National accounts
It was – rather surprisingly – Goethe – who declared that double entry book-keeping was the loveliest invention of the human mind. ...
Oracles
The America of the 1990s was fortunate to have not just one, but two, oracles. The course of events could be divined from the con...
Mobile phones: moon made of cheese
Four years ago, the German auction for mobile phone licences closed. Telecoms operators in Europe paid around €100 billion for li...
Alitalia
I doubt if I am the only traveller who would rather walk than fly Alitalia. My experiences with them are truly memorable. O...
Business books
You have a wide choice of inspirational business books to take on holiday. You could, for example, try The Management Secr...
Could Google, founded less than a decade ago, really be worth $35 billion?
In a competitive market, the maximum value of an asset is...
Uck and gure
Was the zip fastener invented before 1920? How deep is the deepest ocean? These questions have correct answers, but few p...
European Federation
In 1957 Elizabeth Eckford and eight other black American teenagers were turned away from the Central High School of Little Rock by the ...
Marks and Spencer
As I write, the fate of Marks and Spencer, Britain’s iconic retailer, hangs in the balance. Will it remain a quoted company or be...
Yukos
The government’s bailiffs are banging on the doors of Yukos, the Russian oil producer, while Mikhail Khodorovsky, the billionaire behin...