the 99% of us, whether Left, Right, Green, Red or Blue.

  • Comment number 6.

    /news/uk-15347868

    Several summer looters get four years at a cost of hundreds of thousands of pounds to the Public Sector (in terms of court and prison time), whilst those they were allegedly rioting about carry on doing what they do with impunity because what they're doing ISN'T illegal, even though it's far more costly to the very Public Services which are prosecuting and imprisoning the aforementioned looters.

    That's how mixed up this Libertarian political-economic system now is.
    This is not justifying the petty looting, just pointing out that the Financial Service sector "looters" cost everyone much more, and that by doing nothing about their behaviour, legal though it is, we just encourage it, which in turn will encourage petty looting etc.....

  • Comment number 7.

    IT JUST GETS WORSE

    Retiring MEP, Roger Helmer, responded to the Liar Flyer in an email to me (pasted from his email) "The fact is that neither Labour nor Conservative won the General Election outright." Here is a reminder of the 5-lie Liar Flyer:



    See if you can match his response to its content - I can't. Is this governance material?

    RIOT CEREBRALLY - CHALLENGE YOUR MP

  • Comment number 8.

    amazing one sided coverage of the prisoner exchange. anyone would think there was only 1 person involved.

  • Comment number 9.

    when will the govt ask the israelis for a list of the names of british citizens fighting or who have fought for israel so they can be prosecuted?

    i see cameron is no longer the patron of the jnf. even his stomach must of churned then?

  • Comment number 10.

    What a pity we didn't have the Ministerial Code when Labour were in govt - their 13 years in office would probably have lasted no longer than 13 months & we probably wouldn't have had three or four wars to deal with & a national debt that our grandchildren will be paying off.

    UK population would still be a very over-crowded 55 million instead of currently heading for a sweaty 63 million.

    University tuition fees - probably free now in England etc etc

    Well done Gus O' Donnell - that's it, get out before Chilcott wakes up & comes back from sabbatical!

    What I want to know is when are Labour going to be required to declare their TU funding on the 'register of interests'?

  • Comment number 11.

    9.At 18:35 18th Oct 2011, jauntycyclist wrote:
    when will the govt ask the israelis for a list of the names of british citizens fighting or who have fought for israel so they can be prosecuted?
    >

    "Prosecuted" - whatever for?

  • Comment number 12.

    NOT HIS STOMACH - HIS PR INSTINCT (#9)

    If Cameron can stomach blatant falsehoods for gain, vilification of the defenceless (poor Nick, trapped by ambition) and having his FACE REMODELLED TO BE ATTRACTIVE, his stomach is of Titanium reinforced Tungsten. No - his vulnerability is his need to be seen AS WHAT HE IS NOT.

    WE GOT OURSELVES ANOTHER ONE

  • Comment number 13.

    jauntycyclist wrote "amazing one sided coverage of the prisoner exchange. anyone would think there was only 1 person involved."

    You say that tongue-in-cheek I suspect, but just to spell it out, if most of the MainStream Media is in the hands of the Private Sector, and the editors are answerable to their CEOs and they to their shareholders, one has to ask who the shareholders are, and who lends the companies the money to run these businesses. As it's unlikely to be the same people who fund PressTV and RT it is a bit of a non brainer. Israel is not a military ally, but it is a friend. Radical Islam doesn't like our banking system....

  • Comment number 14.

    nautonier wrote:"9.At 18:35 18th Oct 2011, jauntycyclist wrote:
    when will the govt ask the israelis for a list of the names of british citizens fighting or who have fought for israel so they can be prosecuted?
    >
    "Prosecuted" - whatever for?"

    because Jauntycyclist knows that technically it is against UK law for British citizens to fight for a foreign army. This has been discussed in Parliament and the Government tends to turn a blind eye, as Israel is considered a friend. It is not however, a military ally. It raises issues about people going to fight for say Pakistan etc. What would happen if the USA declared war on Pakistan for instance? Divided loyalties. There are legal issues here.

  • Comment number 15.

    14.At 19:26 18th Oct 2011, brown-dog wrote:
    nautonier wrote:"9.At 18:35 18th Oct 2011, jauntycyclist wrote:
    when will the govt ask the israelis for a list of the names of british citizens fighting or who have fought for israel so they can be prosecuted?
    >
    "Prosecuted" - whatever for?"

    >
    Really which/what "law" - seeing as the 大象传媒 is actively covering Libyans fighting in Libya & portraying them as war heros on local TV

    Also, should mean that those who have fought in e.g. Iraq & Afghanistan against Britain can be convicted without 'terrorist convictions'

    There is something absolutely perverse about the way our English/British law is being operated or ignored in terms of outcomes or the lack of them

  • Comment number 16.

    #7 barriesingleton

    Have you tried writing a letter to the Queen?

  • Comment number 17.

    PINKER SAYS MANKIND IS GETTING LESS VIOLENT (#15)

    Not to logic and reason he isn't!

    PERVERSITY RULES (My MP has already won the Plastic Cross.)

  • Comment number 18.

    5.At 16:54 18th Oct 2011, Hawkeye_Pierce wrote:
    "the debate over the future of capitalism."

    We are suffereing from Crony Capitalism, and this should unite the 99% of us, whether Left, Right, Green, Red or Blue.

    >
    Without the right 'vehicle' none of this will not get off the ground?

  • Comment number 19.

    17.At 19:59 18th Oct 2011, barriesingleton wrote:

    BTW - Who is 'PINKER'?

  • Comment number 20.

    15
    >
    Really which/what "law" - seeing as the 大象传媒 is actively covering Libyans fighting in Libya & portraying them as war heros on local TV


    It is illegal under the Foreign Enlistment Act 1870 (c.90) for a British Citizen to serve in the armed forces of another country because:

    鈥淚f any person, without the license of Her Majesty, being a British subject, within or without Her Majesty鈥檚 dominions, accepts or agrees to accept any commission or engagement in the military or naval service of any foreign state at war with any foreign state at peace with Her Majesty, and in this Act referred to as a friendly state, or whether a British subject or not within Her Majesty鈥檚 dominions, induces any other person to accept or agree to accept any commission or engagement in the military or naval service of any such foreign state as aforesaid,鈥 He shall be guilty of an offence against this Act, and shall be punishable by fine and imprisonment, or either of such punishments, at the discretion of the court before which the offender is convicted; . . .鈥

    (Annotations: Amendments (Textual) Words omitted by virtue of (E.W.) Criminal Justice Act 1948 (c. 58), s. 1(2) and (S.) Criminal Procedure ( Scotland ) Act 1975 (c. 21), s. 221(2))

  • Comment number 21.

    20.At 20:28 18th Oct 2011, brown-dog wrote:
    15

    >
    That old load of Guff!
    No one bothers about that - too many Brits have fought thir way around the world's armies & conflicts since 1870 to worry about that as is unenforceable & otherwise easily avoided by not having had a commission or having enlisted.
    Spanish Civil War?
    Angolan Mercenaries from UK?
    Sirerra Leone - questionable?

    A good example of a redundant & archaic statute like the laws on vagrancy as improperly interpreted & still improperly & quietly used by the police.

    No wonder the UK is in such a mess as too many issues like this are unresolved & cannot be resolved under EU & with HRA?

    Personally, if a UK citizen wishes to go & fight for another country like e.g. Israel - What law or legal situation is either going to stop them from doing it or, indeed, the one's already doing this?

  • Comment number 22.

    Disappointing Syrian discussion Jeremy (1#)

    I'd like to second Stevie's concern (at 1#). Jeremy during your discussion you ignored your own 'independent' report gathered at some risk not to mention expense in favour of some sort of appeasment of a middle class Syrian that for all we know is a paid up member of the Syrian Secret Services. Watching you not 'lay into' a guest and allowing that guest to grill another was painful. I hope you make ammends and invite her back for a grilling at some future point.

  • Comment number 23.

    First it was the Catholics....now it's the Muslims.

    /news/education-15256764

    Child abuse claims at UK madrassas 'tip of iceberg'

    By Fran Abrams

  • Comment number 24.

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

  • Comment number 25.

    "Personally, if a UK citizen wishes to go & fight for another country like e.g. Israel - What law or legal situation is either going to stop them from doing it or, indeed, the one's already doing this?"

    Whilst laws don't directly stop people from behaving in any way, they can be used to justify prosecuting people for behaving in proscribed ways. In this country the CPS has some discretion. You asked, I answered.

  • Comment number 26.

    25.At 21:55 18th Oct 2011, brown-dog wrote:
    "Personally, if a UK citizen wishes to go & fight for another country like e.g. Israel - What law or legal situation is either going to stop them from doing it or, indeed, the one's already doing this?"

    Whilst laws don't directly stop people from behaving in any way, they can be used to justify prosecuting people for behaving in proscribed ways. In this country the CPS has some discretion. You asked, I answered.

    >

    Thank you for that - but I don't think anyone has ever been prosecuted - even last century - using that 1870 law.

    If the CPS can't lock those up visiting dangerous countries on a regular basis for several months or even years at a time - I don't see anyone needing to be concerned about the CPS & the old 1870 law being applied.

  • Comment number 27.

    museV wrote: "First it was the Catholics....now it's the Muslims."

    Perhaps one should read this incitement of hostility/retribution, which is what this provocation of Catholics and Muslims risks doing, as emitted pathological behaviour comorbid with the Axis II identity disorders - cf. masochism - i.e like those (often females alas) who provoke others to hurt them, instead of they themselves self-harming? It is certainly problem behaviour. Sadly it is perverse, and more common than many appreciate.

  • Comment number 28.

    When Merv chooses to ignore 5.2% inflation and instead squints into the distance, foresees below target inflation in a year or so and immediately prints 拢75bn a wise person might want to take a good long look as Mystic Merv's success rate when it comes to crystal ball gazing.

    Of course when the economy picks up and oil, food and all the other commodities surge in price Merv will be 'surprised' by it as always...

    Why is rampant inflation tolerated year after year, yet the slightest hint of deflation and the printing presses are fired up?

    It can't be because they are trying to keep an over inflated housing bubble from collapsing can it?
    They wouldn't really bury us all under a tide of inflation for that...would they?

  • Comment number 29.

    I can't really see Labour's point on cutting VAT, most people struggling financially at the moment pay very little VAT, except on top of fuel duty, and now essential things like the phone, no VAT on plain food and only 5% on energy anyway. It looks like Labour is aiming its spin at the brain dead Ten Bob Fat Cats, an increasingly diminishing group these days as most intelligent people attempt to pay off their debts.

    If the government needs money it could cut the entire 18 bn Climate Scam budget and use the saving to cut the road fuel duty which is one of the primary root causes of the current inflation figures. Similarly removing the " private " green taxes on energy bills, at least 9% according to Ofgem, even if the Daily Mail alleged 15% seems more credible to most people.

  • Comment number 30.

    Outstanding interview by Jeremy with Michael Moore :o) Just looked up the Occupy Wall Street site's demands to Congress

    Having skimmed through them, they do not seem to be a bad list of proposals.

  • Comment number 31.

    nautonier wrote: "Thank you for that - but I don't think anyone has ever been prosecuted - even last century - using that 1870 law."

    There are lots of other laws about banking and finance too. Whilst some were changed in 2000 (deregulation), others remain, and whilst the FSA and SFO are supposed to regulate in our best interests, i.e enforce them, the CPS doesn't prosecute, perhaps because of lack of evidence and not enough staff. It's a bit of a mess, this shrinkage of the state lark. But that's Libertarianism for you. I hope you like your freedom - it looks remarkably like anarchism to me.

  • Comment number 32.

    Also loved the debate with Anna Soubry et al too. Always great to see her on

  • Comment number 33.

    Oh Man!

    Has the significance of the sponsor of the 'Booker' prize registered.

    Who or what are the Man group?

    Oh, surely not the hated bankers/financiers/hedge fund managers?

    Bravo.

    拢50k for the winner (plus the hoped for substantially increased sales). Twice as much (at least) to wine and dine the 'great and the good'.

    Peas in the seas?

  • Comment number 34.

    RESTRUCTURED ECONOMICS BUTTER NO PARSNIPS

    Michael Moore holds the view of many: that we can 'start from here'.

    I am in no doubt that world madness will only be reversed by CULTURAL changes of a fundamental nature: Elevate motherhood, cosset the pregnant, nurture the newborn, indulge the very small, enlighten the child, pre-warn the adolescent. With luck, this will up-grade the LIFE-COMPETENCE of the typical individual, yielding far fewer demon-driven, needy juveniles, to strive for positions of power, and many more aware individuals TO MAKE SURE THEY DON'T GET ANY!

    I keep pointing out that we have sufficient knowledge and gizmos to detect unconducive types, but we still allow feudal norms and Ape urges to dominate the show. Civilisation it aint.

    CEREBRAL RIOTING!

    PS (#19) Pinker is Steven Pinker. qv

  • Comment number 35.

    RAW AMBITION IN A WOMAN IS DEEPLY UNAPPEALING (#32)

    I suppose it takes a man to feel it.

  • Comment number 36.

    #28 muggwhump

    "Why is rampant inflation tolerated year after year, yet the slightest hint of deflation and the printing presses are fired up?"

    Well maybe because deflation would be even worse!

    Inflation ain't good, but think, it's largely been caused lately by the energy companies, VAT rises, fuel rises, food price rises.

    Now how would an interest rate rise making families homeless and knocking out business borrowing to create jobs have any effect on the above?

    I'm near to retirement. My annuity potential level has gone down. I have savings which are making far less. But I'm also thinking about the future of my children and grandchildren!

  • Comment number 37.

    #30

    Found the occupy London equivalent,



    All a bit heath robinson thus far on the site, which is good, shows it is genuine.

    I hope they stick it out, was pleasing to see the Pastor welcome the vanguard of protestors to the steps of the church.

    It gives them a solid base from which it will be hard to turf them out of either legally or culturally. They are protected under the wing of a preserved architectural delight and the 'sanctuary' cultural taboo of holy ground, a sleeping dagger of the divine in the heart of the global exploitation that is financial London.

    A very modern protest protected from elitist protagonists by both ancient taboo, tresspass law and a paradoxical modern 'fear to offend religion' which permeates all levels of the existing hierarchy....

    Locationaly, the steps of St pauls is a very defendable platform, quite possibly 'perfect' .

    I find that dynamic in itself fascinating, maybe even beautiful.

    The hand of god maybe?

    Now that would really set the cat amongst the pigeons within the elite kleptocracy.

  • Comment number 38.

    Mistress76uk wrote: "Outstanding interview by Jeremy with Michael Moore
    :o) Just looked up the Occupy Wall Street site's demands to Congress"

    Watch the RT Keiser interview with Saifedean Ammous on the risk of the OWS and other autonomous protests being co-opted by the major parties and/or by celebrities. These abuse any grass-roots movements for their own self-interests, at which point, genuine expression of people will lose momentum.



    Think Cult of Personality and narcissism, the very flaws which created the problems and which anonymous people have been tacitly protesting about.

    Once "astro-turfers" (like the TEA Party movement) and celebrities (like
    Moore) move in for the limelight, it will all goes back to square one.

  • Comment number 39.

    'Paul Mason will be reporting on the spread of the Occupy Wall Street protest to London'

    Not iPlayerworthy to check, but the mechanisms of how that spread has been managed might surely be a worthy component?

    paulmasonnews Paul Mason
    RT @PennyRed: Report for @NewStatesman - Inside Madrid's Puerta del Sol protest bit.ly/qRhT6G #15O #ows #occupyeverywhere


    What is interesting in these protests is the age composition.

    There seem few older generation representatives, especially from those who have worked all their lives and paid into a system that, via government and financial sector ineptitude and connivance, ably shaped by many media, has bottomed out. You might think these guys would be most aggrieved.

    Yet the majority seem to be younger folk, more concerned with what they are not so likely to be given in the future, and less so with the consequences with legacies their demands for preferential rates now will knock on.

  • Comment number 40.

    31.At 23:04 18th Oct 2011, brown-dog wrote:
    nautonier wrote: "Thank you for that - but I don't think anyone has ever been prosecuted - even last century - using that 1870 law."

    There are lots of other laws about banking and finance too. Whilst some were changed in 2000 (deregulation), others remain, and whilst the FSA and SFO are supposed to

    >
    It looks & sounds to me that the judiciary/CPS etc is another branch of govt that has become over-politicised and is in an EU straight-jacket with issues like EU HRA decisions

  • Comment number 41.

    May one commend the sterling work currently underway, across a variety of topics, by a Newsynighty special correspondent 'source'*.



    Recent favourites:

    If anyone can bring some organic cement to #DaleFarm it would be appreciated (Fair Trade too please)

    We condemn @PennyRed Carbon Footprint but welcome her prose, that despite being sold is a bayonet stabbing the Capitalists #OccupyLSX


    *Disclaimer: As with many other twitter based news items, this may, or may not be accurate.

  • Comment number 42.

    THE POETRY OF POST #37

    Bravo Jericoa!

    #39 - Junkk: It is to be hoped the older cohort (going forward, in the dissent-space) are delivering CEREBRAL RIOTING.

    SPOILPARTYGAMES - HARASS YOUR LOCAL MP FOR OVERT SUPPORT

  • Comment number 43.

    Michael Moore talks about the re-distribution of wealth on a regular basis like the good little scallywag Marxist and useful idiot that he is. Hows about you share some of those millions you've made with you movies Michael and take this premise of yours to a level that you may be given credit for having conviction on your beliefs...and maybe people will stop booing you when your in town on a visit buddy. Remind us again how this political ideology of yours worked in China and Cambodia Michael..go on, tell us Michael.

    I'm not Anti-capitalist...I'm anti-theft. I'll give an answer to the global financial theft -something Michael Moore could'nt do on Newsnight. Reform the corporate and bankster welfare system.

  • Comment number 44.

    does anyone think muslims protesting about something would be allowed to camp for days outside St Pauls?

    any idiot can protest but it takes skill and intelligence to create wealth. So which are these campers? the skilful and intelligent or the idiots?

    the narrative of 'against' something is not the same as articulating what you are for. You can hide a lot of bad thinking in an 'against' campaign.


    Blair created a generation of unemployed who have been to university. so they agitate rather than drink beer and watch tv.

  • Comment number 45.

    .

    Just as the effects of inflation lags behind QE , so do wage and benefit increases lag slowly behind inflation.

    Next year lower inflation ?
    Depends on what happens in the Euro zone this year. If the BOE has to QE more , then that will produce inflation and depress GDP figures over next year.

    Holding its nerve -
    The government should ignore Labours hot air and focus on 鈥済ood鈥 economic growth.
    Any tax reductions should be spent on incentivizing investment in UK production of goods, aka rebalancing the economy . Emphasis should be put on part and tooling manufacturing. Tear up any regulation that needlessly restricts investment , including needlessly expensive green requirements and objections. Any other money left over should be used for spot fire fighting on worthy social problems which arise, not necessarily the people who shout the loudest.
    This Keynesian nightmare is going to start to tail off in a few years time , this is what we should be preparing the economy for, and in so doing, hopefully limiting this nightmares legacies.

    Observation -
    It was only in 2009 when Labour (in government) were decrying the risk of deflation and we had to print money to avoid it, now they are bemoaning there is too much inflation. Some could conclude that there is no pleasing some people.

    Fell asleep during the Mr Moore interview. But I presume you went on to discuss the report into Mr Fox.

    Dr Fox .

    鈥淗owever, for the future we should strengthen the safeguards around this, making clearer who is or is not a member of a Ministerial team/delegation, and that official members of delegations
    accompanying Ministers to meetings overseas must respect HMG鈥檚 foreign policy positions. 鈥

    Is the FCO independent these days or has its policies been harmonized ?

  • Comment number 46.

    Government Foxed Up?

    Tory governments always end in sleaze. they just can't help it.

  • Comment number 47.

    2 year old Chinese baby ran over:

    Those wonderful communist people of China - with the marxist system that Michael Moore is a fan of -and how they ignored a 2 year old child that was run over. I'll link this in the next post but the mod ain't got the nerve to allow it on this 大象传媒 feedback page.. but I'll give it a try anyhow.

  • Comment number 48.

    2 year old Chinese baby ran over:

  • Comment number 49.

    #7
    But Barry, it was.

  • Comment number 50.

    Big respect to the mod!

  • Comment number 51.

    Michael Moore stated that currently 1% of Americans own 40% of 'the cake'.

    In pre-revolutionary Nicaragua, approx. 12 families owned some 94% of 'the cake'.

    In developed economies where there is a clear imbalance between the proportions of cake ownership, there will have to be an adjustment.

    Preferrably non-violent.

  • Comment number 52.

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

  • Comment number 53.

  • Comment number 54.

    goldman

    didn't make a loss. they just used the money to buy back $2 billion worth of shares in the same quarter. however,politically, at this time of anger against wall st it might be convenient to appear to make a loss?

    now they can claim they are poor

  • Comment number 55.

    FAULTY COMPREHENSION OR FAULTY LOGIC? (#49)

    Steve - I hope that is an attempted wind-up. If you are serious, see my title. No point in me explaining . . .

  • Comment number 56.

    I think I pushed my luck with that last one eh moddy!

    Michael Moore and cakes..I had a stack of cake jokes to fire off for a moment there so I did. You can guess how'd they go.

  • Comment number 57.

    @ #55 ref 49 and #7

    No biggie Barrie. I just focused in on the 鈥5-lie Liar Flyer鈥 bit of your post.

    I understand and sympathize with your long standing general anti-political party stance.
    Even if I would not go as far in supporting the banning of political parties. I would support the weakening of the central party control over our Mps and the strengthening of voter controls over our MPs.

    But the media like strong political party leadership , so I doubt there will be any change soon, sadly.

    Still, we have to live in hope or life would become very depressing.

  • Comment number 58.

    No comment

  • Comment number 59.

    How do you spell it Barrie? De-mock-crazy?

  • Comment number 60.

    Yesterday, Newsnight was followed by a staggeringly good programme - the RTS Huw Wheldon Lecture 2011 presented by Bettany Hughes.

    I watch very little TV but if more of this quality was on displa then this viewer would be glued to it.

  • Comment number 61.

    REVISONISM (#59)

    Blimey Lizzy - you have nailed the 'MOCK' there. We are held in contempt by the Westminster Monster, and all the wretched proles can say is : "Duh?" CRAZY INDEED.

    "We must be mad - literally mad . . ."

    In passing, Chris Bryant sounded so HONOURABLE on Radio 5 this morning, I have sent him the Liar Flyer. Will he stand up in the Chamber-pot and declare: UP WITH THIS I WILL NOT PUT"? Or will he not even reply - like many of his ilk before him.

    Nuff sed

  • Comment number 62.

    DAVE'S SHAKE-IT-ALL-ABOUT REFERENDUM? (#59)

    Is it me? If a decision is handed over to the people to decide, surely the government - if it had any integrity - would stay OUT OF IT? Oh - yes - integrity. Nuff sed.

    And what happened to "IN - OUT"? Did the 120, 000 call for THREE options? You can see how it is going to go.

    In passing: I don't think our 650 ciphers have twigged yet: their chicanery is now CUMULATIVE in the collective public mind. Perhaps the underlying hum of monetary misdemeanour, is chiming with EACH dodgy move, BUILDING TO A DAVEBUSTING CRECENDO! That may afford the only chance to

    DISMANTLE WESTMINSTER - INSTALL INTEGRITY. Meanwhile RIOT CEREBRALLY!

  • Comment number 63.

    45.At 12:23 19th Oct 2011, Steve-London wrote:
    Septembers Inflation Figures.

    Just as the effects of inflation lags behind QE , so do wage and benefit increases lag slowly behind inflation.

    Next year lower inflation ?
    Depends on what happens in the Euro zone this year. If the BOE has to QE more , then that will produce inflation and depress GDP figures over next year.

    >

    The 大象传媒 has never asked the ONS or BOE, in public, as to what the precise effect of that policy is on GDP figures.

    The suspicion is that GDP figures are being rather surreptitiously improved by the application of QE monies as 'relevant transactions' for the purposes of calculating UK GDP.

    In other words, the use of QE is in absolute desperation by any UK govt. via the BOE as QE is approved by HM treasury.

  • Comment number 64.

    DESPERATE TIMES. AND STILL VACUOUS CIPHERS BRAY ACROSS THE POTTY (#63)

    It reminds me of the time when two nurses competed for status, as my wife struggled with delivery of our first. Makes you proud.

    RIOT CEREBRALLY - ASK YOUR MP WHY THEY CONDONE THIS - ARE THEY ROSETTE OR REPRESENTATIVE?

  • Comment number 65.

    If you wish to ensure that your MP is representative rather than rosette, then you have to vote for an independent candidate.

    American relatives are staying with us just now, and when we've run out of anything else to say, we might speak of politics and so I mentioned that I did not think there were any independents in the US Senate.

    Untrue, crowed my American relative, look up Bernie Sanders ( he said.

    I did (on Wiki above) and blow me down, Bernie is a self-described democratic socialist, and has praised European social democracy. He is the first person elected to the U.S. Senate to identify as a socialist.

    Maybe Bernie is going to be the first of many socialist politicians in the USA.

  • Comment number 66.

    FOR INDEPENDENT CANDIDATES TO BE ELECTABLE ALL MUST BE INDEPENDENT (#64)

    I think we are broadly agreed JC. Even as I type, major parties, each, have a department (active or primed) dedicated to amassing the maximum war chest allowed (around 拢19M) to 'buy a win' with cunning and deceit. Much of their advertising is NEGATIVE: "Beware of them, and of a wasted vote".

    This defeats almost every Independent candidate, no matter how worthy or relevant. In my view MPs, being a poor bunch, are now out of their depth and vulnerable. If we put them under legitimate pressure, stripping away the rosette and exposing the cipher, we might engender panic in Westminster, and headless-chickenry will do the dismantling job. It would be on a par with the Emperor being seen as naked - 650 connivers ALL EXPOSED AT ONCE!

    Make it so.

  • Comment number 67.

    "FOR INDEPENDENT CANDIDATES TO BE ELECTABLE ALL MUST BE INDEPENDENT"

    I think this man's career demonstrates that. He was the first to push for a parliamentary ombudsman.



    I read his book "A Cassandra at Westminster" in my teens; (I had it from the public library.) It made quite an impression at the time, partly because of some interesting portraits of other politicians. He wrote that there were two, by implication incompatible, Enoch Powells: "Enoch the Evangelist" and "Enoch the Minister."

    Certainly MPs go through transformations. My last MP was a very good backbencher in opposition, but a waste of space in government as a PPS, whip and then junior minister.

  • Comment number 68.

    EVERYONE HAS THEIR PRICE - I HOPE NEVER TO BE OFFERED MINE (#67)

    Power tends to corrupt - added power more likely to.

    Your illustration telling Sasha. It endorses my call for integrity above (below and beside) all else. Unless the Westminster ciphers prize honour above 'honourable', they are all sucked down. And such is the pre-selection process, that honour is detected and rejected - it is not conducive to Westminster Creatureship.

    If only NewsyNighty had the courage to move to enquiry into the psychology, motivation, dives (demons) and ambition (to name but a few) of MPs, with discussion mediated by philosophers and psychologists, their ratings might be healthier.

    Ho hum.

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