Why are undercover police investigating protesters not bankers?

by Jenny Jones AM    
October 25, 2011 at 11:40 am

I was sent one of those hush, hush confidential Met briefings recently, about who approves police under-cover operations and what the mechanisms are.

It all seemed sensible stuff, except the fascinating omission from the document of any justification of why they would conduct an operation against a particular group and how this relates to the Regulatory of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.

Perhaps there is a different briefing which explains the justification for targeting people like ‘Reclaim the Streets’ a bunch of 1990’s campaigners who, like me, didn’t like the pollution which comes from building new roads? I suspect not.
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Are small businesses hampered by regulation?

by Richard Exell    
October 25, 2011 at 11:04 am

How often do we hear that regulations are driving businesses into extinction? Especially the small ones?

Last month, the British Chambers of Commerce made, “Immediate and real action on existing pledges to reduce regulation” the number one item in their 5-point “Plan A” to boost business growth.

Earlier this year, the Federation of Small Businesses complained that: “Despite the rhetoric, the burden of regulation continues to get heavier.”

Back in February, the CBI’s Budget Submission argued that companies “expecially SMEs” are discouraged from hiring by employment regulations.

This made the latest edition of the BIS SME Business Barometer, published today, all the more interesting. Based on 500 interviews with owners and managers of SMEs, it gives us the opportunity to find out just how much small businesses are being held back by over-regulation.

Although the organisations that claim to speak for SMEs insist on the importance of this issue, it looks as though the economic stagnation I blogged about earlier today is much more significant. Twenty seven per cent of SMEs – more than one in four – are reducing or delaying their long-term investment plans because of “recent economic conditions”, compared with 5 per cent increasing them or bringing them forward. (In construction, 39 per cent are reducing or delaying their plans.)

But even more damning are the results of the query about the main obstacles to the success of the business. ‘The state of the economy’ was the main obstacle to success for 45 per cent of SME employers in the latest barometer -

a higher proportion than that seen in any other Barometer.

So perhaps regulations were the next most invidious problem?

No:

Obtaining finance was the second most frequently mentioned main obstacle (in a five percentage point raise since February 2011, it was mentioned by 12 per cent of SME employers). The next most frequently mentioned obstacles were taxation, cashflow, competition and regulations.

Just 6 per cent listed regulations as their main obstacle.

There is a lesson here for government, as well as business organisations. The key problem facing businesses – of all sizes – is the lack of demand. Everything else is just mood music.

 

Watch: What do people at #occupyLSX want?

by Newswire    
October 25, 2011 at 10:05 am

Filmmakers Kiran Acharya and Yanni Slavov went to #occupyLSX on Saturday October 22, filming demonstrators and asking them to explain the global changes they would like to see.

Kiran Acharya is on Twitter as @whoismrbishop

(music by Raleigh Moncrief, ‘Lament for Morning’)

The cold, hard truth: the Euro is finished

by Frances Coppola    
October 25, 2011 at 9:05 am

On Friday 21st October 2011, a group of economists working for the so-called Troika produced a devastating report, leaked to the FT and the BBC. Then the Telegraph released the full text of the report.

European politicians have been fighting ever since. Germany’s Merkel and France’s Sarkozy had an argument loud enough to be heard in the EU concert hall.

The Belgian finance minister left early and refused to attend the press conference. Merkel and Sarkozy jointly turned on Italy’s Berlusconi, and Sarkozy slapped down Cameron. Entertaining though the politicians’ antics are, they arise from a terrible truth.
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Watch: Herman Cain’s bizarre campaign ad

by Sunny Hundal    
October 25, 2011 at 8:30 am

This is a real ad by Republican front-runner Herman Cain.

No really, it isn’t a spoof ad. They released this last night.

What are the chances of a proper debate on the EU?

by Guest    
October 24, 2011 at 3:31 pm

contribution by Andy May

Rather unsurprisingly, the ‘in or out’ of the EU debate has already descended into a vitriolic hate fest stoked by the worst elements of our tabloid press.

The EU can be its own worst enemy. Even before the Eurozone crisis there were problems to address; a democratic deficit, common agricultural policy and its centralising bureaucracy.

It would be nice to think that armed with the facts voters could have their say via a referendum, but let’s face it – we don’t have a hope in hell in achieving that.
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Tony Blair: PR man for Kazakhstan

by Dave Osler    
October 24, 2011 at 1:12 pm

Nursultan Nazarbayev is clearly an extremely popular guy. Why, only last April, he secured 95% of the votes in Kazakhstan’s presidential elections. And just to underline how much his people love him, the name of the party which holds every single seat in the country’s parliament loosely translates as ‘Ray of Light of the Fatherland’, in honour of the big N himself.

Personally I am at a loss to fathom why Nazarbayev should feel the need to retain an expensive western public relations outfit. But inexplicably enough, he has done just that. The Financial Times reports that a firm by the name of Tony Blair Associates has landed a contract worth $13m a year to help tidy up Kazakhstan’s image in the West.

If you don’t have an FT subscription, read the rewrite in the Daily Telegraph here.
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Is Norwich South a barometer for political change in England?

by Richard Blogger    
October 24, 2011 at 11:10 am

I think Norwich South shows what went wrong with Labour over their three terms of office.

A huge 14,000 majority in 1997 has shrunk so much that the Labour candidate lost at the 2010 election by 310 votes.

Why was this the case?
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London businessman blows £20k on champagne in one night

by Sunny Hundal    
October 24, 2011 at 10:30 am

London’s free-sheet for bankers CityAM runs a ‘Bill of the Week’ segment.

Just two weeks ago, they published this bill by a businessman in London who is clearly not feeling the pain of austerity and slump like most Britons.

He blew nearly £20,000 on three champagne bottles in one night, paying in cash.

This is how the top 1% live. And we want to keep highlighting such instances of extravagance to point how divorced from reality the 1% are to most Britons.

When 99% of people in a country are suffering while only the top 1% benefit, it isn’t class war but institutional robbery.

Earlier, I put out a call for more such information. If you see anything like this, take a picture of it and/or get in touch.

(thanks to Brett Scott for the pic).

How unions and economists could help UK #occupy movements

by Sunny Hundal    
October 24, 2011 at 9:05 am

I have a problem with the #occupyLSX protest – the big banners and posters are useless. By that, I mean they only preach to the already converted through sloganeering.

Many at the camp think ‘Capitalism is Crisis’ epitomises the protest, but I have a feeling most people going past will simply roll their eyes. People may feel uncomfortable with their squeezed standards of living but they simply aren’t aware of the scale of the crisis. Neither will most automatically blame the broader economic system for their troubles.

Here is where I think others can step in and help.
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