³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ BLOGS - Newsnight: From the web team
« Previous | Main | Next »

Thursday 18 August 2011

Verity Murphy | 13:37 UK time, Thursday, 18 August 2011

Stock markets have seen falls of about 5%, and some bank shares have plunged 10%, as the negative mood which has caused recent turmoil takes hold again.

Paul Mason will have the latest news and analysis on that and we will be speaking to Jeffrey Sachs, who says we have been tripped up by globalisation.

Caroline Hawley will report on the call from the leaders of the US, UK, France, Germany and EU for Syria's President Assad to step down over his suppression of protesters, and whether he is likely to heed them.

Plus, many students hoping to go to university face an even more intense battle for places than usual as this is the last intake of students to English universities before the introduction of tuition fees of up to £9,000 a year in 2012.

David Grossman reports on whether the government's changes - not just higher fees, but significant changes to the structure of the higher education in this country - really benefit young people and whether they will provide the skills the country needs?

We have been to the Mossbourne Academy - a very successful school on the edge of the Mossbourne estate in Hackney, which was the backdrop to some of last weeks riots - and the school's head teacher, Sir Michael Wilshaw, will be joining the debate in our studio.

And on the 20th anniversary of the 1991 Russian coup we have a Bridget Kendal film in which she talks to many of the key players including Mikhail Gorbachev.

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    one big question before you spend your forty grand....where are the jobs coming from??? The silence is deafening........

  • Comment number 2.

    The markets have really tanked today...

    Poor US data, bank fears reignites market sell-off


    UK retail sales stagnate, adds to gloom on economy


    The coming depression

  • Comment number 3.

    Can you enable the comments on Paul Mason's latest blog please?

    /news/business-14579710

  • Comment number 4.

    MANKIND'S 'TRIUMPH' OF CLEVER OVER WISE - IT WAS NEVER GOING TO END OTHERWISE.

    If we have not lost, completely, awareness and the power of reason, one can only presume that, among the mass of ABSTAINERS from Westminster's General Election charades, there must be 'Good Men' doing nothing.

    It might be very illuminating to seek some of them out, and discover, firstly, that they exist, at all, and secondly, what inhibits them from DOING SOMETHING. Of course, if they are all dead, Armageddon is a certainty.

  • Comment number 5.

    The government has engineered it so that if you were born at 12:30 am BST on 1st September 1993, you might have no option but to start your career with £15-20k more debt, than if you were born on 11:30 pm on 31st August 1993.

    If that's justice, I'm a banana! ( © Ian Hislop.)

    I know it's unlikely, but I wonder if any twins have been divided by this?

  • Comment number 6.

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

  • Comment number 7.

  • Comment number 8.

  • Comment number 9.

    Paul Mason wrote on his blog:

    "It is strange to see Jeff Sachs, the man who unleashed neo-liberalism onto East Europe, calling for a global version of the New Deal, but that is effectively what is emerging as the option."

    Now I wonder where that nugget came from?

    (Hint: they had the initials JJ)

    It was neoconservatism/libertarianism, not neoliberalism. There is a difference.

    Gorbachev's reformist socialism sold out real Stalinist statism/socialism.

    I think he expected to receive 30 pcs of silver for his anarchic action. But it wasn't forthcoming. To be fair to him, the writing-was-on-the-wall probably well before his time.


    Who were the only winners out of Glasnost?

  • Comment number 10.

    Wow, and I thought Sach's was an arch libertarian/anarchist. Congdon made him seem like a part timer. I think even Sachs was taken aback by his comments.

    Did I hear Congdon correctly when he said there was too much regulation of the City?

    The man is seriously....

    It's precisely because of people like him that this country is in the trouble it's in.

  • Comment number 11.

  • Comment number 12.

    9/11 TENTH ANNIVERSARY IS COMING - CAN YOU SPARE 15 MINUTES FOR TRUTH?



    1500 accredited Architects and Engineers are adamant that the American State has to face a rational challenge to its flimsy 'dossier' explaining (away) the fall of THREE towers on 9/11.

    Judging from form, to date, the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ will make NO challenge, preferring to save British face.

  • Comment number 13.

    @12 Barrie. I'm normally very suspicious of conspiracy theories, but I can't dismiss this very compelling video.

    In particular, I find it incredible that the fire was so uniform that the building collapsed on the spot, rather than in a particular direction. Given the distance of this bulding from the twin towers, if the official conclusion WERE true, then it would raise massive questions about modern building design which would also need to be addressed. So, one way or another, questions need to be asked, and answered!

  • Comment number 14.

    The PFI is under attack again:

    /news/uk-politics-14574059

    Again, the problem is mathematical.

    During WWII, high taxes and rationing were necessary to suppress private consumption, and maximise the resources available for the war effort.

    If the economy is not running at full capacity, then there is a surplus available for infrastructure projects without suppressing private consumption. The problem is money. People think that it's bad if the government prints money to pay for things. So what happens instead is, by means of the fractional reserve system, that the banks create money out of nothing instead, but charge interest on it, and also impose self-serving terms and conditions.

    Until we realise that money is not a commodity, but a (largely privately managed) entitlement to consume, we will always have debt crises.

  • Comment number 15.

    GOOD MAN SASHA (#13)

    As always, your words considered and rational. I am grateful that you attended to the content of the video.

    I hope you will feel moved to forward the link to cogent friends, and alert them to the coming silence on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳.

    Beneath the feet of the headless chickens, currently responding to recent riots, is a depth of the blackest, smelliest Guano, that we call our Culture.

    TIME FOR GOOD MEN TO DO MORE THAN NOTHING.

  • Comment number 16.

    Long Lartin

    The unit holds seven men suspected but not convicted of terrorism, while they await deportation or extradition.

    Two foreign men have been held for more than 11 years, while one British citizen, Babar Ahmad, has been held for seven years,....

    /news/uk-14567546

    11 years detention without charge?

    shameful.

  • Comment number 17.

    #12

    Barrie


    Something happened to me which has not happened for some time at the end of that mini documentary in your link.

    I cried.

    Building 7 was demolished. I have no doubt in my mind now.

    As a chartered engineer myself, I could, just about, concieve of a case for the twin towers progressive collapse in part swayed in my mind by their being a limit to what evil can be perpetrated within a 'democratic' (even a pseudo democratic) country.

    I figured the risks were just too high of the truth being exposed for anyone to be both stupid enough, arrogant enough, ill advised enough and evil enough to try it.

    I was wrong.

    You are right.

    The following is a collection of facts which are a matter of record and no allegation is intended or implied by the poster.


    Larry Silverstein and the former Israeli commando Frank Lowy, the lease holders who gained control of the WTC property six weeks before 9/11, and Port Authority Chairman Lewis M. Eisenberg, authorised the transfer of the leases.

    Six weeks before the WTC towers were destroyed, the Port Authority completed the process of leasing them for 99 years to Larry Silverstein, the developer who had built 7 World Trade Center

    Silverstein and Westfield were given the right to rebuild the structures if they were destroyed, and Westfield has the right to expand the retail space by 30 percent.

    Silverstein is suing for some $7.2 billion in insurance money for the loss of the destroyed World Trade Center – and his expected earnings – for property he had leased with a down payment of $100 million – of borrowed funds.

  • Comment number 18.

    MOVED BEYOND WORDS - GOOD MEN ARE STIRRING! (#17)

    Thank you.

    Barrie

  • Comment number 19.

    there are sooo many options for students, there is a UK clearing fair being held today for those who need places

Ìý

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iD

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ navigation

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ © 2014 The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.