The credit crunch: an effect not a cause

Robert Henderson  How did we get  into this economic hole? What we are experiencing is a direct consequence of the dominant economic ideology of the age, laissez faire, an ideology which underpins the general political ideology of political elites in the West, the form of liberal internationalism we call globalism. This neo-Liberal mentality has brought [...]

Selling Britain by the pound: the immorality of privatisation

Does a British government have the moral and legal right to sell off industries and property owned by the state? In Britain the answer m is that it can legally do so. Barring restrictions agreed to in treaties, most particularly the Treaty of Rome and its successor treaties, a British government may legally do what [...]

The present state of global economies

Free trade is postulated on an absurdity, namely that the world will no longer see wars which will significantly disrupt trade, or at least the trade of the First World. It is a fool’s paradise.  Those with memories greater than that of a goldfish may recall the help and support Britain received from her supposed [...]

Waking up to the threat of the Second World

The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order: How Emerging Powers Are Redefining Global Competition in the Twenty-first Century  by Parag Khanna Publisher: Penguin Published: 30 April 2009 I would urge everyone who wants to get a grip on exactly what the rapidly developing nations and especially the Chinese are up to read [...]

“Free markets”, “free trade” and the emasculation of democratic control

 ”I just think that a lot of modern corporate capitalists — the managerial class basically — has no loyalty to any country anymore, or any particular values other than the bottom line.” (Pat Buchanan quoted by Daniel Brandt in his article “Class Warfare” in issue 13 of Namebase Newsline -http//www.namebase.org/news13.html). Buchanan is grasping a demon which he [...]

“…since records began in 1659″

The year 1659 appears with remarkable frequency in the media in  connection with the English climate, often in the form “since records  began in 1659”. It is a statement  rarely if every questioned by  anyone with access to the mainstream media.  Just pause and think about that claim. Does it seem probable that  official weather [...]

Is society materially enriched by “free markets” and “free trade?

This is an impossible question to answer categorically because there is no way knowing what would have happened if protectionism had remained full blooded throughout the last century and a half. One can compare growth rates under stronger or looser protection regimes,  but they really  say little  because the other determining factors such as public [...]

Is society materially enriched by “free markets” and “free trade?

This is an impossible question to answer categorically because there is no way knowing what would have happened if protectionism had   remained full blooded throughout the last century and a half.  One can   compare growth rates under stronger or looser protection regimes,   but   they really   say little   because the other determining  factors  such  as public [...]

Has “free trade” ever been practised?

Between  1860  and  1914 Britain operated  the  best  approximation  to “free-trade”  the world has seen.  In the period 1840-1870 not only did she by  degrees open her markets to all regardless of  whether   other  countries reciprocated,  but the size of the British state was so tiny that  the  distortions  of government expenditure   and  taxation  were [...]

Man-made global warming is the 21st century phlogiston

In the 18th century a   theory arose to explain the process of oxidation (combustion and rusting). The theory involved a non-existent substance named  phlogiston (from the ancient  Greek for burning up. It was a theory which neatly accounted for oxidation processes such as combustion and rusting. Phlogiston was supposedly contained within every flammable substance and [...]