Today, “playing out” is recognised by psychologists as one of the means by which children come to terms with traumatic events.  But the dark events themselves become lost in the mists of time, removing the trauma from the echoes they leave behind for our delicate, civilised ears.  Consider children’s nursery …

The transformation in the Labour Party’s fortunes was staggering.  In the spring of 2021, a Tory Party which had been in office for 11 years stood a good chance of extending its lead in the once unassailable “red wall.”  By the autumn of 2022 – the year of two monarchs …

The technocrats at the Bank of England have come in for more criticism as a result of Chief Economist Huw Pill’s remarks during an American podcast.  As Michael Race and Vishala Sri-Pathma at the BBC report, the former Goldman Sachs banker told listeners that: “Somehow in the UK, someone needs …

The deception of the past decade is that central banks have been “printing money” via quantitative easing.  This may have helped boost confidence in the real economy that it was safe to borrow once more.  But other than the printing of the tiny volumes of cash, which account for less …

I was in my teens when I came across the idea that “cool” was a bell curve.  You’re at a party, for example, and some guy picks up an acoustic guitar and gives a rendition of the latest hits… that’s cool.  Add a harmonica and you’re getting toward “peak cool” …

A tough spring ahead Central bankers were quick to explain that the recent string of bank failures was no cause for alarm and that inflation remains public enemy number one.  Bank boss Jamie Dimon is less sure, warning investors that: “The current crisis is not yet over, and even when …

In Part One, we looked at fake news as a simulacrum – something so many stages removed that it has no connection at all with the real world.  This is not simply a matter of bias or propaganda, but something which calls into question everything we think we know and …

When it comes to the origins of the term “fake news,” people fall into two broad camps.  The first holds that the term was coined by former US president Donald Trump to dismiss critics in the establishment media.  The second, smaller group, insist that the term has been around for …

Physicist Albert Bartlett made the case that humanity’s greatest weakness is our inability to understand the exponential function.  If this is so, then surely our inability to process time must be our second greatest weakness.  As I wrote in my book, The Consciousness of Sheep: “The overwhelming majority of us …

Following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the bailout of Credit Suisse last week, apologists have taken to the airwaves to claim that we should not cast blame on the central bankers.  There is a superficial case that can be made here, insofar as the management of SVB seems …