Despite the grief, anxiety and disruption, there could also be an upside to the virus if it made people realise what matters and is essential and what is froth. During lock-down, the carbon foot print will shrink. Life becomes simpler. Although th
Brexit is coming. The government have decided that the best bet for UK survival in the coming times of economic crisis will be to hang onto American coat tails rather than club together with Europeans to withstand the hurricane when it comes.
I may be wrong. I am not an economist and even the experts cannot predict with certainty. However, as I have said before, I think we are on the brink of an economic crash. What is different about this crash is that we have not really recovered from
Brexit’s not a cereal to eat before your lunch; not a tasty, crispy treat that you can bite and crunch. Brexit is catastrophe that hits you in the wallet and if you are a business man you feel it like a bullet.
The Brexit Party. This is the successor to the UK Independence Party. It is difficult to see UKIP ever becoming a significant force again while Nigel Farage leads the BP. However, despite its name, the BP is not a party, it is a business company. No
It is notable how symptoms of social disintegration have been multiplying recently. The politics of the UK and of the USA have not been so turbulent for a long time; France is in the grip of rather chaotic public demonstrations the objective of which
A basic problem is that the British side is run by politicians and the European side by bureaucrats. As a sweeping generlisation, politicians do not mean what they say, are willing to vote tactically and to change allegiance when it suits whereas bur
The basic problem for the world at the moment is that we have had an economic system that has kind-of worked for several hundred years but is reaching its sell-by date, but, as yet, we have no credible alternative on offer. The fact of reaching an en
Naked we come into this world and naked we depart. All the sages remind us. Little Jesus in his manger received gifts from the Magi, but what use were the gifts to him, one might ask. Perhaps the Magi brought treasures from his previous incarnation w
The news today that the Trump administration is to withdraw all US troops from Syria and half of its contingent from Afghanistan is of great importance. This is the first president for a very long time to take the view that the USA does not have to p
President Macron has said now that Europe needs its own military in order to protect itself against Russia, China and even the USA. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46162052 . I have been predicting this development for several years now. Europe
It is certainly good news that Asia Bibi has been acquitted and is to be released, but very sad that she and her family will now have to flee the country and find refuge somewhere else in the world than her home land. You can read the story here http
What is happening to the USA? On normal conventional headline statistics it seems to be doing well. Unemployment is at a low, profits rolling in. Yet longevity - perhaps the best independent measure of the wellbeing of a population - is actually fall
The USA seems to be thriving at the moment, but is it a bubble? Trumps tax cuts put money into the economy, especially (almost entirely) for the middle class and rich. This is feeding a stock market surge which is probably unsustainable. People need
This is a hugely consequential question. Iran's main trading partners are China, the EU, India, S Korea and Turkey. S Korea may have little option but to toe the US line. However, China, India and Turkey will not do so. This means that US sanctions o
However, if Iran drops out of the treaty and starts enriching uranium on a military scale there is a fair likelihood that Israel will try to destroy those facilities by bombing them. They must know that. Therefore, either they must maintain additiona
America has decided not to honour its obligations under the treaty with Iran and to reimpose sanctions. The Americans say that this is because it is "a lousy treaty". Th
Much of the world's trade is conducted in dollars. This fact is broadly connected with the idea that the USA is not a nation like other nations, but is somehow above the fray. It acts as world policeman and world banker. This is basically a result of