Switzerland

Articles Politics

Britain’s Brexistential Choice: Lessons for Japan

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Sherlock Holmes, in the shape of actor Benedict Cumberbatch, wants to stay. Roger Daltry of The Who says go.

Articles Finance Politics

Abe Gets His Ya-Ya’s Out

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The LDP, like the Rolling Stones, is a dinosaur outfit. Both lack the energy levels of their nineteen sixties heyday , but still manage to wipe the floor…

Articles Business Finance

The Retreat From Hard Money

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Imagine the US economy shrinking by 30% over the past four years, the Chinese economy growing at 2%, not 10%. Imagine UK house prices down 60% and commodity prices sliding back to the levels of the mid-1970s.

Articles Finance

Too Much, Too Young – Emerging Market Risks

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How much more “emerging” have the emerging markets left to do? Probably not much, given the vast amount of capital and hope invested in the asset class already.

Articles Politics

After The Quake – Too Much Love

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Disaster reveals national character in the starkest possible way. Japan’s response to the unprecedented triple blow of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown has demonstrated both its strengths and weaknesses – to the world and perhaps to the Japanese themselves.

Articles Culture Politics

What The World Cup Tells Us About The World Economy

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Serious sport, according to George Orwell, is war minus the shooting. In the words of Bill Shankly, legendary manager of Liverpool F.C., football is not a matter of life and death; it’s much more important than that.

Articles Culture Finance Politics

A Hedge Fund Manager Hits Back

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John Veals is the villainous hedge fund manager in Sebastian Faulks’ best-selling credit-crunch novel “A Day In December.” He is a man with no friends, no culture, no interest in anything other than making money. His nefarious machinations lead to the failure of a major British bank, enabling him to make huge profits from his short positions. Other characters in the novel include Gabriel Northwood, a virtuous lawyer, and Roger Malpasse, a retired banker of the old school.