Democracy is an illusion! It’s become a political system fostered by the élite, for the élite, in order to fool the people that they have a stake in the system. In actual fact, they have virtually none. The whole political system in the modern era, despite having noble beginnings, is now used to benefit the few at the expense of the many. – Mark Alexander, June 29, 2018
Friday, 31 December 2010
Nicolas Sarkozy s'engage à protéger l'euro
Les voeux du président de la République ont été enregistrés pendant la journée dans la salle des fêtes de l'Elysée. Ils ont été diffusés en différé à 20 heures simultanément sur Dailymotion, sur les principales chaînes de télévision et stations de radio. Photo : Le Figaro
LE FIGARO: «La fin de l'euro serait la fin de l'Europe», a expliqué le président lors de ses vœux aux Français. Il souhaite que l'année 2011 soit «utile», la France ne pouvant pas «se payer le luxe d'une année d'immobilisme pré-électoral».
Il avait préparé son texte plusieurs jours à l'avance. Nicolas Sarkozy a apporté un soin particulier au rituel des vœux de la Saint-Sylvestre, après une année 2010 difficile, marquée par la défaite de la droite aux régionales, l'affaire Woerth-Bettencourt, ou encore la delicate réforme des retraites, sur fond de morosité économique.
Se posant en président «protecteur», comme son entourage l'avait pressenti, il a mis l'accent sur l'importance de l'Europe pendant la crise. Le président a mis en garde contre ceux qui proposent de sortir de l'euro. «L'isolement de la France serait une folie. La fin de l'euro serait la fin de l'Europe», a déclaré le chef de l'Etat. Or «dans la tempête, (elle) a su faire face, certes pas assez complètement et souvent pas assez rapidement, mais l'Europe a tenu et l'Europe nous a protégés», a-t-il affirmé.«Je m'opposerai de toutes mes forces à un retour en arrière qui ferait fi de 60 ans de construction européenne», a-t-il appuyé dans cette déclaration radio-télédiffusée qui était également retransmise par Dailymotion. >>> Par lefigaro.fr | Vendredi 31 Décembre 2010
Knighted – for Services to High Gas Prices and Cadbury's Demise?
THE INDEPENDENT: Roger Carr, the tycoon who saw through the sale of the 200-year-old British company Cadbury to the US multinational Kraft in February, has been knighted for services to industry in today's New Year Honours list.
Sir Roger was praised by the City for getting a good deal for shareholders when the Cadbury sale went through in February. Since then Kraft has announced that it is moving the firm's headquarters to Switzerland to avoid UK tax, at a probable cost of thousands of UK jobs.
The award is doubly controversial because Sir Roger also chairs Centrica, the parent company of British Gas, which recently announced a 7 per cent price hike. Soon after that announcement, Centrica raised its full year profit forecast to more than £2.2bn. The regulator, Ofgem, is holding an inquiry into whether major energy companies are "lining their pockets". >>> Andy McSmith | Friday, December 31, 2010
Estonians Happily Enter the Eurozone
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A majority of Estonians are embracing the joining of their economy to the eurozone on Saturday in spite of the deepening crisis of confidence in the single currency.
Estonia will become the single currency's 17th member in 2011. Photo: The Daily Telegraph
The Baltic country becomes the 17th member of the euro and the first from the former Soviet Union. Some 85m euro coins featuring a map of Estonia and 12m banknotes have gone into circulation, starting a two-week phase out of the national currency, the kroon.
Joakim Helenius, chief executive of Trigon Capital, an asset management company, said that 20 years after breaking away from the Soviet Union the euro was a "symbol of hope" for many Estonians, adding, "It symbolises that Estonia has emerged as a full member of the European family."
After a year of convulsions and ever-direr predictions that the euro cannot survive, the majority of Estonians still support joining. A recent, admittedly small, poll showed that 52 per cent backed the move although that was slightly down from November. The Finance Ministry blamed the slippage on an early case of nostalgia for the kroon. >>> Martin Banks in Brussels | Friday, December 31, 2010
Wednesday, 29 December 2010
Russia's Palaces of the Super-rich Revealed
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A number of palaces of Russia's super-rich have been revealed by the magazine Forbes, including a mysterious 18th century style estate built since the mid-2000s which is standing empty and no one knows who built it.
Hundreds of palaces have been built in the Russian countryside in the last 15 years when newly rich oligarchs began looking for ways to display their stupendous – and often ill-gotten – wealth. The village of Zukovka, on the Rublovka highway west of Moscow, is dotted with immense country residences: mock medieval castles, imitation 19th century mansions, and huge Swiss chalets crouch behind three meter high fences and security cameras. But their owners are secretive and hide their mansions inside exclusive settlements screened by trees and guarded by police. >>> Roland Oliphant in Moscow | Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Friday, 24 December 2010
Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noël! Fröhliche Weihnachten! Buon Natale! Felix Nativitas!
Wishing you all peace and joy and merriment for the twelve days of Christmas
'We Three Kings' by James C. Christensen. Image: Google Images
Gloria in excelsis Deo Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis, Laudamus te, benedicimus te, adoramus te. Glorificamus te. Gratias agimus tibi, propter magnam gloriam tuam.
Tuesday, 21 December 2010
WikiLeaks Cables: UK Businessmen 'Overeducated' Says Richard Branson
THE GUARDIAN: Virgin chief critical of British education system during discussion of entrepreneurship at Beijing business lunch
Perhaps it's because he left school at 15 and ran his own business while his peers were still studying. But Richard Branson believes that the British education system does not serve budding businessmen and women well, according to a US diplomatic cable.
Branson touched on the subject at a lunch held in January 2008 by Chinese businessmen in Beijing. During the event, titled What Makes a Good Entrepreneur?, the Chinese criticised British entrepreneurs as being "overeducated, too conservative, lacking passion for entrepreneurship and too afraid of failure".
Instead of countering their criticisms, the US ambassador Clark Randt reports that "British billionaire Richard Branson agreed that British entrepreneurs are overeducated and that schooling does not prepare one for entering the business world". The Chinese also criticised their own education system as inadequate to prepare people for entrepreneurship.
Branson has previously indicated that he believes his own experiences in business provide him with something comparable to a university degree. Read on and comment >>> Amelia Hill | Monday, December 20, 2010
Monday, 20 December 2010
BBC Middle East Business Report: Designer Dishdasha
Interest Rates 'Will Have to Rise Sixfold in Two Years'
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Interest rates will have to rise almost sixfold over the next two years to cope with rising inflation, business leaders have warned.
It will bring financial pain to seven million home owners with floating interest rates who will see a jump of almost £200 on a typical monthly mortgage payment.
Charities have already warned that repossessions are likely to rise next year and the threat of a succession of quick interest rate rises will exacerbate their fears.
The Confederation of British Industry predicts that higher than anticipated rises in the cost of living will push the Bank of England (BoE) to begin increasing interest rates in the spring.
It predicted that the Bank base rate – the interest rate at which the BoE lends to other banks – will rise more than two percentage points by the end of 2012. Mortgage rates are expected to follow closely behind. Read on and comment >>> Myra Butterworth, Personal Finance Correspondent | Monday, December 20, 2010
Sunday, 19 December 2010
Russia & China Take on the Dollar
George Papandreou Risks Sparking Class War Over Austerity Cuts
THE GUARDIAN: A mob attack on a politician in broad daylight has highlighted how desperate Greeks are becoming about political decisions imposed on them
Riot police clash with protesters in September outside the Thessaloniki International Fair where the Greek prime minister, George Papandreou, was delivering a keynote speech. Photograph: The Guardian
Stung by fury on the streets, criticism within his own party and rising poverty, the Greek prime minister, George Papandreou, addressed an emergency session of his socialist MPs yesterday as parliament prepared to debate one of the toughest budgets in the near-bankrupt nation's modern history.
Amid mounting hostility over austerity measures that last week sparked some of the ugliest scenes of violence since the eruption of Europe's debt-crisis in Athens, he appealed for calm in navigating what he has increasingly come to call a "state of war".
"These are critical times for Greece," said Kostas Panagopoulos, a political analyst. "It is going through its worst period in 30 years."
An attack in broad daylight on Kostas Hadzidakis, a minister in the former conservative government, has highlighted fears that Greeks are at a tipping point. He was set upon as he walked through Athens during one of the capital's biggest ever anti-austerity demonstrations. Protesters were seen shouting "thieves, thieves" and "let the parliament burn" as they punched him in the face, threw stones at him and tried to attack him with sticks. >>> Helena Smith | Sunday, December 19, 2010
Saturday, 18 December 2010
Moody’s Slashes Ireland’s Credit Rating
THE NEW YORK TIMES: BRUSSELS — Even as Europe’s leaders were praising the Irish government’s deficit-cutting efforts, the country received a dramatically different verdict Friday from a credit rating agency: a steep downgrade and a warning of more to come.
Having pledged late Thursday to do “whatever is required” to contain the debt crisis and defend their embattled currency, European Union leaders reconvened for the final day of a summit meeting. In the draft of a closing statement, the leaders welcomed the “impressive progress” in Dublin toward meeting the stiff conditions set for its recent bailout, including adoption of steep budget cuts.
Moody’s Investors Service had a different assessment, however. It cut Ireland’s credit rating by five notches to Baa1, with a negative outlook, from Aa2 and said further downgrades could follow.
The downgrade represented a further blow for a county that has enacted deep austerity cuts — and it is likely to raise questions about whether the rating agencies are exacerbating the efforts of struggling euro countries to emerge from the crisis. >>> Stephen Castle and Matthew Saltmarsh | Friday, December 17, 2010
Friday, 17 December 2010
UBS Tells Staff To Look Sharp
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Swiss bank UBS released a detailed employee dress code with suggestions on perfume and eating habits that is raising eyebrows across the internet. WSJ's Elva Ramirez discusses the controversy.
Barack Obama to Sign Package Extending Tax Breaks for the Rich
THE GUARDIAN: Passage of bill reflects weakness of both the presidency and the Democratic party after Republican wins in November elections
Barack Obama was forced to sign the bill despite admitting that he opposed some of its provisions. Photograph: The Guardian
The US president, Barack Obama, will today sign into law measures approved by Congress extending tax cuts introduced by George Bush amid Democratic complaints that the breaks favour the rich.
Despite objections from many of Obama's fellow Democrats, the House of Representatives passed the $858bn (£548bn) package of renewed tax cuts last night. The package, which also extended benefits for the long-term unemployed for 13 months, was passed by 277 votes to 148. On Wednesday the Senate passed it by an overwhelming 83-15 margin.
Passage of the bill reflects the relative weakness of both the presidency and the Democratic party after the Republican sweep in November's congressional elections, giving them a majority in the House and big inroads into the Democratic majority in the Senate.
Obama has been forced to bend to the resurgent Republicans, his current position on taxes contrasting sharply with his stance earlier this year when he and his fellow Democrats fought against renewing tax reductions for the wealthiest Americans – those with household incomes above $250,000 – while supporting continued cuts for middle-class taxpayers. >>> Mark Tran | Friday, December 17, 2010
Thursday, 16 December 2010
Swiss Bank UBS Bans Tight Skirts and Fake Nails
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Swiss banking giant UBS has issued a strict dress code for employees, calling on them to wear "skin-coloured" lingerie and to ditch "fancy and coloured" artificial fingernails.
In a document stretching to more than 40 pages, UBS described a head to toecompany dress code, including permissible hairstyles, what cut of skirt and which type of socks to wear.
Women should not wear "flashy" jewellery or skirts that are "too tight behind."
Underwear must not be "visible against clothing or spilling out of clothing." Rather, they should be "skin-coloured under white shirts."
Employees should also ensure that natural roots are not showing if they have coloured their hair, the document dictated.
Men should wear a "straight-cut two button jacket and pants that make up part of a classic professional suit." >>> | Thursday, December 16, 2010
Helmut Schmidt bei Maischberger
Wednesday, 15 December 2010
Investors Told Forget Savings Accounts, Think of Shares
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Britain's 38 million savers have been urged to invest their money in the stock market after being warned that for many of them it is now a "waste of time" putting their cash into a savings account.
The warning came after official figures indicated that the cost of living had increased once again in November, making it nearly impossible to earn a real rate of return on any bank or building society savings product.
As the London stock market closed at a two-and-a-half-year high, experts said that for many savers taking the risk of abandoning a deposit account and placing it in a high-yielding collection of shares was a more sensible option.
The dearth of decent savings products was laid bare by figures from the personal finance website Moneyfacts which showed that there were just three accounts – out of a total of 2,203 on the market – that paid a real rate of return, and only one for higher-rate taxpayers. >>> Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Editor, and Garry White | Tuesday, December 14, 2010
To suggest that people with hard-earned savings expose themselves to the vicissitudes of fortune that the stock market can bring within nanoseconds, and to suggest that it would be a good idea for the uninitiated to risk their future security on a market which is subject to the vagaries of the experienced investor, is the height of folly and irresponsibility on the part of Darius McDermott.
If this man is such an expert, he should know that the first law of successful stock market investing is to buy low and sell high. That means to say that it is not a good idea to buy stocks and shares at the top of the market. The fact that the stock market is at a two-year high should raise the alarm bells.
The stock market is highly speculative. One has to know what one is doing. It is no place for people who do not understand the workings of the marketplace. Moreover, it is certainly no place for the inexperienced. And that is especially true today, when the economy is so volatile, the world political situation is so fragile, and the financial system is in total disarray.
Further, it is sound advice, especially for people who have been savers hitherto, to avoid the stock market unless they have money they can well afford to lose. Because it must be stressed that the value of stock market investments, as we all know, can go down as well as up; and often so quickly that people do not have the time to take their money out of the market before a crash, before disaster strikes.
Indian Billionaires to Buy 'World's Most Expensive Suit'
India's fast-growing ranks of billionaire and multi-millionaire tycoons will soon be able to wear the world's most expensive clothes after an Anglo-French clothier announced the launch of an £80,000 suit.
Dormeuil, which makes 80 per cent of its fabrics in Britain, said it will launch six suit fabrics, including the 'Vanquish II', hailed as the world's most expensive suit. It is made of Vicuna, Qiviuk and Pashmina threads and woven into a super-light wool.
The launch is another milestone in India's extraordinary economic growth and reflects the rise of a new class of super rich.
In the last year alone, India has welcomed 69 new billionaires and witnessed a steep rise in the number of millionaires with its economy growing 8.9 per cent in the quarter ending September 30 alone. The rise has seen a surge in demand for luxury goods. >>> Dean Nelson | Friday, December 10, 2010
Friday, 10 December 2010
Europe Set to Link Banking Bonuses to Basic Salaries
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: European regulators are set to tether banker bonuses to the level of basic salaries in a move that could deal the most severe blow yet to the culture of multi-million pound pay-outs.
Under the terms of proposals, expected to be published on Friday, investment banks may be forced to limit bonuses to a set multiple of bankers' salaries that would be agreed with financial watchdogs.
The Committee of European Bank Supervisors (CEBS) wants to see an end to bonuses that can be up to 50 times bigger than a banker's salary. Instead, the group, which is based in London and comprises members of the 27 European Union member states, wants banks to have to agree a maximum ratio of fixed-income to deferred pay with their national regulators.
Jon Terry, head of reward at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, said: "While CEBS is unlikely to set a specific ratio, we expect them to propose a framework from which banks will work with national regulators on agreed bonus multiples, and then to have to justify them in the context of their risk profiles. This is going to be a radical change for many institutions." >>> Louise Armitstead | Friday, December 10, 2010
Barack Obama Gives Way to Republicans Over Bush Tax Cuts
THE GUARDIAN: Allies say president 'blackmailed' into extending tax cut for wealthier Americans which may cost $4tn in lost revenue
Barack Obama talks with the Republican whip Eric Cantor after a meeting with bipartisan congressional leadership. Photograph: The Guardian
Barack Obama is bowing to Republican demands to extend a deep tax cut for wealthier Americans, to the fury of some of the president's allies who say he has succumbed to "blackmail".
In a bruising political battle that appears to set the tone for Obama's dealings with the Republicans in Congress following their victories in last month's midterm elections, the president had sought to extend a tax cut for middle-class Americans introduced by the Bush administration seven years ago which expires at the end of this month. But he wanted to see a return to pre-cut rates for households with an income above $250,000 a year, on the grounds that wealthier Americans could afford to pay more. The move would generate trillions of dollars for the financially-strapped treasury over the next decade.
The Democratic leadership believed that provided the middle class was looked after, the Republicans would find it difficult to justify tax cuts for the wealthy. The House of Representatives, still controlled by Democrats until the new Congress is sworn in next month, passed Obama's plan by a clear majority last week. But Republicans blocked the legislation in the Senate at the weekend and said they would rather see everyone's taxes rise than agree to scrapping the cuts for the wealthy.
Some Democrats called on Obama to stand firm and let the Republicans carry the blame for the inevitable middle-class backlash. But leading Democrats say the president is backing down and has agreed to extend tax cuts for everyone. In return, the White House appears to have extracted an agreement to extend benefits for the long-term unemployed. >>> Chris McGreal in Washington | Tuesday, December 07, 2010
Monday, 6 December 2010
Familienstreit von L'Oréal-Erben beendet
Überraschende Einigung erzielt – Verfahren werden zurückgezogen
NZZ ONLINE: Nach ihrem jahrelangen, erbitterten Familienstreit haben sich die französische L'Oréal-Milliardärin Liliane Bettencourt und ihre Tochter überraschend ausgesöhnt.
Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers werde alle von ihr angestrengten gerichtlichen Verfahren zurückziehen, sagte der Anwalt der Tochter, Olivier Metzner, am Montag der Nachrichtenagentur AFP. Dies beziehe sich insbesondere auf die Anzeigen gegen den Künstler François-Marie Banier.
Ihm hatte die Tochter vorgeworfen, ihre 88-jährige Mutter ausgenutzt und um fast eine Milliarde Euro in Form von Gemälden, Immobilien, Lebensversicherungen und Schecks erleichtert zu haben. >>> sda/afp | Montag, 06. Dezember 2010
Sunday, 5 December 2010
The Roof Falls In On Ireland's Millionaires Row
THE OBSERVER: In 2007 Shrewsbury Road in Dublin was the sixth most expensive street in the world. Now, post-crash, homes have been abandoned and the tycoon residents have run for the hills
Walford on Shrewsbury Road in Dublin, the most expensive residential street in the Irish capital, where prices have crashed by 50% or more. Photograph: The Observer
There is a padlock on the gate of Walford, the most expensive house in the priciest street in Ireland. Graffiti adorn the conservatory windows, the lawn is overgrown and old mattresses are piled up in the front room.
In a well-publicised deal at the height of Ireland's economic boom, this red-brick mansion, which sits on a one-and-a-half-acre plot, was sold for an eye-watering €56m (£48m) to a mysterious trust called Matsack Nominees, widely reported in the Irish media to be controlled by the wife of a millionaire property developer, Sean Dunne. The neighbours include telecoms tycoon Denis O'Brien, the biggest shareholder in Independent News & Media, who bought Belmont, a house a few doors down, for €35m.
Walford, which sits abandoned after a failed redevelopment application, is on Shrewsbury Road – a pleasant, tree-lined avenue in the Dublin inner suburb of Ballsbridge which, in the extraordinary gold rush that gripped Ireland, ranked as the sixth most expensive street in the world, ahead of Beverly Hills's Carolwood Drive and St Moritz's ritzy Via Suvretta. >>> Andrew Clark in Dublin | Sunday, December 05, 2010
Friday, 3 December 2010
Cutting Off Jobless Benefits for Millions
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Congressional conservatives have cut off extended jobless benefits unless Bush-era tax cuts remain in place for people earning more than $200,000 a year. Video courtesy of Fox News.
Headwinds Hamper Job Recovery
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Faced with higher payroll taxes and healthcare costs, employers are waiting to see a stronger economic recovery before adding new workers, according to Tig Gilliam, CEO of Adecco Group North America. He talks with Kelsey Hubbard about the health of the labor market and where we'll add jobs in 2011.
Pour Jean-Claude Trichet, il n'y a pas de crise de l'euro
LE MONDE: Le président de la Banque centrale européenne, Jean-Claude Trichet, affirme, vendredi 3 décembre, sur RTL, que l'euro est "crédible" et n'est pas "en crise en tant que monnaie", au lendemain du conseil des gouverneurs de la BCE qui a prolongé ses mesures exceptionnelles.
"On a des problèmes d'instabilité financière qui sont dus à une crise budgétaire dans certains pays européens", a-t-il ajouté, en expliquant que la BCE avait décidé jeudi de "continuer à alimenter en liquidités, sur des durées d'une semaine, un mois et trois mois, de manière illimitée, l'économie européenne". >>> LEMONDE.FR avec AFP | Vendredi 03 Décembre 2010
Thursday, 2 December 2010
Steigende Nervosität in Italien
Risikoprämien auf Rekordhöhe
Demonstranten gehen gegen die Sparpläne der Regierung auf die Strasse. Bild: NZZ Online
NZZ ONLINE: In Rom wird befürchtet, dass auch noch Italien ins Visier der Spekulation geraten könnte, obschon es besser als Portugal, Irland, Griechenland und Spanien dastehe. Die Risikoprämien für Italiens Staatsanleihen haben neue Rekordhöhen erreicht.
In italienischen Regierungskreisen wird zunehmend befürchtet, dass auch Italien vom Virus der Euro-Krise infiziert und von der internationalen Spekulation attackiert werden könnte. Mit Sorge werden etwa neuste Berichte registriert, laut denen der Wirtschaftsnobelpreisträger Krugman wie auch der Goldman-Sachs-Präsident O'Neill ausdrücklich auf dieses Risiko hingewiesen haben sollen. >>> Nikos Tzermias, Rom | Donnerstag, 02. Dezember 2010
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Lagarde: Bankers Better Be Careful
UK Economy: Is It On The Up?
Mark Littlewood from the Institute for Economic Affairs and former treasury minister Kitty Ussher debate the financial prospects for the UK next year
Mervyn King Told US Cameron and Osborne Were 'Out of Their Depth’
THE GUARDIAN: Diplomatic memos reveal Bank governor thought top Conservatives lacked experience to deal with deficit
WikiLeaks cables reveal that Mervyn King was worried about David Cameron and George Osborne's lack of economic depth. Photograph: The Guardian
The head of the Bank of England privately criticised David Cameron and George Osborne for their lack of experience, the lack of depth in their inner circle and their tendency to think about issues only in terms of their electoral impact, according to leaked US embassy cables.
Mervyn King told the US ambassador, Louis Susman, he had held private meetings with the two Conservative politicians before the election to urge them to draw up a detailed plan to reduce the deficit.
He said the pair operated too much within a narrow circle and "had a tendency to think about issues only in terms of politics, and how they might affect Tory electorability". He also predicted that economic recovery would be "a long drawn-out process", since Britain had not been through an economic restructuring.
His apparent pressure on the Tories, a few months before the election, gives further credence to the claim that King was central in persuading leading coalition figures to back a far more dramatic deficit-reduction programme than any politician advocated during the election campaign. He has recently been criticised by members of the Bank's monetary policy committee for straying into politics. Read on and comment >>> David Leigh and Patrick Wintour | Tuesday, November 30, 2010
WikiLeaks: Mervyn King Should Quit Over 'Political Bias', Says Blanchflower
THE GUARDIAN: Leaked US cables show governor of Bank of England's 'thirst for power has clouded his judgment', former colleague says
David Blanchflower, a leading economist and former member of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee, has called on Mervyn King to quit as governor of the Bank of England following leaked US cables that he claims show King's "thirst for power and influence ... has clouded his judgment one too many times".
In his toughest attack on his former colleague to date, Blanchflower seized on revelations that suggest King may have been central in persuading leading coalition figures to back a far more dramatic deficit-reduction programme than any politician advocated during the election campaign.
Blanchflower, who stepped down from the policy committee last year and who has warned the coalition government's deficit reduction programme could lead to a recession, seized on the information revealed in the latest tranche of leaked US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks to say King's position was now untenable. >>> Hélène Mulholland, political reporter | Wednesday, November 01, 2010
David Blanchflower: Mervyn King Must Go
THE GUARDIAN: In showing his true party political colours, Mervyn King has compromised the Bank of England's independence
Mervyn King is one smart guy and that has always been abundantly clear. Unfortunately, it is his thirst for power and influence that has clouded his judgment one too many times. He has now committed the unforgivable sin of compromising the independence of the Bank of England by involving himself in the economic policy of the coalition. He is expected to be politically neutral but has shown himself to be politically biased and as a result is now in an untenable position. King must go. >>> David Blanchflower | Wednesday, November 01, 2010
Bank Chief Attacks PM's 'Lack Of Experience'
The head of the Bank of England criticised David Cameron and George Osborne for their lack of experience ahead of the General Election, according to the latest leak of US diplomatic cables
