Jun/10
09:08 2
Dr. Osborne will see you now
Notwithstanding the photoepilepsy-inducing graphics, this video setting ideological cuts against comments from economists David Blanchflower and Joseph Stiglitz, is well worth a watch on the day that Dr. Osborne will amputate billions from public spending:
Writing on Comment Is Free this weekend, Blanchflower repeated that these cuts are “dogma over common sense”. Slamming the axing of the Future Jobs Fund and guarantees of work or training for the long-term unemployed, he said:
It is quite clear the vulnerable are going to pay for this government’s incompetence. Nick Clegg and his lot have sold their souls for power, and this is not what they stood for at the election.
This budget won’t be one for the squeamish (or Simon Hughes).
Jun/10
14:01 4
What will Gideon slash next week? Speculate now with the random cuts generator!
Hats off to the good folks at No Shock Doctrine for Britain for their brilliant random cuts generator. This policy tool will surely be adopted across HMT as we approach Tuesday’s emergency budget.
Reductions in public spending have never been so amusing.
Dec/09
17:55 8
Set theory 101 with Guido Fawkes
UPDATE 18.36: Annoyingly, Guido is right on the economics (LFF overlooked figures released yesterday). Still got the Venn diagram wrong though!
With a post entitled Economics for 7 Year Olds Guido clearly fancies himself as something of a primary school teacher. He attempts to use a set diagram to show that the UK is the only G20 country still in recession. Wrong! Left Foot Forward has the skinny on how four other countries should be alongside the UK.
But it’s not just the economics that is shoddy. On the basis of the original Venn diagram (now corrected) he should probably hold fire on that Open University PGCE:
“Mr. Guido, Sir, how is it possible for the UK to be in recession and out of recession at the same time?”
Really. What would Ofsted think?!
Hat tip: Adam Bienkov
Sep/09
00:03 3
Will Cameron’s Treasury leak backfire?
The publication of confidential forecasts from HM Treasury is a coup for the Conservatives but they may well be in for some fall out from their own leak. With the FTSE climbing above 5,000 points for the first time since last October, an autumn wobble in economic confidence could be laid at Cameron’s door:
“Some will argue the Tories have taken a big risk with financial confidence in publishing it.” – Faisal Islam
Even worse, the Financial Times is now reporting that prospective cuts of 8.6 percent will rise to more than 14 percent if, as Cameron has already promised, the Tories ring-fence health and international aid:
“Other Conservative commitments suggest this 14 per cent underestimates the scale of the squeeze Mr Cameron will have to apply across most of Whitehall.” – Financial Times
Well done, Dave.
Sep/09
07:00 0
Ones to watch: financial crisis specials
Amongst the current overabundant coverage of the events of the last year you could do a lot worse than watch the Telegraph’s video on the collapse of Lehman Brothers from the perspective of the administrators and redundant staff or – if you’ve got a bit more time on your hands - Aftershock, yesterday’s special edition of Newsnight, exploring what has changed as a result of the financial meltdown.
Sobering viewing.
Sep/09
20:28 2
Brown covers Lehman Brothers collapse in TUC speech
On the first anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Gordon Brown spends a good 75 seconds of his speech to the TUC on the merchant bank. Seems a bit odd that Osborne never mentioned it today. Wonder why?
Tory Bear is engaging in a bit of rapid rebbutal from the blue corner.
Good intentions: Scrapbook will post a comment there later.
Sep/09
16:21 13
Lehman Brothers: the Conservative Party donations
On 15 September 2008, investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, transforming a credit drought into the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
In his speech this afternoon billed as “the Conservative strategy for the recovery”, George Osborne spoke of drawing “the correct conclusions from the last two years”. What better way to provide perspective and context to this than to reference the demise of Lehman’s – occurring exactly a year ago today. A speechwriting slam dunk, surely?
Unfortunately for Boy George, other factors may explain the omission of this obvious milestone from his address. In the run up to the largest corporate bankruptcy of all time, the Conservative Party received donations of a quarter of a million pounds from top Lehman Brothers executives, including previously reported secret donations to Osborne’s private office which were concealed from parliamentary authorities.
Financier Roger B Nagioff donated £120,000 to the Tories under David Cameron and another £25,000 before that. He oversaw Lehman Bros’ fixed income division while the company lost more than a quarter of its value and left the sinking ship – only eight months after his appointment was hailed as a “major event” by the company – to “spend more time with his family“. He soon bored of impersonating The Waltons and set up JRJ Investments with another Lehman Bros banker and Conservative Party donor, Jeremy M Isaacs.
As CEO of Lehman Brothers’ operations in Europe and Asia, Jeremy Isaacs controlled 40% of company operations and received a ‘golden goodbye’ of $5 million as 4,500 London staff were ordered to clear their desks. Isaacs donated nearly £100,000 to Conservative Central Office prior to the collapse and was also one of five wealthy donors funding shadow chancellor George Osborne’s office, the names of whom were only disclosed after Osborne was forced to do so by standards commissioner John Lyon. Isaacs was one of several bankers who, according to The Times, “were generously remunerated while overseeing forays into risky commercial real-estate investments that helped to bring the company down”.
And where the money trail ends the development of Tory policy begins. Lehman director Christopher Gent was appointed by George Osborne to his ’Tax Reform Commission’. Gent was a member of Lehman Brothers’ Compensation and Benefits Committee, presumably responsible for approving a package for Jeremy Isaacs which would see him pocket £43 million in 2006 and 2007, as well as their Audit Committee, which might have something to do with, erm, risk?
Six-figure donors to political parties are treated to some serious face-time by party bigwigs. One year on from the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, serious questions remain about the political and financial connections between George Osborne’s office and figures at the heart of a company viewed as an exemplar of laissez-faire recklessness.
Perhaps Boy George can shed some light on the matter?
