RDN on Guardian’s Comment Is Free (Cif)
I was bucked to have a piece run on the Guardian's Comment Is Free (Cif). I was bemoaning Mr Cameron's Makeover Politics. Here are a few reflections on the comments it received. Read more...
Economic affairs.
I am not an economist. Until early 2014, I took a fairly close interest in economic debates, and tended toward the free-market point of view, though with a healthy respect for canny government intervention, both as polities tried to produce stable growth, and as they considered redistribution of wealth. I also very closely followed the "Happiness Debate", in which I argued that market choice and material affluence were large social, pyschological and even spiritual benefits.Page 5
Capitalism isn’t cosy shock
I appeared as a witness at a World Congress of Faiths "Moral Maze" before a small audience in Southwark Cathedral last night. Surprise, surprise I defended capitalism against a range of (mostly religious) critics. Read more...
Royal Mail kicked to death by union
I told BBC Radio 2's Jeremy Vine show that it's hard to believe that the Royal Mail can continue in anything like its present form. And the Communication Workers' Union seem determined to kill it off double-quick. Read more...
Financial regulation and risk (2)
Here is a bit more on the conundrum of regulating financial risk when you know you shouldn't, really. My message is that regulators should aim to encourage market-driven self-regulation. Read more...
Financial markets should be free (ideally)
The less we regulate banks and financial firms, the safer we will be. Those of us that want safety, that is. (That would be me: I am morbidly timid.) Here's 10 bullet points saying why. Read more...
ENRON – the show
Hot from ENRON, the dazzling show at Chichester Festival Theatre's Minerva Theatre, one realises that it was a romp with next to nothing useful to say. I imagine it will go down a storm when it transfers to the Royal Court. Read more...
RDN in the FT on capitalism
I had a letter in the Financial Times recently and I'm afraid it gave me rather a buzz. This is partly because attention at that level is always welcome, but also because my note appeared during the paper's quite sustained attampt to get its brain round the current crisis. Oh, and I think the letter said what I had been struggling to say for a while. Read more...
Depression or recession: how bad?
It is commonly said that we are facing "the worst" recession or depression for decades or even a century or so. If this is true, how much does it matter? Read more...
Crosby isn’t the worst rat this week
I have no idea how much of the Banking Crisis can be blamed on Sir James Crosby, but there is certainly an unseemly rush to blame him for everything now. The Prime Minister, politicians, and journalists are all piling in and it's ugly. Read more...
Great British bankers!
The four ex-leaders of HBOS and RBS were impressive in their account of their parts in the Banking Crisis. They were smarter and more interesting than most of their questioners from the Treasury Select Committee today. Read more...