Getting the principle right If government has a duty to protect the lives, property and civil liberties of its subjects, ours is currently guilty of failing to display any meaningful police presence on our streets – beyond speeding yellow cars and vans blaring ear-splitting sirens that are actually more of a menace than a […]

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – 72 Those still shedding tears over our departure from the EU invariably refer to the success of the EU in healing post-WW2 wounds and keeping peace in Europe for 75 years. By the same token they imply that, by leaving, we are creating a dangerous rift that threatens to spark a resurgence […]

WHERE WE ARE NOW – A FESTIVE SUMMARY Emile Woolf – December 2019 There were dire warnings….. Over and over, we heard it. We heard it from the great and good, all authoritative sources with impeccable credentials. Carney at the Bank of England, Chancellors of the Exchequer (present and past), IMF, London School of Economics, […]

  TODAY’S ELECTION – WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT Emile Woolf The looming election appears patently divisive. But it isn’t the election itself that’s doing it. The division arises from the starkness of choice confronting the nation. The very word “di-vision” almost evokes a condition of “split vision”. It could, for example, mean that the political […]

CAMPAIGN PROMISES, and a dose of reality As my regular readers know, most of my essays are forays into challenging economic issues. They reflect my own attempts to gain an understanding of their underlying principles. But there’s a lot riding on the coming election, perhaps more than most of us realise, so here are some […]

Are the aims of nationalism and protectionism the same? The ideology of “nationalism” is characterised by the unstinting promotion of a particular nation’s interests, possibly regardless of detriment caused to the interests of other nations. Nationalism may therefore be considered a form of patriotism, or loyalism, since it identifies with, and supports, the interests of […]

EMILE WOOLF – ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES 66 We are well into the protest season. The long run-up to the election period has been characterised by one protest after another – no-deal Brexit, climate change, arms sales, Tommy Robinson, police brutality, capitalism, Trump’s visit, fracking, Catalan, Hong Kong and Eritrean sympathisers, and so on … and on. […]

[ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – 63] [EMILE WOOLF 20-9-19] The US Department of Defence is a major customer of many private sector suppliers, including the Boeing Company. Although relationships between customer and supplier are mutually beneficial, that is by no means the only reason why Boeing has proved to be such an enduring commercial success.   100years […]

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – 62 EMILE WOOLF, 2 SEPTEMBER 2019   There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat, And we must take […]

  1 – Misplaced belief There is a common perception that public officials know what they are doing. They are experts paid out of our taxes, and have been doing it for years. It’s always best to leave matters to the experts, and there’s no point in interfering. This lazy, unquestioning syndrome certainly applies to […]