Britain plays down its strengths, emphasises its weaknesses, and ignores its possibilities. Nowhere is this more obvious than in relation to the UK’s network of Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories.

Another of those complaints about how we’ve got to do something because no one is having children any more:

You’d think that the vast range of activities put on for new parents would coincide with a boom in births.

I’ve seen some pretty shoddy data work in my time, but End Fuel Poverty Coalition’s ‘Energy firm “profits” tracker’ (quotations are my own) really takes the biscuit.

Some analysts put the ‘Golden Rule’ at the heart of ethics, saying ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’

The claim was that there would be equity investment in things that would make a lovely profit, thereby making both the country and the taxpayer richer:

Investment is key to economic growth. We could enjoy now the pleasures that funds can bring. Sometimes we put some of that money into projects we hope will bring us future gain.

An interesting and useful economic point made in The Observer (of all places): According to official figures, factory output accounts for 8.2% of national income, or gross domestic product (GDP), down from about 30% in 1970, indicating the diminishing role manufacturing plays in the UK economy.

Given that we are all Motoserristas these days, on the hunt for what government should no longer do and thereby increasing the fructification in the pockets of the populace, useful to find that the Arts Council is not fit for function:

Much pondering going on over how to revive the London stock markets. Perhaps we should force public pensions funds to buy UK shares?

This week, everyone’s favourite government agency, the Office of National Statistics (ONS), announced that inflation had hit a new 10-month high of 3 percent in January – well above the Bank of England’s forecast.

In his blog post "Ten Things Every Economist Should Know," Dr Pirie includes an important observation: "Modeling has limitations. Some economists like to produce neat, clean models of how economies work.

If you find it weird that a series on US trade should touch on housing, please soldier on for a few paragraphs.