My Economics Blogs- Is this the start of a Sterling crisis?The idea that a hung parliament could be disastrous for the pound is not a new one. For some months, commentators have been writing as much – that the policy stasis it might imply would potentially derail any difficult political decisions to cut the deficit; check out my colleague Jeremy Warner’s column on this from [...] […]
- Japan: hoping robots solve the demographic crisisI’ve lost count of the number of times people in this business have put their hands up in exasperation and said: “Japan – well, no-one understands Japan.” In theory, the place ought to be able to offer us real enlightenment about our futures. It is a laboratory for us in two senses – that it [...] […]
- Don't be fooled: GDP was actually revised downI’m going to say something which might come as a surprise, given all the positive coverage this morning of the GDP figures. The Office for National Statistics has actually revised GDP down today – not up. The size of the British economy – in other words the total amount of cash generated by its companies and [...] […]
- Might the bullying allegations work in Brown's favour?On the whole bullying question, is it sacrilegious for me to wonder, aloud, whether people might actually quietly approve of Brown’s “bullying”? Let’s leave aside the questions of Christine Pratt’s conduct, and let’s assume for a moment that the allegations are true – that the Prime Minister really is a nasty character to work with, [ […]
- The letters 'feud' proves that economists are still failing usI am a little late with this one, as everyone is now rather more obsessed with the question of whether the PM, or someone in Number 10, has been bullying their employees, but here’s my thruppence about this whole economists letters saga. In short, I am dismayed by it. In fact, I would go further [...] […]
- Is this the start of a Sterling crisis?
- My Culture Blogs
- Two of London's iconic music venues under threatIn something of an unfortunate coincidence, the last week or so has seen two of London’s (and, given that the UK capital is perhaps the most important single city for electronica, by extension the world’s) most renowned and historic venues under threat of closure. Although, this being electronic music, in this case “historic” means al […]
- Transitions: the beauty of DJingTransitions: they are the magical fleeting moments when a DJ is switching from one record to another. But they are more: they are the moments in a DJ’s set which separate them out from the rest of the pack, which demonstrate their musicianship, which show they are not merely pressing play on a record deck [...] […]
- Top five electronica albums of 2009Disco: Live at Robert Johnson – Prins Thomas This was the year Cosmic Disco went intergalactic, and if you were looking for a better guided tour through the experience you could not beat Prins Thomas’s phenomenal mix from the Robert Johnson club in Frankfurt. It floats and rocks from one corner of disco, funk and house [...] […]
- The ultimate version of Little Drummer BoyWhen in the 1970s Philip Glass released his three and a half hour epic work of minimalism Music in Twelve Parts, there was no shortage of critics or listeners who questioned his sanity. Would people really appreciate a long, monotonous (often literally) stream of minimalist music? They questioned the musical merit, the pretension, the self-indulgence. It [.. […]
- Music Monday: Michel CleisYou probably haven’t heard of Michel Cleis, but if you’ve been anywhere near a dancefloor this year you will almost certainly have heard his masterpiece La Mezcla. This Amazonian house epic has been one of the stand-out tracks of the year, its driving intensity, layered beauty and progression from minimal to near-saturation has helped almost [... […]
- Two of London's iconic music venues under threat
Blogs and tweets
My latest tweets
- My first + prob last vietnam tip: pack warm clothes if ur planning a boat trip on ha long bay. Stunning, ethereal but surprisingly chilling 11 hours ago
- RT: @MalcolmMoore Just so shocked by this one: 70yr-old buried alive by prop developers in Wuhan (DT) http://twurl.nl/qpfq65 2010/03/05
- The novelty of Martin Amis is starting to wear off. Tiring of London Fields as I await my flight from taipei to ho chi minh city 2010/03/05
- @MightyMicro ur right: that was a factor - thanks 4 the pointer. though i don't think Pru was sole reason, and credibility concerns remain 2010/03/01
- A quick take on whether this fall in the pound constitutes a sterling crisis http://bit.ly/c9gKjS 2010/03/01