G20Voice | White Band Action
50 expert bloggers from around the world get close access to the G20 Summit, to keep even closer tabs on what's happening for the rest of us.
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Tax Research UK » 3,000
Congrats to Richard Murphy (A G20Voice blogger), whose Tax Research UK blog reaches a whopping 3,000 posts – but [...]

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While the G20 people marched in London on Saturday for Jobs, Justice and Climate, their voices were missed in Bonn, where governments gathered to talk climate change. The UN tabled a ‘focus document’, laying ground for a new global climate treaty. But, with the citizenry in London, our voice was missing again, in word and [...]

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The Put People First March for Jobs, Justice, Climate has just finished. Police estimates said thirty-five thousand people marched through London calling for a radical break with the failures of the unfettered free market. Faith and women’s groups, trade unions, development and climate campaigners were all mixed together on one of the most colourful demonstrations [...]

Filed under: G20 | 1 Comment »

A fox woke me this morning at 4:30am, screaming at one of my cats. I hope it’s a good omen for today’s Put People First March for Jobs, Justice, Climate, which sets off from the Victoria Embankment in London at 12 noon (still time to come and join us!) But first, I’m off to see [...]

Filed under: Financial crisis, G20, Globalisation, Recession | Comments Off

There’s a brilliant short new video on the Unions Together website which sets out three of the key workers’ rights delivered through the European Union, and which David Cameron wants to scrap by withdrawing from the Social Chapter. Parental leave, equal treatment for atypical workers (like agency workers) and annual holidays are the examples picked. [...]

Filed under: Employment law, Europe, Politics, Work-life balance | 1 Comment »

Tackling the Global Jobs Crisis:Why the G20 Summit Matters
Good support for a fiscal stimulus from the Work Foundation in a great new report.

How to fight the BNP. The case for a civic multiculturalism.
You don't have to agree with all the analysis here to recognise that the questions posed in its conclusion go to the heart [...]

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The G20 summit will meet in desperate times. Not since the 1930s has the entire world been gripped by deep recession and never before has it faced a threat such as climate change.
In the UK those who lose their jobs and homes as mass unemployment returns face real hardship. This may well be the worst [...]

Filed under: Financial crisis, G20, International development, Politics, Recession | 2 Comments »

I have written before about why progressives should be very, very cautious before they flirt with protectionist sentiment. Two articles in The Financial Times today reinforce the point.  The first gives a detailed account of the Chinese Government’s unexpected decision to forbid what would have been the biggest foreign takeover of a Chinese company: Coca-Cola’s $2.4 [...]

Filed under: Energy, Financial crisis, Recession, Trade | 1 Comment »

To read the papers this morning, you’d think the Government was staring insolvency in the face because yesterday’s auction of gilts was 7% unsubscribed.  But suddenly today’s auction was three times over-subscribed killing a jolly good story.  There is an awful lot of silliness in the reporting of the public finances at the moment - encapsulated [...]

Filed under: Financial crisis, Recession, Tax | Comments Off

Adam has already blogged on whether Mervyn King is right to oppose a fiscal stimulus. His intervention has certainly had a political impact, and I fear its repercussions will continue to reverberate.
The main argument used by the Conservatives – the Governor’s was naturally a bit more sophisticated – is that spending today loads tomorrow’s tax payers with debt.

Filed under: Financial crisis, International development, Recession | 2 Comments »