Iain Martin writes of Gordon Brown going to lecture at Harvard…

“I suggest “The end of Boom and Bust; political and economic consequences” – will prove fascinating for students.”

Shadow Cabinet elections are upon us and Chris Bryant really wants a job, hence his desperation to insert himself into the Coulson story and get his face on Newsnight.

Unpopular with many parts of the PLP his pitch to Labour MPs lists his CV in tedious detail (read it in full here).

The bit that amused Guido most was:

Above all we need a Shadow Cabinet of toughened campaigners who will take the fight intelligently and assertively to the Tories and the Lib Dems, united and determined to work as a team and to bind in the talents of the whole PLP and the wider Labour Movement to secure victory.

United as a team? Chris Bryant was of course one of Tom Watson’s plotters who undermined Blair on behalf of Gordon Brown. Thus removing a three election winning political genius and replacing him with a disastrous Prime Minister. Gordon Brown did promote Chris Bryant as a reward though…

Every month consensus economists* and the Bank of England predict inflation will fall, Mervyn King even talks about the threat from deflation – Guido sees that merely as an excuse to justify printing even more money via quantitative easing (QE). QE means inflation is inevitable.

Get your wheelbarrows out, stock up on gold and baked beans. If you can, buy a productive asset, like farm land – it is an inflation hedge and you won’t go hungry. Here comes inflation – as it always does when governments turn on the printing presses…

See also : Coming Soon : Double Digit Inflation, Double Digit Inflation is a Black Swan, Bank of England Pension Fund Surges Betting on Inflation, Yo Dude, Where’s the Deflation?, UK Dec CPI Posts Largest Jump On Record to 2.9%, Growing Unease About Old Lady’s Secrecy, Something Odd in the Banking Bill

*Liam Halligan and Andrew Lilico being honourable exceptions

You thought the Curse of Gordon was lifted, that sunshine ruled the day, once again children play in the streets and birds sing now that Brown is banished to his dark northern lair? Sadly, no. One of the last things he did in office was make representations to the Indian government on behalf of Vodafone, going so far as to write personally to Manmohan Singh. Jonah Brown wrote to the Indian PM protesting that Indian plans to tax cross-border deals such as Vodafone’s purchase of India’s Hutchison Essar could create uncertainty for foreign investors.

Last week the Jonah jinx struck Britain’s mobile telecoms giant.  Indian tax authorities have won a $2 billion tax ruling against Vodafone…

Cuba announced yesterday that it will slash at least half-a-million state workers by early next year and reduce restrictions on free enterprise to help them find new jobs – Cuba’s official work force is 5.1 million – meaning nearly 10% of all employees could soon be out of a government job. Which makes Osborne’s deficit reduction plans less radical than Castro’s plans.

According to a statement from the Communist Party controlled Cuban Workers Federation – the only legal union in Cuba – this is “in support of Socialism” and will “make the Cuban production model more efficient.” There is nothing progressive about a budget deficit…

UPDATE : Cuba’s healthcare system is being reorganised as well. There is no money left…