The Myth Breaker

Opinions by J. Richard Graham

After The Vote

Economics, Politics

Has Britain really gone mad?

It is now over a year since my last blog on the subject of brexit. I became seriously ill just after the referendum vote and so here is my response to what has happened in the succeeding year.

In those weeks before the vote, most like me thought that it would be a clear vote to remain. All the arguments for brexit had boiled down to a set of petulant complaints and calls for regained sovereignty. There was no clear indication of what benefits would actually accrue other than an outrageous suggestion that 350 million pounds a week would be returned to Britain to help fund the National Health Service. If this were not such a serious lie it would have been laughable. [Read more…] about After The Vote

The Truth About Public Ownership and Nationalisation

Economics

It is time that the truth was told about public ownership and nationalisation.  In 1975 the McIntosh Enquiry, on which I worked, found that out of 32 publicly owned corporations and companies just four were making significant losses.  They were coal, which was running out, steel which had been starved of investment, railways suffering from cheap subsidised road transport, and the Royal Mail which had to maintain universal delivery.

All the others contributed profits to the Treasury amounting to many millions every year.  They were run by professional and well-trained managements.  Almost all had training establishments which nurtured long term professional careers. That commitment and stability meant sound long term planning.

They all had problems, often caused by government interference and low investment.  That was because they could only raise money from the National Loan Fund (which the Treasury insisted on including in the National Debt). But, even after the subsidies, they were profitable. [Read more…] about The Truth About Public Ownership and Nationalisation

Back From Eternity

Personal

It is now over 12 months since my last blog posting. The reason for this hiatus is that I got cancer. And had to undergo some long and complicated surgery which at some stages was life threatening.  There were crises and much surgery had to be done twice. From the time I went under in the operating theatre a number of days were to pass before I was fully conscious. There was loss of blood and oxygen starvation.  I was rescued and rebuilt by a remarkable surgical team under Mr Cyrus Kerawala.

I have seen the theater report of what happened but this story is very much mine; a patient, a layman without either the technical terminology nor the imagination to understand exactly what was done to me. However, I continued to remain under a controlled coma well into the following week. I do not know exactly when I was moved into the Critical Care Unit, I only know that I woke up in full consciousness the following Tuesday morning, a week after the first operation. Over those seven days I was technically unconscious but actually living out a fantastical and complicated trip.

This is the story of that trip which took me, in my mind, to other continents and other places, traveling all the time in my hospital bed. That this was not a dream, but a living experience, is made more certain since I remember it all in extraordinary detail. In this account, I shall interject my waking and conscious experiences when they did occur but, for the main, what now follows is what I experienced in my unconscious state. Rather than a dream, this was my trip. [Read more…] about Back From Eternity

Tax – The Great Certainty

Politics

David Cameron Nick Clegg and Ed MilibandIt has been striking throughout this 2015 general election campaign that the subject of taxation has been avoided by all the parties other than to pretend that there will be no tax increases afterwards. But the deficit comes up all the time, and the only policy on offer is austerity. Finally we know that Cameron has lost it completely by promising an act of parliament forbidding direct AND indirect taxation rises. The idea that an act of Parliament can be passed to prevent tax rises is exactly like Canute commanding the tide not to rise.

[Read more…] about Tax – The Great Certainty