Government shutdown: US political dysfunction is worse than you think October 1, 2013 THE PREDICTABILITY of what is unfolding following the US government shutdown approaches tragedy, but ends in farce. The much-maligned Republican Party is almost entirely right on the merits of doing away with Barack Obama’s healthcare programme (Obamacare has been the key sticking point in the fruitless negotiations over the budget). Already this many-headed monster is [...]
Against the Grain: Why the psychology of crisis may explain Russia’s future growth trajectory October 1, 2013 THE PERFORMANCE of the Bric economies over the past decade or so has been mixed. Russian growth, though impressive by Western standards, has lagged behind that of both India and China – which have themselves experienced a recent relative slowdown. Russia’s underperformance, however, has been particularly noticeable since 2008. I got an insight into the [...]
Unconditional welfare failed but work for the dole is hard to deliver October 1, 2013 BOTH work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith and chancellor George Osborne have announced that some sort of “workfare” programme will soon become a reality in the UK, albeit with differences in the details. Osborne spoke of requiring long-term recipients of Jobseekers’ Allowance to participate in community work programmes. Duncan Smith announced a pilot scheme [...]
Letters to the Editor – 02/10 – Socialist Miliband, Italian election law, Best of Twitter October 1, 2013 Socialist Miliband [Re: The Tories are failing to find a market response to Ed Miliband’s anti-capitalism, yesterday] Ed Miliband will find it difficult to force a paradigm shift along the lines of Thatcher or Atlee. First, his policies are not revolutionary in themselves – even if the result would be incremental steps towards more state [...]
Why the London Docklands hold the key to tackling the UK housing crisis September 30, 2013 HOW DO we solve Britain’s housing crisis? Ed Miliband has promised to see 200,000 homes built each year by 2020. But his pledge was linked to a misguided initiative to stop developers hoarding land (the Office for Fair Trading couldn’t find any evidence that this actually happens). The Tories, meanwhile, are bringing forward the second [...]
The Tories are failing to find a market response to Ed Miliband’s anti-capitalism September 30, 2013 THE ROLE of the state has long been the major fault line in UK political discourse. This is not surprising, given that the interaction between state and citizen has changed so profoundly over the past 100 years. And with Ed Miliband’s challenge to the market economy last week, and yesterday’s attempted defence by George Osborne, [...]
Italy’s government may survive but vital reform looks ever more unlikely September 30, 2013 IT WAS always a matter of when, not if, Silvio Berlusconi would pull the plug on Italy’s coalition government – especially since the former Prime Minister’s definitive tax fraud conviction in August. The moment came at the weekend, when Berlusconi invited all ministers from his party to step down. Said, done – and Italy now [...]
Letters to the Editor – 01/10 – Climate change, Fracking in Britain, Best of Twitter September 30, 2013 Climate change [Re: Global warming alarmism is no longer scientifically or politically sustainable, yesterday] Excellent article. We should repeal the Climate Change Act, get rid of the EU’s renewable energy targets and subsidies, and introduce sensible energy policies, run by a sensible energy minister and Department for Energy. Phillip Bratby There’s nothing wrong with renewables. [...]
The US is busy reinventing its future – the rest of the world isn’t so lucky September 29, 2013 I'VE always been a John Steinbeck/ Bruce Springsteen sort of American. I share their common mantra, "Aren't things terrible here, but I wouldn't want to be anyplace else." Being clear-eyed about the US's failings, while remaining romantic about it at heart isn't easy. But America's extraordinary capacity to right its ship – to reinvent itself [...]
City Matters: A twenty-first century Silk Road between East and West is long overdue September 29, 2013 OVER two millennia ago, the opening of the Silk Road in Asia had a transformative effect on trading right across the world. This remarkable development played a crucial role in facilitating previously unimaginable exchanges of goods, services, ideas and even culture across borders. In our information age, new technology has – of course – revolutionised [...]