Monthly Archives: March 2013

An excellent piece by Specky Editor Fraser Nelson http://is.gd/rqKyjg, titled “It’s the cold, not global warming, that we should be worried about”.  Fraser points out that typically in the UK, some ten times as many people (mainly pensioners) die of … Continue reading →

Tim Congdon is one of the UK’s most distinguished economists, and we are privileged to have him on the UKIP team.  I have written about Tim before. He’s had good things to say on banking regulation, and he’s previously written on how … Continue reading →

Japan has been having a hard time for a couple of decades.  In pro rata terms, it is the most indebted country in the world.  Its National Debt is around 230% of GDP, and second only to the USA in … Continue reading →

On March 6th (the day attended a breakfast briefing on the proposed EU/US trade deal) I had lunch with CEMBUREAU http://www.cembureau.be/.  This is the European Cement Association.  And we heard another Commission Director General, this time Daniel Calleja Crespo, of DG Enterprise and … Continue reading →

(and a little genteel climate iconoclasm) On March 18th I attended an unusual event: to celebrate its 750th anniversary, Balliol College, Oxford, is staging a series of “Master’s Seminars” around the world, on subjects of global interest. This one, in the … Continue reading →

On March 6th, I attended a breakfast briefing on T-Tip.  That’s a two-syllable abbreviation for a four-syllable acronym, TTIP.  This in turn is an abbreviation for Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.  But in less portentous language (and plain English) it … Continue reading →

On Tuesday March 12th, during a rather long speech in the Strasbourg Hemicycle from Israeli President Shimon Peres, I’m afraid I inadvertently and momentarily dozed off.  As it happens, I was in the parliament that day for fourteen hours, and … Continue reading →

The doomsters have spoken.  We’re facing “Peak Oil” — a point of maximum production, followed by an inexorable decline, when oil prices will skyrocket, and petrol and diesel cars will rust by the road-side. In 1922, a US federal commission … Continue reading →

I must recently have made some passing comment about welfare, because a certain @DocHackenbush replied: “Memo to Helmer: Unless you’ve lived on social security, you don’t get to have an opinion on it”.  That’s about as sensible as saying “Unless … Continue reading →

Today, MEPs vote on the parliament’s report on the so-called Multi-Annual Financial Framework, or MFF.  This is the parliament’s response to the Council’s proposal on the six-year outlook for EU budget. The vote poses a particular problem for UKIP.  On … Continue reading →

EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger, about whom I have had occasion to write more than once, has been to Scotland at the Scottish Energy Insititute’s recent dinner in Aberdeen.  It seems he played a blinder.  I’ll give you some quick … Continue reading →

A couple of days back I Tweeted against the EU’s proposed   Financial Transaction Tax (FTT, or Tobin Tax), and David Cammegh   @davidcammegh replied: “Let them collapse or clear off because then new honest banks might take their place in a … Continue reading →