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Monthly Archives: May 2011

· Francis Fukuyama, who rode collapse to the top, now has a view of American decline.

Fukuyama missed some things, of course. He did not see that capitalism would be a considerably more robust component of the post-cold war world than either liberalism or democracy. He was optimistic that US power could accelerate some of the positive trends he described, a view he repented a year into the Iraq war. One now reads in his writing signs of his own country in decline.

· Building iPads in China: the workers of the future are united in silence.

“We are not allowed to talk while we are working,” says 19-year-old Wang Cui, whose name was changed for this story. She has prominent eyes and dark skin, and wears a blue vest with the Foxconn logo over her white plastic jacket. Her long fingernails are well cared-for. She does not work on the production line, but instead performs quality control on iPad housings.

· Gauging the Gingrich effect on American voters.

The other poll, released earlier in the day, showed that a majority of Republicans, faced with choices such as those above, think there should be a none-of-the-above choice.

· Greece and its pleasant-tasting poison pill.

Greece was diagnosed as critically insolvent a year ago. It was placed in the eurozone’s intensive care ward, treated with an infusion of €110bn and put on a crash diet to thin its bloated state sector. But 12 months on, the patient is getting sicker.

· Academics could have it worse. They could be journalists.

Nicholas Lemann, the distinguished dean of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, pointed out that in the realm he left to join the academy — the world of metropolitan news media — many newsrooms have lost half their staffs in the last few years. When universities reached that point, he would admit that they faced a real crisis.

· Portugal: Living high on the hog in a Ponzi paradise.

Portugal is borrowing money with which to pay off creditors. Not to worry, once it gets past this troublesome liquidity crisis, it will be able to borrow in international markets to repay the loans it is receiving from the IMF and its European partners, loans being used to repay other loans, with money it borrows from private-sector investors. If you don’t get it, you get it.

· Event: Germany and the euro-debt crisis. In Berlin, 9 May.

The German Bundestag has long recognised the explosiveness of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and is insisting on its own budgetary powers. More and more members of parliament are declaring their unwillingness to carry the additional liability risks. Legislation on the introduction of the ESM will be brought before the Bundestag this summer.

· How Anthony Horowitz survived Jeffrey Archer.

He’s already admitted that writing was his second choice of career after politics and it occurs to me that he views it in some ways as a business. “What a vulgar suggestion!” he exclaims and there is a sort of a smile on his lips that balances the anger in his eyes, but actually it’s a close-run thing

· What’s at the end of the night stair, pray tell?

Human beings work with what they have and the extraordinary thing about successive civilisations is that they are working to the same ends, often in poetic ways and increasingly in scientific ways, but do we think that our current ways are the final definition of four and a half billion years of struggle?

· In Libya, the US military asks itself some questions.

A hesitant president, a skeptical SecDef and a cautious Air Force chief of staff made a curious trio of warmongers in the days leading up to the United Nations Security Council resolution that authorized “all necessary measures” to protect civilians in Libya, paving the way for a coalition force to start airstrikes March 19.

On bin Laden: celebrating the shooting of an unarmed bad-man.

Bin Laden brought his end upon himself. Putting him on trial would have been – well – a headache. But it is – or should be – the enemies of civilisation who exalt at the grave action of killing in cold blood.

· Britain’s AV vote: bending the rules to give first place to the second-best.

AV would be proportional in name only: it tends to hurt the Tories badly when they are down and to help Labour when it is up, and it always boosts the Liberal Democrats, Britain’s third party.

· Osama bin Laden and the next least-desirable outcome.

The death of Osama Bin Laden is undoubtedly a welcome event, even if it was perhaps an unlawful one. There is a sense that it was a just outcome, even if there had not been any due process…

· In the Congo, classical music with a catastrophic backdrop.

Before coming across the Kimbaungist Symphony Orchestra in 2008, Bleasdale had spent nearly a decade documenting the rapes, murders and dislocation that have gone on virtually unchecked across Congo’s countryside. His work from Congo has been published in many newspapers and magazines, as well as two books.

The Wedding: Good, old-fashioned Royal Family (production) values.

Michelene Wandor: On Friday, April 29, 2011, our couple are friends. They have lived together – as one royal biographer said, without mentioning the word ‘sex’: ‘This is a woman who knows exactly what to do.’ And yet, a guest agony aunt on TV, asked for her advice to the bride said: ‘Have a son quickly, and don’t take any lovers.’ Plus ca change?