The politics and economics of energy and climate change - two, huge, linked themes - dominated the year. And nowhere, from governments to anti-austerity oppositions on the left, are the full implications for economies being appreciated. The Paris climate talks fell in...
This is the story of a failure, albeit a highly instructive one. I wrote a couple of months back about the fight between customers of LA Fitness and the new owners of the chain, Pure Gym, who wanted to close the pools and facilities of 30 of the 43 LA Fitness gyms....
Seasonal memories of Charles Dickens' London lifted from A Christmas Carol somehow let us feel better about ourselves. We look back on less enlightened times and see how far we’ve come. We know the redemptive moral journey to be taken by Ebeneezer Scrooge and how it...
Why is everyone so angry these days, I was asked recently, by an employee of a major high street chemist. I have a theory about this. If a sense of reciprocity is central to our lives as human beings, as the evidence suggests, then the promises made to us by so many...
Gather round for an everyday story of contemporary capitalism. Like the greatest Grimms’ stories, this one covers all the bases of the world it is examining. In this case, our story covers global equity companies, takeovers, possible IPOs , difficulties of getting...
After the general election, I found myself sharing platforms with people who wanted to talk about cross-party co-operation, notably a fascinating debate with Caroline Lucas in Hay-on-Way. More on this another day, I hope. Most of these have been debates about...
One of the best architectural commissions in the world is now on view in a small mountainous region of Austria called the Bregenzerwald. The project involves seven bus stops on the bus routes round the small village of Krumbach (1,000 souls) including stops built by...
“Dinner was announced soon after our arrival, which consisted of the following things,” writes the Rev James Woodforde describing his meal on 20 April 1796, in a diary which – in a very English way – lists the food in great detail but barely mentions God at all. Then...
This week the Independent Living Fund was closed by the Government. This fund has, since 1988, supported profoundly disabled people to live at home in the way they want to. It has been a totally brilliant scheme -giving its participants the power to employ the carers...
Sunny outlook with a chance of local banking. That is the title of our New Weather event at the Hay Festival tomorrow (May 29, 11.30am). Andrew Simms and I will be talking to Green MP Caroline Lucas about many things, including local banking and including the New...