Thursday marks the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the People’s Republic of China, and is an opportune time to reflect on where China is going. There is a widespread belief that China is on course for global domination, and this is best captured in the title of a recent book, When China Rules The… [Read more]
Today marks not only the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre in China, but also that of the first partially free elections in Poland. While Poland went on to become fully democratic, China remains an anomaly in that it is the only major economy in the world that has not democratised. How long will… [Read more]
One thing I’ve been trying to get my head round lately are long-term economic growth forecasts out to 2050. The best known of these are produced by Goldman Sachs (see Dreaming With BRICs: The Path to 2050), but other investment houses have them too. Having pored over these over the bank holiday weekend, I have… [Read more]
The North Korean nuclear crisis has been going on for so long now, and has become so repetitive, that like various US high-suspense TV dramas such as ‘24’ and ‘Lost’, it is losing its ability to shock. The cast of characters changes slightly, but the themes and events are fairly constant. (The only real shock… [Read more]