Daniel Yurgin’s magnificent, definitive global history of oil presents the industry in proper perspective. Despite “The Prize” being a giant door-stopper of a book, it somehow rattles along mixing thrilling narrative and colourful personalities with science, economics and social history. By the time you get to the end of Yurgin’s masterwork, the 20th century makes a […]
From outside the US it is easy to see the 2016 presidential election purely in terms of a dynastic clash between Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush. Will Hillary overcome the concerns that she wants to win but cannot figure out what she wants to do with the office other than be President? Can Bill behave […]
Rarely have the antics of Britain’s political parties looked so parochial and inconsequential; and that is saying something. Even before the latest stage of the Greek crisis began unfolding, it was clear that the British election risked becoming a small-minded affair, despite the international situation being more grave than it has been for a generation […]
Getting involved as a commentator in the elections of another country, without being there, is rarely a good idea. I’m British and while I’m fascinated, obsessed even, by American politics, I’ll wait until I travel to the US later this month and talk to a range of well-informed people about the likely shape of the […]
Does Giles Fraser have something on the producers of the Thought for the Day slot? What other explanation can there be for his ubiquity on BBC Radio 4? Again, apologies if you are reading this outside the UK and have no idea who Giles Fraser is. He is the trendy left-wing vicar who seems to […]
Banks will continue to go bust from time to time just as banks will continue periodically to get themselves into trouble that stops short of collapse. They are, after all, run by human beings. All the regulation and micromanagement in the world will not eliminate the human tendency to over-excitement in a boom and the […]
In recent days the new Greek government’s finance minister has been touring European capitals in a leather jacket, bright blue open-necked shirt and tight trousers. Assorted fellow finance ministers and conventionally dressed members of the Euro elite have been pictured standing alongside him looking awkward. On one level, the relaxed demeanour of the Marxist Yanis Varoufakis […]
Last week I took BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day slot on the Today programme to task for its reliance on anti-market and West-hating preachers. As a fan for decades of Today, I’ve grown used to spitting out my cornflakes several times a week at the kitchen table when complete drivel is parroted by […]
Welcome to the new version of CapX, the service dedicated to providing you with the best thinking and writing on politics, economics, markets and ideas from around the world. With capitalism under attack, CapX is a venture underpinned by a strong commitment to markets and limited government. Our team scours news sources, commentary, blogs, academic […]
Apologies if you are reading this abroad or if Thought For The Day on BBC Radio 4 means nothing to you. You’re lucky and I’m jealous because I wish I had never heard of Thought For The Day either. But as I live in the UK, and because I’m a fan of Radio 4, which […]
On Sunday evening, the BBC showed the first part of the landmark documentary on the Holocaust from 1985. Shoah was directed by Claude Lanzmann. Everything you have ever heard about the overwhelming power of that remarkable and controversial film is true. If you were unaware of it, or if you haven’t seen it, I recommend […]
The leader of the opposition in Britain used to have a little routine he went through whenever an opponent said anything he disagreed with. He would shake his head slowly, as though the gesture was being undertaken more in sorrow than in anger, and then slowly he would utter the dreaded phrase: “He… just… doesn’t… […]
I ran into Dominic Lawson last week and all we could talk about was the piece he wrote recently for the Daily Mail on his broken dishwasher. You can read it – All I want for Christmas… is a dishwasher that works – here. I congratulated him because he had captured perfectly the modern frustration […]
The most jaw-dropping aspect of the foreign exchange scandal, for which some of the world’s largest banks were ordered yesterday to pay enormous fines, is that the miscreant traders continued their activities after their jobs had been saved by the taxpayer. Put to one side the wisdom or otherwise of the bank bailouts themselves. Here were traders […]
Russell Brand has made a very fine living out of the global entertainment industry, selling his wares via Hollywood films, concerts, DVDs and books. Good luck to him. While his particular brand of comedy has never been my thing, he does deserves credit for spotting a gap in the market and making a little go […]
The young Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has announced that he plans to “change Europe.” This sounds ambitious. Indeed, going into this week’s crucial Ypres summit he had overtaken Britain’s David Cameron in the race to win over Germany’s Angela Merkel on EU reform, according to Bloomberg. Ian Wishart reports from Brussels: “Emboldened by the […]
