Article Two of the UN Convention on Genocide, in December 1948, defined genocide as “any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such: Killing members of the group Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group […]
17th October 2018
FINANCE, SOCIETY AND SUSTAINABILITY
In this book, Radix co-Founder and Trustee Nick Silver explores how we might be able to make the financial system work for the economy, people and the planet. “Nick Silver challenges us to dig beneath the surface of finance and explore the fundamental changes we need to make if we’re ever to answer the question, […]
So long, rogue superpower, and good riddance
There has been a lot of hand wringing about Trump giving up the USA’s leading role guaranteeing the global world order and abandoning the rules-based system which it created. Yet, even a superficial look at post-war history reveals that a lot of our current global security concerns were caused by the short-sighted foreign policy of […]
In praise of immigration
A few years ago, on a trip to Kenya, I chatted to some locals about why they wanted to come to the UK. These were all young, fit, intelligent, healthy people, and unsurprisingly they wanted to come to the UK to get a job. The average wage in Kenya is about £700 per annum compare […]
Trump the eco-warrior?
Donald Trump recently announced $60 billion tariffs on Chinese imports, following on from the previous week’s announcement of steel and aluminium tariffs. The Financial Times have predicted that this will lead to an (unwinnable) trade war with China. If this does indeed come to pass, this will have a dramatic impact on global greenhouse gas […]
Why Corbyn is (slightly) less wrong than the government
Jeremy Corbyn’s performance in Prime Minister’s question time last week on the nerve gas attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter was met with predictable opprobrium in the press. One of Corbyn’s many intellectual flaws is that he generally assumes that people who stand up to the USA are OK, by virtue of them standing […]
A simple yardstick for telling false prophets from real ones
Despite being a devout atheist Jew, there are still some Christian figures for whom I have a certain admiration. These are admittedly minor figures in the Christian tradition, people like Jesus, St Francis of Assisi and the Pope. I must apologise, though, to my readers of the Christian faith, that I find some of the […]
Who do you think you are, Theresa?
“How disappointing Mr Bond. Your pitiful little island hasn’t even been threatened.” I recalled these words of Blofeld, the arch-villain of Diamonds are Forever, when I read that the Prime Minister was considering military action against North Korea. This ridiculous hubris of British politicians about our importance in the word has been a common theme […]
Why are financial markets still corroding wealth ten years after the crash? Because they are based on a lie
Ten years ago, the financial system began its collapse before governments intervened to save it. Much of the subsequent legislation, regulation and angst has been directed at attempts to make the system less risky, so it does not collapse again. But what is the social function of the financial system and does it do this […]
2040! Is this a joke?
So the government have decided to ban new diesel and petrol cars and vans from 2040. In the immortal words of John McEnroe: “You cannot be serious!” On many fronts. If you polled a random selection of industry experts, I wonder how many of them would think that any petrol or diesel vehicles would be […]
