The Many Sided Truth(s)

Why are we so wedded to the idea that there is only one truth?The idea of a monotheistic god is understandably tempting. Henry Kissinger is reputed to have asked who to call when he wanted to speak to Europe. The…

Foreign-owned Daily Mail labels Jewish businessmen ‘corporate vultures’ while foreign-owned Telegraph & Sun decry ‘hostile’ ‘anti-Semite’ Corbyn

Hostile Environment Today’s Daily Telegraph doesn’t mention the hostile takeover of British engineering firm GKN by American capitalists, some of whom are Eliott Advisors, whose bosses happen to be Jewish. Instead it attempts to head off a potential U.K. takeover…

The Greening of America

Yesterday we looked at Manuel Beltran’s Institute for Human Obsolescence and the Uber driverless crash. Greening of America Straight afterwards I came across the Greening of America by Charles Reich. It was a number one bestseller in the United States back…

Uber Crash : Those Pesky Pedestrians !

Collateral Damage Sincere condolences go out to the victim’s family. This Bloomberg Businessweek entry is remarkable. Particularly the way pedestrian is portrayed as acting of their own free will and not as collateral damage in the war on humans. The…

In Progress: Dead Paupers Society

The Hardy Tree Photo by Adrian Snood Levelled Churchyard Levelled Churchyard was written by Thomas Hardy in 1882. Based on his time as an apprentice architect, the poem gives a voice to the souls whose bodies he exhumed to make way…

Theresa May’s Corruption-as-a-Service and the Visit of the Torturing Saudi Prince

PLEASE WATCH THIS 5 MINUTE VIDEO Bloomberg has just shown that the May Government’s proposals to shut the Serious Fraud Office are part of the UK’s post Brexit offer of Corruption-as-a-Service. UK territories already include tax havens like Jersey and…

Soros Conspiracy Theory dominates Front Page of the Telegraph

The Telegraph is going big on the story that George Soros is against Brexit. Theresa May’s former Chief of Staff, Nick Timothy, gets a byline for this “news story”. With Osborne running the Remain supporting Standard and Timothy operating out…

Blog in Progress: I’m Wet Dreaming of a Nazi Family Xmas — Rees Mogg’s JFK Moment as Alt-Right Stooge plays Oswald, Mosley, & Umbrella Man

“So you self-identify as a conspiracy theorist?” asked the Masters student disparagingly at a protest in 2015. I was 37 at the time. I thought I knew what I was doing. But quite obviously, I was mad. What was I…

Flagrant Contempt of Parliament by Crony Capitalist Sir Howard Davies of RBS

Do we live in a truly decadent age? Can anyone get away with anything? These are questions I feel compelled to ask after watching just a few minutes of Howard Davies and Ross McEwan, of the taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland…

Theresa May winds up China to please Trump — what about Hinkley & HSBC?

The FT says Theresa May won’t endorse the Chinese Belt and Road initiative. Theresa May declines to endorse China’s Belt and Road initiative via @financialtimes — Ranjan Balakumaran (@financialeyes) January 30, 2018 The BBC: Here’s HSBC’s website HSBC has…

Genie in a Bottle

Davos In the third series of House of Cards, the President (played by Kevin Spacey) decides to create a New Deal-type jobs programme. A Keynesian stimulus — just like America First. This week’s Davos World Economic Forum is the perfect chance…

What happened to that €1 trillion?

Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad. Under normal circumstances the transfer of €1 trillion of public money to ANONYMOUS BANKERS with no meaningful audit trail would be representative of a society with corruption tolerance levels…

What happened to that €1 trillion?

Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad. Handing €1 trillion of public money to ANONYMOUS bankers with no publicly available audit trail would be corrupt on a scale so staggeringly as to be virtually beyond comprehension.…

Mommy, What’s an Endocrine Disruptor?

It was Trade-Related I first heard the term Endocrine Disruptor three years ago while researching the Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP) also known as the EU – US trade agreement. US firms wanted to dismantle EU safety standards and…

Drilling is Green insists Alaskan Senator

Trump 2020 Showy events like yesterday’s White House tax cut speeches make Trump’s re-election look assured. But wheeling out African American politicians like Tim Scott to talk about how the tax cut is for ‘distressed communities’ and single mothers while…

Trump delivers world’s biggest ever Tax Cut

A.L.E.C. operative Mike Pence, & Tim Scott on the Tax Cut Republicans are ecstatic about this tax cut. It’s interesting to hear what Pence has to say about America’s place in the world. He talks about ISIS but not about…

Mummy, what’s a #BreitbartBrexit?

We in the middle of a #BreitbartBrexit: US to Colonise EU via Ireland & #Brexit via @financialeyes #Marr — Ranjan Balakumaran (@financialeyes) December 10, 2017 CETA+++ David Davis is championing CETA+++ which means Britain copying the Canada-EU trade agreement…

“Good that UK Completely Caved-In…” says Citigroup’s Global Chief Economist, Willem Buiter — But in Reality US using Brexit to Colonise EU via Ireland

Purported UK Cave-In (08/12/17) Brexit Jihad designed to weaken the EU & UK at all costs Why would the City of London Corporation (The UK’s Foremost Financial Services Lobbyists) or the European Commission care about EU or UK citizens? German…

Torturing Saudi PR Machine Schmoozes Trump & New York Times

Trump meets Saudis and all hell breaks loose The Saudi Ritz Carlton’s CEO had this to say about the effect of Trump’s Muslim ban:   Interesting how the Saudis manage to get the New York Times on side.   When Putin…

The Polarizers

The Polarizers: Postwar Architects of Our Partisan Era–out in Dec, avail. now for pre-order. Stuff those stockings. — Sam Rosenfeld (@sam_rosenfeld) September 17, 2017 Polarizers by Sam Rosenfeld After WW2 Democrats and Republicans agreed on most issues. Each party…

Who’s Regulating the post-Brexit Conversation?

For in the hand of Yahweh there is a cup, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours it out. Indeed the wicked of the earth drink and drink it to its very dregs. Subliminal A friend and I…

Culture Wars: When ‘Consent’ means Rape

Adultery just made an appearance in the NYT Ethicist Column: The reader claims although he and his wife love each other, she’s been very ill and has said he can have affairs. He’s agonising over whether to be honest about…

Thursday 16th November 2017

US beefs up its presence in Asia according to WSJ Backstory to Trump in Russia – Luke Harding writes well. How Trump walked into Putin’s web — Ranjan Balakumaran (@financialeyes) November 16, 2017 Some Neo-Nazis are losing their blue…

A Hundred Years Ago Traitors Like John Redwood Might Have Been Hanged

Asking investors to abandon the UK goes against the UK’s interests. No amount of debate can change that. Yet that is what Parliamentarian and Brexiteer John Redwood has done. How can he be forgiven? Brexit would allow for the UK…

Liam Fox claims to be a Free Trader

  Brexiteer @johnredwood warns investors to get their money out of the UK, then tells the UK to go for hard Brexit. #disasatercapitalism cc @FlipChartRick — (((FrancesCoppola))) (@Frances_Coppola) November 12, 2017

The Infinite Meaning of Meaning

Some people see meaning when it just isn’t there. But maybe it is – just not in the way you think. And who am I to presume what you’re (not) thinking? Start again. There is meaning. Perhaps more meaning. Than.…

Post Charlottesville Democrat Victory in Virginia

Virginia Acceptance Speech No outright mention of Charlottesville — but still a big speech in Virginia. The comments section is split with some calling it an Obama speech. Any reference to White Nationalism, Healing Wounds, or Affordable Care Act interpreted…

back ‘atcha

Booming back at ya, Wanna reach out and grab ya, How I wonder where she’s AtRa, Comes back at you twice as hard

Blogging as a Service

Those with the most to say feel least constrained in the current climate. But how much of what they say means anything at all? I struggle to find anything of worth in the printed press. Might everyone be so reeling…

Accidence & Incidents: Aurobindo, Koestler, Oakeshott

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose FT political leader writer, Sebastian Payne recently referred to the Conservative Party’s pre-eminent post-war philosopher — Michael Oakeshott. In quoting Michael Oakeshott, @ProfTimBale nails why there’s something conservative in being sceptical about…

Gillian Tett: Burgeoning Shadow Banking Sector dependent on Regulatory Arbitrage

In the FT today Gillian Tett points out that while the media glare falls on the big banks that are currently reporting their third quarter earnings, the real story is the Shadow Banking sector’s continued colonisation of those sections of…

Sir Oliver Letwin used Nobel Prize winner’s ideas to torture innocent Brits

Nudge Richard Thaler has just been awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics. He’s best known for co-authoring the bestseller Nudge with Cass Sunstein in 2007. Sunstein went on to become President Obama’s Regulatory Czar while Thaler provided the ideas for…

Tory Confusion over Brexit

The Pound looks likely to collapse during the upcoming Tory Party conference Financial Markets are looking for reassurance. Instead they have been treated to David Davis. Amber Rudd will remember her speech about companies having to report the amount of…

Social Cleansing Silicon Valley Style

Today’s FT has an excellent piece on Social Cleansing in Silicon Valley. The great Silicon Valley land grab via @FT — Ranjan Balakumaran (@financialeyes) August 26, 2017 It made me think of Jamie Bartlett‘s BBC Show, The Secrets of…

Neymar, Al Jazeera, Sky Arabia & the Weierstrass Function

What links the 222 million Euros Qatari-owned Paris Saint Germain paid Football Club Barcelona for a footballer by the name of Neymar with unconventional oil, gas, and monetary policy, and an obscure mathematical function derived by a 19th Century German Professor…

German Hip Hop, Serial Killers, Jesse Owens, Hitler, und Hardfloor

BSMG German Hip Hop band BSMG have just done a tune called Jesse Owens. I don’t speak the language. But the name Owens reminds me of: Robert Owens I recall seeing Robert Owens out and about in London 10 years…

Trump to address opioid crisis

According to the Wall Street Journal Donald Trump plans to combat the US opioid crisis.  It was only the other day that Janet Yellen, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, mentioned that the opioid crisis was undermining the US labor market. …

Germany’s Fossil Fueled Decarbonisation

German car firms have been hit by recent emission fraud scandals Carmakers’ troubles shake Germany’s national psyche — Ranjan Balakumaran (@financialeyes) August 2, 2017 and the appearance of the electric car: Tesla reveals Model 3 cost in its first attempt at affordable…

God Save our Unforgettable Mall

Here we are crawling the cracks between walls of church state school & factory, all the paranoid monoliths. Cut off from the tribe by feral nostalgia we tunnel after lost words, imaginary bombs.   If Socrates was against writing –…

No Drought – Trump Shorts Marijuana but Vets Already Blaze

Jamaica is only allowed to legally grow Marijuana now that it is already well established in US law. US firms have been granted licence to grow and experiment in Jamaica.  

Vulture Capitalists, Potash Mining, GM, Fertilisers, Brexit & UK Food

For some reason Food and Brexit doesn’t get discussed in the news but as many of us will wind up eating food from fertilisers I think it’s worth a mention. What is potash? Learn more in our blog, Prospects →…

Explosives & Explosions : The Haber Process

Roughly forty minutes into this great podcast, Tim Harford talks about the significance of the Haber Process. The Haber Process revolutionised the world of explosives in World War One before being used in many of the world’s fertilisers — fueling the…

Writing the Wrong’un

Just as Ian Fraser says that his book Shredded about the Royal Bank of Scotland is not just about RBS but really a prism through which to interpret lapses in UK financial regulation, nor is Donald Trump’s presidency really just…

When will London’s Social Cleansing reach Peak Cleanse?

  Plaque to honor the original Alms Houses on which the Hermitage Street development is built I wonder if the new development on Hermitage Street in Paddington, Westminster, where this picture was taken has any affordable or social housing.  And…

Lendlease in Haringey 

  Telegraph business section covering the Heygate and Haringey controversy today.  Real Media were at last Monday’s protest and will be releasing further interviews and a join the dots on the  taboo topic of geographical displacement this week.

Gove claims to embrace Anti-Austerity Politics & “Green Brexit” in Desperate Bid to Charm Voters

Michael Gove,  Minister for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, twice referred to a five year parliament as he started to backtrack on the Government’s austerity programme during this morning’s Andrew Marr politics show. At no point did Andrew Marr pull…

When The Facts Change >> Corbyn dramatically cutting Tory Lead

With no TV Debate – Manifestos do the Talking Embed from Getty Images When the facts change I change my mind. What do you do, Sir?  J.M Keynes. In a time of Information Overload, the Info-Arbitrageur is King. Tim Shipman…