The CApx article below is more elegant than my own attempts to explain that the structural problem of the EU is the Euro, not the odd country leaving. Germany, Ireland, Spain and Italy do not belong in the same currency and forcing them into one creates social tensions that lack a democratic outlet. It is […]
My ambitious goal is to write something everyone can agree on, by offering analysis and not advocacy. You judge. Things to Consider… These go unremarked but should probably be shaping the argument. UK does not need a trading agreement to increase trade with any particular country. Trade is made by markets of buyers and sellers […]
Historians agree Treaty of Versailles signed at the end of WW1 caused WW2, which was the very thing it was intended to prevent. Think about that. The divergent views of all-powerful leaders combined to make a treaty which had exactly the opposite effect to what they intended. A hundred years, later western leaders might be […]
Summary Robots can line dance and cheap mini drones can do air displays, so either can be weaponised to overwhelm conventional weapon systems. Mass use of cheap automated fire units, and much else, are game changing military technologies and are already happening. Yet, defence procurement is stuck in the past, presided over by vested interests […]
(Reading Guide. Only bother reading this if I have asked you to. It is generic advice for CV drafters. Lots of folks ask for guidance and I point them here for it before meeting them). CVs play a smaller role in the hiring process than they used to. Technology allows for video interviews and online […]
One of my heroes, Armando Iannucci, a modern political satirist (Veep and In The Thick of It) has made a film about one of my historical obsessions, Stalin. I had to comment. Most reviews cannot decide if the film is comedy, tragedy or farce and thereby flatter its historical accuracy. The real court of Stalin […]
Politicians need three things to be successful: attractive policies they can credibly execute and convincingly communicate. However, 80% of public debate is confined to policy choices which are are irrelevant if they do not happen! Two outlier examples. Michael Gove had innovative school policies, ruthlessly executed but disastrously communicated and so now largely abandoned. Gordon Brown […]
