Financial crisis
One damned thing after another: Britain’s crisis-ridden century so far
The Iraq war, the financial crisis, Brexit and Covid have seen many prime ministers blown off course. Will Keir Starmer be any luckier than his predecessors?
Come back Pesto, all is forgiven: and tell us who’s to blame this time
‘Who’s to blame for financial crisis’ is a poem I wrote in 2012, rhyming ‘speculators, spivs and traders’ with ‘rich,…
High finance, low tricks
Michael Lewis, author of The Big Short, rages against greedy bankers, weak politicians and timid journalists
What I got right
And what the Labour party is now getting wrong
The glory that was Greece
Financial crises are nothing new in Greece. Back in 354 BC, at a time when Frankfurt was still a swamp,…
My nominee for politician of the year: the honourable member for Athens B
After the heat of battle: the accolades, the recriminations, the telling of history by the victors. It’s six months early…
Kilkenny Notebook
‘What is a Minsky moment, anyway?’ asks Gerry Stembridge, an Irish satirist. ‘I’ve been reading about them in the papers…
Back to the brink
Think we’ve done enough to avoid another financial crisis? Think again
Bring on the young
One of the unlooked-for side effects of the financial crisis has been what might be called the desocialising of music…
We optimists aren’t always wrong but I’m keeping watch for black swans
A reader likens me to Dr Pangloss, the quack philosopher in Voltaire’s Candide who insisted that ‘all is for the…
The real luck of the Irish is that they recognised the folly of the boom
My man in Dublin calls with joy in his voice to tell me ‘the Troika’ — the combined powers of…
