Archive for May, 2009
Più Ferrari per tutti
17 May 2009Laura Piccinini of Repubblica, a leading Italian newspaper, has written an article on John Naish’s idea that humans have Stone Age brains including a reference to my critique of his work. A summary and partial translation of the article by Maria Grasso can be found below. A link to my article on “Enoughism” is in […]
- Tags: consumption, ethics, media appearances, review, science
Expenses row and austerity
In: Uncategorized
13 May 2009A lot could be said about the row over MPs’ expenses in Britain but I want to focus on one aspect of it. The discussion will no doubt strenghten the call for greater austerity. A key theme of the discussion is that everyone, including MPs, should be prepared to make sacrifices in these difficult times. […]
- Tags: consumption, corruption, ethics
Redefining the American dream 2
In: Uncategorized
12 May 2009More attempts to redefine the American dream in diminished terms (see post of 6 March 2009). The traditional conception of the American dream, as put forward by James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of America in 1931 was of: “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and […]
- Tags: America, book, consumption, film, growth
Treasury cannot face new global reality
In: Uncategorized
11 May 2009The following comment by me appeared in the latest Fund Strategy (11 May). The Treasury’s report on the future of British-based international financial services contains a strong dose of wishful thinking. Its authors seem to find it hard to grapple with the significance of developments over the past few months; let alone decades. Its authors […]
- Tags: economics, finance, Fund Strategy
Contempt for democracy
In: Uncategorized
10 May 2009A good example of how environmental “consultation” can work. No doubt if these Scottish high school students had given the “correct” answer when canvassed – that they wanted a community wind farm – it would have been used to help justify support for such projects. But because they said they desired things deemed environmentally incorrect […]
- Tags: consumption, energy, environment, ethics
Spiked article defending bankers
In: Uncategorized
7 May 2009Spiked has published my review of Will Hutton’s Channel 4 television Dispatches documentary on how bankers caused the crisis. It is on the same theme as my session at the Battle for the Economy conference in London on 16 May.
‘Green’ lightbulbs poison workers
In: Uncategorized
6 May 2009According to this article in the Sunday Times (London) the Chinese workers who produce energy efficient lightbulbs for the West are suffering from mercury poisoning: “Doctors, regulators, lawyers and courts in China – which supplies two thirds of the compact fluorescent bulbs sold in Britain – are increasingly alert to the potential impacts on public […]
- Tags: china, environment, technology
Greedy bankers not to blame for crisis
In: Uncategorized
5 May 2009The following comment by me appeared in the latest Fund Strategy (4 May). As time goes by, more sophisticated explanations for the economic crisis emerge. Working out which is correct is crucial to finding solutions. Clearly there are many elements involved in any comprehensive explanation of the downturn. But it is necessary to distinguish between […]
- Tags: economics, film, Fund Strategy, television
The pro-nuclear myth
In: Uncategorized
4 May 2009James Woudhuysen and Joe Kaplinsky argue in an article on spiked that New Labour’s apparent support for nuclear power is a myth. Although the British government is formally committed to atomic energy its support is qualified by so many caveats – on such questions as energy security and climate change – as to render it […]
- Tags: climate, energy, environment, spiked, technology
The aim of this site
In: Uncategorized
4 May 2009This is a temporary version of my site. After I finish writing my book, by late 2009, I hope to develop a fully-fledged website. In the meantime this site brings together my writing and other resources on “growth scepticism”: the tendency to call the benefits of mass affluence into question.
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