Bankruptcy tourists cross Irish Sea. Ten myths about Cameron’s EU veto. Europe crisis: the seven key questions Britain must face | World news | The Observer. Question 1: how did Britain wind up on the fringe of Europe? France, Germany and their neighbours have waved us goodbye. Political editor Toby Helm examines Britain's fractious history within Europe "Auf Wiedersehen, England! " was how German magazine Der Spiegel reacted in the early hours of Friday. "Der Euro ist wichtiger als die Briten," (the euro is more important than the British) concluded the German tabloid, Bild. It was as much in sorrow as in anger that the Germans and French bid a weary farewell to the UK as part of the European mainstream and waved it over into the EU's slow lane. Indeed, Le Monde devoted an editorial to all that it admired in its neighbour – from the BBC, to John le Carré, to Elizabethan poetry and Liverpool FC.
Down the years, German and French leaders, from Kohl and Mitterrand to Schröder and Chirac had tried their best to accommodate the UK as a fellow traveller on the great European journey. But it had always been a struggle. Good Morning (poor) England. Même pas dans la zone euro et pourtant la situation économique et sociale du Royaume-Uni est calamiteuse: pouvoir d'achat en berne, explosion des inégalités et de la pauvreté, chômage des jeunes...
Ne manque plus à ce tableau digne de Dickens que le retour de Margaret Thatcher. Les 5 chiffres qui dépriment les Britanniques. Ce mercredi, les Britanniques sont en colère et en grève. Objet de leur courroux ? La réforme des retraites de la fonction publique, coup de grâce dans un contexte économique et social pour le moins austère. 1. Les jeunes en marge du système britannique ont un nom: les "Neet", comme "not in education, employment or training". 2. Les chiffres de la croissance pour le troisième trimestre de cette année sont tombés fin novembre. 3. Les Britanniques n’ont jamais été aussi inégaux. 4. Les Britanniques avec enfants subissent de plein fouet la hausse des loyers. 5. Leurs parents confrontés à la crise, le quotidien des enfants britanniques prend des accents austères. Royaume Uni : grève générale dans le secteur public ce mercredi 30 novembre.
Le secteur public britannique se mobilise contre le gouvernement, il entend protester contre la réforme des retraites, une première depuis l'hiver 1978-79. Les syndicats espèrent mobiliser 2 millions de salariés du secteur public contre les projets d'allongement de l'âge de la retraite du gouvernement conservateur de David Cameron et l'abaissement de leur pouvoir d'achat. Une coalition de trente centrales syndicales appelle à débrayer, dans un mouvement social inédit depuis "l'hiver du mécontentement" de 1978-79, sous le gouvernement travailliste de James Callaghan, qui avait précipité l'accession au pouvoir de la conservatrice Margaret Thatcher. Un millier de manifestations sont prévues à travers le pays. Prévue de longue date, cette grève interviendra au lendemain d'un discours peu optimiste du chancelier de l'Echiquier, George Osborne, sur l'état de l'économie du royaume. Unité sans précédent.
Conjoncture : La pauvreté s'installe en Grande-Bretagne. Le Royaume-Uni comptera 600.000 enfants de plus sous le seuil de pauvreté en 2013. À Londres Le quotidien des Britanniques aux revenus les plus faibles va s'aggraver dans les années à venir. Le revenu moyen réel en Grande-Bretagne, qui prend en compte l'inflation, devrait baisser de 7% entre 2010 et 2013 selon The Institute for Fiscal Studies (ISF). Cela pourrait représenter la plus forte baisse en trente-cinq ans. Il faut en effet remonter à la période 1974-1977 pour retrouver trace d'une telle chute du revenu moyen, soit la période post-choc pétrolier. Pour Robert Joyce, chercheur à l'IFS, il s'agit là des conséquences directes de la crise de 2008: «On peut parler d'effet à retardement de la récession.
Selon l'Institute for Fiscal Studies, le nombre d'enfants vivant dans cette pauvreté absolue devrait même connaître un pic en 2013, à 3,1 millions, soit 600.000 de plus qu'en 2010. Mesures jugées pénalisantes L'ISF montre du doigt le gouvernement de David Cameron. Financial markets face 'severe strains', warns Bank of England | Business. The Bank of England has warned of "severe strains" in financial markets and told banks they should cut staff and axe any dividend payouts to shareholders to boost their capital cushions. But at the same time the Bank's new Financial Policy Committee appeared to concede that banks might need to eat into their capital cushions to keep credit flowing into the stagnating economy. The second report by the FPC – set up by the coalition inside the Bank to be responsible for financial stability – shows it has considered the need for "short-term measures" to try to prevent a re-run of the 2007 credit crunch.
In a two-page update of its latest meeting, on 20 September, the FPC said: "The committee had advised UK banks in June that, if their earnings were strong, they should seek to build capital levels further, given the risks to the economic and financial environment. But events had lowered the likelihood that banks would be able to strengthen their balance sheets in this way over the short term. " Le Royaume-Uni peut-il encore être sauvé ? Le député européen britannique Daniel Hannan s’interroge, non sans un certain pessimisme, sur les possibilités de réduire le fardeau de la dépense publique au Royaume-Uni. Par Daniel Hannan, depuis Oxford, Royaume-Uni Certains de mes lecteurs ont l’impression que j’ai tendance à insister un peu trop lourdement sur notre endettement national. Eh bien, regardez les graphiques ci-dessous, ils proviennent de la Banque des Règlements Internationaux (chapeau, Tim Clougherty).
Commençons par les trois types de dettes en Grande Bretagne, à savoir des ménages, des entreprises et du gouvernement : Il arrive un moment où l’endettement global d’un pays finit par réduire sa croissance de façon significative. Une autre façon de voir ceci est de regarder l’évolution de notre passif au cours des 30 dernières années. Vous pouvez, dans un esprit du type Matt Ridley, Optimiste rationnel, émettre l’objection que les choses tournent rarement aussi mal que ne l’annoncent les prophètes de malheurs.
. — Sur le web. Bank of England's Posen backs more QE | Business. Business leaders on Thursday warned the economy was in a more fragile state than a few months ago after downgrading growth for this year to 1.1%. The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said its previous estimate of 1.3% was overly optimistic, after a series of business surveys showed that the economy was slowing to a crawl. Figures showed August was the worst-performing month for the FTSE 100 index since May last year, when stocks dived after the Greek debt crisis. Capital Economics said stock market investors had joined the bond market in believing the recovery would be sluggish for the rest of the year and into 2012.
The BCC said it expected growth to remain subdued until 2013, when it would hit 2.5%. The gloomy forecast is expected to encourage doves on the Bank of England's monetary policy committee (MPC) who want more quantitative easing (QE) to boost lending and growth. Royaume-Uni : pourquoi la grève générale peut marcher. Grâce à un long travail d'information et de coordination sur Internet et les réseaux sociaux, la grève générale organisée ce jeudi rassemble au-delà de la base syndicale traditionnelle. Etudiants et réseaux associatifs sont également mobilisés contre les mesures d'austérité du gouvernement Cameron.
La clé du succès? Au Royaume-Uni, l'appel à la grève générale du 30 juin contre les coupes budgétaires du gouvernement s’est répandu en quelques semaines par le biais d'Internet. Grâce aux nombreux blogs, sites et relais sur les réseaux sociaux, la grève devrait même mobiliser au-delà des syndicats. Les centrales syndicales donnent le ton 750 00 travailleurs du service public, enseignants et professeurs sont attendus dans les rues anglaises toute la journée. Le mouvement national Right to Work, affilié aux syndicats, fait le relais entre les différentes organisations de la société civiles et les centrales syndicales. Le web : "Generalise the strike" Carte des actions prévues dans tout le pays. The new student rebellions in the UK and beyond. * Book: Springtime: The New Student Rebellions. Edited by Tania Palmieri, and Clare Solomon. Verso, 2011. A book wirst-hand accounts and analysis of “the momentous student movement that shook the world”.
For atmospherics of the one-million march on March 26 in London, look at the brilliant video below. This is the publisher’s summary: “The autumn and winter of 2010 saw an unprecedented wave of student protests across the UK, in response to the coalition government’s savage cuts in state funding for higher education, cuts which formed the basis for an ideological attack on the nature of education itself. Involving universities and schools, occupations, sit-ins and demonstrations, these protests spread with remarkable speed. From the US to Europe, students have been in the vanguard of protest against their governments’ harsh austerity measures. Interview conducted by Dazed Digital: “Dazed Digital: Firstly, tell us a little about the form this book takes? Watch the video:
UK Economy: 'The UK Will Need a Bailout Soon': Jim Rogers. But UK-based analysts disputed this view, saying the austerity measures were enough. Rogers said the UK coalition government needed to go further in order to avoid financial catastrophe. “They [the government] are not doing it. They are saying they are doing it but they are not. They are saving £1 billion ($1.6 billion) here or there but they are not doing what they really need to and I’m not sure the government would survive the kind of pain that is really required," he said. “How can the UK ever repay the debt that is continually rising? The UK will need a bailout soon. “The government will begin to lose by-elections and the government could fall, then what?”
His comments came as the British electorate went to the pollsfor the first time since last year’s general election, which resulted in a coalition government of the Conservative party and Liberal Democrats and a program of public spending cuts which began in earnest in March. Bitter Campaigning Cuts 'Incredibly Tough' Manifestation et violences à Londres (presse britannique)
Bank of England's money pump is all that's keeping economy going | Business. The Bank of England - knows how to combat inflation but has had no experience with deflation since the 1930s. Photograph: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP Imagine for a moment that you left Britain on a space mission to Mars in November 2006. Tony Blair was prime minister, the City was booming and consumers were gearing up for their customary Christmas spending splurge.
It's been four years now since you set foot on earth but you have kept in touch and know the economy has had a near-death experience in which the banks were within hours of shutting down cashpoints and the wider economy descended into the worst slump since Ramsay MacDonald was prime minister. Frankly, though, this is hard to believe. Internationally, things also look faintly familiar. At this point, you might well ask the obvious question: what has really changed in the past four years? That is certainly the case when you look at China, the rest of east Asia, India and Brazil. Cycling to China Double dip recipe. Up to 500,000 protestors attend anti-cuts demo - Home News, UK. Between 400,000 and 500,000 teachers, nurses, firefighters, council and NHS workers, other public sector employees, students, pensioners and campaign groups from across the UK marched through central London to a rally where union officials and Labour leader Ed Miliband condemned the "brutal" cuts in jobs and services.
Violence flared away from the rally when a group of hundreds of activists, not connected with the union protest, clashed with police. They set off fireworks, threw paint and attacked shops in Oxford Street, Regent Street and Piccadilly. Topshop and HSBC had their windows smashed, while paint and glass bottles were thrown at a Royal Bank of Scotland branch. Covering their faces with scarves, they fought with police and disrupted traffic, throwing lightbulbs filled with ammonia at officers and lighting a fire. Nine arrests were made and some police officers were injured. "Ministers should now seriously reconsider their whole strategy after today's demonstration. Ireland, Portugal … Britain? George Osborne only has Plan A | Business. Economists doubt the ability of the UK to meet the growth forecasts made for the chancellor by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PA Portugal loses a government and sees bond yields soar.
Ireland announces a third straight year of economic contraction. Britain suffers a slump in high street spending as consumers get cold feet. The ratings agency Moody's says the UK's coveted AAA rating could be at risk if the weakness of the economy derails plans to put the public finances in good order. A leading Bank of England policymaker says rising inflation is putting the Old Lady's credibility at risk. As far as George Osborne is concerned, making sense of this welter of post-budget news is simple. That said, the news from Ireland, the warning from Moody's and February's sharp fall in retail sales do highlight the risks for the government. In the past, Britain (along with other countries) has bounced back rapidly from recessions, but not this time. English Defence League: Inside the violent world of Britain's new far right | UK news.
The English Defence League is planning a series of demonstrations this summer. Warning: video contains very strong language Link to video: The English Defence League uncovered MPs expressed concern tonight after it emerged that far-right activists are planning to step up their provocative street campaign by targeting some of the UK's highest-profile Muslim communities, raising fears of widespread unrest this summer. Undercover footage shot by the Guardian reveals the English Defence League, which has staged a number of violent protests in towns and cities across the country this year, is planning to "hit" Bradford and the London borough of Tower Hamlets as it intensifies its street protests. Senior figures in the coalition government were briefed on the threat posed by EDL marches this week.
Tomorrow up to 2,000 EDL supporters are expected to descend on Newcastle for its latest protest. The group also appears to be drawing support from the armed forces. Manifs étudiantes à Londres : un moment de bonheur collectif | Rue89. Depuis le 24 novembre, à Londres, quelques centaines d’étudiants occupent la salle Jeremy Bentham située à côté de la bibliothèque principale de UCL (university college London), l’université où j’enseigne. Cette fac est aujourd’hui rejointe par plus d’une trentaine de campus également occupés : à Londres (School of Oriental and African studies, King’s College, Goldsmith, London university of arts, university of East London, South Bank university) et en province (Oxford, Cambridge, Leeds, Manchester, etc.). A UCL, les étudiants séjournent jour et nuit dans une vaste pièce d’ordinaire utilisée pour des réceptions, qui comprend deux petites pièces adjacentes ainsi qu’une cuisine.
Un mouvement rare pour la Grande-Bretagne Cette occupation est le signe de la radicalisation des luttes étudiantes contre un projet de loi du gouvernement libéral-conservateur. Celui-ci envisage de doubler et à terme de tripler le montant des frais d’inscription. Soutien de Chomsky, d’artistes, de politiques. Manifestation record à Londres contre l'austérité. Angleterre: un conflit de basse-intensité relayé par Internet » Article » OWNI, Digital Journalism.
The UK’s biggest spending cuts protest yet and the anti-kettling app » Article » OWNI.eu, Digital Journalism. UK Misery Index Hits 20 Year High | zero hedge.