Hrkn to .. Thought for the Week

The debate over Cash ISA limits and the need to re-invigorate public interest in UK stock market investing has re-awoken people's ongoing approach to risk and reward, as if it's an 'either/or' question for your finances. However the Child Trust Fund scheme has shown the real benefit of long-term stock market investment — the challenge for this huge initiative taken by the previous Labour Governmen...

A comment article in The Times last Friday was headed, 'Starmer and Reeves must change to survive' — but which way? The backbench Labour MP uprising called for even more State spending, but the bond market and the July 22nd ‘Cost of Government Day’ say no — the public sector is already much too big. Of more concern is their preference to go for the 'stick' of welfare reduction rather than the 'car...

The English language does a real dis-service to Love. How can we use the same word to show our appreciation of ice cream as to define the nature of God — and everything in between? But the driving passion which is often described by the word love is often more about control. In contrast, we turn once again to 'The Prophet' by Kahlil Gibran to find his definition, which is much better phrased in te...

In ancient Roman religion and mythology Mars was the God of War but, judging by the fact that almost all wars in our modern age have their origins in disputes and disagreements over faith, you could be forgiven for thinking that Mars was still in the ascendant today. The difference is, today's wars can literally bring life on earth to a close. However almost all religions have love and peace at th...

The Chancellor was like a person sitting on the cliff-edge of colossal public debt last week, convinced that her massive 'investment' commitments can overlook the void below. It appears that economic stimulation is the only game in town for the British economy, and even that seems to avoid joined-up thinking in some key areas. Background music: 'Ether Oar' by The Whole Other Share Radio webpage fo...

Author of 'Capitalism in the 21st Century' Thomas Piketty proposes an unconditional 'inheritance' endowment for all young people on reaching 25 years of age. Grants often appear to offer instant solutions to problems of inequality, but unless they are accompanied by conditional incentivised learning they will not achieve inter-generational rebalancing. In contrast, Muhammad Yunus has built account...

On 11th June UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves presents her Spending Review against the backdrop of a gargantuan public debt liability which is costing the UK taxpayer £111 billion a year in interest. Further tax rises have been ruled out, so she needs to identify achievable, structural reductions in spending. Elon Musk thought he'd done just that as head of the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency...

Vladimir Putin has the audacity to claim moral superiority over western democracy: for the full story of complicity between Russia's leaders and the the Russian Orthodox Church, read 'The Baton and the Cross' by Lucy Ash. However implausible Putin's claim may be, we do need to examine our own consciences and become more aware of the need for a moral compass for capitalism. In so many walks of life...

The definition of what is art and what is science is a key part of academic life; the former being a matter of subjective opinion, albeit developed with skill and practice, and the latter a matter of exploring and defining objective facts. While we may seek the latter in our conversation, there is no doubt that, in itself, conversation is an art. Kahlil Gibran wrote many words of great insight one...

Male dominance has tracked humanity throughout our evolution from the animal world, but it's now presenting an existential danger as our ability to threaten the future escalates. Meanwhile society's call for gender equality without addressing the doctrine of male headship is delivering a generation of 'lost boys'. Men need to learn what comes naturally to women: 'servant leadership'. Jesus showed...

Nigel Farage's stunning electoral success last Thursday exposed the chronic failure of state-centred socialism and the policy vacuum at the heart of the discredited Conservative party, following a decade of errors of judgement. Thomas Jefferson set out his 'self-evident truths' in 1776, that all are equal in deserving life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness: these, combined with constitutional...

Climate change deniers may be in the hot seat across the Atlantic, but there is still a real determination to tackle global warming here in the United Kingdom. Harnessing sunlight is at the heart of new initiatives to build on the natural process of photosynthesis: much better than attempting to tamper with the atmosphere to dim sunlight. Meanwhile tidal flow generation has already given us a very...

News of Pope Francis's death early on Easter Monday shocked everyone after his Easter blessings to those in St. Peter's Square on Easter Sunday. Tributes have poured in, one of the most notable from Keir Starmer. As Pope Francis journeys to the next world, we look forward to Professor Michael Egnor's new book, 'The Immortal Mind' and celebrate the Resurrection. Pope Francis also had much to say on...

Bonds can cement obligation, and the rising yields on long-dated U.S. Treasury bonds are currently closing down Donald Trump's options for bullying the world into submission. Other superpowers may be relishing the opportunity to wrest hegemony away from America, but would this change the world for the better? Bonds can also draw people together, using the example of servant leadership given by Jes...

Donald Trump may think he's a deal-maker, but he's more likely to turn out to be an economy-breaker, putting the U.S. dollar's role as the world's reserve currency at risk. Recession may be the least of our worries — this degree of instant aggression could well bring on a second Great Depression. So while few would disagree that U.S. needs to find a way out of its chronic trade imbalances, a trans...

Outcome assessment is vital for all new initiatives, particularly political, but traditional academic research, which is sequential in character, is not good at responding to the speed of change in our modern world. This is particularly the case in tackling Child Poverty, for which a UK-Government Task Force is due to report later this Spring. If we are to break the cycle of deprivation with inter...

When Clement Attlee introduced welfare universality to post-war Britain, he was aiming for a more egalitarian society. Seventy-five years on we can see not only that it has not been achieved, but also that it has nearly bankrupted the public finances: a major task for UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves to tackle in her Spring Statement. Targeting support for those most in need with the support of philant...

Abolition of NHS England reverses the de-politicisation of the health service, but it leaves intact all the inefficiencies of being a monopoly: thereby rendering people complacent and satisfied with mediocrity, unless they're moved by the 'Florence Nightingale' mindset. Competition enables progress, efficient delivery and innovation, but most of all it respects individuals as customers, not simply...

As the United States descends towards economic turmoil as a result of its new-found isolationism and unreliability, the BRICS group of nations (including Russia and China) will be looking forward to a new dawn for their mainly autocratic regimes and potentially an opportunity to replace the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency. If western democracies, particularly in Europe, are to turn tha...

Isolation and insecurity as a result of reducing levels of in-person contact are causing problems in all walks of life, but particularly for young people in care. Getting started in adult life isn't just about learning the technical skills, but building self-confidence, communication skills and hope for the future. The performing arts — singing, dancing, acting and backstage — can provide these tr...

The 2025 Doomsday Clock is set at just 89 seconds before midnight by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, but it's not just the potential for nuclear catastrophe that is rearing its head: climate change and biodiversity are causing deep concerns, and even if we can struggle through this difficult period, the legacy that we're leaving to future generations is awful. It's said that charity begins...

Sam Altman, the tech entrepreneur who built OpenAI and its ground-breaking ChatGPT Artificial Intelligence functionality, correctly says that increasing equality may require new ideas. He's right: governments and political ideologies of many hues just can't deliver, besieged by conflicts of interest and debt. The Credit Suisse Wealth Distribution chart shows the huge contrast between those who are...

Whatever you may think of trade tariffs, there is no doubting the massive trade imbalance that has developed between China and the United States over the past three decades. Deliberate currency manipulation has enabled China to become the world's factory through resisting any meaningful appreciation of the Renminbi against the U.S. dollar. Parts of Europe have also suffered much economic damage as...

Both the Office for Budget Responsibility and Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, have warned of serious consequences for public finances if significant action isn't taken. The assumption is that this must be achieved by lifting growth in productivity. But what if the main impediment to traditional economic growth, as evidenced by GDP, is endemic demonetization brought about by advanci...

More than seven million people tuned in for the explosive finale of the third series of hit BBC series 'The Traitors', an entertaining romp through the psychological effects of dishonesty. The BBC has succeeded in making adjustments so that dishonesty doesn't always win, but the finale showed clearly how it evaporates trust. In a wider context, it's becoming increasingly clear that social media is...