James Bloodworth
James Bloodworth is the former editor of Left Foot Forward.
Osborne scrapes home by a mere £0.3 billion
The latest public sector finances data, released today by the Office for National Statistics, make gloomy reading for George Osborne. Net borrowing in March 2013 was £15.1 billion, meaning he managed to reduce the deficit by a mere £0.3bn.
Whether the country experiences a ‘triple dip’ or not the writing is on the wall
This Thursday we will find out whether or not the UK economy is in an unprecedented triple-dip recession. Economically, however, whether the country finds itself in a triple dip recession or not is largely symbolic - the chancellor's austerity policies are failing and there is every chance they will go on failing unless he injects some stimulus into the economy.
Did immigration really ‘depress the wages and job chances of working-class Britons’?
It's increasingly becoming accepted, even on the left, that immigration to Britain under the previous government had some negative consequences, one of which was to depress wages and increase job scarcity for the indigenous population.
Pimco chief slams austerity in interview with FT
Bill Gross, manager of the world’s largest bond fund for Pimco and one of the most widely followed and influential voices in the bond market, has attacked the UK's and Eurozone's austerity measures, saying that austerity is not the way to induce growth.
43 out of 50 top political donors gave to Tories
Forty three of the 50 biggest political donations made by individuals last year went to the Conservative Party, according to the annual Sunday Times Rich List (£).
UK downgraded by credit ratings agency Fitch
Fitch Ratings has downgraded the UKs long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) to AA+ from AAA.