Andy Langenkamp

Global political analyst at ECR Research and Interest & Currency Consultants

Edward Markus - founder, owner and chief analyst of ECR Research and ICC - is coauthor of this blog. Austerity vs Growth The focus in Europe is ...

Justin Cash

Freelance journalist published by Total Politics, CityAM, the Reading Chronicle and others

Currently, UK businesses (excluding banks) are hoarding cash to the tune of £318bn. As valuable as investing in expanding their own production is, whilst demand remains deflated businesses simply have no incentive to do so. Instead of stockpiling this cash for a rainy day that's already upon us, business should be investing in philanthropic ventures.

Nick Jones

Writer and (occasional) ranter

The economic misery which has been with us for five years or so now has forced virtually everyone to rethink their financial situation and change the ...

Azeem Ibrahim

Executive Chairman, The Scotland Institute

Each successive government of course blames the last for the financial mess it inherited but the truth is that the blame game pales in respect to apportioning blame for the 2008 global financial disaster.

Brian John Spencer

Brian is a writer, artist and former unemployed law graduate who writes about the university myth, the economy and Northern Ireland. Also found at www.brianjohnspencer.com

Fifteen years ago Tony Blair, Bill Clinton and other statesmen mediated the un-mediatable and created the Northern Ireland that we know today. Some see the bargain as a grand failure. The creation of a parochial sectarian state suspended in a form of purgatory with a bloody history and no future.

Alastair Roderick

Research Fellow at the Schumacher Institute for Sustainable Systems

I would respectfully submit that there is no such thing as a triple-dip recession. It is not as if the periods of expansion separating the dips were characterised by Chinese (or even German) growth. We have instead been in a six-year economic stall where growth has barely fluctuated by more than a few tenths of a per cent either side of zero. Growth, or lack of it, has largely become a rounding error.

Bonnie Greer

American-born, London-based playwright, author and novelist

The fact is, as you know, tourists don't flock to this great country to watch the footie, or eat in the restaurants. They come to visit the stately homes, for example. How much are all the volunteers who work in these places worth? Culture, one industry that is actually growing , has always punched above its weight. It is one of the key factors in making the UK the Number One nation in the world for the arts.

Jeffrey Gedmin

President and CEO of the Legatum Institute in London

We need to realise that it's culture --again, habits, values and behaviors -- that ultimately drives economic prosperity. And culture starts at the grassroots. He was dour and dull, but maybe it's time to see Calvin Coolidge as cool.

Tony Dolphin

Senior Economist and Associate Director for Economic Policy, IPPR

The importance of these figures isn't whether or not we have entered a triple dip, but that the UK economy is stuck in a rut. Real GDP remains 2.6 per cent below its peak level five years ago and has increased by just 0.4 per cent over the last two and a half years. After five years, this is disappointing news not only for the government but for businesses and consumers, who are experiencing a continued squeeze on their living standards.

Maria Miller

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Minister for Women and Equalities

It almost goes without saying that the arts have an intrinsic value - the 'arts for arts sake' argument has been made countlessly and convincingly. But, clearly we are living in tough times - and we therefore need to make sure that the incredible instrumental potential of culture is both appreciated and maximised.

Jonathan Portes

Director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research

There's nothing in economic theory that says you pause a third of the way through a deficit reduction programme which has gone way off track; nor does the fiscal framework, now effectively defunct with the abandonment of the debt target, dictate this approach.

Matt Carr

Author, freelance journalist and blogger

In order to ensure that no one - absolutely no one - is left out, we plan to make it possible for people in the future to work into their 70s and beyond. This doesn't mean that we plan to make old people 'work 'till they drop.' We merely plan to provide the elderly with the same opportunities that we've given to the disabled and enable them to realise their full human potential.

Hannah Shuckburgh

In 20 years of dedicated thrifting, I can say with complete confidence that I have never knowingly passed a charity shop without going in. I often miss trains and am late for lunch dates because I've happened upon a British Heart Foundation. I just can't help myself. I am obsessed.

Dr Simon Duffy

Director of The Centre for Welfare Reform

A common rhetorical trick for politicians is to talk about 'looking after the tax payer'. However the reality is that they are often only really concerned with particular tax payers - the electoral groups that determine the outcomes of elections - often people on middle-incomes.

Polly Courtney

Novelist and champion of the underdog

Mr Osborne is so busy shouting "you're wrong!" at his naysayers, he can't actually hear what they're saying.

Alastair Roderick

Research Fellow at the Schumacher Institute for Sustainable Systems

I doubt that Camborne are curious enough to have contemplated the Marxist theory of alienation, which states that social problems arise from capitalism's pervertion of the natural relationship an individual has to their means of production.