The Economist (June 20)
“With less than 5% of the world’s population, the United States holds roughly a quarter of its prisoners: more than 2.3m people.” Per capita, “the incarceration rate in the land of the free has risen seven-fold since the 1970s, and is now five times Britain’s, nine times Germany’s and 14 times Japan’s…. There is no single fix for America’s prisons, but there are 2.3m reasons to try.”
The Independent (March 29)
“Britain is becoming a nation of hagglers. People are increasingly happy to negotiate better prices on everything from energy bills to new televisions and bicycles.” Nearly half the Brits “who bought something worth more than £100 in the past two years tried haggling to get a better price – and the vast majority succeeded.”
Financial Times (October 1)
“For too long, Britain’s mainstream politicians and business leaders have been reluctant to make the positive case for the UK’s membership of the EU. It has become the subject that dares not speak its name.” This must change lest the UK carelessly vote away the benefits the EU brings. “Britain’s pro-Europeans can no longer be silent.”
Tags: Benefits, Britain, Business leaders, EU membership, Mainstream, Politicians, UK, Vote
Los Angeles Times (September 11)
“The gravest immediate threat to the West’s long-term security does not emanate from Vladimir Putin or from the militants of the Islamic State. Rather, surprisingly, it comes from peace-loving Scots.” On September 18, we will see if Scotland will “actually break away from Britain.”
Tags: Britain, Immediate threat, Islamic State, Putin, Scotland, Security, West
The Economist (August 16)
It looks increasingly like Scotland will vote against independence from the UK in the September 18 referendum. “The ‘no’ to independence campaign has a comfortable poll lead,” but this may not be the end of the story. Quebec engaged in what’s become known as a “neverendum” involving “decades-long deliberations over breaking from Canada.” So even if the Scots vote no, there “looms the prospect of a ‘neverendum.’ If unsuccessful, ‘yes’ campaigners could import that decades-long limbo to Britain.”
Tags: Britain, Campaigners, Canada, Independence, Limbo, Neverendum, Quebec, Referendum, Scotland, UK, Vote
Financial Times (May 29)
Britain’s GDP is set to increase by £10 billion as the Office for National Statistics begins to include illegal drug sales and prostitution in its calculations. To move into alignment with EU standards many countries have already taken this step. Italy is also advancing plans to include “among other activities, the sale of cocaine and prostitution.” Estonia, Austria, Slovenia, Finland, Sweden and Norway have already added prostitution and illegal drugs to their GDP calculations.
Tags: Alignment, Austria, Britain, Calculations, Cocaine, Drug sales, Estonia, EU, Finland, GDP, Italy, Norway, Prostitution, Slovenia, Statistics, Sweden
Financial Times (May 30)
“In France, when public servants cash in by taking private sector jobs, it is called pantouflage. In Japan, it is amakudari (“descent from heaven”); and, in the US, it is normal.” The revolving door between government and private sector jobs is a perplexing global issue that recently garnered attention in Britain when the head of tax collection became a consultant to Deloitte.
Tags: Amakudari, Britain, Deloitte, France, Government, Japan, Private-sector, Public servants
The Economist (April 8, 2013)
“As prime minister from 1979 to 1990, Margaret Thatcher transformed Britain and left an ideological legacy to rival that of Marx, Mao, Gandhi or Reagan.” Lady Thatcher was the UK’s first and, to date, only female prime Minister. She also “remains the only occupant of Number 10 to have become an “-ism” in her lifetime.”
Financial Times (August 13)
“One of the enduring aspirations of post-imperial Britain has been to remain an important player on the world stage. But the country’s self-declared aspiration to “punch above its weight” has sounded increasingly vainglorious and delusional. The fact that Britain is building a new aircraft carrier but cannot currently afford to build the aircraft to go with it seemed to symbolise this losing struggle to stay in the big league…. In these Olympic Games, however, Britain genuinely did punch above its weight.”
Tags: Aircraft carrier, Britain, Olympics, World stage
The Guardian (October 14)
The British Government announced a plan to eliminate, merge or downgrade many of the existing quasi-autonomous non-governmental organizations (quangos). Under the plan, 192 quangos would be abolished, 118 merged and 171 reformed. In total, the 901 existing quangos would be reduced to 648. The plan aims to move responsibility for decision-making back to elected policy makers, but the Guardian points out “scrapping key agencies in health, justice and consumer rights has raised alarm.”
Tags: Britain, Government, Quangos
