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 on the 1868 goings on, and is taken from that newspaper’s report on the public […]
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 in BUPA care homes in the late 90’s. She has a new proposal to protect […]
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 providing the intellectual justification for high government spending in advanced economies, supposedly saved western capitalist […]
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 Chris took things up a notch: Chris was now doing to me precisely what he […]
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 therefore too biased to regulate the BBC. She shouldn’t be allowed to back the Government […]
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 German Paul Warburg created the Federal Reserve, a single currency, with American backing. How can […]
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 by the ‘hostile’ Labour Leader, Jeremy Corbyn.The Mail leads with Blue Passports and the hostile […]
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 in 1970. Reich’s frustration at the state’s inability to implement recommendations in response to 1960s […]
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 car, the company, and the other human who was supposed to be supervising the “autonomous” […]
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 Cayman Islands, so why not go the whole way and get rid of fraud […]
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 of the Brexit-backing Telegraph it is no wonder there has been an erosion of standards […]
“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 doing there, outside the German Embassy, near Mayfair, aged 37, surrounded by students, taking photographs […]
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 (RBS), giving evidence before last Tuesday’s Parliamentary Treasury Select Committee. To not, as a society, […]
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 https://t.co/XGMRb1NHhh via @financialtimes — Ranjan Balakumaran (@financialeyes) January 30, 2018 The BBC: Here’s HSBC’s website HSBC has been named Best Overall International Bank for Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the inaugural […]
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 for Trump to talk up his protectionist programme: Trump’s only attending to stop President Xi […]
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 so staggeringly off the charts that they be as palpable as they be endemic. Just […]
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. Yet this is what the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Union (EU) have […]
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 make big money selling toxic food and chemicals to 500 million EU citizens. The agreement […]
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 Ben Carson is asked to pray for tax cuts in Cabinet Meetings could seriously backfire. […]
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 Russia or China. As for Tim Scott, time will tell how much extra money from […]
We in the middle of a #BreitbartBrexit: US to Colonise EU via Ireland & #Brexit https://t.co/3zzAikv8WH via @financialeyes #Marr — Ranjan Balakumaran (@financialeyes) December 10, 2017 CETA+++ David Davis is championing CETA+++ which means Britain copying the Canada-EU trade agreement — plus services. The Alt-Right-ish Spectator updated us yesterday: According to Sun Columnist James Forsyth, […]
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 Chemical firm Bayer are buying US-firm Monsanto and so Germany just voted through the 5 […]
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 tortures rival billionaires we call him out. But when Saudi Arabia do it ..
The Polarizers: Postwar Architects of Our Partisan Era–out in Dec, avail. now for pre-order. Stuff those stockings. https://t.co/FTG2giKggz — Sam Rosenfeld (@sam_rosenfeld) September 17, 2017 Polarizers by Sam Rosenfeld After WW2 Democrats and Republicans agreed on most issues. Each party was a broad church — there was diversity on both sides. But in the 50s […]
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 recently agreed that Naomi Klein’s latest book No is not Enough appeals less to Brits than […]
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 his situation with future sexual partners. He disclosed his circumstances on a dating site and […]
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 https://t.co/hKjzvQ6yy9 — Ranjan Balakumaran (@financialeyes) November 16, 2017 Some Neo-Nazis are losing their blue tick status in a Twitter purge Richard Spencer and others lose Twitter verified status under […]
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 to frighteningly reinstate capital punishment. I would like to think John Redwood himself might be […]
Brexiteer @johnredwood warns investors to get their money out of the UK, then tells the UK to go for hard Brexit. #disasatercapitalism https://t.co/Akjfu4ytI2 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. I. Realised. But the pre-meditated, agenda-pushing, social engineering nature of this message may not be […]
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 as outright Communism. All subtext in the USA! And why is the Virginia drawl so […]
Booming back at ya, Wanna reach out and grab ya, How I wonder where she’s AtRa, Comes back at you twice as hard
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 Brexit https://t.co/l1uBxkscO1 pic.twitter.com/jjhhZCo5d4 — Sebastian Payne (@SebastianEPayne) September 22, 2017 So why do Tories love […]
In the FT today Gillian Tett points out that while the media glare falls on the big banks that are currently reporting their third quarter earnings, the real story is the Shadow Banking sector’s continued colonisation of those sections of the market that were once served by those very same big banks. Ham-fisted banking rules […]
Nudge Richard Thaler has just been awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics. He’s best known for co-authoring the bestseller Nudge with Cass Sunstein in 2007. Sunstein went on to become President Obama’s Regulatory Czar while Thaler provided the ideas for Oliver Letwin’s Behavioural Insights or “Nudge” unit. Here Letwin, a former Thatcher adviser who wrote […]
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The Pound looks likely to collapse during the upcoming Tory Party conference Financial Markets are looking for reassurance. Instead they have been treated to David Davis. Amber Rudd will remember her speech about companies having to report the amount of foreign staff on their books. This policy was a disaster – but the Government don’t […]
Today’s FT has an excellent piece on Social Cleansing in Silicon Valley. The great Silicon Valley land grab https://t.co/0FDv3iCpPg via @FT — Ranjan Balakumaran (@financialeyes) August 26, 2017 It made me think of Jamie Bartlett‘s BBC Show, The Secrets of Silicon Valley. Ok guys TONIGHT! My (& amazing team's) series is out. Secrets of Silicon […]
German car firms have been hit by recent emission fraud scandals Carmakers’ troubles shake Germany’s national psyche — Ranjan Balakumaran (@financialeyes) August 2, 2017 and the appearance of the electric car: Tesla reveals Model 3 cost in its first attempt at affordable car https://t.co/d4BLcSv1kO via @FT — Ranjan Balakumaran (@financialeyes) August 2, 2017 But where are these […]
Here we are crawling the cracks between walls of church state school & factory, all the paranoid monoliths. Cut off from the tribe by feral nostalgia we tunnel after lost words, imaginary bombs. If Socrates was against writing – what would he have made of Amazon?
Jamaica is only allowed to legally grow Marijuana now that it is already well established in US law. US firms have been granted licence to grow and experiment in Jamaica.
For some reason Food and Brexit doesn’t get discussed in the news but as many of us will wind up eating food from fertilisers I think it’s worth a mention. What is potash? Learn more in our blog, Prospects → https://t.co/8tDPWyfycT pic.twitter.com/YvuWVlSrFZ — BHP (@bhp) July 17, 2017 When Vulture Capitalists start talking about ousting […]
Roughly forty minutes into this great podcast, Tim Harford talks about the significance of the Haber Process. The Haber Process revolutionised the world of explosives in World War One before being used in many of the world’s fertilisers — fueling the population explosion.
The dark side of basic income. Parasites need hosts.
Is this a truce between President and Press?
With no TV Debate – Manifestos do the Talking Embed from Getty Images When the facts change I change my mind. What do you do, Sir? J.M Keynes. In a time of Information Overload, the Info-Arbitrageur is King. Tim Shipman of the Times refers to the increasingly decreasing gap between Tories and Labour. There’s no […]