Author: robert.marchant

Practically the only economist in the world who predicted the current crisis, Paul Krugman (who has a Nobel prize to boot) talks about the way the American right wrongly perceives European countries.

Well with the electoral situation looking dire and a fairly inept attempted “coup” yesterday…I had to post this lovely clip which I found on Labourlist from 2007:I hope my own little Zoë will show similar loyalty…! (Hat-tip: John Gray to anon on Youtube)

Wow, this is all very interesting. Government in “seriously considering mutual ideas shocker”. Tessa Jowell, Ed Balls and Andy Burnham to be involved. Great!

I couldn’t resist this, but in the spirit that perhaps of our lifetimes this really is the most important conference, perhaps I can get away with the comparison. Will our world leaders step up to the plate? Or will they leave the conference with some good soundbites, and a hasty fudge to make it look… Continue reading I have in my hand a piece of paper…

Ok, so maybe it’s not necessarily cool to have a link to the prime minister in your blog, but he’s one of the few world leaders who’ve got the importance of the next two weeks – read him in the Guardian here.

As the negotiating teams arrive in Copenhagen, thought it appropriate to link into an article I’ve just contributed to the excellent Politics For People, the Co-op Party‘s “unofficial” blog, about co-operative solutions to climate change. Check it out here.

Less than a week to go to Copenhagen: to what might, when we look back in twenty or thirty years, turn out to have been the most important inflection point of our lifetimes between two possible futures: that of truly putting us on the road to resolving climate change, or not. In the UK, it… Continue reading Copenhagen countdown – staying the right side of 2ºC

As a complete aside, just stumbled on this great clip of Jerry Sanders, Mayor of San Diego (hat-tip: A Big Block Of Cheese). In 2007 he changed his mind – publicly – on the subject of gay marriage. Although it might seem like a slightly “Hollywood” moment in part, there’s also real emotion in this… Continue reading Principle vs expediency

Also wanted to highlight this slightly old news story about Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North MP) standing in on PressTV (Iranian state mouthpiece in English) for – you guessed it – George Galloway, that nasty apologist for dodgy Islamist regimes the world over. It does underline the point made in Nick Cohen’s excellent book, “What’s Left?”,… Continue reading Jeremy, Jeremy – What’s Left?

I needed something to be outraged about to blog after a couple of weeks’ (well-earned if you ask me!) break, so here it is: the Tories are trying to make everyone believe that Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance are going to be scrapped with nothing to replace them. It’s odd, but this seems to… Continue reading Disability benefits and what the Tories want you to think