Parodox of the US and UK Economic situation

The US economy doing rather better than expected with higher last quarter growth and GDP now up at 3.5%. This all appears to be linked to the upturn in consumer spending for last quarter. The fiscal decision to keep the Dollar down is paying off big bucks at the expense of the stronger pound, UK Economy which has taken the worst last quarter possible with 0.5% down on growth figures with consumer spending at an all time low.

Although too early to pin this UK market retraction on VAT (20% Consumption TAX) increase of 2.5% this clearly appears together with bad weather during the critical consumer spending period pre Christmas period.

Banks appear to be doing well and the debate soon to re-start as the big bank bonuses are announced will re-emerge in the press any week now.

Conclusion: US doing better than predicted with a lower expectation of the US people for recovery, but spending at steady level. UK doing not so well and certainly less than predicted with a retracted consumer spending, but paradoxically a higher expectation of the UK people for recovery.

The UK ConLib coalition clearly needs to work more on giving out realistic expectations to the country. In many ways too many Conservative (and including coalition partners) taxation policies designed to help reduce to the deficit are having a quite opposite effect short-term.

The decision to TAX NonDom’s a fixed annual charge of £30,000 on long-term residents claiming non-domicile status may have been popular with voters pre election but indications are already showing a considerable exodus of extremely wealthy NonDom’s out of Britain to more TAX friendly Nations. Our loss their gain!

It is predicted that the overall (deficit reducing benefit) money gained from this new £30,000 charge will pale into insignificance by the overall loss that the UK economy ‘would’ have achieved had the NonDom’s been encouraged to stay in the UK in the first place!

More the case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing and probably motivated in pre-election voter pleasing campaigning! Time for moving on and working out 'sensiblel' deficit reducing policies.

Author: Nigel Rumble

Private Firm To Run Entire NHS Hospital

Private Firm To Run Entire NHS Hospital

Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, will be operated by the private sector from next summer in a franchise expected to last at least seven years.NHS East of England, the area's health authority, is announcing which of two private bidders will run the hospital.The companies - Circle Health and Serco - have submitted comprehensive plans to improve patient care and make services more efficient.The hospital is nearly £40m in debt and previous attempts to turn it around have failed.The only NHS bidder for the contract pulled out in early negotiations.Dr Stephen Dunn, director of Strategy at NHS East of England, earlier said the aim was to ensure a sustainable future for the hospital.

Re-Bloged by Nigel Rumble, Yahoo Breaking News

Powerful Chile Quake 'Shifted Earth's Axis'

"The powerful earthquake that killed hundreds of people in Chile on Saturday probably shifted the Earth's axis and made days slightly shorter, a Nasa scientist has said."

"Richard Gross, a research scientist at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, calculated how much the axis may have changed in position following the the disaster.

If the planet's axis did shift by 8cm during the quake, days would have shortened by 1.26 microseconds, Mr Gross calculated. A microsecond is one-millionth of a second.

Earth days are 24 hours long because that is the amount of time it takes the planet to make one full rotation on its axis, so shifting the axis would affect rotation.

The quake shifted the Earth's axis by even more than the 9.1-magnitude tremor off Indonesia that started the deadly tsunami in Asia in 2004, according to Mr Gross.

This was partly because the fault line responsible for the quake in Chile "dips into Earth at a slightly steeper angle than does the fault responsible for the 2004 Sumatran earthquake", he said.

The different angle made Saturday's tremor more effective at moving Earth's mass vertically and shifting the planet's axis, Mr Gross continued.

The 2004 quake in Asia, which killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused the Earth to move by around 7cm.

It chopped an estimated 6.8 microseconds off the length of a day, Nasa said"

This is not a typical Belsize blog, but since this severe event has such significance to world climate, this does serve as a reminder of the fragile world that we inhabit. Who can say if the collective effects of reducing our CO2 emissions in the UK, together in Camden and Belsize will have more or less impact than the loss of 1 micro second to a day.

But one thing is clear the need to reduce climate CO2 and thus helping to prevent a non reversible trend to incresed "global warming". Most scientists agree we have at best less than 10 years to drastically to turn the tide of a non reversible trend. Hansen (NASA).

Author: Nigel Rumble
Quotes: Sky News 2010

Tony Blair at IRAQ Inquiry - AT LAST!

After much speculation we finally have Tony Blair in the Dragon's Den.

But it is not expected to reveal new information of any change of opinion from former premier Blair, so far he has given at times a slightly nervous and hesitant account of the time-line to go to War in IRAQ. But has offered nothing of any real substance to support the fact apart from "regime change" and "OIL" which he made reference.

So then it is the small give away asides and comments that if anything will be the more revealing of Blair and his WAR. It even appears that he may have influenced (certainly bolstered) George W Bush to making the final call to GO to WAR.

So far we have heard these facts to emerge from the AM and PM proceedings;

• When asked why go to war with IRAQ and not IRAN or N. Korea, responded that IRAQ was the place to start!

• Fails to understand significance of 45 min claim as presenting a false warning to people of UK!
  

• Playing a disgraceful game of word manipulation at this much-anticipated event. Blairism on full frontal display

PM session.

• TB looking very twitchy with questioning on legality of going to War without the 2nd UN resolution.Says that he had undertaken significant war planning: but could not have foreseen different outcome eventualities

• The panel returns time and time again to the issue of legality in going to war and how Blair sidelined the UN.

• Blair in closing comments of Inquiry has no regrets!

Author: Nigel Rumble