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Blog Economy

Broken leg or heart attack? Cable and Koo on the state of the economy

Vince Cable has often used the analogy of an economic heart attack to describe the problems of the UK economy since 2008.

I’ve just got back into reading economist Richard Koo’s excellent book “The Holy Grail of Macroeconomics“ where he offers another analogy: the broken leg:

During a balance sheet recession, the problems resulting from too little fiscal stimulus are far more serious than those caused by too much. The latter are similar to walking with a cane even after a broken leg has healed; the former to walking, or even running, when the bone has yet to mend.

Richard Koo, The Holy Grail of Macroeconomics: Lessons from Japan’s Great Recession, Wiley Singapore, 2009, p. 67

Given the lousy state of our economy, the analogy seems all too apposite. The case is getting ever stronger for Vince’s Plan A+.

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Wordpress

WordPress broken your Google map? This is how to fix it

You might have noticed some problems with the Google Map on this site at some point in the past.

Information ‘balloons’ had jagged edges and looked like this:

Faulty information balloon on Google Map - showing jagged corners in top and bottom right hand corners

when they should have looked like:

Fixed info balloon on Google Map with nicely smooth rounded cornersThe problem turned out to be with WordPress – particularly the TwentyTen stylesheet used as a base for the Winchester Marmalade template for this site.

In essence, this section of the stylesheet that sets the width for images on the WordPress page makes the images used for the map too narrow:

#content img {
margin: 0;
max-width: 640px;
}

So the daughter stylesheet needs to include something that gets rid of the width limit in the map like:

#content .boundarymap img {
max-width: none;
}

Many thanks to security_man and p for posting solutions to the problem.

Categories
Blog

Could this sentence bring down Cameron?

Jaw-dropping sentence in Paul Stephenson’s resignation note:

Secondly, once Mr Wallis’s name did become associated with Operation Weeting, I did not want to compromise the Prime Minister in any way by revealing or discussing a potential suspect who clearly had a close relationship with Mr Coulson.

He goes on:

I am aware of the many political exchanges in relation to Mr Coulson’s previous employment – I believe it would have been extraordinarily clumsy of me to have exposed the Prime Minister, or by association the Home Secretary, to any accusation, however unfair, as a consequence of them being in possession of operational information in this regard.

This puts Cameron’s decision to pick Andy Coulson and bring him to the centre of Government back at the very heart of the story.

All this on the same day as the Mail on Sunday implied that Cameron’s decision to choose Andy Coulson over Guto Harry was taken on the instructions of Rebekah Brooks.

Categories
Family History

Contented to be a Victorian belonging to an age which still believed in progress, material and social

While digging through some old files, I found this family history written by my great-grandfather, James Tod, in the 1940s. While I’m probably biased, I found it a fascinating account of growing up in the late Victorian era. It casts a very interesting light into a world very different from our own:

Continue reading “Contented to be a Victorian belonging to an age which still believed in progress, material and social”
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Chandlers Ford Debate Electoral Reform Event Yes2AV

AV debate this Thursday in Chandler’s Ford

Just to let you know about an AV debate that will be taking place this Thursday the 28th at the Dovetail Centre, Chandler’s Ford.

Peter Facey, a  member of the national Yes to Fairer votes campaign committee will be debating Charlotte Vere a Director for NO2AV.

I’m also going to be a panelist on the Yes side – and Andy Milligan from Chandler’s Ford will be a panelist on the No side.

The debate will begin at 7.30 pm on Thursday the 28th. It is being held at the Dovetail Centre, Chandler’s Ford Methodist Church, SO53 2GJ.

Hope you can come along to support the cause (and the speakers too)!Debate on the Alternative Vote Referendum - Thursday 29th April - 7.30 pm - Dovetail Centre, Chandler's Ford