Much of the news this week was about either the weather or the tidal wave of new migrants from Romania and Bulgaria that would apparently been sweeping in come January 1st. On both counts the media seems to have been a bit disappointed. The weather wasn’t quite as bad as forecast, and despite camping out at airports and bus terminals, journalists – and bizarrely, Keith Vaz MP – did not observe half of Eastern Europe queuing up at the border with their applications for benefits already filled in. All a bit disappointing.
Not much caught my eye this week, but here’s a small selection of non weather/immigration stories.
Outrageous bankster news first, and Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone reports on the fine given to HSBC for laundering drug money for Mexican cartels. No one from HSBC was prosecuted:
Outrageous HSBC Settlement Proves the Drug War is a Joke
On now to David Cameron’s flagship internet porn filters, with the news that guess what? They don’t work, blocking everything from the NSPCC to the British Library to – hilariously – Claire Perry’s website. Remember, she’s the MP who campaigned loudly for the introduction of filters even though it was clear she had no idea what she was talking about:
Cameron’s internet filter a disaster
The economy now and a nice article by William Keegan in the Observer on welfare cuts and Coalition policy:
Big society? Cutting welfare to ‘aid recovery’ is just a big lie
Finally, some housing news, and a blog by Jules Birch for Inside Housing on developments in the sector over the Christmas period. A good read:
alittleecon 