Americans have been watching protests against oppressive regimes that concentrate massive wealth in the hands of an elite few. Yet in our own democracy, 1 percent of the people take nearly a quarter of the nation’s income—an inequality even the wealthy will come to regret. Joseph E. Stiglitz. “Of the 1%, by the 1%, for… Read More »
Madonna’s Charity finds out that charity is hard to do An interactive map on the politics of the Libyan no-fly zone decision European leaders agree on euro rescue fund ‘Saif al-Qaddafi is not just a dictator’s son turned international party boy turned charismatic reformer turned brutal paranoid headcase, he’s also a painter’ The world’s best-designed… Read More »
Two excellent takes on the recently released cable of a discussion between Nigeria’s Speaker of the House of Representative and the American ambassador to Nigeria (now former ambassador). From Akin, NaijaLeaks: A Speaker so disgracefully indiscreet, and from Temie, Mr Bankole goes to Washington.
Alan Beattie, the FT’s international economy editor, reviews three books on the New World (dis)Order. The books: The Unfinished Global Revolution: The Limits of Nations and the Pursuit of a New Politics, by Mark Malloch Brown, Allen Lane, RRP£25, 272 pages How to Run the World: Charting a Course to the Next Renaissance, by Parag… Read More »
1. “There is no room for compromise. Either the entire Mubarak edifice falls, or the uprising is betrayed” – Slavoj Žižek 2. Paul Haggis vs. the Church of Scientology – The New Yorker 3. “Why all the fuss over Scientology, when your resources and time might better be directed at the finances, earthly corruption, and… Read More »
That is the statement that heads the list of reasons revolutions are ‘kicking off everywhere’. By Paul Mason, BBC Newsnight’s economics editor.
1. Why is Hosni Mubarak clinging to power? Maybe because the life of an exiled dictator isn’t what it used to be – FP 2. Ms Merkel: Eurozone nations would have to agree on retirement age, tax and spending rules – Guardian 3. German companies great and small are making the most of globalisation. Their… Read More »
1. Ethan Zuckerman warns against calling Tunisia a Twitter revolution 2. Paul Collier reviews Dambisa Moyo’s How the West Was Lost 3. What do you feel about eating insects? 4. Watch Darren Aronofsky talk about his latest movie, Black Swan. 5. “The [Chinese] government knows how to cater to the interests of Chinese elites and… Read More »
1. Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera’s All the Devils Are Here 2. Niall Ferguson’s The Ascent of Money 3. Michael Lewis’ The Big Short 4. Milton Friedman’s Capitalism and Freedom 5. Greg Ip’s The Little Book of Economics: How the Economy Works in the Real World 6. Liaquat Ahamed’s Lords of Finance 7. Todd G. Buchholz’ New Ideas from Dead Economists 8.… Read More »
1. Google’s Africa play 2. Microsoft opposes a filing by Apple that seeks to trademark the phrase App Store 3. When the whole family is staring at screens, maybe it is time to try tech detox? 4. The informal economy: a story of ethnography untold