America

Bummer Obama's speech had a couple of good points in it which, if he is not already doing so, Osborne should be looking at to bring in over here to help with growth. Osborne should certainly not though follow Bummer's decision to spend more by borrowing more and to give him his due Osborne denied that he would do this in his speech at Chatham House this morning. Osborne made it clear that he is sticking to his plan. The points Osborne should be looking at though is cutting National Insurance for the lower paid which when Sweden did it helped it recover in double quick time. The other point Osborne should be looking at is to allow those on the dole to continue receiving it for the first 8 weeks after they start a new job to get over the disincentive of paying up to two thirds in tax on their salaries in those first 8 weeks. The markets though were not impressed by Bummer's speech.

Question Time on the BBC last night was something else that was less than impressive although I can think of no occasion when I've watched it that it has been anything other than a display of left knee jerks. This is yet again another example of the BBC failing to produce an impartial programme and it is really a scandal that those of us with a different view to the BBC take on politics, climate change, Israel, Islam and the like seem doomed never to have a programme that supports our views. This government must look at the BBC, its monopoly status and its bias whether or not News International revives its bid for BSkyB.