What comes after America’s retreat?

Mar 05, 2026, The Spectator I. What is happening to the ‘rules-based international order’ despairingly invoked by bewildered European leaders? The broad answer is that we are living through the retreat of American hegemony, masked by bluster and marked by contradictions. The retreat has two aspects, economic and geopolitical. Economists talk about Trump’s tariffs breaking … Continue reading What comes after America’s retreat?

On Mark Carney and the Fate of Liberal Economies

Feb 23, 2026 In his sophisticated 20 January address to the Davos World Economic Forum, Canada’s prime minister and former Bank of England governor Mark Carney offered an insight into the disintegration of the global economy which went well beyond the usual strictures on Trump for mental instability or megalomania. While Canada, like other middle-sized … Continue reading On Mark Carney and the Fate of Liberal Economies

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Debate – House of Lords – 16th of October 2025

Link: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2025-10-16/debates/CD9953E1-3AFE-436A-BBD6-D170F107AE02/ShanghaiCooperationOrganisation I may have a closer connection with Tianjin than any Member of either House having gone to school there nearly 80 years ago. I hope this will not in itself cause me to be thought of as a security risk. I agree with the noble Baroness that the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation poses challenges … Continue reading Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Debate – House of Lords – 16th of October 2025

New Statesman: Could John Maynard Keynes fix Trump’s tariff crisis?

This trade war is really a fight for the future of the dollar. 16/04/2025 Trump’s tariff bombardment has torn up the rules by which Western elites have lived for the last 35 years: the rules of a globalising economy under the benign guardianship of a Pax Americana. He is openly challenging opinion makers to change … Continue reading New Statesman: Could John Maynard Keynes fix Trump’s tariff crisis?