Tag: austerity
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In defence of permanent institutions
It’s a truism to say that the destruction of trust is at the heart of societal decline. We’ve known for a long time that politicians come bottom, or close of bottom, in league tables of professions in whom the public has confidence. It’s no surprise to find that, since the financial meltdown of 2008, bankers…
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The destruction of culture: a plea to Swansea Council
What makes a city a city? I mean, in the sense of a particular, distinctive city. Its people, certainly, its geography, landscape and architecture, also its economy and politics. But what really sets a city apart from its neighbours is its culture – that network of traditions, customs, institutions and habits, most of them with…
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Hwyl fawr i’r byd cyhoeddus?
Ar ddydd Mercher nesaf bydd y Canghellor George Osborne yn cyhoeddi’r canlyniadau o’i adolygiad o wariant cyhoeddus. Mae’n argoeli bod yn achlysur tyngedfennol. Fel dywed William Keegan, y newyddiadurwr economaidd, yn gyson, daeth y Ceidwadwyr i rym, yn 2010 ac eto yn 2015, ar sail dau Gelwydd Mawr: taw’r llywodraeth Lafur, yn hytrach na’r bancwyr a’i…
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A brief history of austerity
John Naughton observed the other day that neoliberal economists and their current weapon, austerity, have gained an unassailable intellectual hegemony. To claim that austerity is self-defeating and should be stopped is to be regarded as either foolish or mad. Ed Miliband, leader of a political party that was established – absurd idea! – to represent…