Via Tim Worstall, a Guardian food twit called Rosie Boycott writes: … we also need to examine how we use the spaces in our cities to ensure that we have a chance of freeing ourselves from our current dependency on multinationals who have only their shareholders’ interests at heart – not […]
Here is the Guardian describing Americans of different political persuasions furious at ‘Fraud Street’. Buried deep in the story is this sentence: In the UK, the red mists of anger have been slower to appear but the frustration is emerging with millions of savers and shareholders in Bradford and Bingley […]
Here is a frank – even brutal – account of Sarah Palin’s weaknesses. And another, but rather less brutal. And these are from tough-minded conservative women wanting her to do well. Her debate with Joe Biden should be something.
When you come to think about it, isn’t it just a bit old-fashioned that when you buy a jacket you are required to accept with it the boring insulating material chosen by the manufacturer? The Archbishop of Canterbury wants us to be reacquainted with our own capacity to choose. And lo, […]
Remember Jethro Tull? They were the first rock band I ever saw, back in Oxford in late 1974 or thereabouts. One hit was Too Old to Rock ‘n’ Roll, Too Young to Die. Now we have the largest European banks being "too big to fail, but also too big to […]
This is a handy summary of Wall Street’s woes: …investment banks rely heavily on borrowed money, called "leverage" in financial lingo. Lehman was typical. In late 2007, it held almost $700 billion in stocks, bonds and other securities. Meanwhile, its shareholders’ investment (equity) was about $23 billion. All the rest […]
How bad is it getting as the global financial system takes another big hit as Lehman Brothers tank? The reasonably optimistic case for the US economy is here. And the sprawling mess of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is scarcely a crisis of private enterprise – rather a result of […]
Is inexperience for high office in the United States a problem? Or a design feature: If we implicitly think uncertified citizens are unfit for the highest offices, why do we trust those same citizens to select our highest officers through free elections?
It makes little sense to fly an aircraft half-empty, or play to empty concert-hall seats. But how to deal with the information management problem of filling those seats as the start deadline looms? Maybe like this?
I am off to London to seek my fortune, as it appears that people with fortunes are selfishly loath to share them with me. Back on Saturday.
