Britain in Europe - to stay?
Britain has for long been a European Power. History students will remember that one of our main foreign policy aims was said to be to maintain a balance of power in Europe That meant a balance of military power. Today the balance required in Europe is an economic one. This explains the open dismay of many smaller European states when they got the message that Britain might withdraw from the EU. For more click here
Is the present depression worse than that of the 1930s? In one important respect it is. Certainly unemployment is not as high now, and though there is much hardship it is nothing like a deep as in the 1930s. It is now four years since the economy collapsed, and yet the total value of our economy is still about 4% lower than four years ago. In the 1930s growth by this time had fully recovered The rate of growth in the last five quarters has amounted to 0.3% This is equivalent to a waste of resoures of more than £30,000 million. There is little sign that this rate of growth will increase significantly in the near future. All thanks to our Conservative government. Read more here Health Inequalities are serious, both nationally and locally. They are far greater than most people realise. Recent reports have described the situation in detail. For comments on the national report click here For local report click here; for health and equality click here
Climate Change remains the elephant in the world's political agenda. The reality is clear and the dangers are recognized by almost all scientists and politicians and government policies commonly take it into account. Unfortunately the issues are not widely understood by the general public, and more immediate problems take priority. For comments about it and implications for this part of the world click here

Britain in Europe - to stay?

Britain has for long been a European Power. History students will remember that one of our main foreign policy aims was said to be to maintain a balance of power in Europe That meant a balance of military power. Today the balance required in Europe is an economic one. This explains the open dismay of many smaller European states when they got the message that Britain might withdraw from the EU. For more click here

Is the present depression worse than that of the 1930s?

In one important respect it is. Certainly unemployment is not as high now, and though there is much hardship it is nothing like a deep as in the 1930s.

It is now four years since the economy collapsed, and yet the total value of our economy is still about 4% lower than four years ago. In the 1930s growth by this time had fully recovered

The rate of growth in the last five quarters has amounted to 0.3% This is equivalent to a waste of resoures of more than £30,000 million. There is little sign that this rate of growth will increase significantly in the near future. All thanks to our Conservative government. Read more here

Health Inequalities are serious, both nationally and locally. They are far greater than most people realise. Recent reports have described the situation in detail. For comments on the national report click here
For local report click here; for health and equality click here

Climate Change remains the elephant in the world's political agenda. The reality is clear and the dangers are recognized by almost all scientists and politicians and government policies commonly take it into account.

Unfortunately the issues are not widely understood by the general public, and more immediate problems take priority. For comments about it and implications for this part of the world click here


"We have never and do not now advocate scaling back the government's medium- to longer term policy of fiscal consolidation." ......"It remains our view that fiscal policy could be used to raise aggregate demand in the economy with little or no loss of fiscal credibility." NIESR (National Institute of Economic and Social Research).



"The world's energy system is being pushed to breaking point, and our addiction to fossil fuels grows stronger each year." Maria van de Hoeven (International Energy Agency).



"Britain's economy is out of the danger zone and recovering." David Cameron 15th December 2010



"For the duration of this parliament.....the age related allowance and other thresholds for older people.....will increase by the equivalent of the RPI" The 2011 budget red book



"This Coalition Government's attack on poor children is a blight upon our conception of ourselves as a civilised society" Dr Bousted (General Secretary of the Asociation of Teachers and Lecturers)


This and That

Commerce on the Internet accounts for about 17% of retail expenditure in Britain.

The gap between the income of the top 10% and the bottom 10% of earners has multiplied by 14 in the last 25 years

Over the last year the public sector has lost 270,000 jobs whilst the private sector has gained only 226,000.

The number of claimants per job vacancy in Yorkshire and Humberside is 7.4

2,500 people in the EU die each year from antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections.

From April 6th the take-home pay of many low waged couples with children will fall by more than 20%