At a recent meeting at the Bank of Ideas I overheard one keen contributor hailing the ‘death of capitalism’ – a worthy aspiration perhaps, even if capitalism might have answered back, to borrow Mark Twain’s quip, that ‘reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.’ We need to be a […]
Andreas Whittam-Smith recently wrote about the possibility of ‘a group of like-minded citizens running for election for one term only’ in order to bring about the requisite change that is patently needed within British politics and which, it seems increasingly clear, is not forthcoming from career politicians within the bowels of […]
Recently had the good fortune to interview Newsnight economics editor Paul Mason at a comedy gig. His message wasn’t funny. He drew analogies with the 1930s – the descent to fascism – and with Europe’s failed revolutions of 1848: “When you get home, Google 1849” he told us “the bourgeoisies turned on […]
The sovereign debt crisis has put forth for all to witness the true nature of the European Project. Its banner of solidarity is pierced with the dagger of imposed austerity, and below that banner representative democracy of the nation-state is under siege. With each run on Italian, Spanish & even […]
With the shift from a tented village towards the solid structure of the Bank of Ideas, it seems that the Occupy London movement has another step forward in the quest to be taken seriously. It’s been months now since the first protests began, and momentum has not dwindled, and interest […]
At some point in time anyone involved in social movement activism confronts a tough question: if things are as bad as we say they are, then why are more people not taking action? This year has seen the beginnings of a popular response to the breakdown of the neoliberal global […]
A while ago, I interviewed Herman Daly, whose article on labor policy is on the opposite page. Towards the end of our discussion, we had shifted focus from economics and politics when Mr. Daly invoked his teaching experience to drive home a crucial point. He would always ask his students […]
When I was little, my grandfather took me on his knee and explained the market to me. In theory, it was a way for people to invest in businesses and commodities that they saw had a future in the economy. For a handful of bills, we could own a tiny […]
Earlier this year, the economist Michael Norton from Harvard Business School and Duke University’s behavioral economist Dan Ariely published a study with the title “Building a Better America – One Wealth Quintile at a Time”. In it, they asked a representative online panel two simple questions: 1. What is the […]