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After the Wall: 20 years on

23/12/2009
The liberation of East Germany from decades of totalitarian dictatorship was a blessing. The chance to unite the nation against much domestic resistance is an achievement for which Kohl deserves full credit. But the practical policies initiated by his government have turned a revolution for freedom into an evolution of the welfare state. Despite all the joys over the fall of the Wall, this was a missed opportunity of historic proportions.

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What makes great cities?

10/12/2009
Perhaps it’s time to admit humbly that the best cities usually just happen without anyone making them happen. Cities are organic, evolving and spontaneous institutions; the result of human action and less of human design. Maybe it is this that really makes them great, too.

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The rights of the future?

01/10/2009
Is there a basis for claims that future generations have rights? Can these rights be spelt out? Are they compatible with our usual understanding of justice? These questions deserve logical answers. Making them moral issues is not a substitute for rational debate.

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Dynamics of difference

26/09/2009
Globalisation, it is often claimed, has created a global village. The world has become smaller. Some commentators like Thomas Friedman even think it is now flat (that is, a level playing field for commercial competitors). Contrary to this conventional wisdom, globalisation has left some countries more distant than they were before. Australia’s relationship with Europe is a case in point.

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Prophet der Pleite

17/09/2009
Auch wenn die Krise aus Helden oft ganz gewöhnliche Sterbliche gemacht hat, so hat sie doch gelegentlich auch genau umgekehrt gewirkt. Leute, die vormals als Spinner galten, werden plötzlich als Gurus gehandelt. Ein Paradebeispiel dafür ist Nouriel Roubini,Wirtschaftsprofessor an der Universität von New York. Roubini ist nicht nur zu einem der Gesichter der Krise geworden, sondern er gilt heute fast schon als ihr Prophet.

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Economist with a nose for trouble

10/09/2009
Where investment bankers were seen as the ”masters of the universe”, they are now almost as unpopular as bank robbers.
But if the crisis has made mortals out of former heroes, it has occasionally worked the other way as well. People who used to be regarded as cranks have been elevated to gurus. An example is New York University economics professor Nouriel Roubini, who has become the face of the crisis and its supposed prophet.

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G8 loses way to point of nothing

25/06/2009
The G8 deserves a special mention in the history books for its role in the 1970s and ‘80s, but only to the history books does it belong. In its current form, the G8 has managed to be even weaker than the sum of its parts. Wisdom has become nonsense, and the wise thing to do now is not to make the G8 bigger or more representative but to abolish it.

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Does Europe still matter?

25/06/2009
Where is the European Union heading? How are Europe’s economies dealing with the repercussions of the financial crisis? And where will the continent be when the crisis is over? These are the questions that should be asked in Australia because the state of Europe still matters to our economy.

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The Rotten State of Britain

25/06/2009
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the play ends with the death of all the main characters, upon which Denmark is taken over by a foreign force. For Britain, there may soon only be the International Monetary Fund to turn to. Hamlet’s last words were ‘the rest is silence.’ Maybe that would be the best national motto for Britain as well.

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