How Labour Claim They Will Kick Start Growth
It’s informative to put two of the BBC’s stories about the Labour conference together. Here’s the first paragraph of the main story.
Shadow chancellor Ed Balls is calling for a two-year stamp duty holiday to help kick-start growth – paid for by the sale of 4G mobile frequencies.
And then you read what Nick Robinson says in this piece.
What, if anything, does Labour’s latest economic announcement tell us? Some argue almost nothing. I believe something rather more than that.
This is the case for the prosecution: Ed Balls is only telling us what he would do now if he was chancellor, not what he will do if he becomes chancellor in 2015.
By then, the proceeds of the 4G sale will not be his to spend – the money will already have been accounted for by his predecessor. The promise to increase capital spending by £3bn – if it survives into Labour’s manifesto – is also meaningless, goes the argument, unless you know what the baseline is going to be ie £3bn on top of what.
Thus, Labour is merely coming up with an eye-catching announcement which confirms what we already know – Ed Balls would spend a bit more than George Osborne if he were in office now.
That all sounds like they’re spinning again.
Basically, it’s just a load of old Balls.
The Comeback To End All Comebacks
Europe’s win in the Ryder Cup is being celebrated as one of the great comebacks.
It is a great comeback, but in many ways it pales into insignificance compared to that amazing, cold and wet Saturday afternoon on the 21st December 1957, when Charlton Athletic beat Huddersfield Town seven-six at the Valley after being five-one down, with only ten men. It must be one of the few Second Division matches of the era to have its own Wikipedia page.
Reading that Wikipedia page, you find that Huddersfield were managed by Bill Shankly and he had rested a young Denis Law. Shankly later said about the match.
one of the most amazing games I have ever seen
And he’d seen a few matches!
How To Get A Body Like Jessica
I saw this in a shop window in Oxford street yesterday.
How To Get A Body Like Jessica
How ridiculous?
But then they’ll sell tonnes of it to the gullible!
A Cheeky Cough And A Drag
As I walked to the train today an ambulance pulled up on the other side of the road. It didn’t appear to be in too much hurry, as one of the paramedics got out and had a quick cough and a drag, before going to look for the patient.
The Anonymous Widower 