Learning Difficulties

The enduring question is whose thumb is on the neck artery of the UK government and maybe the economy as a whole.  In the early 1980's Arthur Scargill, President of the National Union of Mineworkers, thought it was his. 

Wrong, it turned out to be the oil and gas interests engaged in the North Sea and elsewhere.  The picture is a more confused these days with so much going on and so much uncertainty. 

But when you are looking at London and the big government projects relying on private funding etc. that are supposed to be our economic props there are a limited number of candidates and we think it is the bankers.

It is still a matter of oil and gas, so if you are looking for the answer perhaps this is the one that matters, courtesy of Zero Hedge.  It is a long time, fifty years, since I had much to do with oil sheiks but even then their confidence and ability to work the systems demanded respect.

As a corollary to this we have the impasse and the tragedy of Syria and amongst it the curious reluctance of the local states to commit themselves to serious intervention.  If they do not and other nations do they will need to be careful.

So the G20 are meeting at St. Petersburg and will begin to address the issues.  The prospects are not good with the start being hampered by nursery school games of who sits next to who. 

Our media is passionate for Cameron to be seen to be important.  My feeling is that the quieter he is and the less conspicuous the better, there is little to be gained and an immense amount to be lost.

We can only hope that the discussions between Putin and Obama go a lot better than this clip from Dr. Strangelove of long ago. 

As for the British being kicked out of the US War Room then this useful reminder of British capability from the same film might help.

It is only half a century, too little time to learn.