Competition to Cooperation Whether U-turns are the flavour of the month remains to be seen. They ought to be the flavour of the decade, even of the century. There are plenty of potential U-turns in the queue, from the United States redefining freedom to Russia redefining property. From autocracy redefining control to persuasion redefining participation.…
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“Trussonomics” isn’t just a screw-up of a major world currency, nor only the exacerbation of a sizable country’s disastrous economics and certainly not simply the disharmonised relationship between the rich and the poor. It is about whether you think that the person with their hands on the steering wheel knows which way to turn it.…
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By Bob Gattie Although it was General of the Army, Douglas MacArthur who coined the phrase “Duty, Honour, Country” it is a phrase that was turning around in my head during the observance of Queen Elizabeth’s funeral rites. It is clear that she epitomised this motto to millions around the world and, collectively, we seemed…
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The world’s biggest problem is Growth. Growth of population – we have a finite planet that can probably comfortably handle about five billion people. We are nearing ten billion now. And still some political and religious bodies insist on population-increasing laws and rules whose outcomes only exacerbate the situation. It’s as if they wanted to…
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We all love to be loved. How we demonstrate that very real need and what we regard as showing love varies from one person to another and in different ways at different times. Some want physical help to cope with life, others want intimacy, yet again others, affection. Some want help with their thinking, others…
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We talk about the problems of communication. They pervade everything from climate to harvest, from sanctions to war, from pandemic to cyberspace. Misunderstanding, whether genuine or faked, is the biggest single cause of marital breakdown. Waffle is the con artist’s greatest asset. Obfuscation is the politician’s bluntest weapon. Vagueness is the soul of bad promises.…
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Everyone who lived through the reign of Queen Elizabeth II and who had any connection with her at any level will be very sad at her death at 96. Her father, King George VI, and her mother, who lived to an energetic 102, set her standards she fully lived up to. The social and technological…
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Gideon Rachman’s FT article on 30Aug22 talks of how the sources of supply are changing from the cheapest (just in time) to the most prudent (just in case). It is very well worth reading if you have not already done so. No use having a wonderful deal for paper clips if you can’t get them.…
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One third of the planet’s population has lived through a period of increasing world cooperation. That came to an end over the last five years. Why? Partly, but not only, because the politics of democracy failed to keep up with our ability to collate, communicate and disseminate information. Or even to sort out fake news…
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A friend called me yesterday morning to ask if I know Salman Rushdie. My reply was that I don’t but that he and I had a good mutual acquaintance whose name is Free Speech. An attack on any of my friends or acquaintances who know and believe in Free Speech is an attack on me.…
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