Author Archives: Hamish Renton

Hamish Renton

Opinion: return to your trattoria and prepare for tagliatelle

By Hamish Renton | Sun 3rd October 2010 - 11:41 am

Well, it’s been quite a week. We know Clegg called Ed Miliband to congratulate him on his victory at the weekend. Quite right too. Ed then strolled around telling everyone how he and David Miliband were, to quote Mark Knopfler, “Brothers in arms”.

Ed then unveiled his road to Damascus moment – on civil liberties, Iraq, banks, AV and justice reform. Spot on, Ed. His keynote speech said cuts were bad in general, but some were needed. But not which ones.

Or when. He implied he now thought the Lib Dems not quite as bad as when he campaigned for …

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 13 Comments
Hamish Renton

Ghosts of Bilderberg past

By Hamish Renton | Sat 5th June 2010 - 7:10 pm

As the uber-secretive Bilderberg group meets in Spain this weekend, lets cast our mind back 33 years to when they met in the fading surroundings of Torquay’s Imperial Hotel and messrs Hattersley, Thatcher, Healey, Schmit etc met over cocktails to shoot the establishment breeze.

Then, in 1977 it felt like the “fag end” of a political era. Labservatives had been failing to get to grips with the country’s ills since the war. Strikes, three day weeks…we all know the script. The ill fated Lib-Lab pact had just been announced to an underwhelmed electorate, keeping Labour in power until collapsing in …

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Posted in News | 28 Comments
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    @PM. Yes, allowing a LOT more houses to be built would reduce wealth inequality dramatically. We should aim to return to the c1997 price to income ratios - whic...
  • Peter Davies
    and building more houses of course....
  • Peter Davies
    The rising property market contributed more to the impoverishment of the poor than the enrichment of the rich. It is owner occupiers who hold the greatest propo...
  • PM
    @ Tim, You may be technically correct with your argument but it doesn't change the fact that we have become very much more unequal in recent decades. The ...
  • Mick Taylor
    @ColinMurphy. Yes and you could close all the tax loopholes and greatly reduce the huge number of pages in the tax codes that take a highly qualified accountant...