Archive
Reuters blog archive
from The Great Debate:
What Hollande can learn from Queen of Hearts
French President Francois Hollande’s predicament is, oddly enough, akin to one Alice faced in Lewis Carroll’s 19th century classic.
A year after taking power, Hollande is buffeted by the lowest popularity of any modern Gallic leader, a record number of jobless, a recession and shriveled business investment – while still needing to cut his budget deficit to hit European targets.
The protagonist of Alice in Wonderland, meanwhile, confused by her strange encounters down a rabbit hole, meets the Queen of Hearts, who tells her: “My dear, here we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place. And if you wish to go anywhere, you must run twice as fast as that.”
The Socialist leader, says AXA Group Chief Economist Eric Chaney, is in a rabbit hole.
from Hugo Dixon:
UK should get on front foot with City
It is perhaps too much to expect Britain’s Conservative-led government to lead any initiatives on Europe, such is the orgy of self-destruction in the party over whether the UK should stay in the European Union. But, insofar as David Cameron manages to get some respite from the madness, he should launch a strategy to enhance the City of London as Europe’s financial centre.
Britain has in recent years been playing a defensive game in response to the barrage of misguided financial rules from Brussels. It now needs to get on the front foot and sell the City as part of the solution to Europe’s problems. The opportunity is huge both for Britain and the rest of Europe.
from The Great Debate:
For Russia, Syria is not in the Middle East
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with (clockwise, starting in top left.) U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, British Prime Minister David Cameron, next Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. REUTERS/FILES
A string of leaders and senior emissaries, seeking to prevent further escalation of the Syria crisis, has headed to Moscow recently to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. First, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, then British Prime Minister David Cameron, next Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and now, most recently, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon These leaders see Russia as the key to resolving the Syria quandary.
from Nicholas Wapshott:
Austerity is a moral issue
Security worker opens the door of a government job center as people wait to enter in Marbella, Spain, December 2, 2011. REUTERS/Jon Nazca
In the nearly five years since the worst financial crash since the Great Depression, the remedy for the world’s economic doldrums has swung from full-on Keynesianism to unforgiving austerity and back.
from Thinking Global:
The growing Franco-German schism
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel talks with France's President Francois Hollande (R) at the European Union leaders summit in Brussels March 15, 2013. REUTERS/Laurent DubruleTaxicab2
Occasionally a public opinion survey surfaces that signals a seismic event. That is the case with a new report from the Pew Research Center that measures the widening tremors of a political earthquake now shaking Europe.
from Hugo Dixon:
Brexit would be bad for Britain
Quitting the European Union would be bad for Britain. Membership of even an unreformed EU is better than “Brexit”. Quitting would mean either not having access to the single market - at a huge cost to the economy - or second-tier membership.
The debate over Brexit has moved into high gear in the past 10 days, after the UK Independence Party – which wants Britain to pull out of the EU - performed well in English local elections. The Conservative party, which rules in coalition with the pro-European Liberal Democrats, has been thrown into turmoil because UKIP has been winning votes largely from the Tories.
from Breakingviews:
UK minus EU is another loser from Lawson
By Ian Campbell
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
Nigel Lawson is back in the ring and as sharp as ever. The UK chancellor who dismissed his critics as “teenage scribblers” in the 1980s - as he fomented a housing bubble that weighed on the economy for half a decade - is now throwing his weight behind a UK exit from the EU. It will make Britain stronger, he jabs. Someone should throw in his towel.
from Hugo Dixon:
Hugo Dixon: How to respond to UKIP’s surge
By Hugo Dixon
(Hugo Dixon is Editor-at-Large, Reuters News. The opinions expressed are his own.)
The UK Independence Party will not come close to winning Britain’s next general election. The populist anti-Europe, anti-immigration party may not even win a single seat, despite last week’s surge in English local elections where it won nearly a quarter of the vote - running a close third to Labour and the Conservatives. That’s how the maths of Britain’s first-past-the-post voting system works.
from Breakingviews:
Google shooting blanks in smartphone patent wars
By Reynolds Holding
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
Google is shooting blanks in the smartphone patent wars. Buying Motorola Mobility and its cache of inventions was meant to shield the search giant’s Android operating system from legal attack. But judges and regulators are defusing the patent arsenal, saying the underlying technology must be licensed on reasonable terms. While bad for Google shareholders, it’s a bonus for innovation.
from Breakingviews:
Barnier broadside leaves EU looking soft on banks
By Dominic Elliott
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
The European Union’s top financial regulator seems out of touch on banking reform. His peers want banks to keep more capital, but Michel Barnier says the United States should give European banks a break.
