One of the tell-tale signs that it is Davos week is that the media publish a raft of techno-utopian stories about just how great the economy is going to be in future even as it collapses around our ears (stock market bubbles aside) in the present.  One such was Elizabeth …

If you are one of millions of struggling households, inflation is all about prices.  More to the point, despite statistics to contrary, since the crash of 2008 we have seen the cost of living increase even as our incomes stagnate. But suppose you are a politician with an election to …

Last year we learned that more than half of humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions could be traced back to the activities of just 25 corporations; including the oil companies.  Cue ill-conceived social media posts demanding an immediate boycott. Even environmental NGOs like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth were obliged to …

Renewable energy is increasingly incompatible with our energy infrastructure and our economy; and the situation is getting critical. It is common knowledge that renewable energy technologies (wind, solar, tidal, etc.) are not “firm.”  But firm is exactly how our economy needs energy.  In a just-in-time economy, it is extremely difficult …

Employing and training several thousand new customs officers is not something that can be done overnight.  According to the National Career Service the usual route to becoming a customs officer is to begin as an Administrative Assistant , Assistant Officer or Administrative Officer within the service and then to progress …

Last year saw public authorities and environmental groups heading for the courts in an attempt to hold oil companies accountable for climate change.  The law suits allege that – like big tobacco and big sugar – before it, big oil deliberately hid research that pointed to the impact of its …

Britain may be about to get a flavour of what peak oil would be like if the UK’s Senior Traffic Commissioner Beverley Bell’s concerns prove correct: “The British economy is facing a serious hit because of a dire shortage of lorry drivers.  The haulage industry is heavily reliant on overseas …

I have a confession to make.  In the past, I have actively engaged in what is now known as “degree inflation.”  I ran the kind of organisation highlighted by Preston Cooper in Forbes: “Employers [that] increasingly require college degrees from job applicants, even when applying for positions that did not …

There is an old folk story concerning Grigory Potemkin, the governor of Russia’s southern provinces in 1774.  According to the tale, to hide high rates of poverty from the Russian Empress Catherine the Great, Potemkin ordered the construction of artificial villages along the banks of the Dnieper River as the Royal …

Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood took to social media over the weekend to criticise the UK Labour Party stance on Brexit: “Time and time again, Labour fail to stand up to the Tories and oppose their extreme version of Brexit. “In Wales, the Labour Welsh government signed up to a …