Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson's promises to "Level Up" the country are going nowhere fast, according to a damning new report by MPs
Economy
In recent years, there has been a notable shift among certain Western politicians, media outlets and think tanks regarding their perspective on China’s developmental trajectory. The once popular theory of an imminent collapse of China, famously asserted by Gordon G. Chang over two decades ago, has finally begun to lose traction. But there is still Continue reading »
AUKUS has become a stillborn project. Vassal states, satellites – in other words the butlers of international relations, the minders of the royal stool – are a rarely respected lot. In Australia’s case, being Washington’s butler is hardly like being Jeeves to Bertie Wooster. Jeeves is, after all, a near omniscient being, a confidant who Continue reading »
Efforts to keep Chinese electric vehicles out of the US will only hurt American consumers and manufacturers in the long run. Instead, the Biden administration should embrace learning from Chinese carmakers to improve innovation and competitiveness. In the United States, sharp disagreements exist over numerous critical national issues. However, there is bipartisan consensus on reducing Continue reading »
As 2024 marks the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese zodiac, whether this mythical creature should be named “Dragon” or “Loong” in English has puzzled many and stirred heated discussions. The two creatures vastly differ in their shapes, legends and the cultural symbols they represent. And in recent years, more and more Chinese people Continue reading »
‘…price-protection is, and must always, remain the very first and foremost plank in any fighting platform worthy of the name, and hang the public!’ Southern Grocer, 1912. For most capitalists in the first six decades of last century, tariff protection took second place to price-fixing, which undermined the ‘frugal comfort’ of the basic wage by Continue reading »
The conclusion of a “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership” by two states leads few observers to experience frissons of excitement. However, the Partnership agreed yesterday between Anthony Albanese and Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Minh Chinh is more than an announceable wrought by officials to garner a headline or two for their principals. For many countries -including Vietnam- Continue reading »
The Government's ‘slash and crash’ Budget was left largely unscathed by Keir Starmer’s party. Why?
Last Friday the All-Ords share index finally escaped its straitjacket of see-sawing sideways within a range of roundly 6,600 to 7,900 since April 2021. The All-Ords reached 8007.1 points, beating its previous high on the 4 January 2022 (7926.8). See chart below. Technical analysts view this breakout to be a particularly good omen. The breakout Continue reading »
AUKUS. The most disastrous defence-policy mistake in our history: In a class of its own as an exemplar of bureaucratic incompetence. In his recent edition of Australian Foreign Affairs, “Dead in the Water, the AUKUS Delusion”, Hugh White argues convincingly that Australia does not need nuclear submarines, and is seeking to acquire them under a Continue reading »