Dear Subscribers,
The Prime Minister visited Dublin this week along with senior cabinet ministers for a summit aimed at ‘resetting’ relations between Ireland and the UK. The joint communiqué published at the end of the summit was light on specific joint actions or policies, but expressed an intention for close cooperation on a whole range of areas, including energy and maritime defence.
Best of friends
German intelligence officials have called for a European intelligence network as an alternative to relying on American intelligence capabilities. Many in Europe now see US agencies as unreliable partners after Donald Trump abruptly decided to suspect intelligence-sharing with Ukraine.
The Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, announced that Poland will pursue a nuclear weapons programme, as part of a large military expansion which will also include a drive to build a standing army of 500,000 soldiers. It is not clear whether the intention is that Poland will acquire its own nuclear capabilities, or whether, as has been suggested by President Macron, France will extend its own ‘nuclear umbrella’ over parts of Eastern Europe.
Tusk goes nuclear
The leader of the CDU and assumed next Chancellor of Germany, Friederich Merz, has said that he hopes to form a coalition with the SDP by April 20th. Aspiring to take only two months to form a government after an election is, he says, a recognition that Europe is facing a moment of crisis on its eastern border. In the meantime, the most powerful nation in the EU will be led by a caretaker government with no real mandate to make major policy decisions.
Media
Daniel Hanaan on Thatcher’s dynamism
Ben Cobley on Islamophobia
Blog
The UK must be ready for major global monetary reform by Robert Lee
The Trump administration may be planning a major reset of the global monetary system, one that shares the burden of US provision of the western security umbrella and global reserve currency. The long-term aim is to devalue the US Dollar but retain its reserve currency status, boosting US economic competitiveness and heading off the threat of a US debt crisis. The UK could help rebalance its economy by “piggy backing” on this devaluation but would need to use its Brexit freedoms to strengthen the economy first through supply side reforms. Otherwise, a Sterling crisis could result.
There are a lot of ifs and buts in this analysis, examining momentous possibilities rather than presenting firm conclusions. Achieving major global monetary reform will be a long process. It may fall at the first hurdle or go in unanticipated directions. What role might Crypto Currencies play? Is a multilateral accord even possible in a bitterly divided world, particularly with China’s participation critical? Might the US then attempt a unilateral devaluation? History tells us we are due another major monetary upheaval.
Key Points
The Sentencing Council published guidelines this week which recommends following different procedures when a court sentences a convicted criminal from a minority ethnic or faith background. The intention and likely consequence of implementing the recommendation seems to be to reduce the severity of sentences handed down to non-white, non-christian criminals.
That such blatantly discriminatory and prejudicial guidance could have been published in the first place is bad in itself, but more damning is the fact that the Justice Secretary is publicly opposed to the changes, yet powerless to stop them coming into effect. The only way that the government can reverse the measures would be by introducing new legislation in Parliament.
How is it that the person responsible for the administration of justice in the UK, who is answerable to Parliament and appointed by an elected government, can wield so little power over it? The Justice Minister is bound by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, which outsourced much of the power to issue sentencing guidelines for courts to the Sentencing Council. The Sentencing Council consists of judges appointed by the Lord Chief Justice and ‘experts’ appointed by the Home Secretary for a term of several years (remarkably, the appointees who are responsible for the new guidelines were all appointed under Conservative governments). Without any direct responsibility to voters or to Parliament, the ‘experts’ on the Council can pursue strange and harmful policies with impunity.
Unfortunately, the Sentencing Council is just one instance of a wider problem in the UK government — the people who are responsible for certain policy areas and answerable to Parliament are not actually in a position to exercise power. Meanwhile, those who are in a position to exercise power do so largely without scrutiny. Without answerability, there is no incentive to act in the interests of the electorate, and so unelected bureaucrats can pursue esoteric ideological objectives.
