So what did we learn in 2012?
Between 2008 and 2011 we learnt that if you’re running a bank, and you ever happen to face the mother of all debts, the united nation of governments will bail you out like there is no tomorrow. This means that you can fail at what is at the heart [...]
Just a map today to emphasize the isolation of Israel and the USA on the vote at the UN to recognise Palestine as a “non member observer state”. Indeed Palestine is now formally recognised as a state by the UN albeit still a “non member”. The UN gives more details on the “non member state” [...]
Local Business: Titus Andronicus 3rd album, released on Oct 2012
Okay, I love Titus Andronicus. I even dare write their punkrock songs remind me of the Pogues and the Clash. Their political stand does too. This time they rock local business!
Back in April 2010 we blogged about the song “The Enemy is Everywhere” from their second [...]
Even without being familiar with the opaque world of Wall Street investment banks, it is difficult not to be aware about Goldman Sachs. Since the Global Financial Crisis they have become the bank everyone loves to hate.
The way they became ‘too big to fail’ by benefiting from every single economic bubble since the Great Depression [...]
Of course Julia Gillard’s impassionate tirade against Tony Abbott’s sexism was political point scoring. However the unpredictable way the video went viral abroad means that it can genuinely be enjoyed in isolation from the Australian context.
Of course blogger @Get_Shortened is right when dismissing this as “just a load of politics“. That “If the woman who [...]
It is often argued that financial markets are not like the real economy. But when Wall Street is opposed to Main Street it is mostly along the argument that greedy financiers are making money while real people struggle in lower paid jobs. And the world would a better place if bankers were not immoral greedy [...]
Sharp spikes in global food prices, which occurred in 2007/08 and 2010/11, preceded the political unrest of the “Arab Spring”.
Whilst it has been reported as a predominantly politically motivated uprising against autocratic incumbent regimes, there were important socio-economic underpinnings to the uprising. One important factor was increasing food prices in the region, which along with [...]
Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa announced a few days ago that he believed his country has overcome the diplomatic spat with Britain over its threat to enter the Ecuadoran Embassy in London in order to arrest WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
The saga has shifted from the sensation caused by US military shooting civilians like in a video [...]
‘Extending the perimeter of the fight’… beyond the Fukushima zone.
(literal English translation of Michel Houellebecq’s title “Extension du domaine de la lutte” published in English as ‘Whatever‘)
Last March marked one year since the Fukushima disaster, and as anticipated a year ago the media caravan has passed. Whilst most of the technical reason of the [...]
Matt Cowgill flagged this UN report on his twitter stream: “Measuring child poverty – New league tables of child poverty in the world’s rich countries” http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/660
A very rich document proving numerous insights on “how tough” societies are doing (for example measured by the relative child poverty rates before taxes and transfers – [...]
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