The pollsters and the pundits are agreed: the choice at the general election will be between a hung parliament headed by David Cameron and a hung parliament headed by Gordon Brown. Oh dear; the country needs a government, not a choice of two non-governments.
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Put 10 economists in a room and you’ll have 11 views, they say. But why are these pundits so keen to socialise? A letter to a newspaper suggesting early public spending cuts has to be signed by 20 economists: 60 then put their name to the counter view. How many make a quorum?
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Mrs Thatcher famously said you can’t buck the markets and sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe has reluctantly agreed. If fans want to pay a fortune for Cup Final or Katy Perry tickets, you can’t stop them. And why stop them?
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This will be the year of two UK budgets – and the year of none. The chancellor’s pre-election budget will avoid tough action for fear of losing votes and the post-election budget will avoid it because the manifestos shied away from tough threats.
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If university students and lecturers are really the brightest in the land they would know why they are being told to trim academic budgets. Instead they have suspended their natural animosity to unite in protest against the government.
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As the UK economy’s return to growth was slower and lower than expected, should we prepare for a return to recession? That could be the second dip of a W-shaped curve - but it might even stem from a revision of the figure that seemingly ended the slump.
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There’s one good reason why the UK’s sovereign debt will not lose its AAA rating. It has nothing to do with Britain’s financial strength and everything to do with the credit rating agencies wanting to avoid regulation.
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God save the Queen, but where will the savings come from?
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It will not be fun to be rich in 2010. Labour plans a 50 per cent tax on earnings above £150,000; the Tories propose a £25,000 annual levy on non-domiciles and the Liberals pledge a 1 per cent tax on properties worth over £2m. Whoever you vote for, they’ll get you.
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Home Information Packs – Hips – were introduced as the housing market turned down, but it would be wrong to blame them for the house price slump. And it would be equally wrong for the Conservative Party to scrap them just because they were a Labour idea.
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