HELP! Am I missing something, or what?

I've been pondering this for weeks, and I feel like I must be missing something blindingly obvious - and fear looking stupid.

But.

This business about public spending being used to stimulate the economy. Somehow it makes no sense to me. Seems to me it's a closed system - the money to perform that public spending comes from taxes and borrowing, so surely it can't create growth?

If anything, it makes things worse, because a lot of that spending will be on Gordon's HMG AmEx.

Enlighten me, someone?

Goodbye Harry

Harry Carpenter is dead.

It's a really sad day. I'm listening to heartfelt tributes to the lovely man on the radio right now. It's a voice that brings up so many memories, of listening to his commentary on some great fights.

I'm the first in my family for many generations that didn't pursue a career in boxing. My dad told me once, that when Harry Carpenter got the boxing commentary job he didn't know anything about boxing. He went to my grandfather (who was a boxer, and also trained the British Olympic team for the Rome Olympics) and asked him to brief him on punches and rules.

RIP, Harry, you're fondly remembered.

8.16 million unemployed in the UK!

From Ollie - http://tinyurl.com/yeco54f

Byrne squirms

Interesting. On the Daily Politics last week, Liam Byrne said quite clearly, and was pressed to confirm what he said by Brillo, that because the (current) government had such a great and well defined plan for the defecit reduction, no tax rises beyond those already announced would be necessary. When asked to confirm that, he said "yep" in his slimy way.

Just now, on Fivelive, he was asked the same question (and Sheila Fogherty is a presenter on both shows) he refused to be so bullish.

Got at, or what?

Brown on the Politics Show - gotcha!

If anyone who happens to see this post hasn't seen the Politics Show from 14th March, with Gordon Brown in an open session with a studio of a good cross section of Midlands people, I urge you to find it on iPlayer (parts are on youtube now too, I see).

He was ruthlessly exposed as having no substance behind all the rhetoric he spouts, trying to persuade people that because of his investment, new jobs were coming in "low carbon manufacturing" and the digital technology field, and in things like electric cars (ref Jag Landrover etc) because of the research being done. It showed starkly that this is all jargon and spin.

WTF is "low carbon manufacturing", and how is this going to replace all the thousands of manufacturing jobs lost to China etc?

It was a largely articulate audience, who exposed many lies (a clinical psychologist spelt out how targets are falsely met, and how red tape is grinding them down).

This should be compulsorary reading for everyone!

Eggs....

A little off topic....

Something very strange has happened today. We keep chickens in our garden. Today I've collected six eggs.

We only have four hens! That's never happened before.