DEBATE: Did Jacques Chirac leave France in a better state than he found it when he became President? September 27, 2019 Did Jacques Chirac leave France in a better state than he found it when he became President? Alastair Benn, news editor of Reaction, says YES. Jacques Chirac’s legacy is hard to define – he was certainly not a great President, and the old fox, as he was often known, never really shook off a (justified) [...]
If Jeremy Corbyn really cares about ‘the many’, he should rethink his aversion to markets September 27, 2019 A common complaint over the past three years is that no one can talk about anything other than Brexit. But that wasn’t true at the Labour party conference this week. Unlike the Liberal Democrats, who barely gave way to any policy discussion beyond revoking Article 50, both the Labour leader and shadow chancellor confronted all [...]
There’s more to worry about with Justin Trudeau than fancy dress September 27, 2019 In 2015, Justin Trudeau was elected the 23rd Prime Minister of Canada, following the footsteps of his father Pierre. And next month, Trudeau junior is seeking a second term in what opinion polls suggest will be a closely fought contest. The main coverage of the election campaign in Britain has been the revelations that the [...]
The private sector can unlock Africa’s promise September 27, 2019 The success of Africa matters to us all. The continent is home to four of the five fastest growing economies in the world. But still African countries currently receive less than four per cent of all global foreign direct investment. Around 20m jobs a year need to be created just to keep pace with its [...]
DEBATE: Does the Hong Kong Exchange boss have any chance of winning over LSE shareholders? September 26, 2019 Does the Hong Kong Exchange boss have any chance of winning over LSE shareholders? YES, says Benedict Spence, a freelance writer. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s takeover attempt may not sit well with some elements of the city, nor with some in Westminster, but at a time of insecurity over the future of the nation’s [...]
Reality is finally catching up with overblown Silicon Valley rhetoric September 26, 2019 Rhetoric, the art of persuasion, was the backbone of a classical education. Today the term is more often pejorative: rhetoric is found wherever reality isn’t. No fantasy, however, can be long sustained. If rhetoric is to deliver its original purpose and persuade, it cannot escape reality for long. So Silicon Valley is discovering. For over [...]
Mind the gap: The daily commute is exacerbating inequality September 26, 2019 Now that summer is over and that holiday feeling has worn off, millions of UK employees are back to the grind of the daily commute. For many of us, it is the least inspiring part of the day, and most organisations do not give a second thought to how their employees make it to their [...]
Bottle Opener: The best wines for this week’s Rugby World Cup matches September 26, 2019 The 2019 Rugby World Cup is upon us. Despite my status as a proud Welshman, even I cannot bring myself to recommend Welsh wines as an accompaniment to savouring an international rugby match (to all those Welsh wine producers out there, I look forward to being proven wrong). Indeed, many British rugby fans would regard [...]
How banks should be looking at the climate change challenge September 26, 2019 Mitigating the impact of climate change is not just an environmental responsibility – it is also an economic necessity. This is a clear message as global leaders met for the UN Climate Summit this week in New York. The impact of climate change will only intensify over time: rising seas and greater storm surges alone [...]
Strap in, impeaching Trump is going to be a bumpy a ride September 26, 2019 On Tuesday night, speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi announced an impeachment inquiry into the unlawful conduct of the US President. Donald Trump is therefore almost certainly going to become the third American President in history to be impeached by the House – the first step in a long process that could signal [...]