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Death in a time of life
May 16th, 2012Once in a while in death, you learn something about life. So it was this morning at the gracious church of St Martin’s in The Field’s on a rare sunny corner of London’s Trafalgar Square.
Rebekah Brooks and the lessons of Watergate
May 15th, 2012Not the hacking of Millie Dowler‘s phone. Not even the allegation that someone may even have deleted several of her messages. No, today’s charges by the CPS against Rebekah and Charlie Brooks, the current head of security at News International, and others, are allegations of cover-up.
JP Morgan: a tempest no longer in a teacup?
May 14th, 2012A Martian checking in on Earth News for the first time since 2008 might well wonder whether our global banking history is repeating itself.
One of the world’s gold-plated banks goes rogue, the eurozone in crisis, and the bond market experiences a collective nervous breakdown.
It doesn’t take a Martian to work out that maybe all but nothing has been learned from the financial meltdown of 2008. Indeed, stop more or less anyone on any European street, or any American street, and they will tell you nothing’s been done to address the ingredients of the 2008 crisis.
JPMorgan: a tempest no longer in a teapot?
JPMorgan: not just any bank
The ‘tempest in a teapot’ at JPMorgan – first spotted by other traders and financial experts four weeks ago – involves all the stupidity and miscalculation that described the elements of the 2008 banking crisis. When a bank anticipates $17bn in profits in 2012, a $2bn loss may not sound too bad. But JPMorgan isn’t just any bank.
Claire Lomas – one remarkable woman
May 9th, 2012“She’ll do you down the line, Jon”. My editor was talking about the remarkable Claire Lomas who had just crossed the finishing line of the London marathon sixteen days after the rest. ‘Down the line’ means I sit in the studio and she’s piped in on a video link from a truck. You never get to make eye contact or get to feel the atmosphere of meeting someone and talking to them properly.
So I told him I’d get on my bike and get down to the Mall outside Buckingham Palace and speak to her in the spot of her exceptional triumph.
A marathon achievement by Claire Lomas
May 8th, 2012Five years ago Claire Lomas was a top-rated event jumper. But one day her horse bolted and she smashed into a tree. She was left paralysed from the chest down. She would never walk again. Except she has.
History as France, Greece and Serbia go to polls
May 6th, 2012A tremendous air of excitement here in Paris. Even before getting here, it was clear that French society is profoundly different from our own.
Murdoch committee ‘unfit’ for purpose?
May 2nd, 2012Whilst politicians wrangle about how to reform the House of Lords, nothing exposes the urgency of reforms to the House of Commons more than the Murdoch report by the Commons Select Committee on Culture Media and Sport.
The shock of revelation
April 25th, 2012You could not have written it – from the tragic and mysterious body in the bag; to the hidden paths of influence in the body politic. News is almost becoming an exaggerated parody of life. Is it the social network that has exploded private Britain and secret Britain into the centre of our news consumption?
Time for a joined-up strategy on cycling
April 24th, 2012It wasn’t quite gamekeeper-turned-poacher, but there was something bizarre about appearing in front of MPs to be questioned about one of my passions – cycling.
The transport select committee has been examining cycle safety in the light of The Times campaign following the desperate damage inflicted upon one of its young star reporters by a turning truck – she is still in a coma six months on.
I appeared with the editor of the Times, James Harding, and with a cycle activist, the vice-president of CTC.
Are the ‘two main parties’ on the skids?
April 23rd, 2012It’s not often you want to start the day with far right French nationalist’s words ringing in your ears. But Marine Le Pen’s words after winning nearly one in five French votes in the presidential election have an eerie ring.
