Housing and the Coalition’s dirty secret

Robert Henderson There is a dirty secret which none of the mainstream parties is willing to publicly reveal: those who are owner-occupiers with mortgages are being heavily subsidised at the expense of those who live in private rented accommodation. This is being done by  the supposedly independent Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)  of the Bank of [...]

No 10 ‘interfered to push through £600m plan for virus superlab’

London Evening Standard    Mark Blunden 20 Jan 2011 Campaigners against a maximum security “superlab” in the heart of London are calling for a parliamentary inquiry claiming that there was political interference in the bidding process. The UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation, behind the British Library in St Pancras, will be capable of [...]

Do we really want to live forever?

Research into ageing is progressing to the point where a substantial increase in  the human lifespan may become reality within a generation or two. In November 2010  Ian Sample of the Guardian reported   http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/nov/28/scientists-reverse-ageing-mice-humans#history-link-box   ) on research at the John Hopkins University of Baltimore which has rejuvenated  mice “What we saw in these animals was [...]

The rich have never had it so good

Nutory Boy’s absurdly titled “enterprise czar”, Lord Young of Graffham, managed to put not one but two feet inextricably in the political mire with his “people have never had it so good”  fantasy vouchsafed to a Telegraph journalist to the sounds of cutlery clacking and glasses clinking in what was doubtless a very decent Westminster watering hole. [...]

The “Taxing the rich produces little money” lie

 A favourite elite mantra is  that “taxing the rich brings in little money”.  Let’s have a look at that claim. Research by CoreData Research UK (http://www.burning-pants.com/2010/10/im-alright-jack/) published in September 2010 suggest s that   a minute  1.1% of  UK households  have combined wealth of well over a trillion pounds.    The research  concludes that there are “284,317 [...]

Nailing the “We’re all in this together” lie

Amongst the many obnoxious lies put about by the coalition is the claim that “We’re all in this together”,  which is embellished by their other parrot cry  of “the rich are being hit harder than the poor”.  This is obvious nonsense because the poorer you are, the less discretionary spending you have.   Let’s take [...]

The vicious poison in the British economy is the outlandish cost of housing

The price of housing, both to purchase and rent, is severely distorting British society. The absurd cost of property now – around £165,000 on average and considerably more in areas such as  Central London where a studio flat costs  upwards of £200,000 – makes it impossible for the large majority of people to get on [...]