The peoples of many developing nations can legitimately attribute their woes to crimes committed by their former colonial masters. But their political leaders are not entitled to complain – they have had sufficient time to correct the injustices. President Zuma of South Africa, in particular, has no right to play the colonial card. Of all […]
Economic Cleansing
A London borough says it is planning to decant 3,000 people to towns as far as Bradford in the north of England where rents are cheaper than London house prices. Some are calling this economic cleansing – removing families with no jobs who live on welfare benefits. But why the astonishment that this should be […]
The Suicide of Europe
What comes to mind when you picture Europe’s politicians and policy wonks? I think of the gadarene swine who commit suicide by jumping into the sea. Or the lemmings who rush to the cliff’s edge… But why do they insist on dragging the rest of us down with them? Through their influence on the global […]
The Politics of Time Wasting
In a crisis, when decision-makers don’t know what they are doing, time-wasting becomes an art form. In Europe, austerity has more to do with politics than economics. The same applies with the debt in the US: political gridlock is about disguising the fact that the politicians are frightened and don’t know what to do about […]
From Capitalism back to Feudalism
The world was turned upside down in the 20th century because people believed Marx. The masses would rise up, overthrow capitalism and build the socialist state. Then, the communists scrambled back to capitalism. And now, we see the early signs of capitalism retreating back to feudalism. Marxism was what I call a coping doctrine (in […]
The Canutes of Europe
Critics urge that the euro should be scrapped. Or, at least, the euro-zone should be broken up – either excluding the strongest member (Germany) or the weakest member (Greece). All options, unfortunately, are framed from within an economic paradigm which, one way or another, will lead to further disasters in Europe. The latest plan is […]
Lying with Moral Language
The people in power are beginning to panic. They conceal their eroding self-confidence by pretending that recovery of the economy is around the corner. But they continue to deceive with words that conceal their culpability, shifting guilt on to the people who played no part in the crushing of communities that is now proceeding apace […]
The World War has Begun
In a speech in Buenos Aires last May I warned that we were heading for a world war. Fanciful? Alarmist? According to Andrew Haldane, a top director at the Bank of England, world war had already begun. He told the BBC on December 3 that the British economy had endured a battering that was “as […]
We’re All Taken for a Ride
Heaven forbid that I should excuse bankers who corruptly exploited the property boom, but let’s get the whole bizarre story in perspective. Bailing-out the banks is no different from bailing-out the people who are excluded from their rightful access to employment. Such bail-outs are the price that our pathological culture – the one we inherited […]
The Blair Blag
Tony Blair is a man with a mission. He mixes his Catholic faith with his faith in his own talents as a politician to spread his brand of governance to countries around the world. The man who ignored my advice and drove the UK economy into depression is now a guru for governments like the […]