RAPID RESPONSES February 26, 2012 Fluid thinking [Re: Time to invest in infrastructure we actually need, Monday] Water shortages will continue to be a problem unless we tackle them, but unfortunately the real solutions are not “sexy”. A national water grid is impractical, economically and environmentally, and a major undertaking. It couldn’t be done in the near future. Any comparison [...]
With the state out of money we have much to learn from the American way of giving February 23, 2012 TAKE a walk on Park Avenue or Wall Street and you’ll see countless posters and banners profiling the wide variety of cultural activities on offer in New York. And at the bottom of each you’ll see sponsorship from a large private company – usually a bank, and usually a big one at that. Goldman, Morgan, [...]
Britain’s growth will be powered by smaller firms February 23, 2012 WHEN Xavier Rolet, chief executive of London Stock Exchange Group, said in City A.M. on 9 January that small and medium enterprises provide the best hope for reviving the UK economy, I cheered. “Without the growth of fledgling companies, there will be little meaningful job creation,” he said. How true. When regulators and politicians talk [...]
Greece’s history holds its hope for the future February 23, 2012 PEOPLE say that Greece used to be great. That’s not quite right of course. They mean Athens. Ancient Greece was a jumble of city-states, some even worse than the political and economic disaster of Greece today. Sparta was a totalitarian state, a role model for the Nazis. Ancient Athens, however, has a strong claim to [...]
RAPID RESPONSES February 23, 2012 Not for sale [Re: A market solution will save money and end the dispute over Falklands sovereignty, Wednesday] Steve Hanke’s article is a classic example of the American economics academic’s mind at work. Monetise everything. After all, the world is only about money. Politically and historically, however, it doesn’t stack up. Hanke signally ignores the [...]
Emerging powers are giving us a wake-up call: We must earn our place in the world February 22, 2012 AS MINISTER in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office responsible for Asia and Latin America, my brief includes most of the world’s emerging economies. China, Brazil, and India have had the most column inches devoted to their meteoric rise, however some of the smaller countries have also made incredible leaps in the last few years. South [...]
Why it is time to rename the Bric nations the Bics February 22, 2012 IT HAS been clear for some time that global growth for the foreseeable future will not be driven by Europe and the US, but rather by the so-called Bric countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China. This group of countries, representing around a third of the world’s population, now form a loose but increasingly vocal [...]
The stakes are high in Romney’s home state February 22, 2012 DESPITE the insistence from one of his advisers that Michigan is not a “must-win,” the state is a crucial test of Mitt Romney’s candidacy. The media have already prepared the stinging headlines in the event Rick Santorum springs the surprise of the contest and wins in the Great Lakes. Romney, however, still has time to [...]
RAPID RESPONSES February 22, 2012 Meaningless means Steve Tatton suggests [The pay agenda, yesterday] that coverage of the executive pay debate should be focused on facts rather than personal agendas. We agree, and Manifest and MM&K have focused their commentary on why the presentation of remuneration data using means of percentage changes is practically meaningless. Significant changes in the UK’s [...]
A market solution will save money and end the dispute over Falklands sovereignty February 21, 2012 A S SOON as The Iron Lady hit the silver screen, it brought back memories of the Falklands War — a war that officially commenced on 2 April, 1982, only three short years after Margaret Thatcher assumed the reins as Prime Minister. Since 1833, Britain has been able to maintain its colonial settlement of the [...]