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Why the Irish were right to say No
The Financial Times 20/06/08
If you are looking for examples of nonsense on stilts you could hardly find a better instance than the reactions of the European political establishment to the Irish No vote in the referendum on the Lisbon treaty. To begin with, it is not "a defeat for Europe". It is not even a defeat for the European Union. It is a defeat for a certain vision of the EU. First and foremost there is the goal of shifting more and more decisions to the EU level...more |
A limited defence of Gordon Brown
The Financial Times 06/06/08
I see no reason to turn against the prime minister because he has struck a bad patch in opinion polls, by-elections and relations with the media. I have always advised politicians who run in terror muttering about the Daily Mail to treat the media like a fierce dog that will not harm you if you show you are not afraid of it...more |
Auguries for a 'vile' decade
The Financial Times 23/05/08
One thing is for sure. This is that the partial relief from inflationary pressures provided by cheap manufactures from China is over for a long time. And to the extent that China allows the renminbi to appreciate, the more expensive its exports will become. Michael Saunders, the Citigroup analyst, warns that the "nice" decade of Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, is likely to be followed by a "vile" one - volatile inflation, less expansionary. This applies not just to the UK, for which it was coined, but the old industrial west as a whole. Food and energy account for 15-20 per cent of the typical Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development family expenditure. This may not seem enormous, but cost increases here, concentrated in a brief period, can make quite a dent in living standards...more |
 Against The Flow: Samuel Brittan's book
Atlantic Books - Now in paperback
"Samuel Brittan has been one of the Financial Times' leading columnists for nearly thirty years. He has also advised numerous Chancellors of the Exchequer on economic policy. Against the Flow collects the most important of his writings from the last three decades. Taken together the pieces in Against the Flow amount to a robust defence of classic liberalism"...more |
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