If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
Critics of 'big government' talk as if it's beyond question that the state's involvement with our lives is a bad thing.
With escalating energy prices remaining a top financial problem for households we hoped the government and Ofgem would sort this mess out by forcing all energy companies to present their prices in a clear, simple way and to make it much easier to switch.
Ukip is a party with no MPs and few policies. If it was a pony it would have only one trick and certainly wouldn't be able to dance like those on the phone adverts.
The past five years of economic troubles have left their mark. There is no obvious end to them in sight. And these troubles are reflected in people's lives, not just GDP statistics. Graduates saddled with debt and finding it hard to get a decent job; couples waiting a decade longer than their parents to buy their first home, and so on. Long-term pessimism may be misplaced, but it is not surprising.
As an occasional Huffington Post blogger with an interest in both politics and economics perhaps I could say some thoughts that reflect the passing of Baroness Margaret Thatcher.
While it is common for people to lament teachers 'knocking off at 3.30' and 'getting six weeks in the summer', the very large number of state school teachers I know have very different lives. They work well after 3.30 each day, often into the early hours, and certainly every evening.
In what has been labelled as a step to encourage those from poorer backgrounds to attempt to attain places at highly ranked universities; it seems to me that the Conservative Government are effectively saying congratulations for achieving something that has been made considerably easier for the wealthy.
Whereas radicalism once polarised society between left and right, perhaps it is now apathy which polarises a society from its political class.
When it comes to the UAE, British values whither when the temptation of untold riches is on offer. Certain politicians have grabbed all they can, be it for personal gain or departmental funds, and ignored abuses against British and Emirati citizens alike.
The one Thatcher fact that all of the media have agreed on is that she was a 'divisive' figure. It doesn't take Pulitzer prize-winning journalism to work that one out, you might think, especially after the last week. But it's more than a statement of the obvious: in the hands of the right, it's quickly become part of the new mythology.
We're on the 14:06 train Brighton-bound. Outside the sky is a pallid shade of grey and a handful of snowflakes begin to float down. Spring is nowhere to be seen.
This week, everyone believes in the hero theory of history. There are no great or pivotal moments, only great people moving the inert masses by force of personality.
The tributes to Margaret Thatcher have her endlessly depicted her as a conviction politician - but history will find the reality less consistent, more complex. Those who bother to drill down into the myth soon realise that she was as mutable and movable as any other politician, too often an empty vessel waiting to be told what to do and think, and always prepared to pretend the opposite of what she believed if it would get her to where she needed to go.
A room full of global and political leaders, sporting stars, music legends, business tycoons, Television and film celebrities - it could only be the annual Asian awards!
It was only when I lived and worked in Honduras briefly aged 21 and suffered daily cat-calls, hisses and spitting from local men in the street, that something truly and irrevocably sank in. Being treated differently for occupying a female body wasn't just frustrating and irritating.
