IMF - International Monetary Frauds

The good news is that we’re not in a triple-dip recession. The bad news is that even the IMF is calling for a U-turn.

The truth is the economy is still shackled to the Eurozone where the only winner is Germany.

George Osborne is right to reduce Government debt – though he could cut harder and faster – but until the Euro is put out of its misery, things won’t improve very quickly whatever anybody does.

And the IMF is to blame for propping up the failed currency union.

A very English crowd for Lady Thatcher's funeral

Where I was standing close to St Paul's the most remarkable thing about the funeral of Margaret Thatcher was how polite everyone was. Even the demonstrators were courteous. 

You couldn't see a thing but everyone was offering advice and help on where to stand and where the funeral cortège had got to.

A thick-set Asian bloke with a banner turned to bloke in trainers and asked everso politely: 'Excuse me are you with the protesters?'

The man turned and replied, equally politely, 'Yes.'

'Where are they?'

'I don't know.'

At that point, a small woman from an Italian TV station turned to first bloke accompanied by her cameraman and asked: 'What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Margaret Thatcher?’

Without a moment’s hesitation he replied: ‘Iron Lady. Because she thought more about her image than the people of Britain.’

Here we had a little demonstration of what is best in Britain - politeness, softly-spoken dissent, freedom of speech. Even in an overwhelmingly Thatcherite crowd, nobody batted an eyelid as this would-be protestor made his views know, albeit to Italian TV viewers.

Elsewhere, there was a posh-sounding lady banging on about how terrible the Freemasons are. At one point she said they should be branded so we could all recognise them. I also saw some bloke with a 'welcome to pig vomit city' banner.

But it was all peaceful, respectful, even good-humoured though nobody anywhere near where I stood, at the end of Ludgate Hill not far from the cathedral steps, could see anything.

It was all a bit of a waste of time really but most of those near me seemed happy to play their part as also-ran onlookers, admirers and mourners to give her a decent send-off.

As the service began and I was leaving, a man with a megaphone declaimed: 'Please get back to work. You were not invited which probably means you are not important. Oh! Somebody called me the C-word or was he offering me some?’

Respect, humour, tolerance, solemnity, calm - the English way of death.

The liberation of the nation

Today’s young entrepreneurs won’t remember what life was like in Mrs Thatcher’s day let alone in the years before she became Prime Minister. But if you are trying to run a small business today then you have a lot to thank her for.

When Mrs Thatcher came to power in 1979, Britain was “the sick man of Europe”. The country was run by the diktat of militant trade union leaders.

You could hardly take enough money abroad to pay for a week’s holiday on the Costa del Sol while access to finance was a massive joke – if you even wanted a mortgage you had to join a six-month waiting list.

Mrs Thatcher transformed the business environment. She welcomed new businesses and entrepreneurs capable of working hard, generating jobs and creating wealth.

It was necessary because she inherited a vast, unproductive lump of loss-making nationalised industries: steel mills, car companies, coal mines and shipyards which employed thousands of people but could not make a penny profit.

There are many obstacles to creating a successful new business. But until Mrs Thatcher came along to de-regulate and free the market, it was virtually impossible for all but the luckiest and most determined because “the State” ran the country.

Today, the obstacles can be overcome – just ask a Business Advice Service chartered accountant. In the 1970s and 1980s, they were often insuperable.

Mrs Thatcher gave us a modern, flexible, dynamic economy. She created the climate which allowed businesses to grow and prosper. If you’re in business today, you are almost certainly benefiting from the decisions she took way back in the 1980s.

And she would be the first to congratulate you on your success.

·         Cranks corner – the Government is now making it easier for nutters of all persuasions to take action against employers who refuse them time off to attend Druid festivals or Mayday celebrations. This from a Government pledged to reducing red tape to make life easier for small businesses.

We name the guilty men

The people who should be ignored when commenting on Mrs Thatcher:

Nigel Lawson: Tried to shadow the Deutschmark in preparation for Britain joining the European exchange rate mechanism, forerunner to the Euro. Got it horribly wrong and couldn’t bear the fact that Mrs Thatcher was right on the issue so he stormed out in a huff. Damaged only his own reputation, which has never recovered.

Geoffrey Howe: Made the speech which precipitated Michael Heseltine’s challenge to her leadership. Madly pro-EU ex-Chancellor who thought he was cleverer than he actually was and acted out of hurt personal pride not political principle. A self-satisfied weasel rather than a dead sheep.

Michael Heseltine: The ego finally landed when he mounted his unsuccessful challenge for the Tory leadership but couldn’t win. Motivated by personal pride, pique and ridiculous ambition. Another politician undone by his unthinking support for the European Union. His overwhelming vanity would have been a disaster for Britain.

Ken Clarke: Bluff, good-ole-boy who twisted in the knife when she was down but not quite out by telling her that, despite owing his whole career to her, he would not support her in a second leadership ballot and thought she should resign rather than contest it. “She said I was being defeatist. I said she’d been defeated.” Another unrepentant Europhile who even today claims Mrs Thatcher was in support of the EU.

Chris Patten: Arch-plotter, arch-Europhile, continues to look after Number 1 with his various appointments including boss of the still disgracefully anti-Thatcher BBC. Behind Heseltine’s bid for power. Totally untrustworthy.

Tony Blair: He may have been her heir but he learned nothing (he even wanted to join the Euro and we have Gordon Brown to thank for at least avoiding that particular catastrophe) and will always remain the worst Prime Minister this country has ever been cursed with.

The hypocrite's £1 million charter

This blog won't have to sign up to the Government's control orders for newspapers which is just as well because if they tried to get punitive damages out of me they would be disappointed. Not sure the resources stretch to £1 million plus costs.
In a way it's a pity I won't have to submit myself to the jackboot of pettifogging politicians bent on revenge - because I won't get the self-harming satisfaction of telling them where to stuff their statutorily non-statutory underpinning regulation of the still-free-ha-ha press.
What with the jailing of police officers for the heinous crime of talking to reporters and dawn raids on the homes of journalists, you would be forgiven for thinking we were living under some Communist terror regime.
The police state is alive and well and being run from Ed Miliband's
offices by the nation's favourite filthy hypocrites Steve Coogan, Hugh Grant and Max Moseley.
The truth is that, despite what these friends to the stars would have us believe, any crimes committed are more than likely to be prosecuted already. There is no need for new laws governing the press.
This is just a feeble attempt by embittered public figures to wreak
revenge for their various public humiliations.
And with disgusting self-righteousness they hide their hypocrisy by
parading Millie Dowler and the Mcanns as the real "victims".
Let's not forget, though, that Millie Dowler's phone was NOT hacked by the "News of the World" after all - even though that alleged incident sparked the whole farrago.
And as for the Mccanns, well if I expressed my opinions about them I dare say I would be liable for punitive damages.
Regulation of the press is unnecessary, deeply damaging, undemocratic, unconstitutional and irrelevant.
Irrelevant because whatever constraints the State tries to impose will affect only one diminishing segment of the media world - and leave the Internet for all practical purposes unaffected.
When a silly woman like Sally Bercow can utter some trivial Twittering tweet and gain nationwide publicity, the hated Murdoch press are almost irrelevant.
The media must be free. Free to make mistakes and get things wrong and cross the line from time to time.
Without the freedom to transgress, who knows what crimes, misdeeds and abuses of power might never see the light of day? You certainly couldn’t trust the media-monopolising propagandists for the left-wing Establishment (ie the BBC).