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Monthly Archives: February 2010

Robin Hood Tax? Beware the men in tights

I want to support the new campaign for a “Robin Hood Tax” – really I do. I understand the logic behind the Tobin Tax and have a lot of sympathy for the idea. But there’s something about this campaign… Actually, there are four problems I have with it:
Firstly, the name “Robin Hood [...]

The Tories’ boneheaded priorities

We can only speculate what the Tory campaigns department were thinkin when they launched the now much-spoofed “R.I.P. OFF” poster. In a nutshell it demonstrates all that is wrong with David Cameron’s Conservatives: naive and focused on the wrong priorities.
The campaign is rooted in the fact that the Labour government is considering a charge [...]

New Demos pamphlet makes the Lib Dem case for equality

In association with The Equality Trust, Demos have today published three pamphlets focusing on equality from the perspective of each of the main political parties. The Liberal Democrat one, A Wealth of Opportunity, is written by Julia Margo and William Bradley and has a foreword by David Laws MP.
A concern with inequality lies deep [...]

News Roundup

The Guardian continues its coverage of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changes ongoing woes.
It also carries an interview with Conservative leader of Barnet Council Mike Freer and his “easyCouncil” model (as a Barnet resident, I was interested to see that my council tax was spent on clearing up all the grit on the pavement on [...]

The Spirit Level in 3 minutes

A short film to promote The Spirit Level, the paperback edition of which came out this week:

Okay, it ever so slightly over-eggs the pudding, but it is good fun nonetheless.
The Social Liberal Forum will be running a joint fringe with the Equality Trust at the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference in March. More details soon.

News Roundup

Climate change science has been dealt another blow by the revelation that University of East Anglia professor Phil Jones knowingly used flawed evidence in one of his studies.  How many more revelations like this will we have before the scientific community learn the lesson that transparency is the only way to ensure public trust?
Meanwhile, a [...]

News roundup

Labour is reported to be putting cooperative principles at the heart of its 2010 manifesto.  Anyone remember the third way?
Nick Clegg is spelling out today how the Liberal Democrats propose to pay for its flagship ‘pupil premium‘ policy for education.
David Cameron is continuing to confuse over both the economy and human rights.  Despite the Tory [...]