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General Ramblings
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16 September 2008 |
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I can see why people get confused by politics having just watched The Politics Show I’ve seen.
1) Fiona McTaggart saying having a leadership election now Browns installed and has been leader for a year will actually strengthen him and make him more secure in his job.
2) Charles Kennedy saying Clegg’s new policy of LibDem tax cuts is a continuum of his own of tax increases, an extra penny on income tax and higher taxes on the rich. |
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General Ramblings
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12 September 2008 |
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Just had a dream! We're heading for one of our intermittant standing crises. I'd call it devaluation if it weren't such an emotive word. |
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General Ramblings
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08 September 2008 |
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September is the cruelest month politically. Poltical life now resumes as pundit vultures hover over Gordon. There's an ominous silence from his cabinet colleagues and angry muttering from the Blairites though only Clarke dares to put it into words.
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General Ramblings
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04 September 2008 |
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Despite strenuous efforts at CPR by Professor Blanchflower, officials confirmed today that the Bank of England is still dead. |
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General Ramblings
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03 September 2008 |
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I'm no Obamamaniac. There's a touch of Blair (and Kinnock) about him but he will have to deliver to his constituency and produce change and fairness or fail. He'll also have a Democratic Congress to push him. So OK then McCain is flagging. Convention aborted and Vice Pres a one woman worm can. |
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Monetary Policy
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02 September 2008 |
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Dear Mervyn
Our advice this month remains the same as the last few months, viz: reduce interest rates substantially so we won`t repeat arguments which are as obvious as they are right.
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General Ramblings
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29 August 2008 |
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The sun beats down outside. The waves break zooming the surfers in and huge flocks of birds dive bomb the poor pilchards.
I sit glued to the Democratic convention in Denver. Better than being there and marvellous to watch.
It's a coronation and the media haven't been able to raise any splits like with the Clinton's sulk (answer: no, she was brillaint) the real excitement is the great splurge of emotion about America, about the party, about the people. |
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General Ramblings
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26 August 2008 |
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Poor old McCain doesn't know how many houses he has (answer: seven). The same question should be put to all British politicians. Include houses overseas. I know several keen supporters of the war in Iraq who have houses in the US but far more enthusiastic pro-Europeans who have a second or third house in France or Italy. Ask me how many I have and I have to say that, being as old as McCain I can't remember. I'll refer you to my wife. The lovely Mrs Rachman.
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General Ramblings
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26 August 2008 |
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Obama promised to text Linda (and 13 million others) with the name of his VP before he told the lesser ledia. The text came at 2.45am. it was on TV at 7am. Sadly we were asleep for both.
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General Ramblings
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21 August 2008 |
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A letter every two days from Obama and last the great offer to tell us first who his Vice President is going to be if we send him our email or text number. Good way of getting mass numbers to keep sending messages to. Looks like he'll pick Joe Biden. I think he should pick a woman. But what does it matter. As lone holder said the job ain't worth a bucket of cold spit. Remember Spirew Agnew as Nixon's VP, "It's autumn and I've got to get back to Washington. The leaves need sweeping up."
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General Ramblings
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19 August 2008 |
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Because it's so nervous about any association with "socialism", for the last 20 years Labour has learned its lessons form the US rather than Social Democratic parties in Scandinavia or Europe.
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General Ramblings
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13 August 2008 |
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John Coates, the Australian swimming coach, is a well known loud mouth but he's quite right to say that British swimmers in Beijing have done quite well for a country with no swimming pools and very little soap. |
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General Ramblings
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11 August 2008 |
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The basic rule in economice (Mitchell's Law) is that it's the exchange rate wot done it. Observe:-The Euro is going up and will go higher. So the powerful German exporting machine falters and slows. It still dominates the EU market but demand from other countries is falling. So Germany will stagnate QED. The dollar is coming down. So the American exporting machine is doing better and will pull the economy along. Britain has suffered because the pound has been far too high for far too long. Now it's coming down and manufacturing will benefit. The one thing holding it back is that the Bank of England is determined to keep sterling as high as possible by high interest rates. Reduce them to American levels and we could have us a party. Quad Erat Demonstrandum.
Read, learn and inwardly digest. Gordon..
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General Ramblings
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08 August 2008 |
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Election campaigns force the parties to set out their policies so the people can choose. Obama has set out Democrat economic policy. Centre pieces are $l50 billion investment in alternative energy to generate jobs and end oil dependence. Support for the automobile industry to develop l50 m.p.g cars. Support for the development of battery technology. Development of clean coal technology. Building fast rail (why the hell don’t they have this in such a big country?)
An attractive manifesto which the Republicans can’t cap. It’s also one which Labour should offer now because it will wrong foot the Tories and more important it would work and generate jobs here. |
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General Ramblings
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06 August 2008 |
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We should have a new rule. No one should criticise Gordon unless they can tell us how they’d deal with the economic crisis which has made both Blairite and Brownite policies irrelevant.
Otherwise hold the noise lads. Fortunately they all will anyway because the Blairites have all gone on holiday abroad. The Brownies are holidaying at home, while we backbenchers hide in pill boxes in our constituencies.
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Monetary Policy
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01 August 2008 |
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Dear Mervyn
The need for the substantial reduction of interest rates which we have been urging on you for some months is now not just increasingly essential but long overdue. A 2% bank rate as in the US seems very appropriate to us, but we know the preponderance of Nervous Nellies in Financial circles and we always want to appear statesmanlike, “sound” and responsible we’ll simply recommend a substantial reduction to you this month; 5% is higher than the rate in major economies and far too high for ours. You must reduce it. |
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General Ramblings
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31 July 2008 |
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The local papers here publish the police log each day. I quote:
“July 15 Police responded to a disturbance outside a flophouse in the 200 block of Beach St. Logs indicated that they arrested a 39 year old woman for local felony and misdemeanor warrants, for as Confucious say ,person with high bail best not have big mouth. |
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General Ramblings
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31 July 2008 |
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Now it can be told. Pretending to go on holiday incognito in Cleethorpes I’ve given the slip to the press pack following me round to try and get hold of my top secret advice to Gordon and fled the country heavily disguised as a senior citizen and come to California to a little seaside town called Cayucos whose only claim to fame is that nothing ever happens. |
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General Ramblings
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31 July 2008 |
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Gordon’s daft decision to go on holiday to Southwold (aka Chelsea on sea) stems from the same kind of lunacy as Bill Clinton doing a public opinion poll on where he should holiday. It’s a pathetic piece of pandering to show himself as English, patriotic and carbon clean. |
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General Ramblings
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28 July 2008 |
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The surprise discovery of old Radovan Karadzic disguised as a New Age Guru, preaching love, peace and acupuncture (by needles not bullets), even to Muslims, raises two questions. |
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