Earlier this year, the National Rifle Association opposed a bill that would prevent convicted stalkers and abusive boyfriends from possessing guns. “Why? Because any gun purchase increases profits for gun manufacturers, and any regulation – even common-sense measures – is to be opposed.” Having arrived at this indecent and immoral policy the NRA leadership deserves …

Continue reading ‘Hard to comprehend such a massive difference in values!’ »

Letter to The Times The proposal by Cambridge University to devote resources neither to teaching nor to research, but to virtue signalling over slavery is not only questionable for a charity, but also an endorsement of notions of hereditary guilt. Leaving aside the prevalence of coercive labour systems across much of the world, including Africa, …

Continue reading ‘Reparations for slavery’ »

A majority of people living in developed countries want their government to tax the rich more to help the poor, according to an OECD survey of 21 countries. “Too many people feel they cannot count fully on their government when they need help,” said Ángel Gurría, secretary general of the OECD, which polled 22,000 people. …

Continue reading ‘Raise taxes on the rich!’ »

In England less than 1% of the population – including aristocrats, the royal family and wealthy investors, owns about half the land.  Putting it another way, with a population of about 56 million, half the country belongs to just 25,000 landowners, some of them corporations.  This reflects the chronic inequality of Britain, in contrast to …

Continue reading ‘Britain’s land and housing crisis’ »

Myth #2: Good governance entails fiscal responsibility. This is one of the hoariest shibboleths of modern American politics: feckless Democrats tax and spend; sober Republicans stand for balanced budgets. So President Ronald Reagan claimed, en route to racking up the massive deficits that transformed the United States from the world’s number one creditor into its …

Continue reading ‘Myths about America , Part 2’ »

Myth #1: The purpose of government is to advance the common good. In modern American politics, the concept of the common good no longer has any practical meaning. It hasn’t for decades. The phrase might work for ceremonial occasions — inaugural addresses, prayer breakfasts, that sort of thing — but finds little application in the …

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Exchange in a grocery store queue between an elderly white man (me) and a younger African American : ”What do you think of Brexit?” Me: “ Put it this way, it is the greatest disaster since William the Conqueror invaded England and brought with him Continental feudalism.  It took centuries to repair the damage”. African …

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Actions by federal regulators and Republicans in Congress over the past two years have paved the way for banks and other financial companies to issue more than $1 trillion in risky corporate loans, sparking fears that Washington and Wall Street are repeating the mistakes made before the financial crisis. Six years ago banking regulators put …

Continue reading ‘Laying the foundations of the next financial crash’ »

An Economic Policy Institute reports that the Raise the Wage Act , now before Congress would , directly or indirectly raise the wages of 40 million workers , or nearly 27 percent of the wage- earning workforce. The Act raises the federal minimum wage in six steps to $15 per hour by 2024. Beginning in …

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With apologies for so many Brexit  postings, but, especially after Theresa May’s pathetic encounter with the EU ministers yesterday, I suspect that any thinking, patriotic and informed person who saw her or his country make such a mindless, incompetent hash of an unnecessary political red herring would also want to express her or his deep  anguish. …

Continue reading ‘The EU and an intelligent person’s despair’ »

“Some wounds never heal of their own accord. One such wound is America’s legacy of slavery and racial injustice. It is the “original sin” that lies behind many of the continuing divisions in US society – and it’s time the country properly atoned for it. I used to be against the idea of slavery reparations …

Continue reading ‘Making reparations to the descendants of slaves’ »

Interserve is a giant UK outsourcing company, which employs over 65,000 people worldwide including 45,000 in the UK.  It has thousands of government contracts, including for hospital cleaning, probation services, school meals and the maintenance of military bases, benefitting from the Tory off-loading of the duties of a civilised modern government. Interserve now has ended up …

Continue reading ‘Neoliberalism should be consigned to the same deep pit as communism’ »

So what exactly does the House of Representatives H.R.1  bill do that Republicans find so horrifying? It creates a national system for automatic voter registration and expands early voting and same-day registration. It makes Election Day a holiday for federal employees and encourages private businesses to also take the day off to encourage voting. It …

Continue reading ‘HR 1, a bill in the US Congress.’ »

The most vexing problem with Brexit is Northern Ireland and its open border with the Republic of Ireland to its south. Northern Ireland was always an anomaly.  It has been a pain the neck since Cromwell imported a bunch of extreme Protestant settlers from Scotland into Ireland centuries ago.  If it were not for these …

Continue reading ‘A radical (explosive?) answer to Brexit and the future of Great Britain’ »