We can

This week there have been some pictures and articles of the crowds attending Jeremy Corbyn's speaking engagements.  People have been turning out to see him speak in unprecedented numbers in a country where 34% of the population didn't even bother to vote in the recent general election, and giving Mr Corbyn a rockstar reception by all accounts.

Meantime Project Fear rises again, as Labour MPs put themselves forward to say that they won't be a member of a Corbyn Shadow cabinet, and people like Kezia Dugdale complain that they think that, with Mr Corbyn as leader, Labour will never manage to be elected, and they don't fancy spending their careers 'carping from the sidelines'.  Good to clear that one up - their careers are the most important thing, with actually having some principles a very poor second.

Doesn't this all sound very familiar here in Scotland?  People turning out in droves to attend political meetings?  Scaremongering about what will happen if we don't just stick to what we know?  The rest of the UK may be waking up, and that thought is what is scaring the cosy Establishment rigid.  After all, we can't have the little people voting for policies like free education and public sector investment.  How's that going to help the movers and shakers in the city? 

It looks like the awakening in Scotland wasn't an isolated occurrence.  Along with Podemos and Syrizia, we may be experiencing a European Spring.  There are only a few green shoots at the moment, but there is a huge feeling of potential, especially if England is now also seeing a political awakening.  I await the outcome of the Labour leadership election with great interest.

Speaking of movers and shakers in the city, George Osborne has sold off the first tranche of RBS shares at a loss of something like 1 billion.  This is the man who is running the UK economy, but who apparently hasn't grasped the basics of buying and selling, that the principle is to sell something for more than you bought it for.  After all, it's not like buying a car - shares don't depreciate.  Granted the price can rise and fall, which means that you sell when they're high.  I'm no economist, but I know this basic principle at least.  There are only two explanations for this.  One is that Mr Osborne is an idiot that you wouldn't trust to run a jumble sale, or the other is that this was done deliberately to allow traders to make an easy profit at the expense of the taxpayer.  As to which is correct, I couldn't possibly comment.