Personal liberty is a noble goal but ...
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A comment on the occasion of Ryan's entry in the race (and his budgets): Personal liberty is a noble goal but cannot act as an excuse for social non-empathy and lack of human solidarity.NickPthinks on business, EU policy, socio-economics and systemi...
Kat Update: is this the last puff for Aussie ciggie brands?
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It's a topic that has generated considerable controversy [more smoke than heat, wonders Merpel]: can a government pass laws which effectively extinguish a company’s trade mark rights? See previous Kat posts here, here, here and here. Blowing...
Occasionally Wrong
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Carol Ann Duffy does rise to her job as Poet Laureate by turning out occasional poems, though she doesn’t always rise to the occasion. In her poem for the Olympics she sank like a Lib Dem poll; like Tony Blair’s credibility; like the...
Julian Assange case: stay patient and do the right thing | Editorial
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Refugee protection does not apply to the WikiLeaks founder and it is wrong of him to claim itAs defined by the United Nations convention on refugees, a refugee is a person who "owing to well founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, relig...
The Closer
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ROUND UP Markets round up: Euro stocks rallied today as fears about the Eurozone and US economies quelled. The FTSE 100 closed up 0.03 per cent. The S&P 500 closed up 0.71 per cent....
Paymasters, in the EU and the US
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Why is no one talking of "paymaster" states among the 50 US states? Because the US has a real union, unlike the EU/EZ!NickPthinks on business, EU policy, socio-economics and systemics in Europe. North America and the world...
Spreads and that damn seniority
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Here’s an interesting exercise in eurozone sovereign credit, courtesy of Francesco Garzarelli of Goldman — click charts to enlarge:It tries to strip out the “excess”...
10-year yield back to levels not seen since… May
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That’s the US 10-year yielding a tad above 1.85 per cent at pixel time, moving in line with swings in global equity markets today. Perhaps reflecting a decreasing possibility...
The conversion of a former Canadian "skeptic"
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Former Canadian self-proclaimed "skeptic", meteorologist Scott Sutherland tries to imitate Richard Muller:I've been a meteorologist and air quality scientist for the last 12 years, so I knew the science behind the issue, but I'll admit I was a g...
Young women in 2012: gender equality as reflected by Unicef's 2011 survey
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Unicef recently published its annual report on its activities of 2011. Last year was characterised by many unlucky events: not just wars and global recession, but also natural catastrophes played a key role in destroying the lives of many people arou...
Romania Crisis Part 2
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18889374Following on from my previous article about what the EU would actually do in response to the political crisis in Romania it seems that the action taken so far has been in the form of criticism and p...
Uncertain uncertainty effects and the fiscal cliff
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Recently we’ve come across a few stories making the case that the looming fiscal cliff is already having an impact on the US economy, as companies are reluctant to invest...
Distributing Spain’s bank bailout funds
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Bloomberg reported on Thursday that the first €30bn of Spain’s bank bailout fund is “imminently” going to be making its way to Bankia.Why?… because...
Ecuador Grants Asylum to Assange. What’s next?
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Read few comments and see also the previous post. Roger O’Keefe, University Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Cambridge This changes nothing. Sure, he can have asylum in the embassy, and he can have asylum in Ecuador, but he needs to get from t...
Ecuador Grants Asylum to Assange. What’s next?
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Read few comments and see also the previous post. Roger O’Keefe, University Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Cambridge This changes nothing. Sure, he can have asylum in the embassy, and he can have asylum in Ecuador, but he needs to get from t...
VIDEO: Assange granted asylum by Ecuador
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I joined Times Now TV earlier from outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London as news broke asylum had been granted to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Olly Barratt - UK correspondent...
Optimistic Passos ‘on another planet’ say critics
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Portugal’s prime minister is ‘living on another planet’ unions said this week after Carlos Passos Coelho predicted that investment in the crisis-hit economy would bounce back next year. The right-wing premier’s upbeat assessme...
A Doomed Marriage: Britain and Europe
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What impact will the euro debacle have on EU? How did so many people get it so wrong? Why does the project carry on when its rationale has collapsed? Why does Britain seem to get a worse deal than other countries? What would we do if we left? What w...
Seven days in Europe
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The Commission has stated in a written note that respect for gay rights is a criterion for EU accession. Armenia is keen to become a member state, but Armenian law does not prohibit any sort of discrimination on grounds of … Continue reading &#...
Britain in, with or against EU? (Roundup)
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A fork in the road or in the tongue, but Britain still grapples with existential questions about its post-imperial role in a globalising world. This Sceptred Isle – this little world – but with a population all for greatness in world affairs: ”...
Norway's 'intelligence catastrophe' over Breivik
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Defence analyst Anthony Tucker-Jones reports on the intelligence failings that led to the deaths of 77 innocent people at the hands of Anders Behring Breivik in Norway last year...
The Eurozone crisis, four years on…
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Will the madness ever end? For four years now, the troubles of the Eurozone have monopolized the world’s attention with every summit and declaration. The European Central Bank is “ready to do whatever it takes to save the euro”. With … Co...
Take the Olympics for a spin
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In the wake of the Olympics, commentators jump on the bandwagon to speculate on what London 2012 meant for the European Union. But how serious do we have to take these attempts? ...
Ecuador Grants WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Asylum
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After much anticipation, Ecuador announced it will grant political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Assange is currently inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Twitter has been buzzing with reactions from citizens and the main protagonis...
What some people don't seem to get re the hard Euro
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In the years of the hard Euro, ie when the Euro was (until relatively recently) quite high compared to the USD, the Yuan and other currencies of major trade partners (and tourist origins eg USA), that suffocated much of EZ busin...
"The good, the bad, the misguided and the disingeneous" by Andrew Watt
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Continuing an on-off debate on these pages (entry point here) about the quality, or otherwise, of the economics profession, I refer interested readers to the economic program written for US presidential candidate Romney by a number of leading America...
One car, one vote
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The US presidential campaign switched into high gear this week with Mitt Romney’s selection of Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan as a running mate. But with a raft of voter ID laws now going into effect in crucial swing states across the country, it
Tabloid publication of stolen photos is not "fair use", says US Appeals Court
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Noelia and Jorge Reynoso A couple of days ago the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals published its much awaited decision in Monge v Maya Magazines, a case concerning publication by tabloid magazine TVNotas of stolen copyright-protected p...
