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October 7 2008 UK Banking Crisis 10.13am Telegraph
As I said in this newspaper at the end of August, confidence is what we need globally, and oh, how we need it now. To this end, two things must happen. Firstly, government must take all necessary action through agreement with the banking system on deposits, investment and liquidity, lower interest rates and the general, but decisive unclogging of the housing market. Secondly, the financial markets must play their part and keep their nerve; and consumers, whilst acknowledging capitalism and free trade, support their own financial houses at present. We need to put the brakes on and assess the way forward and we can only do this effectively when we have got this febrile situation under control. We have a window of opportunity, so let's do it.
This was posted on the The Telegraph in reply to an editorial calling for action. It didn't appear until five or six days later. The markets were dropping straight down the morning of the 7th and the banks were bailed out in the early evening. ( In the interests of fairness, I should like put in here that credit should be given to Gordon Brown for drawing the nations together at this very dangerous time, both before and during the G20, in October and November; a very firm temperament can be useful in extremis.)
About a week later, I started to lobby, but privately, at Secretary of State level, for a construction stimulus and gently nagged on until another pro-active attempt in mid June 2009, and despite saying on June 25 that 'everywhere people are expecting retrenchment and whoever wins next May, this will be their main focus,' was very pleased two weeks later when a stimulus package appeared. But it was rather disconcerting in early June, when a Cabinet reshuffle was suggested and felt relieved a few days later when it didn't happen on the scale anticipated. The summer of 09, as I remember, was a very nervy time economically, and I feared what bringing in new ministers would do. I posted, strongly against such a high degree of change and hoping it wouldn't happen; the post disappeared again, but I remember how anxious I felt until the reshuffle was mainly restricted to one great office of state and not the two mentioned, especially the Treasury.
The summer of 09 held together, notable for me for being hacked more than usual, and things moved on towards the end of the year. By the turn of 2010 the economy was more stable and I posted on the Telegraph on January 5 that I assumed plans for deficit reduction were beng drawn up. It vanished, but a day or two later, both Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, and Lord Mandleson said there would be cuts to reduce the deficit. There was some support for this, Sir Mervyn King said it was appropriate to discuss deficit reduction on the 19th, but in general, it went fairly quiet. On February 19, when cuts were being debated again, I posted quite a long piece on the Telegraph in dismay at a suggestion the approaching Budget should be skipped. I set out what I thought should happen regarding reduction and job creation; and was just about accurate with the actual general reduction percentage later in the year. The Budget which lots of people hoped would contain specific reduction details, disappointed and I knew then that whatever listening might have occurred with my commentary and vision, it was over, I had lost them. I'm non-political and like many others, only post what I think will help the country, but I was disappointed with the tone of the Budget because the Rating Agencies were watching economic policy like hawks. During the 2010 election I was 'down' and started off again in May, but under a username on the Telegraph and diversified into a number of other online sites, like Periscope Post, Wall Street Journal, The Hill and others.
The excerpts from Alistair Darling's book were very interesting and enlightenng. Much of it was as I had imagined; it is quite engrossing for a novelist to be writing about fictional characters at the same time as observing the real thing going on.
All the blogs referred to may be found in date order on Archives2, except for the June 3 posting on the Cabinet, which eventually appeared somewhere unconnected in the Telegraph site and is hidden away in my records. There has only been one piece of commentary that was not ever printed on line anywhere, including my own site, but what I advised did happen.
Launch of the RSPH - September 2008
On the 23rd September 2008, we attended the launch of the Royal Society of Public Health, whose mission statement is Vision, Voice and Practice. The RSPH is a new Royal Society formed by the amalgamation of the Royal Society of Health and the Royal Institute of Public Health. The Launch took place at the Royal Society of 
Obstetricians and Gynecologists near Regents Park, an appropriate venue for a birth as Dr Alan Maryon Davis, Inaugural Chair of RSPH, wittily pointed out in his introduction. Judith Simpson, Clerk of the Privy Council, presented The Royal Charter to Paul Madgwick, the immediate past President of the RSH, and the afternoon went extremely well with entertaining and informative speeches from Dame Suzi Leather, Sir Derek Wanless, Hazel Stuteley OBE, Sir Roger De Witt and Professor Mala Rao. There was considerable emphasis on the importance of improving people’s lives in health, environment and expectation, which we found very interesting.
There was a highly successful reception after the Launch and we were able to talk to Dr Fiona Adshead, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Dr Selwyn Hodge, the Chair Elect of the RSPH. We also had a conversation with Hazel Stuteley and several other distinguished attendees. We couldn’t stay until the end of the reception; it’s a fairly long way home, but we enjoyed ourselves very much and were sorry to leave. We walked through Regent’s Park on our way to Baker Street and so ended the experience very pleasantly. The photograph was taken on our walk back through the park.
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A Meeting at the RSL - June 2008
On the 16th June 2008, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, William Hague, delivered an impressive Roy Jenkins Memorial Lecture at The Royal Society of Literature, 
at Somerset House, in the Strand, London. The lecture was chaired by Chair of Council, Anne Chisholm, and Ron and I really enjoyed it. William Hague focused on his two historical biographies on William Pitt the Younger, who was Prime Minister at twenty-four, and William Wilberforce, the orator and campaigner for the abolition of slavery. There was a very nice reception afterwards, where Mr Hague chatted to the assembled Fellows and Members of the Royal Society of Literature and members of the public. We were able to have a short chat with him, which was most interesting. Then we left to catch our train and so back up the motorway to MK.
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A Meeting at the Royal Society - October 2007
On the 15th October 2007, there was a very successful combined meeting between The Royal Society and the Royal Society of Literature at Carlton House 
Terrace. The subject was nurture or nature – is the environment or genetics more to blame when people turn to crime? Being active in the community for some years, I found the discussion most enlightening and was encouraged by the importance members of the panel put on a good environment. The members of the panel were John Banville, James Blair, Terrie Moffitt and Fay Welldon, and the debate was chaired by Professor Uta Frith.
We had a very good evening altogether - an enjoyable meal at the Strand McDonalds; ditto for the piece above. On our way to the Royal Society, a helpful policeman enquired if we were going to the banquet. No, we said, but it’s flattering to have someone think you might be. On the way back to Charing Cross Railway Station, the Prime Minister’s procession of cars swept past. It was dark, the lights flashed and the atmosphere was exciting. We had a reasonable journey home. Yes, another incident. This time someone leant too far over the yellow line on the platform and was hurt. We saw the new Wembley Stadium as usual – it’s winning us over, we used to live in the Borough of Brent – although we thought our stadium at MK was great from the beginning.
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