Hands off our banks!

With the publication of the report into the structure of banking in the UK just published, it is apparent that what is needed is a radical separation of the investments and retail banking sectors. In other words, we need to stop the banks using our money to gamble on the markets...

Needless to say, the banks don't want to do this. Hardly surprising as it will cost them a great deal of money to implement and reduce access to depositors' funds to be used for their own nefarious purposes. But Osbourne says he is adamant that this must happen and that he will legislate 'in the lifetime of this parliament'.

But of course there is a big difference between legislating and making something happen...

In reality nothing will actually happen until the end of this decade by which time if the TUC gets it's way there may well be a change of government - God help us - and that leaves ample time for the legislation to be overturned.

The argument is, of course, that this move will adversely effect the banks' grossly overinflated profits and that this will be passed on to consumers in some form of price hike. Or that if we make the banks uncompetitive in this way, then they will take their business overseas and this will cripple our already ailing economy. We can legislate for the first and frankly I simply don't believe the second.

There is no doubt that this change needs to happen, but it needs to happen now. It is simply not good enough to put through some new law before the next election. What we need is for the banks to be split apart BEFORE the end of this parliament.

Get your finger out, George, and let's see if this government walks the walk as well as talking the talk!

Hands off our banks!

With the publication of the report into the structure of banking in the UK just published, it is apparent that what is needed is a radical separation of the investments and retail banking sectors. In other words, we need to stop the banks using our money to gamble on the markets...

Needless to say, the banks don't want to do this. Hardly surprising as it will cost them a great deal of money to implement and reduce access to depositors' funds to be used for their own nefarious purposes. But Osbourne says he is adamant that this must happen and that he will legislate 'in the lifetime of this parliament'.

But of course there is a big difference between legislating and making something happen...

In reality nothing will actually happen until the end of this decade by which time if the TUC gets it's way there may well be a change of government - God help us - and that leaves ample time for the legislation to be overturned.

The argument is, of course, that this move will adversely effect the banks' grossly overinflated profits and that this will be passed on to consumers in some form of price hike. Or that if we make the banks uncompetitive in this way, then they will take their business overseas and this will cripple our already ailing economy. We can legislate for the first and frankly I simply don't believe the second.

There is no doubt that this change needs to happen, but it needs to happen now. It is simply not good enough to put through some new law before the next election. What we need is for the banks to be split apart BEFORE the end of this parliament.

Get your finger out, George, and let's see if this government walks the walk as well as talking the talk!

The Great Greek Sell Off

Canny buggers, yer Greeks...

As you will have read here recently, Greece is not doing too well at the moment so they came up with a couple of things to help themselves out.

Firstly, there was a lot of discussion about whether the latest stage of the great EU bailout would actually go ahead, so they decided that if it didn't then they would reluctantly have to leave the Euro zone and bring back the Drachma. This is actually quite sneaky because if Greece did leave, the value of the Eurozone assets would deplete rather, leaving the other countries somewhat in the fertilizer.

So what happens? Well, the EU decide that it would be a good idea to go a little softer on them. Sneaky but effective - especially as several Greek business owners I spoke to expect Greece to leave the Euro within 5 years anyway!

Secondly, next month the Greeks are coming to the UK to launch a garage sale of their assets at Claridges. On offer will be everything from bits of Greek airports and Hellenic Horse Racing through to the Greek National Lottery. I'm sure the mafia may well be interested in the latter offering...

Several Chief Execs of Greek companies are coming to flog off their firms and Vince Cable is lined up to give the opening address.

Unfortunately, there will be no Ouzo drinking, dancing or plate smashing - so maybe the Greeks really are changing their ways...

The Great Greek Sell Off

Canny buggers, yer Greeks...

As you will have read here recently, Greece is not doing too well at the moment so they came up with a couple of things to help themselves out.

Firstly, there was a lot of discussion about whether the latest stage of the great EU bailout would actually go ahead, so they decided that if it didn't then they would reluctantly have to leave the Euro zone and bring back the Drachma. This is actually quite sneaky because if Greece did leave, the value of the Eurozone assets would deplete rather, leaving the other countries somewhat in the fertilizer.

So what happens? Well, the EU decide that it would be a good idea to go a little softer on them. Sneaky but effective - especially as several Greek business owners I spoke to expect Greece to leave the Euro within 5 years anyway!

Secondly, next month the Greeks are coming to the UK to launch a garage sale of their assets at Claridges. On offer will be everything from bits of Greek airports and Hellenic Horse Racing through to the Greek National Lottery. I'm sure the mafia may well be interested in the latter offering...

Several Chief Execs of Greek companies are coming to flog off their firms and Vince Cable is lined up to give the opening address.

Unfortunately, there will be no Ouzo drinking, dancing or plate smashing - so maybe the Greeks really are changing their ways...

A Greek Tragedy

As I promised a short while back, I have put myself to great personal inconvenience in order to personally check out the economic crisis in Greece and after two weeks of intense investigation which involved, amongst other things, exposing myself to Greek tavernas, sunshine and dangerous amounts of alcoholic beverages I am able to report that the average Greek doesn't actually seem to give a toss!

Now admittedly, I was in Kardamyli - a little tourist village not far from Stoupa in the Mani. On the face of it, it's only a few hours from Athens so you would think that they would be highly interested in what what happening with respect to the latest EU bailout. But you would be wrong.

As one hotel owner told me when I asked him about the unrest and protests in Athens : "I can't remember that last time there was a protest about anything here, or the last time there wasn't a protest in Athens. This is a different country here. We're a small village. We're much too busy just staying afloat." And I can see why he thinks that way...

I am a regular visitor to this country over many years. I usually come in May and September. Because we had friends out here this time, we came a bit later and risked travelling in half term week. This is something we don't usually do because Greece is usually packed with tourists. But not this time.

I have never known Greece so quiet. Stoupa is a main resort about 4 miles down the coast. It's a lively place with plenty going on. Usually. We went in for a meal on a Friday night. The first thing we noticed was how easy it was to park. Then we failed to find a restaurant we used to visit a few years back because it had closed. Several of the bars had just not bothered to open because there were no customers.

We thought it was because the weather was a bit iffy and it had been raining earlier so we came back the next night which was a Saturday and walked straight into a waterside table at a restaurant where normally you would queue and would not have a chance in hell of getting a table near the water.

It's a damn shame, but the facts are that the Brits aren't coming. Presumably this is because of the exchange rate and the rise in VAT in Greece which means this is no longer a cheap holiday destination. As a result Kardamyli is like a ghost town. There are literally hundreds of unfilled beds. The restaurants are empty and the bars are eirily quite.

Greece is fucked.

And it's a damn shame, because this is still a very pleasant place for a holiday...

A Greek Tragedy

As I promised a short while back, I have put myself to great personal inconvenience in order to personally check out the economic crisis in Greece and after two weeks of intense investigation which involved, amongst other things, exposing myself to Greek tavernas, sunshine and dangerous amounts of alcoholic beverages I am able to report that the average Greek doesn't actually seem to give a toss!

Now admittedly, I was in Kardamyli - a little tourist village not far from Stoupa in the Mani. On the face of it, it's only a few hours from Athens so you would think that they would be highly interested in what what happening with respect to the latest EU bailout. But you would be wrong.

As one hotel owner told me when I asked him about the unrest and protests in Athens : "I can't remember that last time there was a protest about anything here, or the last time there wasn't a protest in Athens. This is a different country here. We're a small village. We're much too busy just staying afloat." And I can see why he thinks that way...

I am a regular visitor to this country over many years. I usually come in May and September. Because we had friends out here this time, we came a bit later and risked travelling in half term week. This is something we don't usually do because Greece is usually packed with tourists. But not this time.

I have never known Greece so quiet. Stoupa is a main resort about 4 miles down the coast. It's a lively place with plenty going on. Usually. We went in for a meal on a Friday night. The first thing we noticed was how easy it was to park. Then we failed to find a restaurant we used to visit a few years back because it had closed. Several of the bars had just not bothered to open because there were no customers.

We thought it was because the weather was a bit iffy and it had been raining earlier so we came back the next night which was a Saturday and walked straight into a waterside table at a restaurant where normally you would queue and would not have a chance in hell of getting a table near the water.

It's a damn shame, but the facts are that the Brits aren't coming. Presumably this is because of the exchange rate and the rise in VAT in Greece which means this is no longer a cheap holiday destination. As a result Kardamyli is like a ghost town. There are literally hundreds of unfilled beds. The restaurants are empty and the bars are eirily quite.

Greece is fucked.

And it's a damn shame, because this is still a very pleasant place for a holiday...

Foxy hits the spot

You will have gathered from the picture on the left that I was somewhat unimpressed with Liam Fox when I told him what to do with his nuclear deterent...

Well, I have changed my view somewhat after he came out publically against Cameron's balmy plan to enshrine the overseas aid budget in law!

My regular reader will know that I am no lover of ringfencing the aid budget at a time when this country is in the economic crapper, but to suggest that 0.7% of this country's income should be set aside by law is, frankly, completely fucking nuts!

What the hell are you thinking about, Cameron? Is there fuck all else more important for you to be concentrating on at the moment apart from this piece of patent absolute nonsense!?

So all credit to Liam Fox for saying that "I have considered the issue carefully, and discussed it with Andrew (Mitchell) and William Hague, but I cannot support the proposal in its current form."

A source close to Fox insisted that he was not opposed to the government's plan to increase spending on aid, saying: "The defence secretary fully supports the principle of a 0.7% target on international aid. The issue is simply how best to reflect this in law."

Quite right, Liam. If the government decides to give our hard earned money away to a load of bone idle Johnny foreigners then that's one thing. But the government is the government. It does not need to legislate for itself to do anything - it just does it!

It seems a shame to me that we don't have this guy running the country...

Foxy hits the spot

You will have gathered from the picture on the left that I was somewhat unimpressed with Liam Fox when I told him what to do with his nuclear deterent...

Well, I have changed my view somewhat after he came out publically against Cameron's balmy plan to enshrine the overseas aid budget in law!

My regular reader will know that I am no lover of ringfencing the aid budget at a time when this country is in the economic crapper, but to suggest that 0.7% of this country's income should be set aside by law is, frankly, completely fucking nuts!

What the hell are you thinking about, Cameron? Is there fuck all else more important for you to be concentrating on at the moment apart from this piece of patent absolute nonsense!?

So all credit to Liam Fox for saying that "I have considered the issue carefully, and discussed it with Andrew (Mitchell) and William Hague, but I cannot support the proposal in its current form."

A source close to Fox insisted that he was not opposed to the government's plan to increase spending on aid, saying: "The defence secretary fully supports the principle of a 0.7% target on international aid. The issue is simply how best to reflect this in law."

Quite right, Liam. If the government decides to give our hard earned money away to a load of bone idle Johnny foreigners then that's one thing. But the government is the government. It does not need to legislate for itself to do anything - it just does it!

It seems a shame to me that we don't have this guy running the country...

The Land of the Free

The United States of America has the highest prison population in the world. Over 2.3 million Americans are living behind bars - over 1% of the population.

In the Land of the Free, there are higher proportions of prisoners than in China, South Africa or Russia.

Whites make up 56% of all federal prisoners; 40% are black, 2% are Native American and 2% are Asian.

10% are 17 years old. There are more 17 year olds in jail than there are in college.

And it gets more worrying when you think about what these people do while they are incarcerated.

The United States has one of the largest standing arming forces in the world, and these forces could not operate without the prison population. All helmets used by the military are made by prisoners. They also make an awful lot of other military equipment - webbing, clothing, even ammunition.

As well as the well known licence plates, they also manufacture appliances and office furniture. There is a proposal on the table for them to used to operate calls centres. Imagine the service you could expect from that!

In the US it is illegal to import any product manufactured using slave labour, but there is an argument that says by using prisoners in this way, they are effectively providing slave labour of their own. Economically, the argument is that it enables the US to compete with cheap Mexican labour.

And now Ken Clarke is proposing to make prisoners in this country work a 40 hour week while they are locked up - so if you are facing redundancy because it costs too much to employ you, then you might like to bear all this in mind...

The Land of the Free

The United States of America has the highest prison population in the world. Over 2.3 million Americans are living behind bars - over 1% of the population.

In the Land of the Free, there are higher proportions of prisoners than in China, South Africa or Russia.

Whites make up 56% of all federal prisoners; 40% are black, 2% are Native American and 2% are Asian.

10% are 17 years old. There are more 17 year olds in jail than there are in college.

And it gets more worrying when you think about what these people do while they are incarcerated.

The United States has one of the largest standing arming forces in the world, and these forces could not operate without the prison population. All helmets used by the military are made by prisoners. They also make an awful lot of other military equipment - webbing, clothing, even ammunition.

As well as the well known licence plates, they also manufacture appliances and office furniture. There is a proposal on the table for them to used to operate calls centres. Imagine the service you could expect from that!

In the US it is illegal to import any product manufactured using slave labour, but there is an argument that says by using prisoners in this way, they are effectively providing slave labour of their own. Economically, the argument is that it enables the US to compete with cheap Mexican labour.

And now Ken Clarke is proposing to make prisoners in this country work a 40 hour week while they are locked up - so if you are facing redundancy because it costs too much to employ you, then you might like to bear all this in mind...

Brown appointed advisor to OBR

Sometimes you just have to wonder if there is any sanity in Westminster at all!

My blood boiled last night when the Government announced that in order to allay 'accusations of right wing bias' in the Office of Budget Responsibility, they have appointed Gordon Brown as a 'special advisor'.

An OBR spokesperson said of the appointment : 'Mr Brown's appointment in an advisory capacity reflects his wealth of economic and financial knowledge gained through both his time as Prime Minister and, of course, his many years as Chancellor of the Exchequer. We are sure he will make a valuable contribution to the work of the OBR.'

I expect we'll be paying him a nice fat fee as well!

That's of course ignoring the fact that he's one who got the country in this bloody mess to start with...

Brown appointed advisor to OBR

Sometimes you just have to wonder if there is any sanity in Westminster at all!

My blood boiled last night when the Government announced that in order to allay 'accusations of right wing bias' in the Office of Budget Responsibility, they have appointed Gordon Brown as a 'special advisor'.

An OBR spokesperson said of the appointment : 'Mr Brown's appointment in an advisory capacity reflects his wealth of economic and financial knowledge gained through both his time as Prime Minister and, of course, his many years as Chancellor of the Exchequer. We are sure he will make a valuable contribution to the work of the OBR.'

I expect we'll be paying him a nice fat fee as well!

That's of course ignoring the fact that he's one who got the country in this bloody mess to start with...

New Balls

He's at it again! It really is time that the Milipede put the muzzle on his Rotweiller, especially if he is going to sink as low as this...

Yesterday, Balls decided that the best way to attack the Chancellor ahead of next week's budget was to play the Japan card. This what he said :

It won't be good enough if George Osborne stands up next week in the Budget and says the reason he has to downgrade his growth forecast is the cold winter, or the Irish bailout or because of the spike in world oil prices or the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake.

Frankly Ed, this is bad taste even for you.

Balls has a reputation for putting his foot in his mouth pretty much every time he opens it. His comments have been called 'insensitive' and 'insulting to the Japanese people'. It's hard to disagree.

Tory MP Aidan Burley summed it up nicely : "It seems very distasteful to be pre-empting a comment George has not made and almost certainly won't make. It must be a new low for a shadow Chancellor to think the Chancellor would blame an 8.8 earthquake in Japan as in some way responsible for a decade of Labour mismanagement of the economy."

Labour of course said they had made a fair point about not been distracted by external events and that Balls had said 'nothing wrong'. The Milipede has kept a low profile on the matter. Frankly appointing this man as his Shadow Chancellor hardly shows good judgement...

New Balls

He's at it again! It really is time that the Milipede put the muzzle on his Rotweiller, especially if he is going to sink as low as this...

Yesterday, Balls decided that the best way to attack the Chancellor ahead of next week's budget was to play the Japan card. This what he said :

It won't be good enough if George Osborne stands up next week in the Budget and says the reason he has to downgrade his growth forecast is the cold winter, or the Irish bailout or because of the spike in world oil prices or the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake.

Frankly Ed, this is bad taste even for you.

Balls has a reputation for putting his foot in his mouth pretty much every time he opens it. His comments have been called 'insensitive' and 'insulting to the Japanese people'. It's hard to disagree.

Tory MP Aidan Burley summed it up nicely : "It seems very distasteful to be pre-empting a comment George has not made and almost certainly won't make. It must be a new low for a shadow Chancellor to think the Chancellor would blame an 8.8 earthquake in Japan as in some way responsible for a decade of Labour mismanagement of the economy."

Labour of course said they had made a fair point about not been distracted by external events and that Balls had said 'nothing wrong'. The Milipede has kept a low profile on the matter. Frankly appointing this man as his Shadow Chancellor hardly shows good judgement...

Osbourne's petrol U-turn

Incredible as it my seem, the Mighty Milipede's mouthpieces are accusing chancellor George Osbourne of doing a U-turn on petrol duty!

Their bleet relates to the Consevative promise to introduce a fuel price stabiliser mechanism in their election manifesto. They accuse the government of going back on this promise.

The price of petrol has hit £1.35 a litre due to the price of crude and the increases in VAT to 20% so Osbourne - as far as I can see in an effort to keep his promise - is considering reversing Alistair Darling's increase of 1p per litre due to come in in April.

It will come as no surprise to you to know that the Milipede is not anxious to describe this 1p change as a U-turn!

The scrapping of Labour's post dated tax rise is seem as an opportunity to be shown willing to find a working system and to allow time for the mechanics of that system to be ironed out. Business Secretary Vince Cable told reporters at Westminster that while a fuel stabiliser ‘could be made to work’ it would be difficult, ‘because what is the price around which you set the ups and downs (of the oil price)?’ He added: ‘There are real technical difficulties in operating such a system.’

Mr Osborne is determined to use his Budget on March 23 to respond to public disquiet about petrol prices.

For Labour, shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle said: "The Conservative-led government is all over the place on fuel prices. Each week ministers raise expectations of action but they've still done nothing. Warm words from George Osborne about a 1p change on fuel duty are all well and good, but families are paying 3p a litre more at the pump because of the VAT rise he chose to bring in."

Here at least is one senior Labour figure who fails to remember that it is Labour's 1p it is proposed to scrap and that Labour intended to raise VAT to 19%.

People who live in glass houses, really shouldn't throw stones...

Osbourne's petrol U-turn

Incredible as it my seem, the Mighty Milipede's mouthpieces are accusing chancellor George Osbourne of doing a U-turn on petrol duty!

Their bleet relates to the Consevative promise to introduce a fuel price stabiliser mechanism in their election manifesto. They accuse the government of going back on this promise.

The price of petrol has hit £1.35 a litre due to the price of crude and the increases in VAT to 20% so Osbourne - as far as I can see in an effort to keep his promise - is considering reversing Alistair Darling's increase of 1p per litre due to come in in April.

It will come as no surprise to you to know that the Milipede is not anxious to describe this 1p change as a U-turn!

The scrapping of Labour's post dated tax rise is seem as an opportunity to be shown willing to find a working system and to allow time for the mechanics of that system to be ironed out. Business Secretary Vince Cable told reporters at Westminster that while a fuel stabiliser ‘could be made to work’ it would be difficult, ‘because what is the price around which you set the ups and downs (of the oil price)?’ He added: ‘There are real technical difficulties in operating such a system.’

Mr Osborne is determined to use his Budget on March 23 to respond to public disquiet about petrol prices.

For Labour, shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle said: "The Conservative-led government is all over the place on fuel prices. Each week ministers raise expectations of action but they've still done nothing. Warm words from George Osborne about a 1p change on fuel duty are all well and good, but families are paying 3p a litre more at the pump because of the VAT rise he chose to bring in."

Here at least is one senior Labour figure who fails to remember that it is Labour's 1p it is proposed to scrap and that Labour intended to raise VAT to 19%.

People who live in glass houses, really shouldn't throw stones...

New Balls!

"iTalk" has been at it again - a full blown attack on George Osbourne in the Daily Mirror. Let's look at what he had to say :

What matters most when times are hard is whether the government is trying to shield you from the storm, or leaving you to fend for yourself.

When Osborne or his Lib Dem lackeys say: “It’s all Labour’s fault, we inherited a mess” .... what they’re really saying to the British people is: “We’re not ­responsible: don’t ask us for help.”

Well, that's all very well, Binky, and it makes a nice soundbite. Where was your government when the shit was hitting the fan? Oh, out spending money we hadn't got because you emptied the coffers. You created this mess. You were responsible or we would not have the scale of problems we have, so to accuse the coalition of not trying to sort it shows a distinct lack of grip on reality.

And "LibDem lackeys"? That's just downright insulting. Name calling is the last resort of an immature mind.

The Tories say that because Labour was not tough enough in regulating the banks, the economic crisis is our fault.

They forget that every time the Labour government tried to tighten regulation, it was the Tories who protested we were strangling enterprise with red tape, and David Cameron who accused Gordon Brown of being The Great Regulator.

There goes that grip on reality again. Labour destroyed regulation of the banks. Balls himself was the very man calling for a 'light touch' in dealing with financial regulation. The regulation Labour tried to tighten was on small and medium size business who were destroyed by a sea of red tape. It was this red tape that Cameron was referring to, not the banks. Labour let the banks get away with murder. In fact, the first thing Tony Blair did when he left office was to join the board of a merchant bank.

The Tories want you to believe Labour spent too much money on services like schools, hospitals and the police, and that is why we have today’s budget deficit.
That way they can justify drastic cuts in those services in order to bring down the deficit, and say it is all Labour’s fault.

If you define 'too much' as money we don't actually have, then that's exactly what Labour did. Cutting spending and raising taxes is the only way to reduce a structural deficit.

Cameron has been forced to match some of Labour's spending plans in some areas because this is a COALITION, Ed. The LibDem 'lackeys' do actually have some say and are actually more left wing than the Conservatives. It's called prioritisation and compromise, something you seem to know little about.

When the financial crisis hit, we were badly affected by the loss of tax revenues from the City, and we had to inject huge sums of money to protect people’s mortgages and savings and stop the British banking system from collapsing.

On top of that, we cut VAT for a year, introduced the car scrappage scheme, funded apprenticeships and job ­creation schemes, and subsidised mortgages – all to stop people losing their jobs, homes and businesses.

That is what caused the deficit, not spending on schools, hospitals and the police.

You didn't regulate the banks properly, then you had to bail them out. The money you threw at the economy was to buy votes. Spending actually did make the deficit worse. That's not even economics - it's called basic housekeeping.

Every time they take an unpopular decision, the Tories say the same thing: it’s not our fault, we inherited a mess.

In reality, they inherited an economy which was beginning to recover strongly, with unemployment falling, interest rates at historic lows, and the public finances better than the Treasury’s forecasts

Actually, the Coalition say that we need to sort it out. The economy was recovering, but not strongly and interest rates at historic lows has crippled the very people who have the disposable income to boost the economy - people living on their investments. It has also helped inflation to rise. It appears we learnt nothing from the Japanese experience of punitively low interest rates.

And just because the public finances outperform the Treasury forecasts doesn't necessarily mean that they are performing well, does it?

The Labour Party has a responsibility to stand up for millions of Mirror readers across the country who are already being hit by rising unemployment, rising inflation and the rise in VAT.

Bank lending has strangled investment and caused job losses. That includes the banks you bought and then failed to control. Low interest rates and taxes introduced by you have cause infation to rise, coupled with the false readings in the figures when VAT went back to 17.5% - and let's not forget that you were intending to raise it to 19%. Oh, and then there's those fuel tax rises you introduced. They had no effect on inflation, did they?

You can read his full article by clicking here, but in the words of the song "You say it best when you say nothing at all"...

New Balls!

"iTalk" has been at it again - a full blown attack on George Osbourne in the Daily Mirror. Let's look at what he had to say :

What matters most when times are hard is whether the government is trying to shield you from the storm, or leaving you to fend for yourself.

When Osborne or his Lib Dem lackeys say: “It’s all Labour’s fault, we inherited a mess” .... what they’re really saying to the British people is: “We’re not ­responsible: don’t ask us for help.”

Well, that's all very well, Binky, and it makes a nice soundbite. Where was your government when the shit was hitting the fan? Oh, out spending money we hadn't got because you emptied the coffers. You created this mess. You were responsible or we would not have the scale of problems we have, so to accuse the coalition of not trying to sort it shows a distinct lack of grip on reality.

And "LibDem lackeys"? That's just downright insulting. Name calling is the last resort of an immature mind.

The Tories say that because Labour was not tough enough in regulating the banks, the economic crisis is our fault.

They forget that every time the Labour government tried to tighten regulation, it was the Tories who protested we were strangling enterprise with red tape, and David Cameron who accused Gordon Brown of being The Great Regulator.

There goes that grip on reality again. Labour destroyed regulation of the banks. Balls himself was the very man calling for a 'light touch' in dealing with financial regulation. The regulation Labour tried to tighten was on small and medium size business who were destroyed by a sea of red tape. It was this red tape that Cameron was referring to, not the banks. Labour let the banks get away with murder. In fact, the first thing Tony Blair did when he left office was to join the board of a merchant bank.

The Tories want you to believe Labour spent too much money on services like schools, hospitals and the police, and that is why we have today’s budget deficit.
That way they can justify drastic cuts in those services in order to bring down the deficit, and say it is all Labour’s fault.

If you define 'too much' as money we don't actually have, then that's exactly what Labour did. Cutting spending and raising taxes is the only way to reduce a structural deficit.

Cameron has been forced to match some of Labour's spending plans in some areas because this is a COALITION, Ed. The LibDem 'lackeys' do actually have some say and are actually more left wing than the Conservatives. It's called prioritisation and compromise, something you seem to know little about.

When the financial crisis hit, we were badly affected by the loss of tax revenues from the City, and we had to inject huge sums of money to protect people’s mortgages and savings and stop the British banking system from collapsing.

On top of that, we cut VAT for a year, introduced the car scrappage scheme, funded apprenticeships and job ­creation schemes, and subsidised mortgages – all to stop people losing their jobs, homes and businesses.

That is what caused the deficit, not spending on schools, hospitals and the police.

You didn't regulate the banks properly, then you had to bail them out. The money you threw at the economy was to buy votes. Spending actually did make the deficit worse. That's not even economics - it's called basic housekeeping.

Every time they take an unpopular decision, the Tories say the same thing: it’s not our fault, we inherited a mess.

In reality, they inherited an economy which was beginning to recover strongly, with unemployment falling, interest rates at historic lows, and the public finances better than the Treasury’s forecasts

Actually, the Coalition say that we need to sort it out. The economy was recovering, but not strongly and interest rates at historic lows has crippled the very people who have the disposable income to boost the economy - people living on their investments. It has also helped inflation to rise. It appears we learnt nothing from the Japanese experience of punitively low interest rates.

And just because the public finances outperform the Treasury forecasts doesn't necessarily mean that they are performing well, does it?

The Labour Party has a responsibility to stand up for millions of Mirror readers across the country who are already being hit by rising unemployment, rising inflation and the rise in VAT.

Bank lending has strangled investment and caused job losses. That includes the banks you bought and then failed to control. Low interest rates and taxes introduced by you have cause infation to rise, coupled with the false readings in the figures when VAT went back to 17.5% - and let's not forget that you were intending to raise it to 19%. Oh, and then there's those fuel tax rises you introduced. They had no effect on inflation, did they?

You can read his full article by clicking here, but in the words of the song "You say it best when you say nothing at all"...

Forest Chumps

Back in October, the government announced rather ill concieved plans to sell off vast tracts of forest under it's plans to 'substantially reform' the Forestry Commission.

This is a bloody silly idea because - as was discovered when the Scottish parliament came up with a similar plan - you might raise some capital initially but this all leaks back to the new owners. What is effectively happening is that the new owners have the right to chop down all the trees and profit from the timber whist at the same time having access to public funding in order to plant new ones! In fact we are likely to dish out more money to the new landowners than would ever be raised from the sales.

Just to prove the point, the Forestry Commission does occasionally sell off land. One such sale resulted in proceeds of £60,000. The new owner immediately applied for money under the English Woodlands Grant Scheme and was awarded £55,000 to plant new trees. And, of course, he can apply for further grants in the future...

The Forestry Commission is, in fact, a bargain. Last year it raised £75m from the sale of timber, thus costing the taxpayer a net £15m to provide miriad essential services such as tree sciences (e.g. research into potentially devasting diseases like Dutch Elm and Royal Oak), and regulation and licensing of the private forestry sector.

This idea was not thought through properly in the rush to cut the waste out of quangos, and makes no economic sense. It should be scrapped immediately.

Forest Chumps

Back in October, the government announced rather ill concieved plans to sell off vast tracts of forest under it's plans to 'substantially reform' the Forestry Commission.

This is a bloody silly idea because - as was discovered when the Scottish parliament came up with a similar plan - you might raise some capital initially but this all leaks back to the new owners. What is effectively happening is that the new owners have the right to chop down all the trees and profit from the timber whist at the same time having access to public funding in order to plant new ones! In fact we are likely to dish out more money to the new landowners than would ever be raised from the sales.

Just to prove the point, the Forestry Commission does occasionally sell off land. One such sale resulted in proceeds of £60,000. The new owner immediately applied for money under the English Woodlands Grant Scheme and was awarded £55,000 to plant new trees. And, of course, he can apply for further grants in the future...

The Forestry Commission is, in fact, a bargain. Last year it raised £75m from the sale of timber, thus costing the taxpayer a net £15m to provide miriad essential services such as tree sciences (e.g. research into potentially devasting diseases like Dutch Elm and Royal Oak), and regulation and licensing of the private forestry sector.

This idea was not thought through properly in the rush to cut the waste out of quangos, and makes no economic sense. It should be scrapped immediately.