I posted this video on YouTube this morning: This is the transcript: I've been reading a quite interesting book. This is it - The Trading Game - by Gary Stevenson. Gary produces a YouTube channel of his own called Gary's economics. He's quite well known for that. And this book is about his life as a trader in the City of London, which made him a multimillionaire at a very young age. There's some discussions in the book, which I think really quite important I just want to read one of those insights to you. What he says is “The key takeaway here is that economists nowadays are ultimately mathem ..read more

This Tweet, on which I commented yesterday, is doing the rounds right now in connection with Stephanie Kelton’s new book. The level of very basic confusion on display as to how the government’s money system works is really quite staggering. This is so funny - the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers to Biden very clearly has no idea how many works in the economy, but wants to condemn modern monetary theory for explaining it entirely straightforwardly. https://t.co/Ld7UU7W208 — Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) May 3, 2024 Sorry - but I cannot find another way to link the video ..read more

This is the trailer for Stephanie Kelton’s new film. I wish I knew when we were getting it in the UK, but don’t as yet. I must ask, because this will be worth watching. This is refusing to embed as a video, so the link is here.  ..read more

There is much to reflect on in the local election results so far, and although the mayoralties might still swing some opinions, if not much about the reality about how truly dismal a night this was for the Tories. All that really surprised me about their result is that there are still people with any vague relationship to ethical principles who remain willing to vote for them. I really do wonder what planet they live on. But they are not the only deluded people in politics. For all its claims that the election is not a foregone conclusion, the Labour leadership has, according to people I have ..read more

There is little point in providing any extensive commentary on what was happening in yesterday's elections as yet. There are far too many polls still to be counted as yet. That said, some things stand out. The Tories have lost almost half of all the seats that they were defending. The swing against them in the Blackpool South by-election was the third biggest since WW2. Labour has generally done well. The Greens have done very well. LibDems are unlikely to take much comfort from results, so far. Reform has failed so far, including in places like Lincolnshire, where they might have had hopes. T ..read more

I wrote about the SNP leadership election in my column in The National yesterday. I was not endorsing any candidate. I certainly do not think that is within my remit. I did, however, express concern about some of them. John Swinney and Kate Forbes were my particular focus of concern, as former finance ministers for Scotland. As I put it: To see John Swinney and Kate Forbes emerge as the front runners in the current SNP leadership race was troubling (though Forbes has now said she will not run). To describe their similar approaches to economics as conventional is to be kind. Their experience h ..read more

I posted this video on YouTube this morning, touching on a theme that might well recur here many times: The link is here in case it is needed. The transcript is as follows: We need the water companies of England to be nationalised. I stress I'm talking about England because Scotland and Wales have already got nationalised services for water, at least with regard to private consumers - households that is. England has not. Almost uniquely in the world - not quite uniquely, but almost uniquely - we supply water through private companies and we know that isn't working. We don't get the clean wate ..read more

I often wonder when it will be that climate change will create pivot points that have sufficiently deep social and economic consequences that politicians will finally be required to take note, and pursue serious action. Curiously, the collapse of Humza Yousaf’s  government in Scotland is an early indication that failure to properly manage issues relating to climate change targets will have political consequences. His departure from office is the result of his failure to manage this issue. I do not, however, think that sufficient warning to create a widespread reaction, as yet. There are ..read more

As the Guardian notes this morning: The UK’s economic outlook has worsened this year as high interest rates and the lingering effects of last year’s surge in inflation take a bigger toll on growth than previously expected, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). It added: In a downbeat assessment of the potential for the economy to expand in 2024, the Paris-based thinktank downgraded its forecast for UK growth this year from last November’s forecast of 0.7% to 0.4%. It predicts a modest bounce back in 2025 with growth of 1% – a rate of growth half that ..read more

One of the greatest source of disquiets about the NHS is not that there are long hospital waiting lists - although no-one is overly chuffed by that - but that people cannot get to see their GP. The idea being put around by politicians is that there is a shortage of GPs in the UK. The claim is being made that this requires that we train assistant practitioners - who are not, by a very long way, comprehensively medically trained - to take the place of the GPs we cannot get. But this is not true. As the GP Online news service from the British Medical Association reported last month: The BMA has ..read more