“Our options, he argues, can be divided into three general categories: austerity, stimulus and doing nothing. He, like an increasing number of mainstream economists, believes we can now scratch austerity off the list.” Adam Davidson talks to Adam Posen, until recently a member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, about ways to fix the UK’s economy.
Category: article
Ryanair deserves a new name
“The culture is created at the top and reflects all the way down. Michael O’Leary is a twat. Can I say that, Mrs Lawyer? He is. There’s no getting round it. And Ryanair, the airline he has built in his image, is a twattish airline that treats both its staff and its customers with contempt.” Comment by Carole Cadwalladr.
Massive Attack’s blueprint for UK pop’s future
“I was lucky enough to receive one of the few cassette-only recordings of the set. It offered an illuminating glimpse of the musical undercurrents they’d drawn on in making their groundbreaking debut album.” Sean O’Hagan tells the story behind Blue Lines, one of the greatest albums of all time.
How Starbucks avoids UK taxes
“Over the past three years, Starbucks has reported no profit, and paid no income tax, on sales of 1.2 billion pounds in the UK.” Tom Bergin explains how Starbucks makes certain that we are all in this together.
Thankfully, a recent investigation provides sufficient evidence to conclude that the UK government has got this covered. Not.
Why you hate cyclists
“I’m an asshole cyclist. I’m that jerk weaving in and out of traffic, going the wrong way down a one-way street, and making a left on red. I’m truly a menace on the road.” Jim Saska is owning up to some pretty bad behaviour when on two wheels, but insists that he is not the reason you hate cyclists.
The Lance Armstrong fallout — questions, denials and doping reactions
“The problem is, if you choose to believe Armstrong, that it’s a witch-hunt, then you are also a conspiracy theorist, because the only way you can explain all the witnesses who are willing to testify is to say that they are part of a massive conspiracy against him. One that spans the Atlantic Ocean, includes former team-mates, journalists, doctors, administrators, soigneurs, strangers and mechanics.” Ross Tucker joins the debate.
The story of Steve Jobs: an inspiration or a cautionary tale?
“Everyone has their own private Steve Jobs. It usually tells you a lot about them—and little about Jobs.” Ben Austen considers what we know about Steve Jobs’ personality, which, depending on who you are, lends itself to vastly different interpretations.
After G4S, who still thinks that outsourcing works?
“For fear they might only get one term they are dashing to secure that indelible legacy. The plan is to outsource so much that reconstructing public services will be impossible in future.” Polly Toynbee reports on an epidemic of evidence-free, faith-based policymaking that is creating moral hazard on a grand scale.
“A moral hazard is a situation where there is a tendency to take undue risks because the costs are not borne by the party taking the risk.”