The Radical Centre Radix, which has a piece in today’s City AM, is a radical centre think tank. But what does the radical centre stand for? A glance at the Radix website tells me Market Fundamentalism – but not soft…
Media Democracy Tackling big tech and democratizing journalism were the main topics I took from this year’s Media Democracy Festival in London this Saturday. These things are planned long in advance so I shouldn’t expect people who have been preparing…
Conspiracy The BBC, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), & Financial Conduct Authority have conspired to criminally defraud, bankrupt and asset strip thousands of small businesses throughout the UK. New film Spank the Banker shows that other banks, including state-owned Lloyd’s,…
Although it is a term with which many of us are now familiar, The Public Interest, was, once upon a time, much contested. But, at this point, a few hundreds later, some of the settlements that were arrived at during…
Corbyn is the bookies favourite to replace May
A broken clock is right at least twice a day It’s no secret that the Morning Star swings to the left. And one shouldn’t belittle its fantastic work highlighting underrepresented points of view. But it’s quite remarkable when the newspaper…
John Ford on Blagging. Leveson2 is coming up on Thursday! Full Surveilllance Capitalism on its way.
US Social Commentator HL Mencken once said “No-one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American People”. What in the UK would be classed as a hate crime, turned out to be one of Trump’s greatest performances. Today’s mass…
Hypocrite Tory Peer Karen Brady plans to scam honest British women with new pay rise masterclass fraud.
Behaviouralist Bants So I thought Skinner was the bad guy. The really mechanistic one. Or was it Watson? Who said we are basically all the same and that our feelings and personal stories don’t really matter. That there is no…
Friday’s American Banker highlights extortionate interest rates charged by 20 non-bank lenders in California. I wonder who these firms are. The American Banker says they are non-banks. Licensed to lend but basically unregulated. Steering broke citizens toward high interest loans.…
Pollster slams Tory Treasury Select Committee Chair over Brexit Fraud comments
Morally bankrupt UK Gas regulator Ofgem scratches National Grid and its international investors’s backs
Government caught lying about wanting to get more women into top jobs.
Harmless looking political knockabout masks hard right agenda.
In August 1869 The Daily News published a story about disputed elections in Norwich, in which Sir Henry Stracey, the Conservative candidate, had resorted to a number of notable techniques — such as getting voters sloshed. The extract below sheds light…
Whistleblowers At the Byline Festival this Friday I will be chairing a panel entitled – Whistleblowing: A Practical Guide. The panellists will be: Eileen Chubb, of Compassion in Care. Eileen used to be a carer and she called out neglect…
The Cambridge Apostles The élite intellectual secret society, The Cambridge Apostles, was originally titled Cambridge Conversazione Society It was set up in 1820 and counts John Maynard Keynes and Victor Rothschild amongst its former members. Keynes, who is credited with…
Ofcom’s Collusive Corruption Ofcom Director of Communications Chris Wynn got in touch over Monday’s blogpost. I just assumed this was spam. Later that day I got a reminder: Not wanting to seem rude, I sent Chris a reply: The next morning…
By Ranjan Balakumaran Biased Sheila The deputy head of Ofcom – the BBC’s regulator – Baroness Noakes, has been done for anti-Labour tweeting in the past. She has consistently voted with the Government for Brexit in the Lords and is…
Head of Remain, Lord Adonis, who has called out the BBC for favouring Brexit is now accusing Tory Baroness Noakes, Deputy Chair of OFCOM, of serious conflicts of interest.
Why are we so wedded to the idea that there is only one truth?The idea of a monotheistic god is understandably tempting. Henry Kissinger is reputed to have asked who to call when he wanted to speak to Europe. The…
Hostile Environment Today’s Daily Telegraph doesn’t mention the hostile takeover of British engineering firm GKN by American capitalists, some of whom are Eliott Advisors, whose bosses happen to be Jewish. Instead it attempts to head off a potential U.K. takeover…
Yesterday we looked at Manuel Beltran’s Institute for Human Obsolescence and the Uber driverless crash. Greening of America Straight afterwards I came across the Greening of America by Charles Reich. It was a number one bestseller in the United States back…
Collateral Damage Sincere condolences go out to the victim’s family. This Bloomberg Businessweek entry is remarkable. Particularly the way pedestrian is portrayed as acting of their own free will and not as collateral damage in the war on humans. The…
PLEASE WATCH THIS 5 MINUTE VIDEO Bloomberg has just shown that the May Government’s proposals to shut the Serious Fraud Office are part of the UK’s post Brexit offer of Corruption-as-a-Service. UK territories already include tax havens like Jersey and…
The Telegraph is going big on the story that George Soros is against Brexit. Theresa May’s former Chief of Staff, Nick Timothy, gets a byline for this “news story”. With Osborne running the Remain supporting Standard and Timothy operating out…
“So you self-identify as a conspiracy theorist?” asked the Masters student disparagingly at a protest in 2015. I was 37 at the time. I thought I knew what I was doing. But quite obviously, I was mad. What was I…
Do we live in a truly decadent age? Can anyone get away with anything? These are questions I feel compelled to ask after watching just a few minutes of Howard Davies and Ross McEwan, of the taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland…
The FT says Theresa May won’t endorse the Chinese Belt and Road initiative. Theresa May declines to endorse China’s Belt and Road initiative via @financialtimes — Ranjan Balakumaran (@financialeyes) January 30, 2018 The BBC: Here’s HSBC’s website HSBC has…
Davos In the third series of House of Cards, the President (played by Kevin Spacey) decides to create a New Deal-type jobs programme. A Keynesian stimulus — just like America First. This week’s Davos World Economic Forum is the perfect chance…
Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad. Under normal circumstances the transfer of €1 trillion of public money to ANONYMOUS BANKERS with no meaningful audit trail would be representative of a society with corruption tolerance levels…
Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad. Handing €1 trillion of public money to ANONYMOUS bankers with no publicly available audit trail would be corrupt on a scale so staggeringly as to be virtually beyond comprehension.…
It was Trade-Related I first heard the term Endocrine Disruptor three years ago while researching the Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP) also known as the EU – US trade agreement. US firms wanted to dismantle EU safety standards and…
Trump 2020 Showy events like yesterday’s White House tax cut speeches make Trump’s re-election look assured. But wheeling out African American politicians like Tim Scott to talk about how the tax cut is for ‘distressed communities’ and single mothers while…
A.L.E.C. operative Mike Pence, & Tim Scott on the Tax Cut Republicans are ecstatic about this tax cut. It’s interesting to hear what Pence has to say about America’s place in the world. He talks about ISIS but not about…
We in the middle of a #BreitbartBrexit: US to Colonise EU via Ireland & #Brexit via @financialeyes #Marr — Ranjan Balakumaran (@financialeyes) December 10, 2017 CETA+++ David Davis is championing CETA+++ which means Britain copying the Canada-EU trade agreement…
Purported UK Cave-In (08/12/17) Brexit Jihad designed to weaken the EU & UK at all costs Why would the City of London Corporation (The UK’s Foremost Financial Services Lobbyists) or the European Commission care about EU or UK citizens? German…
Trump meets Saudis and all hell breaks loose The Saudi Ritz Carlton’s CEO had this to say about the effect of Trump’s Muslim ban: Interesting how the Saudis manage to get the New York Times on side. When Putin…
The Polarizers: Postwar Architects of Our Partisan Era–out in Dec, avail. now for pre-order. Stuff those stockings. — Sam Rosenfeld (@sam_rosenfeld) September 17, 2017 Polarizers by Sam Rosenfeld After WW2 Democrats and Republicans agreed on most issues. Each party…
For in the hand of Yahweh there is a cup, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours it out. Indeed the wicked of the earth drink and drink it to its very dregs. Subliminal A friend and I…
Adultery just made an appearance in the NYT Ethicist Column: The reader claims although he and his wife love each other, she’s been very ill and has said he can have affairs. He’s agonising over whether to be honest about…
US beefs up its presence in Asia according to WSJ Backstory to Trump in Russia – Luke Harding writes well. How Trump walked into Putin’s web — Ranjan Balakumaran (@financialeyes) November 16, 2017 Some Neo-Nazis are losing their blue…
Asking investors to abandon the UK goes against the UK’s interests. No amount of debate can change that. Yet that is what Parliamentarian and Brexiteer John Redwood has done. How can he be forgiven? Brexit would allow for the UK…
Brexiteer @johnredwood warns investors to get their money out of the UK, then tells the UK to go for hard Brexit. #disasatercapitalism cc @FlipChartRick — (((FrancesCoppola))) (@Frances_Coppola) November 12, 2017
Some people see meaning when it just isn’t there. But maybe it is – just not in the way you think. And who am I to presume what you’re (not) thinking? Start again. There is meaning. Perhaps more meaning. Than.…
Virginia Acceptance Speech No outright mention of Charlottesville — but still a big speech in Virginia. The comments section is split with some calling it an Obama speech. Any reference to White Nationalism, Healing Wounds, or Affordable Care Act interpreted…
Booming back at ya, Wanna reach out and grab ya, How I wonder where she’s AtRa, Comes back at you twice as hard
Those with the most to say feel least constrained in the current climate. But how much of what they say means anything at all? I struggle to find anything of worth in the printed press. Might everyone be so reeling…
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose FT political leader writer, Sebastian Payne recently referred to the Conservative Party’s pre-eminent post-war philosopher — Michael Oakeshott. In quoting Michael Oakeshott, @ProfTimBale nails why there’s something conservative in being sceptical about…
