More Theft

British Chancellor of the Excequer Alistair Darling’s pre-budget report promises the introduction of a new taxband of 45 % on income over £150,000. Meanwhile, Mr Darling also promises a puny and temporary cut in VAT from 17.5 % to 15 % (The Financial Times).
Mr Glomgold (The Zanzibar Gazette) and I (ZG) have both set out [...]

Elections, By-Elections & Runoffs

A couple of updates.
The Labour Party won last week’s by-election in the Scottish constituency of Glenrothes (The Scotsman). The Brown government celebrated profusely, claiming the victory was a first sign of a ‘Brown Bounce’. Nice to see someone is enjoying the recession. It also says a lot about the disastrous state of Labour today – [...]

A Victory For Freedom & Prosperity

Donald Trump’s plan for a £1 billion golf resort north of Aberdeen, Scotland, will go ahead despite the objections of environmentalists (The Financial Times).
I generally support development, and oppose planning restrictions, because (1) property owners should, within minimal reason, be allowed to do what they want with their land and (2) development generates prosperity.
In this [...]

Back From Vacation

Sorry for the lack of posting this week but I have been on holiday in Latvia. To make up for my absence, let me offer two seemingly unrelated comments on what is going on in the world.
First, Election Day is tomorrow. For candidates, journalists, bloggers and political operatives this marks the end of the longest [...]

Correction

I wrote yesterday about what will perhaps be known as ‘Yachtgate’ (The Zanzibar Gazette).
In light of this statement from George Osborne (ConservativeHome) and what one faithful reader of this blog has said, I have to correct myself: it seems that George Osborne was that stupid.
From his statement, which details how he met Mr Deripaska four [...]

For Your Eyes Only

According to Nathaniel Rothschild, ‘Conservative’ Shadow Chancellor George Osborne solicited a £50,000 donation to his party from a Russian oligarch in a meeting on a yacht in (outside?) Corfu (The Times).
Who is Nathaniel Rothschild? He is a ‘financier’, co-chairman of Atticus Capital and the son of the beautifully-named Lord Jacob Rothschild.
Who is the oligarch? Oleg [...]

Madonna & Guy Ritchie To Divorce

Madonna and Guy Ritchie are divorcing (The Financial Times).
In recent years England has emerged as the jurisdiction that is most friendly towards the the financially-weaker party in a divorce. Since White v White (2001) an equal split in the starting point. Furthermore, prenuptial agreements are not legally binding. This has made London the ‘Divorce Capital [...]

The Profiteer In No 10

The last weeks have seen almost unprecedented financial turmoil. The losers are not yet completely indentifiable and the losses not yet quantifiable.
But we do know that are also winners in this crisis. JP Morgan has taken over Bear Stearns and WaMu. Barclays jumped at Lehman Brothers’ American operations. Spanish bank Santander has swooped in and [...]

Confused Clegg

In the Labour and ‘Conservative’ parties in Britain, Liberal Democrats are usually derided as turncoats without their own ideas. They are seen as desperately looking for ways to distinguish themselves from their bigger rivals, turning left-wing or right-wing depending on what the others are doing. Of course, they are inherently divided since their party is [...]

The Crown Takes Over The Royal Bank

The Royal Bank of Scotland is to raise £20 billion through a share issue. The British government is underwriting the issue – if it takes all the shares it would own almost 60 % of the bank (The Financial Times).
Sounds scary. But Sir Tom McKillop, chairman, said this was unlikely:
“I believe this is an excellent [...]