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The Austerity Delusion

Posted in History on March 30th, 2011 by joe – Be the first to comment

Krugman on The Austerity Delusion.

But couldn’t America still end up like Greece? Yes, of course. If investors decide that we’re a banana republic whose politicians can’t or won’t come to grips with long-term problems, they will indeed stop buying our debt. But that’s not a prospect that hinges, one way or another, on whether we punish ourselves with short-run spending cuts.

Just ask the Irish, whose government — having taken on an unsustainable debt burden by trying to bail out runaway banks — tried to reassure markets by imposing savage austerity measures on ordinary citizens. The same people urging spending cuts on America cheered. “Ireland offers an admirable lesson in fiscal responsibility,” declared Alan Reynolds of the Cato Institute, who said that the spending cuts had removed fears over Irish solvency and predicted rapid economic recovery.

That was in June 2009. Since then, the interest rate on Irish debt has doubled; Ireland’s unemployment rate now stands at 13.5 percent.

And then there’s the British experience. Like America, Britain is still perceived as solvent by financial markets, giving it room to pursue a strategy of jobs first, deficits later. But the government of Prime Minister David Cameron chose instead to move to immediate, unforced austerity, in the belief that private spending would more than make up for the government’s pullback. As I like to put it, the Cameron plan was based on belief that the confidence fairy would make everything all right.

But she hasn’t: British growth has stalled, and the government has marked up its deficit projections as a result.

A vanished Britain Formica fish fingers Britain turned nation shopaholics

Posted in History, Research, Then on March 28th, 2011 by joe – Be the first to comment

A Daily Mail article by
David Kynaston

But more important for most people was the availability of
convenience foods – instant desserts, and, most popular of all, fish
fingers. It was said they were saved only by a last-minute name change
from being called cod pieces.

But there was one particularly emblematic food. ‘Collected 15s
Sainsbury chicken,’ noted one housewife in August 1956. ‘My! It was
good!’

It may well have been a chicken produced by new factory farming
methods that in time transformed chicken from one of the most expensive
to one of the most affordable dishes.

Tea-bags had yet to make their commercial appearance, but by 1954 Nescafe instant coffee had doubled its sales since the war.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1225327/A-vanished-Britain-Formica-fish-fingers-Britain-turned-nation-shopaholics.html#ixzz1HuWXCSHM

Foot and Mouth (1955) – extract

Posted in films, History on March 5th, 2011 by admin – Be the first to comment
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By the time he made ‘This Sporting Life’ in 1963, Lindsay Anderson had already had a 15-year documentary career, his output including the Oscar-winning ‘Thursday’s Children’ (1954) and the Free Cinema classic ‘Every Day Except Christmas’ (1957). Sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the lesser-known ‘Foot and Mouth’ is a briskly efficient, devastatingly effective cautionary tale of how foot and mouth disease, the farmer’s worst nightmare, can easily break out thanks to a simple act of carelessness.

David (1951) – extract

Posted in films, History on February 14th, 2011 by admin – Be the first to comment
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The poet D.R. Griffiths (1882-1953), also known by his bardic name of Amanwy, takes young schoolboy Ifor on a walk past the entrance to Ammanford’s old mine and reminisces about conditions there. Paul Dickson’s semi-dramatised biopic, with Griffiths essentially playing himself, is still regarded to this day as one of the finest of all Welsh films.

Census 1951 for Poole

Posted in History, Research on February 7th, 2011 by admin – Be the first to comment

Industries occupied males and females aged 15 and over

Total all industries
Males Females Married women (included in total)
Total 19,861 8,454 2,927
Status Aggregates
Employers 597 82
Managers – general managers, directors. etc 298 39
Managers – of general or primary departments 691 166
Managers – of office or subsidiary departments 103 11
Operatives – in social classes I and II 1,416 1,099
Operatives – others 15,145 6,670
Included in Operatives
Articled
clerks and apprentices		 568 30
Part-time
workers		 73 1,124
Unpaid
assistants		 15 41
Working
on own account		 1,611 387
I. Agriculture, forestry, fishing

1 Agriculture and horticultural

2 Forestry

3 Fishing

 544

470

13

61

 72

71

-

1
II. Mining and quarrying

10. Coal mining

11. Iron ore mining and quarrying

12. Stone quarrying and mining

13. Slate quarrying and mining

14. Clay, sand and chalk pits

19. Other mining and quarrying

 46

-

-

-

-

46

-

 -

-

-

-

-

-

-
III. Ceramics, glass, cement, etc

20. Bricks and fireclay goods

21. China and earthenware (incl. glazed

22. Glass (other than containers)

23. Glass containers

24. Cement

29. Other non-metalliferous mining

 1,397

540

548

4

-

6

299

 323

23

279

1

-

-

20
IV. Chemicals and allied trades

30. Coke ovens and by-product works

31. 33. Chemicals, dyes, explosives

32. Pharmaceutical, toilet preparation

34.Paint and varnish

35. Soap, candles, polishes, ink,

36. Mineral oil refining

39. Other oils, greases, glue, etc.

 412

-

396

7

4

5

-

-

 159

-

147

10

1

-

-

1
V. Metal manufacture

40. Blast furnaces

41. Iron, steel melting, rolling, etc

42. Iron foundries

43. Sheets and tinplates

Iron and steel tubes

Non-ferrous metals smelting, rolling

 70

-

2

52

1

13

2

 6

-

-

4

-

-

2
VI. Engineering, shipbuilding and electrical

50. Shipbuilding and ship repair

51. Marine engineering

52. Agricultural machinery (except tractors)

53. Boilers and boiler house plant

54. Machine tools and engineers’ small tool

55. Stationary engines

56. Textile machinery and accessories

58. Constructional engineering

57.  69. Other non-electrical
engineering

70. Electrical machinery

71. Electrical wires and cables

72. Telegraph and telephone apparatus

73. Wireless apparatus and Electric lamps

74. Wireless values and electric lamps

75. Batteries and accumulators

79. Other Electrical goods

 2,447

363

144

34

141

58

16

29

189

1,138

78

39

2

32

2

1

151

 389

29

22

11

-

20

-

2

13

218

1

-

-

3

-

-

70
VII. Vehicles

80. Manufacture of motor vehicles and cycles

81. Motor repairs and garages

82.   83. Manufacture of
aircraft; vehicles

84. Railway locomotive shops

85. Other locomotive manufacture

86. Manufacture and repair of wagons, etc.

89. Carts, perambulators, etc.

 775

255

492

11

-

-

5

12

 80

16

58

6

-

-

-

-
VIII. Metal goods not elsewhere specified

90. Tools and cutlery

91. Bolts, nuts, screws, rivets, nails

92. Iron, steel forgings, n.e.s.

93. Wore and wire Manufacture

94. Hollow-ware

95. Brass Manufacture

99. Metal industries not elsewhere specified

 675

1

-

5

4

-

13

652

 674

-

-

-

1

1

6

666
IX. Precision instruments, jewellery, etc.

100. Scientific, etc. instruments, etc.

101. Manufacture and repair of watches, etc.

102. Jewellery; refining of precious metals

103. Musical instruments

 95

35

19

25

16

 9

5

1

2

1
X. Textiles

111. Cotton weaving, etc

114. Rayon, nylon, etc., weaving

118. Hosiery and other knitted goods

120. Carpets

121. Narrow fabrics

122. Made-up textiles

129. Other textile industries

 29

1

1

1

4

3

17

2

 9

-

-

3

-

2

3

1
XI. Leather, leather goods and fur

130. Leather (tanning, dressing)

131. Leather goods

132. Fur

 21

4

14

3

 -

-

-

-
XII. Clothing

140. Tailoring

141. Dressmaking

142. Overalls, shirts, underwear, etc.

143. Hats, caps and millinery

147. Dress industires not elsewehre specified

148. Manufacture of boots, shoes, etc.

149. Repair of boots and shoes

 153

33

4

-

1

36

10

69

 159

38

96

1

1

21

1

1
XIII. Food, drink and tobacco

150. Grain milling

151. Bread and flour confectionary

152. Biscuits

153. Meat and meat products

154. Milk products

155. Sugar and glucose

156. Coca, chocolate and sugar confectionary

157. Preserving of fruit and vegetables

162. Food industries not elsewhere specified

163. Brewing and malting

164. Wholesale bottling

168. Other drink industries

169. Tobacco

 592

17

185

51

50

35

-

33

13

115

40

1

48

4

 322

4

53

89

34

27

-

25

13

21

14

2

40

-
XIV. Manufacture of wood and cork

170. Timber

171. Furniture and upholstery

172. Shop and office fitting

173. Wooden containers and baskets

179. Miscellaneous wood and cork manufactures

 319

209

56

9

10

35

 22

11

6

1

2

2
XV. Paper and printing

180. Paper and board

182. Cardboard boxes, cartons, etc.

183. Manufactures of paper and board

186. Printing, publishing, papers, periodicities

190. Other printing, publishing

 184

2

-

3

82

97

 46

-

1

-

19

28
XVI. Other manufacturing industries

190. Rubber

192. Brushes and brooms

193. Toys, games and sports requisites

194. Miscellaneous stationeries goods

195. Production and printing of cinema film

199. Miscellaneous manufacturing industries

 91

4

49

2

2

1

33

 67

-

60

4

1

-

2
XVII. Building and contracting

200. Building

201. Electrical wiring

202. Civil engineering contracting

 2,719

2,280

118

321

 48

33

6

9
XVIII. Gas, electricity and water

210 Gas

211 Electricity

212. Water

 6,813

2,902

2,932

979

 539

169

300

70
XIX. Transport and communication

220. Railways

221. Tramwey and omnibus services

222. Other road passenger transport

223. Goods transport by road

224. Sea transport

225. Port, river and canal transport

226. Harbour, dock, canal, etc. service

227. Air transport

228. Postal, telegraph, wireless communication

238. Other transport and communication

239. Storage

 1,659

259

379

94

441

134

157

7

6

163

13

6

 157

4

13

3

22

-

2

1

-

106

4

-
XX. Distributive trades

240. Dealing in coal, industrial materials

241. Dealing in other industrial materials

242. Wholesale distribution of food and drink

243. Retail distribution of food and drink

244. Wholesale distribution of non-food goods

245. Retail distribution of non-food goods

246. Retail sales of sweets, tobacco, papers

 2,568

345

152

96

835

331

718

91

 1,609

57

10

45

533

43

814

107
XXI. Insurance, banking and finance

250. Insurance, banking and finance

 246

246

 94

94
XXII. Public administration and defence

260. National government services

265. Local government service

 23,232

9,054

14,178

 4331

2,016

2,315
XXIII. Professional services

270. Accountancy

271. Education

272. Law

273. Medical and dental services

274. Religion

279. Other professional and business services

 12,381

633

4,985

508

4,203

1.021

1,033

 20,099

273

8,771

577

9,760

447

271
XXIV. Miscellaneous services

280. Theatres, cinemas, etc.

281. Sports, other recreations and betting

285. Catering, hotels, etc.

286. Laundries

287. Dry cleaning, job dyeing, etc.

288. Hairdressing and manicure

290. Private domestic service (resident)

291. Private domestic service (non-resident)

299. Other services

Not stated and ill-defined industry

 9,955

1,261

993

3,947

692

117

794

49

567

1,535

199

 26,392

1,682

300

14,219

2,110

435

919

2,638

3,471

618

99
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