Monthly Archives: April 2011

The Economist shoots itself in the foot. Twice.

Posted on April 30, 2011 by Matthew

This week The Economist has come out for a No vote in a leader on the UK’s referendum to the voting system.  It argues that AV is no improvement on FPTP, so we should vote no.  It wants the system … Continue reading →

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Posted in Politics UK | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

NHS: the net is tighteneing around hospitals

Posted on April 29, 2011 by Matthew

September 11, 2001 was a good day to bury bad news, a government spin doctor famously emailed on the day.  What about a royal wedding day?  Sure enough, via the Department of Health (DH) there was this announcement, saying that … Continue reading →

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Posted in Politics UK, Public Services | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

NHS reform: we’ve started so we’ll finish

Posted on April 28, 2011 by Matthew

The NHS, probably rightly, is one of the main controversies in current British, or rather English, politics.  The Coalition government has put it there after Labour, by dint of a massive increase in spending, had managed to take most of … Continue reading →

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Posted in Politics UK, Public Services | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Cardinal O’Brien: is this all that’s left of Christianity?

Posted on April 24, 2011 by Matthew

After a wonderful day out in the sun, I return home to a Twitter feed bulging with reaction to Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s Easter sermon in Edinburgh.  It was near top of the BBC news this morning, but it was surprising … Continue reading →

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Posted in Sunday reflections | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Is Vince Cable right about AV?

Posted on April 23, 2011 by Matthew

The AV referendum campaign is hotting up.  The No campaign are throwing a lot at it, and seem to have captured the initiative.  By and large they are deploying the same old arguments (e.g. “save one person, one vote”), which … Continue reading →

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Why I won’t invest in gold

Posted on April 22, 2011 by Matthew

Want to see the world’s financial system at its most dysfunctional?  Visit a gold mine.  Huge expenditure of human and physical energy; destruction of landscape; poisoning of local people with its polluting by-products; lots of horrid, dangerous jobs.  All for … Continue reading →

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Posted in Economics & Finance | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Vickers Commission: so far, so good

Posted on April 20, 2011 by Matthew

I have deliberately paused before commenting on the interim report of the Vickers Commission on UK banking reform.  I wanted to read more about it; it didn’t help that the post office delivered my Economist several days late.  Unfortunately I … Continue reading →

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The power of Holy Week

Posted on April 17, 2011 by Matthew

As a churchgoer in my distant past Holy Week was the undoubted climax of the year.  Sometimes we would attend services daily the whole week, and almost always from Maundy Thursday.  The move from fast to feast was dramatic.  As … Continue reading →

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The intellectual cowardice of Spiked

Posted on April 15, 2011 by Matthew

I really try to like the online magazine Spiked.  They are liberals that challenge the paternalism of the bulk of those who think of themselves as liberal.  They try to make common cause with the attitude ordinary people, outside the … Continue reading →

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Why vote no to AV?

Posted on April 14, 2011 by Matthew

In my earlier posts on the alternative vote (AV) in advance of the forthcoming referendum, I have focused on the positive case for the reform, and considered some of the practical consequences.  Now it’s time to consider some of the … Continue reading →

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Posted in Politics UK | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments