UK Could Become the Next Greece, Warns Next Chief Executive Simon Wolfson
THE GUARDIAN: Head of clothing chain and Tory party donor urges action on public deficit

The chief executive of clothing retailer Next, Simon Wolfson, warned today that unless the incoming government took urgent action to tackle the hole in the UK's public finances, the country could face the same economic woes as struggling members of the eurozone within three years.

"It is impossible to say whether this year could be worst than last year until we know the government measures to cure the deficit," said Wolfson. "But there is a great big hole to fill. I don't think we are in the same position as Greece because we are not in the euro. But something does need to be done, whoever wins the election, or in two or three years' time we could be a Greece or Spain." >>> Zoe Wood and Julia Finch | Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Vince Cable’s Warning in 2008

Warning for Britain as Financial Chaos Spreads to Spain
THE TELEGRAPH: Spain's economy was thrown into chaos on Thursday when its credit rating was cut, sharpening fears that Britain may suffer a similar fate.

The turmoil came just a day after Greece’s rating was cut, increasing concerns of a Europe-wide financial crisis.

The euro fell sharply and the interest rates European governments pay to borrow money jumped after Standard and Poor’s, a credit ratings agency, downgraded Spain.

Last night the government in Madrid appealed for calm, promising an “austerity programme” to cut spending.

But economists fear that events in Spain show that financial “contagion” is spreading from Greece, as investors are scared off investing in any European country with significant government deficits. >>> James Kirkup and Christopher Hope | Thursday, April 29, 2010

Britain Risks Greek-style Crisis, Warns Vince Cable
THE TELEGRAPH: Britain risks sliding into a Greek-style fiscal crisis unless the next government takes drastic action to cut borrowing, warned Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat finance spokesman.

Greece is currently in talks with the IMF and the European Union on getting a €45bn bail-out package to prevent a sovereign default, and a slashing of its debt to junk status has sent global financial markets into a tailspin.

"The Greek position is much more serious but is a salutary warning that unless the next government gets seriously to grips with the deficit problems, as we're determined to do, we could have a serious problem," Mr Cable told Reuters Insider television. >>> | Wednesday, April 28, 2010

World Bank Warns of Social Discontent in Russia
THE TELEGRAPH: The World Bank has given warning of serious social discontent in Russia after delivering a bleak assessment of the country's economy.

World Bank warns of social discontent in Russia. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
Scotching optimism that the world's largest country may already be in recovery, the bank predicted that Russia's economy is contracting far more sharply than the Kremlin has acknowledged.

According to revised government forecasts, the Russian economy will shrink by 2.2pc this year. But it its latest economic report on Russia, the World Bank predicts that Gross Domestic Product will actually contract by 4.5pc.

The assessment comes as foreign investors focussed on emerging markets again start to flirt with Russia after months of record capital flight in the wake of last August's war with Georgia and a collapse in the price of oil.

The Russian stock exchange's benchmark RTS index has gained over 30pc this year alone, outpacing most emerging markets, after a modest recovery in oil and metal prices.

But Zeljko Bogetic, the World Bank's lead Russia economist, cautioned against such optimism.

"As the crisis continues to spread to the real economy around the world, initial expectations that Russia and other countries will recover fast are no longer likely," he said. >>> By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow | Monday, March 30, 2009

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Britain Showing Signs of Heading Towards 1930s-style Depression, Says Bank
THE TELEGRAPH: Britain is showing signs of sliding towards a 1930s-style depression, the Bank of England says today for the first time.

The country is displaying early symptoms of being trapped in a so-called “debt deflation trap” where families find themselves pushed further and further into the red every month, according to a Bank report published today.

The stark warning will cause serious concerns, since it was this combination of falling prices and soaring debt burdens that plagued the US in the 1930s.

The Bank is using its Quarterly Bulletin to highlight the threat posed to the economy by deflation – where prices fall each year rather than rise.

Although inflation is currently in positive territory, it is expected to become negative in the coming months.

The Bank is worried that this may combine with high levels of indebtedness to squeeze families further.

It says that families with high debts could fall prey to the debt deflation trap. This means that the cost of their debts, which are fixed, would rise compared to average prices throughout the economy. While inflation erodes debts, deflation makes them relatively higher.

The Bank’s paper suggests that Britain is particularly at risk because there is a high proportion of families with significant levels of debt, and many of them are on fixed mortgage rate, which means they will not benefit from rate cuts.

Britons’ total personal debt – the amount owed on mortgages, loans and credit cards – is, at £1.46 trillion, more than the value of what the country produces in a year.

Total personal debt has risen by 165 per cent since 1997 and each household now owes an average of about £60,000.

The Conservatives claim this is the highest personal debt level in the world. >>> By Edmund Conway, Economics Editor | Monday, March 16, 2009

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Britain Warned over Sharia-compliant Finance Arrangements
RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE: A British campaigning group has hit out at plans that would allow current financial arrangements to be altered to allow Sharia-compliant bonds to be issued.

The warning comes from two bodies, the Christian Legal Centre and Christian Concern for Our Nation (CCFON). They spoke out after changes were recommended to the Legislative Framework for the Regulation of Alternative Finance Investment Bonds (Sukuk). They say that if the changes are accommodated, the British Government would be ‘capitulating’ to Islamic religious law.



The subject of Sharia law has been hotly debated in the UK following comments by the Archbishop of Canterbury when he said that it "seems inevitable" that some parts of sharia would be enshrined in this country's legal code. Earlier this week the former Prime Minister Tony Blair backed the Archbishop. He commented in The Church of England Newspaper: "I thought at the time all this was a lot of fuss over nothing."



But in a written submission to the Treasury, the Christian Legal Centre and CCFON said that any change could radically change the fundamental basis of British society through its financial regulation. >>> By Judy West | Friday, March 6, 2009

NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY: Raise Your Voice against Sharia Law

The demonstration and meeting to protest at the introduction of sharia law into Britain will take place Saturday 7 March in Central London. We urge you to be there.

The One Law for All Campaign is calling on members and supporters of the NSS to come along to the demo and raise their voice against the rising clamour for official recognition of the pernicious sharia system of injustice. We will also be objecting to all religious-based tribunals that operate here of any religion. >>> | Friday, March 6, 2009

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Olivier Besancenot the 'Red Postman' Delivers Warning to Nicolas Sarkozy
Profile: As the global economy crumbles, a young revolutionary’s talk of smashing the state seems attractive to voters in France.

France's baby-faced “Red Postman” has been quietly knocking on the door of French politics for years.

However, Olivier Besancenot believes he has now created a wrecking ball to end capitalism and the institutions of the French state symbolised by President Nicolas Sarkozy.

With his cropped hair, Tintin quiff and cheeky grin it is not hard to see why the 34-year old is referred to as everyone’s “ideal son-in-law”.

Whatever you think of his politics – he believes that no employee should ever be sacked – this earnest Trotskyist has a magnetic media presence and undeniable gift of the gab, which have helped turn him into a youth idol.

In Britain, he would be dismissed as a “loony Lefty”. In France, Mr Besancenot is the second most popular political figure behind Mr Sarkozy.

In the wake of the global financial meltdown, his plans to do away with the market economy and create a single, nationalised “state banking service” no longer sound quite so far-fetched.

Middle France’s acceptance of the far-Left postman was sealed when he appeared on the French equivalent of This is Your Life and promised: “For me, the revolution is not a puddle of blood on each street corner.” But behind the harmless, working-class-boy-next-door image, Mr Besancenot means business.

On Sunday, he will launch what he hopes is the ultimate weapon against the powers that be — a mass-appeal far-Left party whose provisional name is the Nouveau Parti Anti-Capitaliste (NPA).
This will replace the Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire.

With financial institutions on the verge of collapse and anger rife at the immorality of a system that spawned the Madoff scandal, the timing could not have been better for the launch of a party that hopes to build a non-capitalist state. Add to that a bitterly divided and ineffectual centre-Left and long-standing French scepticism to the free market and it is not hard to see why Mr Sarkozy no longer views the NPA as a laughing matter. >>> | Friday, February 6, 2009

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