Sovereign wealth investment is a force for stability
Everyone is talking about sovereign wealth funds. There are six countries whose governments are substantial international investo...
Now is not the time to emphasise the fealty of Scotland
Over lunch one day at the Bank of England, someone told me he had spent the morning signing £1m banknotes. I guessed the notes were use...
Bankers, like gangs, just get carried away
‘So long as the music is playing, you’ve got to keep dancing. We’re still dancing’. Chuck Prince was interviewed by this pa...
A fall in prices is good news more often than not
We greet our neighbours with the hope that they will experience a good morning, a reflection of the days when we lived by agriculture.&...
Business lessons from the chess grand masters
Bobby Fischer, who died two weeks ago, may have been the greatest chess player in history. And the 1972 match in which he won the...
Christmas shopping and the role of the chowkidar
You may have read reports that retail sales in Britain fell by 0.4% between November and December. Economic commentators certainl...
Beware the personality cult in the pursuit of democracy
India’s politics has many strange aspects, but none stranger than the career of the country’s most powerful political leader. Bor...
Why India cannot take economic growth for granted
The Indian stock market shrugged off the deepening chaos in neighbouring Pakistan to reach yet new highs. There are many signs of a bub...
No one remembers a cautious captain of industry
I have been reading Joseph Conrad’s Typhoon, the least sentimental of Christmas stories. It describes how Captain MacWhirr and the crew...
Venice
Venice is the first urban theme park. Like any other theme park. it is full of attractions, but impractical for everyday living.&...