Financial Times (May 29)
Britain’s GDP is set to increase by £10 billion as the Office for National Statistics begins to include illegal drug sales and prostitution in its calculations. To move into alignment with EU standards many countries have already taken this step. Italy is also advancing plans to include “among other activities, the sale of cocaine and prostitution.” Estonia, Austria, Slovenia, Finland, Sweden and Norway have already added prostitution and illegal drugs to their GDP calculations.
Tags: Alignment, Austria, Britain, Calculations, Cocaine, Drug sales, Estonia, EU, Finland, GDP, Italy, Norway, Prostitution, Slovenia, Statistics, Sweden
Financial Times (May 30)
“In France, when public servants cash in by taking private sector jobs, it is called pantouflage. In Japan, it is amakudari (“descent from heaven”); and, in the US, it is normal.” The revolving door between government and private sector jobs is a perplexing global issue that recently garnered attention in Britain when the head of tax collection became a consultant to Deloitte.
Tags: Amakudari, Britain, Deloitte, France, Government, Japan, Private-sector, Public servants
The Economist (April 8, 2013)
“As prime minister from 1979 to 1990, Margaret Thatcher transformed Britain and left an ideological legacy to rival that of Marx, Mao, Gandhi or Reagan.” Lady Thatcher was the UK’s first and, to date, only female prime Minister. She also “remains the only occupant of Number 10 to have become an “-ism” in her lifetime.”
Financial Times (August 13)
“One of the enduring aspirations of post-imperial Britain has been to remain an important player on the world stage. But the country’s self-declared aspiration to “punch above its weight” has sounded increasingly vainglorious and delusional. The fact that Britain is building a new aircraft carrier but cannot currently afford to build the aircraft to go with it seemed to symbolise this losing struggle to stay in the big league…. In these Olympic Games, however, Britain genuinely did punch above its weight.”
Tags: Aircraft carrier, Britain, Olympics, World stage
The Guardian (October 14)
The British Government announced a plan to eliminate, merge or downgrade many of the existing quasi-autonomous non-governmental organizations (quangos). Under the plan, 192 quangos would be abolished, 118 merged and 171 reformed. In total, the 901 existing quangos would be reduced to 648. The plan aims to move responsibility for decision-making back to elected policy makers, but the Guardian points out “scrapping key agencies in health, justice and consumer rights has raised alarm.”
Tags: Britain, Government, Quangos
The Times—London (June 28)
George Osborne, the Chancellor who announced sweeping budget cuts, met with 100 British business leaders. Did any of them complain the cuts would threaten the economy? “Quite the opposite: the chief priority of the delegates, who control businesses together worth roughly £1 trillion, was to stick to the Government’s deficit reduction target.” The Times calls this “an emphatic endorsement of the Government’s strategy.”
Tags: Britain, Budget cuts, Economy, Osborne
The Times (May 10)
Borrowing Nike’s slogan, The Times urges David Cameron and Nick Clegg to “just do it.” Creating a coalition government will bring risks, but these are far outweighed by the benefits. The two leaders “have a rare opportunity to reinvigorate their parties, to reset the terms of trade in British politics and to bring reformist zeal to the government of this country.”
Borrowing Nike’s slogan, The Times urges David Cameron and Nick Clegg to “just do it.” Creating a coalition government will bring risks, but these are far outweighed by the benefits. The two leaders “have a rare opportunity to reinvigorate their parties, to reset the terms of trade in British politics and to bring reformist zeal to the government of this country.”
Tags: Britain, David Cameron, Nick Clegg, Nike
The Times (May 6)
With voters heading to the polls in a race that’s too close to call, The Times calls the election “historic in both style and substance.” Most had assumed the election would be “dominated by apathy and indifference.” Instead, the election has proven “deeply invigorating.” With Britain both at war and facing economic uncertainty, The Times proclaims, “this is the most important election for a generation.”
With voters heading to the polls in a race that’s too close to call, The Times calls the election “historic in both style and substance.” Most had assumed the election would be “dominated by apathy and indifference.” Instead, the election has proven “deeply invigorating.” With Britain both at war and facing economic uncertainty, The Times proclaims, “this is the most important election for a generation.”
