Publication: Corriere della Sera

03.07.10 Publication: Corriere della Sera

A useful saying, I find, is “be careful what you wish for”. The consequences may not all be what you expected or thought of. In the next few years, this...

09.05.10 Publication: Corriere della Sera

Britain’s electoral system has been widely envied for its ability to produce decisive outcomes and stable governments. But on May 6th our “first past the...

27.04.10 Publication: Corriere della Sera

The British have long been suspicious of the idea of coalition governments, believing them to be a dangerously unstable continental idea. Despite the fact...

29.03.10 Publication: Corriere della Sera

Having fought two wars together in the past nine years, neither of which yielded great honour or achievements, it may be natural for America and Britain to sit...

03.03.10 Publication: Corriere della Sera

Is Britain in the midst of an economic crisis? We British have been asking ourselves that question ever since the global credit crunch began in mid-2007, and...

04.02.10 Publication: Corriere della Sera

We are well accustomed to being rather bewildered by Chinese official statements. Although they have become more sophisticated in the past decade, very often...

20.12.09 Publication: Corriere della Sera

The agreement that closed the Copenhagen climate conference will disappoint anyone who dreamed that this summit of more than 190 countries would come up with a...

07.12.09 Publication: Corriere della Sera

The Copenhagen conference on climate change, which opens next Monday, December 7th, is going to be difficult to evaluate—perhaps as difficult as is climate...

13.11.09 Publication: Corriere della Sera

Everyone knows, or thinks that they know, that American power is declining. And yet everyone also wants America’s attention, and wants some reflected glory...

01.11.09 Publication: Corriere della Sera

It has been called the worst financial crisis to have occurred in the past 60 years. Others have said it is simply unprecedented. Even Alan Greenspan, the...

25.10.09 Publication: Corriere della Sera

It is a problem at the very heart of democracy: are anyone’s political ideas so objectionable that they should not be allowed to be heard in public,...

02.10.09 Publication: Corriere della Sera

This is an important week for European politics, and especially for the politics of my own country, Britain. The reasons lie across the sea from us in Ireland...

19.09.09 Publication: Corriere della Sera

In Britain, we have become accustomed to the deaths of our soldiers, in Afghanistan like in Iraq. Even so, the death of six in a suicide attack in Kabul would...

26.08.09 Publication: Corriere della Sera

During the 1980s, Europeans knew little about Japan but wanted to know more. Since Japan’s financial crash in 1990-92, Europeans have felt they can safely...

25.08.09 Publication: Corriere della Sera

Economic recovery is gathering pace, or at least evidence, all around the world, even if neither Italy nor Britain have yet matched the positive GDP data seen...

23.07.09 Publication: Corriere della Sera

When you are the world’s only true superpower, then every region is important to you. That is why, whenever President Barack Obama or his secretary of state,...

14.07.09 Publication: Corriere della Sera

In most countries, a violent uprising by an ethnic minority which had to be suppressed by mobilising thousands of troops would be considered a sign of weakness...

26.06.09 Publication: Corriere della Sera

Can it just be a coincidence that we are seeing signs of an early recovery in the Chinese economy at the same time as the European Union and the United States...

12.05.09 Publication: Corriere della Sera

For the past few days, the British public has been enjoying an unusual form of entertainment. It has consisted of daily revelations about the sums of money...

26.04.09 Publication: Corriere della Sera

Every writer, singer or actor depends for his livelihood on the legal and moral protection of his work from theft, or what these days we call piracy. For that...

16.04.09 Publication: Corriere della Sera

During this global economic crisis, it is often said that one consequence could be a reversal of globalisation, a revival of state intervention, even a...

14.04.09 Publication: Corriere della Sera

To a visitor, Thailand can seem such a peaceful place, where Thais greet you by putting their hands together as if in prayer. Admittedly, most tourists see the...

29.03.09 Publication: Corriere della Sera

At this stage of the global recession, should we be getting more pessimistic or more optimistic? Barely six months into the true economic shock that followed...

05.03.09 Publication: Corriere della Sera

If you were planning to visit Tibet this month, then you had better think again. It is closed. Foreign visitors have been banned, amid a big security clampdown...