It’s very hard to get a sensible discussion on fiscal policy going right now. Perhaps Keynesian economics was always too paradoxical to impress the plain men and women who write Times leaders on the subject. In their world view, Labour’s modest spending pledges — notably on childcare — would, if implemented, “draw money from business”. … Continue reading Letter to the editor

As one who spoke and voted for Lord Puttnam's amendments to the Defamation Bill passed in the Lords on February 6, may I say that Matthew Parris's attack on the amendments misses the point. The Puttnam amendments remedy two major omissions from the Bill: its failure to deal with the question of costs and its … Continue reading Puttnam and the Defamation Bill

When Alistair Darling said that “much of what Keynes wrote still makes sense”, anyone under 40 might well have asked: “And who on earth is Keynes”? When I first started writing about him in the early 1970s, John Maynard Keynes was a name to conjure with - not in the league of Led Zeppelin, to … Continue reading An impossible crash brought Keynes back to life

Russia, according to President Medvedev, is ready for a “new Cold War”. If politicians, including our own, want a new Cold War, they will get one. But the fault will lie as much with us as Russia. Every move in Russia's foreign policy is greeted by the West with alarm and suspicion. But its policy … Continue reading David Miliband must stop playing with fire

Britain and Russia have uniquely bad relations with each other - far worse than between Russia and any other main EU country, and worse than Russia's relations with the United States. This frostiness was highlighted again yesterday when a new spying row broke out after the Russians accused a senior diplomat in Moscow of working … Continue reading Russia and Britain: it looks chilly… but it’s far from a cold war

THE LITVINENKO AFFAIR gives a human dimension to what we in the West find most disturbing about modern Russia. It leaves the impression of rogue elements of the Russian State murdering enemies with impunity, at home and abroad. Add to this Andrei Lugovoy’s surreal claim that MI6 had a hand in the murder and Russia’s … Continue reading How Russia became doubly delusional

THE POISONING in London of the former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko confirms what we already know: that it is dangerous to criticise the Kremlin. It comes less than a month after the shooting in Moscow of Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist who tirelessly exposed Russian atrocities in Chechnya. Paul Klebnikov, another crusading journalist, was shot dead … Continue reading Could the poisoner be from Prince Putin’s court