Fred 'the Shred' Goodwin: A Scapegoat for All Seasons
The Press Association announced on Sunday 05 February, that disgraced former banker, Sir until a few days past but now plain Mr, Fred Goodwin, had resigned his position as a trustee of the Queen's Silver Jubilee Trust prior to being stripped of his knighthood on the first day of the month.
The Scottish Nationalists Put on the Back Foot
The Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) have doubtlessly by now taken note that their path to Independence is not going to be as smooth as they had been allowed to believe, between their spectacular May 2011 Scottish Assembly Election victory and 08 January 2012. Spoiling their progress on that day, British Prime Minister David Cameron, brought Scotland's SNP First Minister, Alex Salmond and his administration down to earth with a jolt.
Mr Salmond's Referendum Mandate - Scotland's Right or Westminster's Gift?
In 1955, the Scottish Unionist Party, later to be renamed the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party in 1965 and simply the Scottish Conservative Party by 1977, won 50.1 per cent of the vote and 36 of 71 Scottish Westminster Parliamentary seats at the General Election on 26 May of that year, with Sir Anthony Eden, the Conservative Prime Minister, increasing the Party's overall majority in the House of Commons.
Ireland Housing Woe Spawns 'Occupy NAMA' Movement
Ireland had a rather gruelling year in 2011 with the Minister for Finance, Fine Gael's Michael Noonan, capping it in early December 2011 with the country's fourth austerity Budget in a row. Aiding Mr Noonan in this somewhat unpleasant if necessary task, was his Labour, Coalition partner, Brendan Howlin.
Mrs Merkel Takes on the Ratings Agencies
You'll have to shout, Mrs Merkel, because either the Markets didn't hear you or they have totally ignored your message.
Germany Calls the Tune, so Forget 'Quantitative Easing'
The eurozone rescue deal briefly outlined Friday by the German chancellor and French president hasn't gone down well with Standard & Poor's, but the "Big Bazooka" Summit? Not if Bundeskanzlerin Merkel has her way.
Rare Earths and the Electric Vehicle
Rare earths have been in use in the chemical and steel industries since the 1950s - not to mention the military - and started moving into the domestic sphere when the likes of yttrium found its way into colour TVs and cerium into glass and ceramics. Now cameras, computers, lasers, laptops, arc lighting and a host of everyday uses that we take for granted are made better and easier and sometimes possible by their use.
A Look at China and Hong Kong
Last week,China's National Bureau of Statistics released the welcome news that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) year-on-year rate of inflation to October 2011 had fallen to 5.5 per cent, markedly down from September's 6.1 per cent. The CPI had peaked at 6.5 per cent in July 2011.
