Green Politics
Rather than a dose of steroids, the economy needs a more eclectic approach
In many ways, the fate of SMEs (small and medium size businesses) has come to define the current economic crisis. Across the political divide there is widespread enthusiasm for supporting this sector because it holds the key not just to improved growth figures but a more balanced, resilient and dynamic capitalist economy.
Fraser Nelson gets it badly wrong in today’s Telegraph
It must have seemed like quite a discovery, when Fraser Nelson found a Department for Education report which proved “that the whole premise of Labour’s education policy – that cash matters most – was false”. Ignore for a moment the caricature of Labour’s 13 years in government; have Deloitte (who analysed the data on which Fraser Nelson’s argument is based) really discovered that levels of funding don’t matter in improving educational outcomes?
UK recovery slowest ever
George Osborne has dodged a second bullet in a week. After learning that borrowing had fallen by a modest £300 million on Tuesday compared to last year, today we found out that a triple dip has been averted with meagre growth of 0.3 per cent in the first quarter of the year.
UK GDP expands 0.3 per cent, economy continues to flatline
UK GDP grew by 0.3 per cent in the first three months of 2013, according to the latest quarterly national accounts from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Once again on Labour’s ‘out of control’ spending
Some things are worth repeating because they are that important and some things should be repeated because they were not heard, or listened to, the first time. Some fall under both categories.
Has the deficit really gone down?
As Ed Conway has noticed, if you exclude the effects of either Northern Rock asset reclassification or the profits of the SLS from today's public sector borrowing figures, the deficit was actually higher this year than last.