Will the Grinch steal Brexit?
As Karl Marx taught us, history repeats itself first as tragedy and then as farce. With Brexit we are long past these two separate stages. [...]
2019
Brussels’ next nightmare
While Brexit dominates the news, another country could become an even bigger headache for Brussels over the coming years. [...]
Rediscovering the West
When future historians look back at our world today, they will regard it as the end of an era. Over the space of just a few years, the fundamentals of our political and economic order have all changed. [...]
Waking up to woke
We need to ask for facts when the other side only offers emotions. If we do not do that, we will end up with speech codes resembling those of totalitarian regimes. [...]
Administering monetary medicine
Clinical research has found that a doctor’s reassurance promotes health outcomes and healing. With central banks, it is the same. [...]
Debt-financed infrastructure spending won’t solve Germany’s problems
It must indeed be tempting to binge on infrastructure spending as Berlin can now borrow for 30 years at a negative interest rate of 0.11 percent. But should the Germans do so? [...]
When comedy meets ignorance
The prospect of a new Taika Waititi movie is usually a reason for joyful anticipation. However, watching the trailer of Jojo Rabbit and reading the first reviews left me appalled. [...]
The constitutional case for Boris Johnson
I am generally a fan of direct democracy, but even I have to concede that it is logically impossible to combine Westminster-style democracy with referenda. [...]
Speak your mind
We need less nice and more candour. It is pointless holding conferences where delegates censor their own presentations without being told to. [...]
The purpose of business is profit
Just as we should not change the basic rules of rugby lest we destroy the game itself, we should not change the basic principle of the market, either. In rugby and in capitalism, the purpose is to win. [...]