The recent victory of the leftist party Syriza in Greece reveals the increasing influence of populist, antimarket, anticapitalist movements throughout Europe. The new Greek Prime minister, Mr Alexis Tsipras, declares himself on the Left but his discourse is not different from the far right-wingers who go under the name of National Front in France, Progress […]
Can a small country remain economically and politically independent from its neighbours? How useful is it to even try and defend one’s own different ways? Is it at all possible to ward off unwanted spill-ins? Is sovereignty only a dream? More than ever, these questions haunt the Swiss regarding their relationship with the rest of […]
You think the euro crisis is bad? Think how much worse – how monstrously worse – it might have been. Suppose that, at the end of the 1990s, Tony Blair and Nick Clegg and Ken Clarke, and Nissan and Goldman Sachs and Unilever, and the CBI and the TUC and the BBC, and Sir Martin […]
Last week – and four parliamentary terms after other parts of the UK had already received handsome forms of self-government – William Hague proposed a very modest and not particularly intelligible plan to ensure England had some devolution of its own. His plan would not allow English MPs to propose England-only legislation. It does nothing […]
At PMQs last week Ed Miliband repeatedly attacked David Cameron for giving an “£145 million tax cut to hedge funds”, claiming that it was payback for donations from City tycoons and hedge fund managers. A pretty extraordinary claim that the Labour party is persisting with despite there having been no such thing and despite having […]
The West never quite knows how to handle Vladimir Putin, and the crisis in Ukraine is, at least in part, a consequence of our prevarication. Faced with a revanchist Russia, we could have taken one of two approaches: guarded accommodation, or resolute deterrence. Instead, we wavered, and Ukrainians are paying the price. Specifically, we could […]
In a recent CapX article, Tim Montgomerie sought to outline ‘10 things that capitalism needs but cannot provide’. There was much to agree with in his article, but we are puzzled by his line of argument. As it happens, a closer look at the evidence suggests that capitalism can, indeed, provide some of his “10 […]
It is more than a decade since Ronald Reagan passed away in 2004, and nearly two years since the death of Margaret Thatcher in 2013. Both were towering figures who transformed their countries and the world for the better. The Iron Lady and the Gipper were united in a firm belief that decline was not […]
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 […]
“Elections change nothing,” said Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s tough-minded finance minister. He was talking about Greece, but he could have been talking about the entire EU racket. The Europhile elites have a guarded and contingent attitude towards democracy. It has its place, to be sure, but it must never be allowed to slow the process of […]
Last week European Union foreign ministers renewed existing economic sanctions against Russia until September. Although the initially recalcitrant Greek government fell into line with other EU member states, a decision on increased sanctions was postponed and Greece is likely to remain something of a loose cannon, using collaboration in anti-Russian measures as a bargaining card […]
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 […]
In the matter of Greece versus the Eurozone, it is easy to summarise what is happening. The irresistible force is crashing into the immovable object. There is a lot of ruin in the Single Currency. After all. membership was supposed to be irrevocable. It was to become the thousand-year Euro Reich. Those of us who […]
When children are taught the difference between left and right, grown-ups like to make fun of them by saying that all they have to do is to look at their hands: The left is in the direction of that hand on which the thumb is to the right of all other fingers, and vice versa. […]
It is surprisingly hard to kill bad ideas. Often, they seem to be like the wicked Witch in Narnia. Even when she loses a battle with Aslan, she somehow survives, hides away – and waits for another opportunity to deploy her malice, Thus it is with socialism. In the 1980s, it seemed as if free […]
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 […]
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