Fife and Scotland - the offbeat perspective

A Different Historical Perspective

If the entire history of Planet Earth could be measured on the face of a twenty-four hour clock then the whole of human history would represent a modest fraction of the last second of the last minute on that clock! Indeed, far more has occurred and changed on a global scale in the last few centuries than in the previous ten thousand years! What follows then is a series of selective and condensed histories starting from the Ice Age and moving progressively towards the present time. It's a deliberately different and radical perspective on major events which describe some of the successes and the failures of different periods. Although brief mention is made to some parts of Scottish history, more detail is offered in a separate section of this web site.

New Labour

In the first term of the new Blair administration, the Labour Party recognised how sources of cheap labour were being exploited by some companies in Britain and introduced the National Minimum Wage and introduced a new set of Family Income Supplements and which could effectively raise low paid workers income by a substantial margin. Single mothers also received a considerable income boost and help with daycare became partof the equation.

In terms of domestic policy, the Blair administration set about increasing expenditure on healthcare and on education yet determined to maintain similar taxation levels promised by the Conservatives. In truth though, several additional taxes were introduced in ways barely recogniseable as such and these became known as 'stealth taxes'. Tony Blair's personal involvement with the difficult issues concerning Northern Ireland helped achieve positive results beginning with the 'Good Friday' agreement and slowly beginning the long process of returning peace to Ulster.

The New Labour Party also sought devolved government in Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

With the benefit of hindsight, the new government relaxed control over banking issues and permitted massive latitude within the banking and financial sectors. More than once, this led to several financial 'black days' but there some economists who were already warning of impending gloom on a global scale at the turn of the century. In effect, the principal mechanisms of International Finance and Business was largely transferred out of government and into the hands of people more concerned with profit, personal wealth, executive status and personal pensions rather than the wellbeing of their organisations, stockbrokers or national interest. Everything they did involved self interest before all else. It took time before the full extent of this policy became apparent and where other countries had embarked on similar courses of action. Unemployment levels fell and Chancellor Gordon Brown felt confident enough to say that the cycle of boom and bust had been broken but he couldn't have forseen what would happen just a short time later.

9/11

Following the unsuccessful invasion of Kuwait by Sadaam Hussein of Iraq in 1990, the terrorist organisation known as Al Qaeda stepped up its campaign primarily aimed at American interests in the region. In the last decade of the twentieth century, this organisation was blamed for events in Yemen, Ethiopia and the first failed attack on the World Trade Centre in 1993. Amazingly, it is now known Al Quaeda considered nuclear power plants as valid targets but rejected the proposition for fear of 'extreme and severe reprisal'. Despite this, on 11th September 2001, Al Quaeda carried out their boldest venture yet in a blaze of international publicity and on American soil.

It began with the hijacking of four passenger carrying aircraft by terrorists sworn to deliver success and even at the cost of their own lives. The first real knowledge of the attack came when one of the passenger jets was deliberately flown into one of the twin towers of the World Trade Centre. At first, it seemed like an incredible accident but that attitude changed swiftly when a second passenger aircraft was crashed into the second tower. Not long afterwards, another passenger aircraft was deliberately steered and crashed into the Pentagon building which served as the headquarters of US National Defence. The fourth plane hijacked on that day never reached its intended target as passengers, perhaps listening on the radio or receiving texts and messages on mobile telephones, were informed of what was happening elsewhere and made the mental link in which they too were potentially doomed to participate in a similar suicidal mission. They fought back and perhaps hoped they could overwhelm the fanatic crew flying the aircraft but although successful in saving the target, they paid for their valiant action with their own lives.

9/11, as it came to be known and because of the American habit of putting the month date number ahead of the day carried a shock wave no less than that of Pearl Harbour in 1942 and where American public opinion was highly galvanised in a day.

President George Bush (junior) was actually visiting a school and reading a story to children when news of the attack was given to him. It's alleged that he stopped reading and sat with a blank stare for some time before reacting and leaving the school. About three thousand innocent people lost their lives in this cowardly attack and about four hundred of them were firefighters or police officers working hard to save lives. While the impacts on the buildings themselves might have had limited effect, the burning fuel weakened points where each floor connected to the outer shell of the building and led to the collapse of one floor down onto another then again and again until the sheer weight caused each tower to crumble and fall. The initial American response was to ground all aircraft while fearing further attacks of this kind. For two days, the American response was silence but a 'sleeping giant' had been awoken and where America was now determined to pursue a war against terrorism even while such thoughts of what that actually meant were vague at best. Al Quaeda initially denied involvement and perhaps feared the kind of reprisal now directed against them and their associates.

Countries and regimes sponsoring terrorism were publically identified by US President George Bush (junior) and began with a military invasion of Afghanistan where training bases for terrorists had been formerly identified and financed by opium drugs grown in many parts of the country. Even before 9/11, the seven year old Taliban government had been seen as a source of concern. In 1989, the modern Russian army had been compelled to retreat when faced with modern weapons manufactured in the western nations and most often in the USA. Hard drugs like herion from Afghanistan had reduced to a minimal level in 2001 but had steadily risen during the Taliban administration.

Now, in the wake of the attack in New York, American forces arrived in Afghanistan in force and seeking Osama Bin Laden, leader of Al Quaeda, dead or alive. The military campaign that followed was intensive and drove the Taliban from power yet failed to crush the movement. Despite many rumours that Osama Bin Laden died in a heavy bombardment of caves, it is known that he fled south to PaKistan and he remained in hiding for many years.

On May 2nd 2011, a team comprising US Navy Seals and others attacked a compound in Abbotabad in Pakistan where it had long been suspected that Osama Bin Laden had been living and sheltered by friends. From what has been publicly released about this event, it seems the US intent had been to capture Bin Laden and his closest associates but one helicopter malfunctioned and was deliberately destroyed. Because of this, many associates and witnesses were left behind. In his final moments of life, Osama Bin Laden, used a woman as a protective shield but was killed nevertheless. His body was quickly flown to a location in Afghanistan for identification then buried at sea within 24 hours to avoid any kind of martyr shrine. Within weeks, Al Quaeda elected a new leader. The battle had been won but the terrorist war remains.

As part of coalition forces, the British Army became a part of the 'War On Terrorism' and where a substantial commitment in the form of British soldiers and equipment remains in Afghanistan. At this time of writing in 2011, no successful conclusion to this war has been reached but severe economic difficulties among western nations have compelled governments to seek withdrawal in the coming years with the issue of national security and policing being handed over to trained Afghani soldiers and policemen.

The Invasion of Iraq

Back home, the Labour Party went on to win the 2001 election with a similar majority to that of 1997. Tony Blair controversially allied himself with US President George W. Bush in supporting a new resumption of the Iraq War, and which caused him to lose much of his political support both at home and overseas. At the core of this argument was a strong belief that Iraq had developed biological or chemical weapons of mass destruction and where they could be launched from mobile SCUD missile launchers. Such weapons could be difficult to find and had the potential to even strike some parts of Cyprus.

As a much younger man during the Iran-Iraqi wars of 1980-1988, Sadaam Hussein had seen how Iranian children as young as 12 had been handed a gun then ordered to fight. The Iraqi response had involved usage of chemical weapons in which thousands of Iranians perished. In his later life, there was alleged usage of similar weapons against Kurdish communities within Iraqi territory.

In 2001, many western nations believed Iraq was actively supporting terrorism against them. UN weapons inspectors, permitted to freely roam throughout Iraq following the failed attempt to annex Kuwait, investigated claims concerning these weapons of mass destruction and the alleged development of a rail gun using British made parts. They found no trace of any such weapons yet a multi-national coalition force invaded Iraq in 2003 and despite vehement political opposition from France.

GPS information had been a crucial factor during the conflict of 1990 and where coalition forces had moved swiftly to carry out a 'pincer' movement cutting off the invasion forces in Kuwait and permitting wholesale destruction of the force caught inside Kuwait. Now, it played an important part in steering bomber aircraft launched from the US onto Iraqi targets in an effort to 'shock and awe' but like previous blitz efforts of the Second World War, it merely hardened resolve of the Iraqi people.

Aerial attacks using smart bombs and tomahawk cruise missiles were followed by an invasion force of troops and tanks on the ground and where the Iraqi army, one of the largest and strongest in the region, was decimated and forced to surrender. Even as the government continued to broadcast propaganda, American tanks were close to the main buildings of central Bagdad. By then, Sadaam Hussein had fled the city.

Captured by U.S. forces on December 13, 2003, Sadaam Hussein was brought to trial under the Iraqi interim government set up by US led forces. On November 5, 2006, he was convicted of charges related to the executions of 148 Iraqi Shi'ites suspected of planning an assassination attempt against him, and was sentenced to death by hanging. Sadaam was executed on December 30, 2006.

Labour was returned to power in the elections of 2005 but with a substantially reduced majority. Soon afterward, Tony Blair announced his intention to retire with the intent of handing over to Gordon Brown. He delayed the date several times and when he did finally resign as Prime Minister, several problems were becoming manifestly obvious and where the next Prime Minister would have to deal with them.

Gordon Brown inherited the 'poisoned chalice' just months before the British 'Northern Rock' Bank cried foul and declared itself unable to meet its debts. The shock announcement led to the first run of depositors on a UK bank in 150 years and where people queued in the streets in an effort to withdraw their savings. For several days, the government dithered whether to support the bank or let it go under. While the latter would have been painful and sent shock waves throughout the financial industry, there are many who felt it might have made other banks reconsider their exposure to increasing amounts of bad debt in both business and mortgage sectors. It would have meant depositors receiving a small portion of their money back and where life savings might have been lost yet restricted to a relatively small number of people. The government could have made good such losses as a gesture of goodwill and raised taxes on banks to pay for it but instead, Gordon Brown's government chose to support the bank by using tax payers money. Just a few weeks later, the Northern Rock Bank announced that it would continue to invest in Newcastle Football Club!

In subsequent weeks, the true extent of exposure within British Banks began to trickle out and where the growing size of bad debt was far higher than previously anticipated. British banks, three out of five of them being the largest in the World, had committed huge investment in the American 'sub-prime' marketplace and where applicants for such loans and mortagages would normally have been refused on the grounds that they would be unable to repay the loaned amount. In places like Columbia, Ohio, mortgagees simply fled from the properties when faced with unsurmountable debt into an uncertain future and took steps to cover their tracks so they could not be found. In some parts of the city, the practice became so common as to leave entire streets boarded up and where the City had to introduce guards to ensure vacant properties didn't become 'drug dens' or else as a fire prevention measure.

It was not a feature confined to Ohio or even America and talk about sueing the banks initially centred on foreign banks but became muted when American banks also revealed embarking on similar shaky and speculative ventures.

On September 15, 2008, the Lehman Brothers Bank, the fourth largest investment bank in the US, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection following a massive exodus of most of its clients, drastic losses in its stock, and devaluation of its assets by credit rating agencies. It marked the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history and although many assets were subsequently sold to Barclays and Nomura, the US government did not step in to secure or support the bank.

While many causes for the financial crisis have been suggested, with varying weight assigned by experts, the United States Senate issuing the Levin-Coburn Report concluded "that the crisis was not a natural disaster, but the result of high risk, complex financial products; undisclosed conflicts of interest; and the failure of regulators, the credit rating agencies, and the market itself to rein in the excesses of Wall Street.” One might add that the progressive shift of commercial manufacturing to the Far East was also a contributing factor and where better paid employment was steadily being lost.

By 2009, economic circumstances for several British Banks became dire and the government supported the banks at a time when taxation revenue was declining. Government borrowing with most money coming from a newly afluent China soared while major government shareholding in these banks was undertaken. The Royal Bank of Scotland, once the third largest bank in Europe, became the worst victim with 80% of the shares being owned by the tax payers and with expectation of a return in the future; something that has yet to be realised and despite many banks reorganising and where the loss of jobs has been measured in several thousands.

Devolution & The Scottish Parliament

The Darién scheme was an unsuccessful attempt by the Kingdom of Scotland to become a world trading nation by establishing a colony called "New Caledonia" on the Isthmus of Panama during the 1690s. It proved to be an expensive disaster marked by poor planning, poor trading, devastating epidemics of 'yellow fever' and other diseases and an increasing shortage of food. The project was formerly abandoned after a seige by Spanish solidier in April 1700. In Scotland, the news was devastating since the Darien Company had been financed by about a quarter of the money circulating in Scotland. Scotland had effectively become bankrupt and it was in this atmosphere that the Act Of Union with England was born.

The notion that Scots were happy to accept the Act Of Union in 1707 may have been true at that time but in the early years of the twentieth century, the movement and desire for a return to independence took root and had been growing steadily ever since. During World War 2, British traitor William Joyce, known as Lord 'Haw Haw' to the British, exploited this desire in his Nazi propaganda programme 'Germany Calling' and where he typically ended the programme with "Goodnight, My Scottish Friends, Goodnight, you English pigs!".

The Scottish National Party was founded in 1934 but it didn't make much progress until the mid 1960s when it won its first seat in government. In the 1970s, it assumed a larger part of the popular vote and its aim of independence took a step forward when a debating chamber for the new parliament was built within the Royal Academy in Edinburgh. The referendum of 1977 failed to secure enough votes to secure a mandate and the chamber was never used in its intended Parliamentry role. In 1997, New Labour was elected with a promise to introduce devolved government in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Following a referendum in 1997, in which the Scottish electorate gave their consent, the current Parliament was established by the Scotland Act 1998 which set out its powers as a devolved legislature within the overall framework of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. The Act delineates the legislative competence of the Parliament – the areas in which it can make laws and policy by explicitly specifying powers that are "reserved" to the Parliament of the United Kingdom. All matters that are not explicitly reserved are automatically the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament.

The British Parliament retains the ability to amend the terms of reference of the Scottish Parliament, and can extend or reduce the areas in which it can make laws or policy. The first meeting of the new Parliament took place on 12 May 1999 amid great fanfare in a new building built in the Holyrood area of Edinburgh (pictured above). Being honest, and considering the many brilliant architects that Scotland has produced, this author wonders what the architects were thinking when they built this! It was highly expensive with many cost overuns and it's just plain ugly! I might as well say that this is the ugliest Parliament building I can even think of and where most office blocks would find visual favour by comparison. Going further, I remain convinced that an older and more recogniseable building somewhere in Central Scotland could have been updated and converted at far less cost. Scone Palace near Perth springs to mind in this context but there are others. In a modern World, laced by communications, there was never any need to retain a claim of Edinburgh remaining as a capital city. It was an opportunity to deliver something special and unique rather than the visual horror we have in place today! Similar comments might be applied to the Welsh Assembly but the Northern Ireland Assembly has definitely outshone both by using the Parliament Buildings at Stormont Castle near Belfast.

The first meeting of the new 'Holyrood' Parliament took place on 12th May 1999 while some issues of constitutional difficulty remained. The most widely publicised being the 'West Lothian Question' concerning members able to sit in Westminster yet still being a member of the Scottish Parliament or Welsh Assembly. In part though, there was ample precedence since the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of the Channel Isles, although technically owned by the Crown, remain separate and do not form part of the United Kingdom. Both have their own Parliaments albeit subject to rarely used powers. In theory, England should also have had a devolved Parliament but it gets complicated when one realises that Cornwall, to quote one example, might equally demand their right to re-establishment of the Stannery or Cornish Parliament. Northumbria might also have a valid claim in such circumstances. Even the ancient borders of Mercia might be used in such an argument.

In its first decade of existence, the Scottish Parliament delivered some astounding legislation that few might have contemplated before devolution. Few would have noticed much difference while the Scottish Parliament was presided over by a Labour administration but the elections of 2004 provided a clue about the future and where in 2007, the Scottish National Party managed to secure deals with other smaller political parties to become a minority led government under the leadership of Alex Salmond. In the 2011 elections, this became a landslide in which the SNP attained the first majority since the Scottish Parliament began.

The decision to abolish bridge tolls, initially on the Skye Road Bridge and then to the Erkskine Flyover, Forth and Tay road bridges was widely welcomed. The abolition of University tuition fees was another and where English MPs were quick to voice opposition or else seek parity. The abolition of prescription charges took longer and was acheived in stages. The freezing of community tax levels over several years represents another success delivered by the SNP. Conversely, there have been major errors too

The worst and widely publicised release of Abdelbaset Mohamed Ali al-Megrahi from a Scottish jail on compassionate grounds caused
lastng harm to Scotland. In 2001, al-Megrahi had been convicted of causing the destruction of Pan-Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie but in 2009, doctors had detected terminal cancer and where his life expectancy was limited to a few months. On the basis of this, on the 20th August 2009, Minister for Justice in Scotland, Kenny McAskill, delivered a speech whereby he explained the many pressures put upon him before ordering the release and deportaton of al-Megrahi to Libya. It was a decision that brought swift condemnation from the US and elsewhere with many US companies electing to refuse Scottish goods in future. On arrival in Libya, the privately charted plane was surrounded by people waving Libyan and Scottish flags with a few of the latter being set on fire. On 26 July 2011, during the Libyan Civil War, Megrahi was shown on Libyan state television, attending a pro-Gaddafi rally of members of his tribe. Megrahi appeared to be frail and was sitting in a wheelchair but obviously still alive. The decision to release him is thus likely to have impact on future cases of this kind and where extradition of suspected fellons may fall on 'deaf ears' as a consequence.

Another shameful example concerns the Edinburgh tram project and where it has become bogged down with massive cost overuns and where it might have been best if cancelled right from the start.

Challenges for the Scottish Parliament include a replacement for the Forth Road Bridge, completed in 1964, and where discovery of serious structural erosion was intially discovered in bridges of similar design in the US. Thus far, the measures taken have been to reduce this growing structural weakness but where the issue of a replacement bridge in under consideration. It's likely though that the new bridge will reintroduce tolls as a means to ensure investors get suffiicient return over a modest period of years. It's also inevitable that rates cannot be capped forever else local services would suffer. The recent application to the UK government to have control of its income via its own taxation systems rather than by block grant is fraut with peril. Since 2000, the actual amount of North Sea Oil and Gas has been declining. Energy prices have been soaring as a consequence. In this crucial respect, Scotland has missed the golden opportunity it might have had if it had been an independent nation like Norway in the 1970s.

At present, there are 129 members of the Scottish Parliament, a surprisingly high number when one considers that several cities in the World have greater populations than that of Scotland and operate with far fewer representatives. Seventy-three members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) are voted for in the traditional 'first past the post' system and represent geographical locations. Fifty-six MSPs are elected by a more complex proportional representation system and which would take many pages of text on this web site to explain. Rather than go down this route, it makes more sense to ask why so many MSPs are needed to administer a small country whose population has rarely exceeded five million people?

The Scottish legal system, in this author's opinion, has always been ahead of its English and Welsh counterparts and where many laws south of the border often copy the model first employed in Scotland. Perhaps one of the strangest though still separates us in crucial ways. The verdict of 'not proven' remains an interesting half-way house in that a person charged with an alleged criminal act can be released yet neither shown as guilty or totally exonerated. It means what it says.

In Scotland, a single police officer cannot charge you without another being present and willing to agree on the circumstances of arrest. Legal differences concerning house sales, debt and bankruptcy are sufficiently different to restrict and limit application by some financial service and debt collection agencies. Local claims for injury and accidents restrict some legal companies from operating in Scotland. Some aspects of insurance are also affected.

Standing On Higher Ground

It has always been true throughout history that standing on higher ground offered major advantages to any military force. Arrows launched from higher ground flew further whille archers on lower ground could not match such volleys. In modern times, the ultimate higher ground of space and orbitting GPS technology has been the backbone of many western military systems such as the smart bomb and cruise missiles capable of flying low and fast around hills and virtually undetectable before reaching its target. GPS is the core of modern navigation with many applications highly reliant on it.

On January 7th 2007, the Chinese military successfully destroyed one of its own Chinese weather satelites by means of another satellite and thus demonstrated the potential ability to hit others like the GPS ring satellites orbiting the Earth. It remains uncertain if China has developed the technology to hit the GPS satellites sinc ethese remain far out in space but if they were to continue to develop such such technology then many smart weapons and technologies of the western nations might be rendered useless in a day!

Technology as defined by Western Nations always centred on having the better aircraft, the better ships and the better equipped army and always aimed at a foe barely capabable of feeding it people adequately and where many misperceptions were engendered to secure high government investment against military systems largely perceived in the US imagination rather than existing in reality. In some cases, it was a simple matter for the USSR to fly a number of 'Backfire' bombers in repetion at the annual Moscow show to imply greater number than ever actually existed. For many years, the US embarked on hugely expensive projects of development and design intended to be used against Russian technology that never existed.

In the US Reagan adminstration of 1981-1089, the US Miltary entered into a World of Fantasy when millions of dollars were spent on the development of a defence system involving powerful lasers. Ronald Reagan (ray-gun) was even given a personal demonstration of this technology and where a conveniently painted red coloured model airoplane was shot down by a laser. The fact that the huge factory building behind him, packed with generators and laser accelerators, and measuring far larger than any aircraft carrier then in existence, did not seem to register with him. It might have been worse if he had understood that the most advanced scientific piece of equipment in that laboratory was called a 'ripple tube' and based on a design first invented at Akademgorodok (Academy Town) located close to Novosibirk in the Soviet Union. The 'Star Wars' defence system died quickly after he left office.

In the closing years of the twentieth century, during the Farnborough Air Show in Britain, and where an SR-71, launched from the USA, was due to make an appearance, the British company Plessey, allowed visitors to see its new infra-red radar in action and where progress of the SR-71 was openly monitored and witnessed by many. The American government were openly displeased by this development and yet recognised how such new technology could render the SR-71 redundant in the future. In Britain, places like the Fylingdales Early Warning Radar Station in Yorkshire underwent major refit and revision with this new technology soon afterwards. Even today this technology can detect allegedly stealthy aircraft and is a restricted technology whereby some nations are not permitted to acquire it.

Currently, 'the higher ground' remains located high and far from planet Earth and where some look down with powerful lenses and sensors on a 24/7 basis. One US general is alleged to have said, "if a group of Russian soldiers farted then the heat bloom might indicate they had beans for breakfast!”

A New Kind Of Business.

French Emperer Napoleon once described Britain as a nation of shopkeepers and implying adherence to a strict hierarchy between manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer At the time of his observation, this was pretty accurate and where it remained a major part of the British distribution network long after his death in May 1821. From about that time though, local retailers began to form groups and where they could match wholesalers by approaching manufacturers directly with combined buying power. In the post-war era, the Cooperative became a forerunner to the modern supermarket chain yet ultimately eclipsed by its own success. What remained was a system in which the local 'corner shop' still needed the buying power of a wholesaler but where the competitive edge had been eroded by a substantial degree. Prices in such smaller independent stores tend to be higher as a consequence but where they are often open for longer hours even though this gap is closing in current times. The smaller shop is thus still a viable business when located far from a town of modest size but increasingly threatened nonetheless and where former regular clientele are likely to 'stock up' on weekly or monthly visits to the nearest 'big town' with a supermarket.

The old tradition of the 'High Street' being the centre of commercial interest in many towns has given way to locations often peripheral to the physical centre of larger communities and where rural areas have largely failed to benefit from this retail revolution. In some spheres, such as clothing retail, the supermarkets have been successful in meeting the needs of a majority while woefully catering to a substantial number of others. Internet based retailing and mail order has tended to fill this gap and represents an increasing part of the modern retail structure.

Even in this new century, even the largest supermarket chains have recognised the value of online ordering and home delivery. In this new century, the transaction and delivery of high value goods take place every day without either party ever meeting each other on a face-to-face basis and where payment takes place by usage of a plastic card protected by the 128 bit Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology of the Internet and within instore card payment systems. In the twenty-first centuries, the plastic card has become either a blessing or a curse yet never quite replacing cash. Indeed, there were advanced plans by many banks to replace cash by means of a cash card to allow transactions of less than £10! Thank God, it never never came to fruition or went in to service. As it turned out, the issues concering bank and credit cards proved more than enough to deal with in the latter part of the first decade.

Like the defunct 'High Street' before it, supermarkets are facing a new challenge. Where physical retail outlets actually exist, these are often either contained within 'shopping centres' or else within 'trading estates', the latter of which were former industrial estates where this country actually manufactured goods rather than supplied goods imported from elsewhere in the World. Despite this, the biggest threat comes from the huge amount of commerce conducted over the Internet with some companies making great claims of availability and yet operate from the bedroom of a council house, having zero stock and use dropship systems to make a living! One local company of this author's personal knowledge claims to be a premier supplier of products and operates from a small room above a garage but has has never had stock of any kind yet its turnover in sales exceeds a seven figures per annum!

On an even bigger scale, this kind of activity has resulted in business structures that don't actually produce anything at all. If asked about Coca Cola, many would think this is a company producing a popular soft drink but it is far closer to being a marketing company with many franchises producing variants of the original product. The 'real thing' tastes differently depending on where you are in the World and the same is true for its main rival, Pepsi Cola. There are parallels with Nike; buying sports shoes in Tiawan and China for £2.50 a pair and selling them for a far greater profit supported by hype and advertising. The same shoes are on sale costing far less but without the brand image at at far less prices!

In the latter part of the twentieth century, the supermarket retail sector realised there was only so much food we could consume and began to use their buying power to diversify into other markets including retail of electrical and electronic goods, petrol and diesel, housewares, clothing and more. In western nations, the perceived need for new and better products at less cost led to the 'consumer revolution' at a time when the core of industrial earning power was being steadily eroded with many businesses migrating eastwards. Little by little, western nations faced the prospect of buying more than they could actualy pay for. By 2010, the 'the sh*t had hit the fan' and where serious debt issues on an international scale came home to roost in major fashion!

Coalition - Property Games & National Debt

Back in the early nineteen seventies, a mortgage loan to buy a house lasted around eight years. Five years later, the repayment period was expanded to ten or twelve years and allowed latitude for property price rises previously unheard of. Banking institutions like the Halifax Buildng Society went on to declare itself the 'biggest in the World' but since building societies were virtually unique to Britain; such declaration held little distinction in global terms. By the nineteen nineties; a typical mortgage had taken on a lifetime commitment with terms of fifteen, twenty or even twenty-five years yet still permitting property prices to grow. In some cases, mortgages even exceeded the anticipated lifespan of the mortgagee with the debt being passed down to a successive generation. Owning property, it seemed, was the best lifetime investment that anyone could make, yet where the fundamental problem lay in mortality and where achieving outright ownership might exceed the human lifespan.

For the first time in over fifty years, property ownership failed to guarantee appreciation and actually meant depreciation to owners paying mortgages for properties worth less than they had paid for them. Many property speculators who had bought up, refitted and rented out houses, quickly discovered that mortgage repayments exceeded the kind of income they might receive from tennants. Worst still, if compelled to sell then the value of their assets were deemed less than they had paid for them. It was the beginning of what was to become a global economic nightmare and where it became obvious that many Western nations had been living on borrowed money without ability to pay it back.

Almost every westernised nation had been spending more than it could earn. At worst, the Greek government was compelled to introduce austere measures in the early months of 2010 and where the response was rioting in the streets. Spain declared a 5% reduction for all civil servants while the United Kingdom went to the polls in early May 2010.

Gordon Brown, while doubtless a highly experienced economist and politican with considerable experience at the centre of the British government, lacked the charisma of Tony Blair and where his decisions as Prime Minister quickly led to massive borrowing largely in support of the banking systems. He had never been elected to serve in this role as Prime Minister and where the electrorate clearly dispised him during the elections of May 2010. Despite this, the Conservative Party led by David Cameron failed to win outright control of the British Parliament and he turned to Nick Clegg, leader of the much smaller Liberal-Democratic Party for support. Meetings between the two political parties went on for days before a coalition government agreement became known.

David Cameron assumed the role of British Prime Minister while Nick Clegg would deputise. The primary objective, right from the start, meant dealing with Britain's sizeable international debt and where some extreme measures would be needed to address it. In 2010-2011, the new coalition government sought to withdraw £6.5bn from the British economy and with many longer term plans of austerity. In Scotland, only one member of the Conservative Party was elected and making it obvious that Scotland had rejected a Conservative mandate to rule. Since May 2010, it has become obvious in local by-elections that the Liberal-Democratic Party has lost substantial ground even within its political heartlands and where the old adage of 'voting liberal is a wasted vote' has re-emerged as a byline. At this time of writing in August 2011, the strngent cuts to many budgets in the militsry have been severe with all Harrier and Nimrod aircrat scrapped and the last aircraft carrier, HMS Ark Royal, withdrawn from the Royal Navy yet leaving no aviation replacement until the HMS 'Queen Elizabeth' is completed circa 2015. In addition, it is planned to remove soldiers from Afghanistan and to reduce the standing army of the UK to minimal levels. Many have RAF bases have been closed or are scheduled to become army camps. RAF Kinloss exists in the former category while RAF Leuchars falls into the second. In prgamatic terms this leaves just RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland with a wide range of area coverage far into the Artic Circle in the North and where they are expected to patrol coastlines and areas of Northern England since RAF Leemington has also closed.

Current plans as of August 2011 also call for substantial cost reductions in the police force and despite recent street riots with burning and looting having recently concluded in London and several other English cities. The Metropolitan Police have also taken a lot of flak from the media concerning the major 'phone hacking' scandal by the 'News Of The World' newspaper owned by News International chaired by Rupert Murdoch. The issue is far from finished and has cost Murdoch dearly. In June, his bid for control of BSkyB was declared hostile and unwanted. Murdoch withdrew the bid and decided to close down the 'News Of The World' - a newspaper that had been published for 168 years.

The primary goal of the present government is to reduce government borrowing and pay back creditors in as short a time as possible but this has led many businesses into a state of recession and fears about the future. Investment is low and even on a public scale, the sale of new cars has slumped by 23% since last year and the demand for older cars has risen sharply. By contrast, coach operators are reporting greater profits with more passengers switching from cars to public service transport.

Inflation in August 2011 is over 4% and rising with rail passenger prices set to rise by 8% in January 2012. Petrol and diesel prices are the highest ever and gas and electricity prices are rising soon by about 12% and 18% in the next few weeks. Emplopyment figures are jittery and businesses are recording more bad debts than in previous years. Wages are stagnant while food prices have risen sharply in this year.

All in all, the many years of spending more than we earned have come home to roost with a bang but despite Britain's exposure to problems of the national debt, the countries austerity package seems to be the right course of action and where benefits may accrue in the longer term. After all, it could have been worse if we had willing accepted to switch our currency into Euros rather than remain with sterling!

The 'Euro' Zone

For many years following World War Two, international trade adopted the US Dollar as a stable currency in which value could be trusted but in the latter part of the century, the expanding European Economic Community incorporating many countries began to be seen as a singular marketplace rivalling that of the United States. In terms of population and status, the EEC (later abbreviated to EC) was equal with countries reduced to states with a central European government. Within this environment, and in the wake of wine lakes and food mountains, the EC introduced a new common currency called the 'Euro' and where all nations were expected to participate in its use. British Prime Minister John Major felt otherwise and refused making this the highlight of his career. Britain was different and his defence of sterling as a separate currency has been proven as the correct choice. It's true that some aspects concerning employment law and closer union with the EC at that time were rejected by Britain. Although off to a shaky start, the Euro steadily gained acceptance even within OPEC where oil had formerly been purchased in US Dollars.

The obvious snag about this union of currencies remains how different countries perform at different levels. In theory, weaker performing nations might benefit from better performing ones and thus keeping the currency stable. From about 2009 though, the extent of some member countries gave rise to concern about the high levels of debt they owed and their apparent dislike to do anything about it on a political level. Germany has tended to be the country compelled to bail out the weaker economies despite having paid major sums to reunite the former Soviet GDR back into its boundaries. In August 2011, Germans are being asked to fork out more taxes in support of the Euro currency due to ailing Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Irish and Greek economies. Not surprisingly, many Germans are resisting this pressure and where the mandatory retirement age of retirement of 69 contrasts sharply with the Greek equivilent of just 43 and where many skilled professionals evade paying taxes of any kind.

Despite separation from the 'Euro Zone', Britain is not immune. Our banking interests in Ireland are particularly exposed and where the fate of the Euro impacts on British businesses. Our biggest trading partners are located within the Euro Zone. Credit assessments for France have recently bordered on being downgraded and the USA is in a similarly dire position. For now, retention of a three star credit status has been maintained but for how long?

The Arab Spring

The 'Arab Spring' is a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests occurring in Arab regions of the World.Since 18 December 2010 there have been revolutions in Tunisia and Eygpt, a civil war in Libya, civil uprisings in Bahrain, Syria and Yemen; major protests in Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Morroco, Oman; with lesser protests in Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Western Sahara.

All of these protests, to greater or lesser extent, have shared common features such as the use of advanced communications including mobile telephones and the Internet, to organise and raise awareness of state repression and censorship. The state response to this challenge has varied from country to country with some resorting to extreme violence against their own people and hardening attitudes between pro-government supports and the increasing number of ordinary people who chant Ash-sha`b yurid isqat an-nizam ("The people want to bring down the regime").

The ‘Arab Spring’ was sparked by the first protests that occurred in Tunisia on 18th December 2010 following street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation and suicide following confiscation of his wares and severe treatment while in police custody.

The demonstrations led to Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fleeing to Saudi Arabia on 14 January 2011 and after ruling Tunisia for 23 years.

Similar riots erupted in Eygpt soon afterwards and after 18 days of violent street protests, on 11 February President Hosni Mubarak resigned having ruled the country for 30 years. Mubarak is currently being tried by the new government of Egypt on charges that he ordered troops to fire on his own people.

In Sudan, Iraq and Yemen, current Arab leaders have publically stated that they will not seek re-election when their terms of office come to an end. In some cases, this has not satisfied the population and with demands that they end their rule more quickly.

In Libya, General Muammar al-Gaddafi has no intention of stepping down and responded to civil unrest in Benghazi with extreme and violent measures against the people and leading to civil war. To avoid massive genocide and with the support of the Arab League, a UN mandate permitted limited involvement by NATO on humanitarian grounds and where air strikes were to be used to defend the people from government forces. The terrible massacre feared for the residents of Benghazi was averted but ever since, the rebel forces have begun to overtake that of Gaddafi and where, at this time of writing in August 2011, they’ve just taken a small town just 35 kilometres from Tripoli. Beyond the borders of Libya, Gaddafi is wanted on charges of war crimes and where his army is often composed of people from other African states and causing additional political pressure. If there is a political solution then South Africa may hold the key but it seems more likely that Gaddafi will fight on to the bitter end.

In Syria, the Arab Spring has produced many protests and has been met with extreme violence using the army to disprerse crowds with live ammunition. Unlike Libya, there has been a far more muted response and perhaps because Syria is not an oil producing nation.

Although hard predict, this author feels that some Arab protestors may feature in the next Nobel Peace Prizes.