Having just got back to Britain from New York, via Spain, I was like most Londoners surprised and shocked at the recent spate of looting and destruction. Much has been said about dispossession and disenfranchisement -- however it seems that a couple of key considerations need to be understood.

Firstly,...

Recent events in France where violence erupted in response to proposals to raise the pension age to 62 from 60, seemed to demonstrate that rather than any kind of revolution occurring, what we were seeing was more of a reaction that reflected a widespread disappointment amongst middle class...

Nudges and Bans have become all the rage today. We were told recently how in New York, there is a drive to prevent people who are on food stamps from buying sugary sodas. This, of course, is a patronizing elitist attitude that is becoming increasingly popular,...

Nothing could quite be so dreary -- when at a time of recession, with troops in various countries and unemployment high and freedoms being curtailed -- as the lackluster and limp UK General Election.

It has become entirely clear that there is a huge chasm between what the political...

In this weekend's Wall Street Journal Theodore Dalrymple (the pen name for Anthony Daniels, a retired prison doctor and psychiatrist) was only the latest of an increasingly loud chorus from various political backgrounds to address the issue of obesity.

What is so striking about the discussion, the obsession,...

When I got the call from my mother, I was racing to my next meeting having just left Union Square and being scheduled for a prompt start on the Upper East Side, trying to somehow avoid the particularly lousy New York weather. In the hastiness to answer the phone while...

Driving along the Santa Monica Boulevard where even the coolish LA weather is a far cry from the chills of New York and London that I am thankful to be away from, I sit back and listen to the informative KCRW Radio Station with its mixture of current affairs,...

Recently, the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, penned an article bemoaning the
greed of bankers and hatred of politicians. Indeed, it has been a widely popular argument that many commentators from around the world have put forward as an explanation for why we...

I have just returned to the UK and while working on a film project was also invited to speak about the increasing anti-Americanism that seems to be so prevalent in Europe and indeed among the US elite. While I strongly criticise the pernicious and narrow...

An interesting article appeared recently in The New York Times explaining how libraries were increasingly coming under pressure as numbers visiting swelled due to the recession. Quite rightly, it pointed out that (like so many other institutions) libraries have been steered in the direction of becoming "more relevant" and "accessible"...

When David Gregory suggested Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has had a "bumpy ride" on Meet The Press, it seemed to be somewhat of an understatement.

However, while the president declared on Jay Leno that he thought Geithner was doing an "outstanding job" others have called for...

In these troubled times it seems the one thing that we can be sure of is that bureaucrats and politicians (unfortunately increasingly interchangeable these days) who are bereft of any clear strategies for tackling the big issues of our day are keen to go after the small pleasures of life...

In the world we inhabit today, where we can agree universally on so little, we have become increasingly preoccupied and obsessed with children's safety and welfare. Ironically, it seems we have gone somewhat too far, helping to create "cotton wool kids" by helicopter parenting.

Dhalia Lithwick recently wrote about...

Nadya Suleman has become a reference point for much that contemporary pundits think is wrong with the world. The story of the world-breaking octupulets was speedily transformed from a celebratory reflection to a condemnation of "irresponsibility" and "greed."

It seems that whatever we discuss these days, the moralistic tone that...

Flying back to London I was astonished by the level of vitriol pouring from the majority of publications towards the leaders of banks, particularly HBOS and RBS. It has now become commonplace to try and point fingers at easy targets -- "it was them, it was them!" -- a bit...

The last few weeks have left many people wondering why, if we live in an age where TINA (There Is No Alternative) to the market is true, so many bailouts have occurred. While many have tagged George Bush as a socialist...

Britain is currently consumed with an extremely unhealthy obsession with knife crime. The Daily Mail suggested that there was a "blade epidemic" and that it was "out of control" after several tragic, unrelated incidents in different parts of the countries lead to deaths...

In Britain right now there is a raging discussion about leadership -- unfortunately however it is of the pragmatic kind relating to UK politician David Miliband's comments with regard to the future of the Labour Party and of course indirectly the leadership of Prime...

The enormous amount of coverage of the arrest, extradition and appearance in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) of Radovan Karadzic in the western media has in general reflected much of the shared assumptions and outlook towards the tragic events in the former Yugoslavia. Travelling...

Seldom does a day pass without stories of China's rapid emergence both as an economic giant and a political power. Recently, with the approaching Beijing Olympics, it seems as though much of the discussion is more akin to an ongoing tirade, a continual verbal onslaught by western journalists and politicians....