British politics

Business Spectator

The home ownership nightmare

01/04/2010
Just like their Australian cousins, most Britons regard home ownership as a good in itself. It is thought to be a panacea for all sorts of social ills, a tool for regenerating run-down areas, a safe investment for retirement, and a key to building a stable democracy. You can spend the whole week watching all sorts of ‘property porn’ shows on British TV that tell you how to build, buy, renovate or sell your home. Politicians regularly talk about it in terms of ‘aspiration’ and promise help for first-timers to step onto the property ladder. Yet there is a dark side to Britain’s property mania.

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Uncategorised

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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Capital

Britisches Postleitzahlen-Lotto, vorbildliches Gelsenkirchen

23/10/2008
Das Vereinigte Königreich ist in Wirklichkeit längst kein einiges Land, sondern tief in sich gespalten. Auf der einen Seite gibt es erfolgreiche Orte wie London und Oxford, auf der anderen Seite aber auch Städte wie Hull und Sunderland, die seit Jahrzehnten mit dem Niedergang zu kämpfen haben. Kein angenehmes Thema für Politiker.

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Inside Politics

Farewell to Britain

26/09/2008
I wish Britain well for the future although times ahead do not look rosy. But most of all I hope that Britain will soon rediscover her liberal roots. Europe does not need another Germany but a Britain promoting the ancient British values of liberty, free markets and free trade.

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Inside Politics

Looking for the Invisible Hand

19/09/2008
The real challenge in the face of widespread financial instability is to keep perspective and not give in to a populist, anti-market sentiment. For that would be the real, long-term damage from our times of economic difficulty.

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Uncategorised

Haus proud

01/09/2008
New houses in Germany are cheaper than their British counterparts and on average 50 per cent larger. Given that the two countries have a similar population density, what’s going wrong in the UK?

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Uncategorised

Is the Green Belt sacred?

22/08/2008
The ‘green belt’ description has elevated imagination over reality in Britain’s planning system. To the public, the areas it refers to seem to be much needed reserves of nature in an overcrowded, concrete Britain. They are, or at least they are believed to be, the last remnants of what was once England’s green and pleasant land. To say anything against the concept of the green belt thus seems to smack of treachery. But we need some hard-headed thought about why and how we protect land from the development we need.

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Uncategorised

Parting shot

17/08/2008
Britain is one of the most expensive countries on the planet and London its rip-off capital. Filling your car, eating out, staying at a hotel or just doing the weekly shopping are all more costly undertakings than in other industrialised countries around the globe – even without taking house prices into account.

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