Greece and the Eurozone - Lessons from Argentina for all of us...

In 2002, Argentina devalued its currency and defaulted on its debt. An already severe recession worsened to the point where 1 in 2 people were poor! Greece and Spain are the closest to Argentina at present - Ireland capitulated long ago - Italy will be next...

UK is ripe for infrastructure investment - if its own pension funds don’t step up to the plate - others will

The head of one of Canada's largest pension funds, and prolific investor in infrastructure, has called on funds in the United Kingdom to consolidate and take advantage of the opportunities their home nation offers in that asset class

Mad, Bad and Dangerous: Queen’s Speech 2012

As a committed republican, and grand-daughter of committed republicans, (one RoI, the other ILP) I grew up regarding the pomp of the Queens Speech as little more than a particularly funny pantomime. Grampa H taught a fine contempt for the upper classes including wee Lizzie and Phil the Greek, encouraged the idea that the costumes and ceremony were ridiculous, and later introduced me to the thought that a hereditary monarch speaking on behalf of a democracy was ironic at the very least.

UK economy back in recession - as predicted

Only Quantative Easing prevented this happening earlier – 88% of the cuts have yet to be made and another £10bn of welfare cuts to come on top of the £18bn….we will be below Chinese wages and living standards before long - 1m NEET workless young people already are – that is the project…of the Tories in the coalition. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/mar/29/uk-back-in-recession-oecd

ILO World of Work Report 2011 - heading for abyss of mass unemployment

In a grim analysis issued on the eve of the G20 leaders summit, the International Labour Organization (ILO) says the global economy is on the verge of a new and deeper jobs recession that will further delay the global economic recovery and may ignite more social unrest in scores of countries. http://www.ilo.org/global/publications/ilo-bookstore/order-online/books/WCMS_166021/lang--en/index.htm

30 years of wage stagnation

Low and median incomes increased by just 27 and 56 per cent in the 30 years up to the recent recession, despite the UK economy more than doubling in size over the same period, according to a new TUC report published this week: http://www.tuc.org.uk/tucfiles/28/Britains_Livelihood_Crisis.pdf

The wrong type of recession

Last weekends’ papers were awash with some welcome dissent on Osbornes’ economic performance as calls for a ‘plan B’ strategy came from some of his previous backers: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jun/04/uk-new-economic-approach