Welcome to the
website of Bill Emmott
I am a writer and consultant best known for my 13 years as editor-in-chief of The Economist (1993-2006) as well as for my books and films on Japan and Italy. My latest book, out in 2017, was “The Fate of the West” about the future of liberalism. These days, I am a “Brexile” living in Ireland, though I also spend time in Oxford, and am chairman of the Wake Up Foundation, a charity I co-founded with the film-maker Annalisa Piras, as well as of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Japan Society of the UK, and Trinity College Dublin’s Long Room Hub Arts & Humanities Research Institute. This site carries my articles, videos, speeches and books, as well as my 2050 Index looking at the long-term strengths and prospects of western societies.
Read moreFeatured BookSee all
Japan's Far More Female Future
Latest book by Bill Emmott examining the future role of women in Japan.
Latest ArticlesSee all
Why has China Tolerated Hong Kong’s Challenge?
21.07.19 Publication: Mainichi Shimbun
It was always inevitable, even before Britain handed back control of Hong Kong to China in 1997 after 99 years as a colony, that there would eventually be...
Read moreNext, a British General Election
12.07.19 Publication: La Stampa
We will not know until July 24 whether Britain’s next prime minister will be Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt, and we may not know until after the summer...
Read moreThe surprising resilience of global economic growth
01.06.19 Publication: Nikkei Business
This was supposed to be the year of the global economic slowdown, led by the United States and Europe. More than 10 years after those regions’ recovery from...
Read moreThe 2050 Index
In too many countries, politics and policy making is addicted to the short term. To help foster the longer-term thinking we all need, in 2017 I worked out this index, together with James Fransham of The Economist, which ranks 35 advanced western countries according to 25 different measures, grouped under the themes of demography, knowledge, innovation, globalization and resilience. I will be publishing an updated version in 2019.
See the 2050 IndexLatest Film: Cambridge Union April 26 2019
Latest Book
The fate of the West
Until now, Japan’s politics, economy and society have been dominated by men. The future promises to be different, as demographic realities and the growing number of women graduating from higher education since the early 1990s steadily change organisational structures and culture. How well the country adapts to this will determine whether in the 2020s, 30s […]
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