Britain and the EU: For Richer For Poorer? (documentary video)


“Ahead of the EU referendum, Laura Kuenssberg examines the economic costs and benefits of EU membership. She talks to politicians and business leaders on both sides of the debate in a bid to find out what leaving could mean for … Continue reading

Fact Check: how much does the UK actually pay to the EU? (The Conversation and Newsnight video)


For every £2 we send to Brussels, we get £1 back and it comes back with a tag on it on what we have to spend it on. Gisela Stuart, Labour MP and joint head of Vote Leave, speaking on … Continue reading

Can we believe what the Treasury says about the cost of Brexit? (The Conversation and Newsnight video)


There’s a high price to be paid if Britain leaves the European Union, according to the UK’s Treasury forecasts. Leaving the EU would cost the average household £4,300 per year, it is suggested. But Chancellor George Osborne has not done … Continue reading

Government and ‘independent expertise’: think tanks represent a blind spot for critical analysis


Drawing on recent research about UK think tanks, austerity and social policy, Hartwig Pautz and Elke Heins examine the relationship between government and the world of ‘independent expertise’. Focusing on one example, the Centre for Social Justice’s influence over Conservative ministers’ social policies, they … Continue reading

Q&A: Can Corbyn revolutionise the financial sector and the Bank of England? (video)


Anastasia Nesvetailova, City University London Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn this week unveiled his new team of economic advisers. He hopes they will help build a set of policies capable of countering the narrative of belt-tightening austerity which delivered David … Continue reading

Wealth inequality madness: tax policy is made by the few for the few at the expense (and with the support) of the many (video)


Any time a politician, or any public figure for that matter, tries to discuss the subject of wealth and income inequality they are immediately castigated in the right-wing media as being engaged in “class warfare“. Even president Obama, who had … Continue reading

The FT’s take-down of Thomas Piketty is no Thomas Herndon moment (video)


Almost exactly a year ago, the core argument used by right-wingers around the world to justify accelerated budget deficit reduction, Reinhart and Rogoff’s “Growth in a Time of Debt”, was fatally undermined by Thomas Herndon, an economics graduate student, when he … Continue reading

Do you want the truth from your government? (Part 2): The evidence free Beecroft Report (video)

This is what the Tories want your boss to be able to do without any liberal rights laws getting in the way. (Modified Image: Original photo by Reuters via Daily Telegraph)

In May 2012, the government asked British workers to give up their employment protections in exchange for cash or shares in the company that employed them. “Employees will be given between £2,000 and £50,000 of shares that are exempt from … Continue reading

When it comes to cutting the budget deficit, why do conservatives think tax cuts for the wealthy are different to welfare cuts for the poor? (Video)


It is said that what happens in the US happens in the UK shortly afterwards. This clip of the Daily Show shows US conservatives making the argument that it is ok to attack the incomes and the dignity of the weakest and the poorest … Continue reading

Thomas Piketty – Why we need a global wealth tax (video)


Jeremy Paxman discusses wealth inequality and a global wealth tax with Thomas Piketty author of “Capital In The 21st Century” on Newsnight (30 April 2014).   Video © BBC *********************************************** Wealth inequality and other things we don’t have to learn from … Continue reading

Do you want the truth from your government or just what a minister says he ‘believes’ to be true? (video)


“The Prime Minister doesn’t want the truth, he wants something he can tell Parliament” (Sir Humphrey Appleby, Yes Minister) First published 27 July 2013 Last week David Cameron made the most of the opportunity to claim that his party’s policies on … Continue reading

Wealth inequality and other things we don’t have to learn from America (video)


It is said that what happens in the US happens in the UK shortly afterwards. This clip of the Daily Show was broadcast in August 2011 and touches on many of the same arguments used by the Conservative Party in the … Continue reading

Newsnight 6 Jan 2014: Conservative party double down on their war on the poor (video)


There is nothing that I need add to this clip from Newsnight.  The nasty party is back and it is taking no prisoners.   Related articles Fergus Wilson: This is what happens when when welfare is withdrawn and unregulated scumbag … Continue reading

Fergus Wilson: This is what happens when welfare is withdrawn and unregulated scumbag landlords are allowed to dictate which of us deserves a home (video)

Screw the battered wives! I want my rent!

Last night we saw one of the biggest scumbags in Britain tell Channel 4 News how unfortunate it was that Conservative party led restrictions on housing benefit means that he has to evict benefit claimants from his properties and put … Continue reading

Iain Duncan Smith’s explosive row with LBC’s James O’Brien (Audio)


Whilst hunting for evidence to support the premise of my next post (if you are interested it is that the government, especially IDS, are in denial about why there has been an explosion in food bank usage in the UK) I … Continue reading