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Showing posts from April, 2008

It wasn't Rock Against Inflation

The government is curiously quiet on the impact of immigration on wages. When we took to the streets 30 years ago, it was a different story Phil Hall Is the government is being completely honest in the rhetoric it uses to justify its open-door policy for immigrants from the former eastern bloc? Hazel Blears, in her visit to Boston in Lincolnshire, focused on busting the myths around immigration, the myths that immigrants are a burden and the myths surrounding immigrants and crime, social housing, social security and health. But she doesn't mention inflation. Speaking in Bradford in June 2005, the governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, was clear about one of the main benefits of the recent immigration : "Immigration has reduced wage inflation. The inflow of migrant labour, especially in the past year or so from eastern Europe, has probably led to a diminution of inflationary pressure on the labour market." In the Lord's report (pdf) , Professor Nickell is quoted...

Heston Blumenthal has failed

Most of the charm and the taste for me is in the food culture. In this respect both Delia and Blumenthal share a characteristic for me. They are both charmless. They cook, literally in the case of Heston, in a vacuum.. Delia is the reductio ad absurdam of Blumenthal.. Take Blumenthal's philosophy and boil it right down and you end up with Delia. Delve a little further and you end up with lambs fat on the cheapest chump. Pedigree Chum dog food research scientists say dogs go mad for it. "Adobo" is a very bitter red substance. It tastes quite acrid. Who would think to consume it? Or rotted fish - Where does the taste for that come from? It comes from 80,000 years living by the shores of the North sea without enough salt or time to preserve the fish. It doesn't come from Willy Wonka's food texturing lab. Marmite is the taste of the industrial revolution. Vegemite is a vegetarian riff on Marmite, there is something William Morris about it. Something post industrial. T...