The Times (July 24)
“Sanae Takaichi, the first female prime minister of Japan, is a very accomplished woman,” but she “needs to treat herself to some quality shut-eye.” Getting by on less than three hours of sleep per night is not “an admirable work ethic” and, “in a country grappling with a culture of overwork, Ms Takaichi is setting a bad example.”
Tags: Accomplished, Admirable, Bad example, Culture, Female, Grappling, Japan, Overwork, Prime minister, Shut-eye, Sleep, Takaichi, Work ethic
Reuters (July 21)
Upon becoming Prime Minister, Andy Burnham is eschewing “generic” appeals to grow the economy and instead focusing on specifics. He announced “plans to end rough sleeping and cut the 5% VAT on electricity bills.” He also plans to cap bus fares and reduce property taxes on pubs and other hospitality venues. “This more focused potholes-and-pockets approach from the ex-Manchester mayor might connect with voters and reduce the risk of more instability in a country that has had seven leaders in 10 years. But it risks delivering few long-term economic gains.”
Tags: Burnham, Bus fares. Property taxes, Economic gains, Economy, Electricity bills, Generic, Hospitality venues, Instability, Potholes-and-pockets, Prime minister, Pubs, Risks, Rough sleeping, VAT, Voters
The Economist (July 11)
The Prime Minister of Canada and the President of Finland jointly champion “values-based realism” and “ad hoc coalitions.” They believe “the world order built after 1945 is unravelling” and that “neither wishful multilateralism nor cold realpolitik” provides a sufficient alternative.” Together “Mark Carney and Alexander Stubb suggest a third way…. “We must form calibrated alliances, integrating deeply with those countries that share our values, and remain open-eyed with those that do not.”
Tags: 1945, Ad hoc coalitions, Alliances, Canada, Carney, Champion, Finland, Multilateralism, Open-eyed, President, Prime minister, Realpolitik, Stubb, Unravelling, Values-based realism, World order
The Times (June 29)
“Barring some unforeseen upset, in 20 days Andy Burnham will be prime minister. No other contender has so far emerged.” His suitability for the position, however, remains “wholly untested. Charm is not enough.” Before his looming “coronation… the country has three weeks to understand what Mr Burnham intends to do with the power so casually bestowed upon him by backbenchers desperate to draw a line under the reign of Sir Keir Starmer.”
Tags: Backbenchers, Burnham, Charm, Contender, Coronation, Desperate, Power, Prime minister, Suitability, Unforeseen, Untested, Upset
Reuters (February 9)
“Sanae Takaichi has curb-stomped the competition. Her Liberal Democratic Party took 316 out of 465 seats…delivering the arch-conservative prime minister her country’s first post-war single-party supermajority.” While “investors may hope the ruling party’s historic comeback relieves pressure to cooperate with a fiscally profligate opposition,” that is unlikely. Her desire to revive “the heavily indebted $4 trillion economy” and return to fiscal stimulus will prove costly. Her “desire for a regular army makes expensive militarisation look more certain.” All of these “stated ambitions” augur “more turmoil for markets.”
Tags: Army, Conservative, Curb-stomped, Economy, Expensive, Fiscal stimulus, Hope, Indebted, Investors, Japan, LDP, Militarisation, Prime minister, Supermajority, Takaichi, Turmoil
New York Times (February 5)
“Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada announced on Thursday a sweeping plan to offer billions of dollars in incentives and tax breaks for auto industry investment designed to help turn Canada into a global leader in electric vehicles.” Through the new policies, the Prime Minister intends “to transform Canada’s economy and make it less reliant on a single trade partner after President Trump’s economic assaults and threats on Canada’s sovereignty have frayed relations between the two nations.”
Tags: Auto industry, Canada, Carney, Economy, EVs, Global leader, Incentives, Investment, Prime minister, Reliant, Tax breaks, Threats, Trade partner, Trump, U.S.
The Week (December 10)
“Fresh off her first solo state visit to Laos, Princess Aiko has become the face of a Japanese royal family facing 21st-century obsolescence.” Under current succession law, however, her male cousin Prince Hisahito of Akishino will succeed to the throne. The question is when Japan will be “ready for change.” As demonstrated by Japan’s election of “conservative Sanae Takaichi as its first woman prime minister in October,” public support exists “for the notion that Aiko, or ‘any other woman in the future,’ could be made royal successor, which has led to a grassroots effort to readdress the rules.”
Tags: 21st century, Aiko, Change, Grassroots, Hisahito, Japan, Laos, Obsolescence, Prime minister, Public support, Royal family, Succession, Takaichi, Throne
Reuters (October 22)
“Sanae Takaichi wants to spend a lot of money on Japan, but she also needs to sort out some hefty financial obligations to the United States.” She is coming under immediate “pressure to secure backing for $550 billion her predecessor Shigeru Ishiba pledged to invest in U.S. projects as part of his tariff deal with the White House.” Given the new Prime Minister’s “desire to use fiscal spending to boost growth, she’s likely to lean on” private, rather than public, funding “to avoid immediate budgetary constraints.”
Tags: $550 billion, Financial obligations, Fiscal spending, Funding, Growth, Invest, Ishiba, Japan, Money, Pressure, Prime minister, Private, Public, Takaichi, Tariff deal, U.S.
The Guardian (June 24)
Emmanuel Macron “opted to call the French electorate’s bluff, calculating that the prospect of a radical-right prime minister in the Élysée would ‘clarify’ its thinking. A week away from the first round of a poll whose consequences will reverberate around Europe, this reckless gamble shows no sign at all of paying off.”
Tags: Consequences, Élysée, Europe, French electorate, Gamble, Macron, Poll, Prime minister, Radical right, Reckless, Reverberate
Wall Street Journal (September 6)
Vladimir Putin’s meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un “underscores the global nature of the threat to U.S. interests.” Indeed, the Japanese Prime Minister’s visit to Kyiv this spring was partly “because America’s allies in Asia understand that Ukraine isn’t a distant squabble. Russia has its own Pacific ambitions, including militarizing the Kuril Islands, some of which Japan also claims. A Russia that prevails in Ukraine will provoke elsewhere. Mr. Putin is also the junior partner to the neighborhood’s No. 1 threat: The Chinese Communist Party.”
Tags: Allies, Asia, CCP, Global nature, Japan, Kim, Kuril Islands, Kyiv, North Korea, Pacific ambitions, Prime minister, Provoke, Putin, Russia, Threat, U.S. interests, Ukraine
