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I have been following the US Presidential Election quite closely and was surprised to discover that Trump had a lead in most of the swing states until Wednesday. Indeed, the Trump lead on Wednesday morning was such that in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Georgia it would have needed about 70% …

What’s the harm in feeding the poor? Why can’t we just print more money and make everyone a little bit richer? What’s the harm in feeding the poor? What’s the harm in regularly giving people money, with no strings attached? Have you heard of the saying “give a man a …

In March I supported lockdown and I was rather dismissive of lockdown sceptics. I thought Covid was probably the worst pandemic for one hundred years. Shutting everything down for a few weeks seemed a reasonable response. I still think Covid is probably the worst pandemic for one hundred years. The …

My sister-in-law spent her working life selecting and selling dresses.  When I think about this my jaw drops.  How on earth do you select a dress that will outsell your competitors?  To make good money out of that for an entire working life is extraordinary.  Having succeeded at making a …

When a country which evidently rejects racism has democratically elected to oppose a political institution, please accept the simple evidence – it is NOT because of racism or hatred of Europeans. I have many friends who are European. I have even more friends who are pro-Europe. I too, am pro-Europe. …

There’s an Austrian school of economics. After Emma Harper an SNP MSP’s confusion about what a currency is, we obviously need an SNP school too. 1. In an independent Scotland we could make money from non-existent secret oil fields even if the price of oil can turn negative. 2. Scotland …

The UK trades with the EU at an enormous deficit.  The UK also has a huge deficit in the payment of profits, rents and dividends to the EU.  The combination of the deficits in trade and financial transactions has led to a very large balance of payments current account deficit …

We have all rather forgotten about Brexit in the past few months. Whatever damage Brexit might have done to the economy is trivial compared to what Covid has done. Being locked up in our homes with an illness killing thousands with no end in sight has rather put other matters …

Empires rise because a group of people becomes more prosperous than their neighbours.  This enhanced prosperity is usually the result of the superior management of the economy, society and resources.  Relative prosperity gives the group the ability to project power. As can be seen from the graph below, we are …

I don’t recall demonstrations against the Scottish Government and Nicola Sturgeon.  It had begun to appear that Teflon Nicola was completely non-stick both in terms of her policies and in terms of whatever misdeeds the SNP got up to. The Scottish voters simply did not care. She could make a mess …

A Nation is an area of land where the people pray, send their children to school, meet in their towns and houses, work, share resources and create and enjoy local services and benefits.  A Nation needs a vision for its future. Without a vision the unity needed to construct the …

The SNP rival even the Lib Dems for scandals. I have yet to come across anyone shooting a dog, but I sometimes have the impression that every SNP politician has been married to every other SNP politician and has had affairs with them too. It gets complicated too because every …

The Industrial Revolution occurred in the UK in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. How far was this due to slavery or other intrinsic factors? There is clear evidence that the Industrial Revolution has its roots in the early to mid eighteenth century. The world’s first, large iron bridge was built …

The other day when Margaret Ferrier travelled up and down the country as if she had the intention of going down in history as Covid Maggie, I began thinking about scandals involving SNP politicians. How many have there been. I’ve lost count. Derek Mackaysending text messages to a sixteen-year-old boy …

What could have been. Originally, Britain, led by a Prime Minister that called the mayor of Jaws his hero, intended to follow the “Swedish” strategy of trusting people’s common sense to tackle the coronavirus. However, the British government famously u-turned and decided instead to follow the extreme strategy of lockdown …

When the tech giants rose to power I had an uneasy feeling that this was the start of something dangerous.  What is to stop companies like Google, Twitter and Facebook from simply, automatically, suppressing political opinions that they detest?  What is to stop them from taking money to do this? …

Keir Starmer wants voters to believe that Labour has rediscovered its patriotism and that it loves Britain as much as everyone else. He wants us to believe that Labour is different now than it was when it was led by Jeremy Corbyn. It is clear that Starmer is a much …

China has reacted to the failure of the West to condemn Concentration Camps for Uyghurs and ignoring the origin of COVID19 by expanding these camps and sending 500,000 Tibetans into forced labour. Western governments seem to have forgotten that you cannot appease National Socialists such as China. Perhaps as bad as the Concentration …

In every previous virus epidemic in history there was no lockdown. Neither in 1918-1919 (Spanish flu), nor 1957-1958 (Asian Flu) nor in 1968-1969 (Hong Kong Flu) did we attempt to prevent people from working or going to school. What if we had done the same this time? What if back …

We all know Guardian reading men who will launch into a diatribe against the UK at the touch of a pro-UK button.  We have all heard it:  “How can you say this country is worth preserving when it is run by corrupt big business and people who don’t give a …