I have mentioned before the superb John Mauldin free economic newsletters. Sign up, if only to read his latest masterpiece which praises the European Central bank for trying to stop the European Union falling into a very deep abyss. What’s so good about John’s work is that it combines professional […]
How far should people be protected from the consequences of their own stupidity? Is learning the hard way the best chance of achieving long-run better behaviour? The trouble with you is that you reduce everything to first principles. Remember that one, said to me by a senior former FCO colleague […]
Is hosted by Jackart. Who somewhat ungrammatically draws attention to a lefty blogger’s poor spelling and grammar in her rejection of police handling of the student demonstrations: HarpyMarx gives her perspective of the protests, and her spelling & grammar deteriorates as her anger rises… Oops. I never know quite what to make of […]
A brisk bucketful of ice-cold reality for the European Union, generously delivered by Barry Eichengreen of UC Berkeley: The economics is really quite simple. Greece has a budget problem. Ireland has a banking problem. Portugal has a private-debt problem. Spain has a combination of all three. But, while the specifics differ, […]
While I am away, swing by Spiegel Online for an optimistic analysis of the underlying strength of the Eurozone by Sven Böll: European governments are serious about austerity, while in the US there is no sign of how President Barack Obama plans to get his country’s trillion-dollar deficit under control. […]
Back from giving further diplomatic mediation skills training in Brussels to EU officials. Unlike the FCO, the EU’s nascent foreign policy machine dimly sees the point of understanding how to get better outcomes by using smart mediation techniques. So, I duly help deliver the superb training they need. In the margins I […]
Well turned piece by Simon Heffer in the Telegraph this morning. He’s been talking to one of ‘one of our most intelligent diplomats’ (not me – I am an intelligent ex-diplomat haha) about the Eurozone: On a shimmering day last June, I was talking to one of our most intelligent […]
You heard it at TEDxKrakow first. Now even top EU people are saying it: 16 November 2010 Last updated at 11:38 Eurozone facing ‘survival crisis’ The European Union is in a "survival crisis" over eurozone debt problems, the EU Council president has warned. Speaking hours before eurozone ministers meet to […]
The second gripping instalment of my analysis of the EU Budget is here: In a few months’ time, the familiar weary battle will unfold in Brussels as the next Financial Perspective negotiations get under way. The Commission, cheered on by the profligate European Parliament, will announce an indicative budget increase […]
My long-awaited analysis of how the EU Budget really works is now being posted by Conservative Home, in two gripping episodes. The first one has appeared this morning – here. The second should appear tomorrow. Note especially the analysis of the famous British Rebate: a) It is the wonderful Thatcherite […]
