No smoke

So Ed Balls thinks that he should suggest how we run the economy, does he?  This is the same person who was Gordon Brown's key adviser when the economy was being systematically run down under the last Labour Government.

Why would we put an arsonist in charge of the Fire Brigade?

50p to set us free

It wasn’t meant to be like this. Just a year ago Mervyn King was expecting inflation to drop back to its 2% target. Instead it’s well north of 5%. Petrol prices are up. The economy is stagnant. While the press and BBC have daily stories about “cuts”, no one talks about the fact that, even with these cuts, government debt continues to pile up and will do so throughout this Parliament.

It’s time to make the one cut needed to kick start the economy. This isn’t the cut of red tape, although that is desperately needed.

It’s time to take 50p off the price of fuel.

Doubtless civil servants at the Treasury will explain this is unaffordable. The opposite is true.

Lower fuel prices will help everyone: the worker paying a lower bus fare, the business on the edge of bankruptcy facing lower costs, the price of practically anything bought on the high street.

By helping the economy, it will lower government payments to the unemployed; it will increase profitability and tax revenues; it will create employment and consequently generate income tax and NI payments; it will help squeezed councils cover the costs of bin collections; it will help rural workers afford travel to their jobs.

It will drive down inflation so that those in poverty are less hard-pressed; those in the middle class will be able to spend more (or pay off debts faster); those looking for bank loans will be better able to justify them.

It will make the UK a better place to do business and make existing UK businesses more competitive overseas.

It’s win-win-win-win-win.

Can the Treasury see it? Write to your MP and tell him to pass on the message:

“Take 50p off fuel and set our economy free”

UNITEd We Fall

Ten days ago, Laura Solon scythed through the bs to the basic truth of the ongoing industrial dispute between British Airways and its cabin crew. Speaking on Have I Got News For You, she said that the biggest fringe benefit the cabin crew have is an airline to work for.

Now, on one hand I can understand the shock and anger you feel when your employer cuts payments or benefits. I've experienced this myself on a number of occasions, such as when my pension changed from being a final salary pension (good) to a defined benefits one (poor). That one change on its own cost me a few hundred thousand pounds. It cost most of my fellow workers much the same. But it had one huge fringe benefit: we still had a company to work for.

Right now, UNITE seems to be spoiling for a fight, not just at BA. It could scarcely choose a worse time: worldwide the combination of recession and fierce international competition mean that when I (or anyone else) is looking for a job, we are competing against not only the other people shortlisted for this vacancy but also anyone else, anywhere in the world, who can do the same work for a competitor.

Can a lower-paid worker in Ireland or India or the Far East do the same job, just as well? Then why should the company employ you?

This is where UNITE's confrontational approach is self-destructive for its members: the most likely result is the jobs will move elsewhere - whether to Emirates, Ryanair or Virgin. It's not clear how this will help BA cabin crew.

It used to be "United we stand". Today it looks more like UNITE's last stand.