Monthly Archives: July 2012

The Office of National Statistics  published the annual Pink Book on July 31st, showing inter alia the UK’s contributions to EU institutions in 2011.  Gross contributions are now over £19 billion, while net contributions broke the £10 billion barrier for … Continue reading →

The Department of Business Innovation and Skills is part of the government machine.  Unlike DECC  (the amusingly-named Department of Energy and Climate Change), it does not have an immediate responsibility for UK energy policy, but it is nonetheless concerned about the … Continue reading →

Ronald Stewart-Brown (let’s call him RSB for short) appeared on the eurosceptic scene many moons ago.  He presented himself as an enthusiastic sceptic, looking for ways to distance the UK from the EU, but also as an international trade expert … Continue reading →

Or maybe not. There is surely no sadder, more pathetic moment in the whole of Shakespeare (and thus in the whole of literature) than when King Lear, in the throes of despair and betrayal, makes one last, desperate threat.  “I … Continue reading →

Last Tuesday evening, I had been invited by the BBC to take part in a debate on the EU, at the London School of Economics.  It had a rather curious “asymmetric” structure.  Sir Stephen Wall proposed the pro-EU motion, but … Continue reading →

I don’t generally publish other people’s material on this blog.  But I just received an economic commentary from my good friend Ewen Stewart, who is Strategist at a major UK Investment Bank.  I have the whole paper, but it’s too … Continue reading →

Great.  The start of the summer holidays (and the sun has come out).  No doubt the press will greet the change in the weather as more evidence of global warming. I was on the road on Saturday at 6:00 a.m., … Continue reading →