This mass selling off of assets to foreign investors will lead to economic disaster. Labour needs to reset the UK’s courseIn 1994, I joined a march protesting against how the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund – backed by the US – were forcing governments in the global south to follow what was called the “Washington consensus”.We argued that privatising state assets, deregulating markets, and liberalising financial services to attract external investment was leaving countries more unstable, more unequal and more dependent on foreign actors. Decades on, I am horrified that an approach that wreaked havoc in the global south is still being pursued in the UK.Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah is the chief executive of the New Economics Foundation and author of Power to the People. He is a former chief executive of Oxfam GB and secretary general of Civicus, a global alliance of civil society organisations Continue reading...

Events

Selling off assets to foreign owners, deregulating markets, and liberalising financial services only leads to inequality and instabilityIn 1994, I joined a march protesting against how the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund – backed by the US – were forcing governments in the global south to follow what was called the “Washington consensus”.We argued that privatising state assets, deregulating markets, and liberalising financial services to attract external investment was leaving countries more unstable, more unequal and more dependent on foreign actors. Decades on, I am horrified that an approach that wreaked havoc in the global south is still being pursued in the UK.Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah is the chief executive of the New Economics Foundation and author of Power to the People. He is a former chief executive of Oxfam GB and secretary general of Civicus, a global alliance of civil society organisations Continue reading...

Economics

Dollar slides after US president exempts carmakers from 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico; euro and sterling hit four-month highsThe British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) is predicting “a long and challenging year for UK businesses”. It has become more gloomy about the growth outlook for the UK and said firms will struggle to invest as they deal with a raft of rising cost pressures.This is going to be a long and challenging year for UK businesses. The BCC’s forecast shows an economy struggling without the secure foundations to kickstart business investment.Inflation will continue to be stubborn this year forcing the Bank of England to keep interest rates relatively high. Global uncertainties will add further dark clouds to the economic climate. Continue reading...

Economics

Stigma, lack of treatment and disproportionate rise of the disease in women draws comparisons with HIV epidemicAn alarming rise in obesity in Africa has been compared with the HIV epidemic, with stigma and lack of treatment having a disproportionate impact on women.Almost half of women in Africa will be obese or overweight by the end of the decade, according to a recent study by the World Obesity Federation. Continue reading...

Politics

To counter the crisis caused by Trump, Friedrich Merz has little choice but to abandon decades of military and economic cautionIn February 1945, three world leaders – Winston Churchill, Franklin D Roosevelt and Josef Stalin – met in Crimea for the Yalta conference, to discuss the new world order they would implement after the soon-to-end second world war.Smaller nations were given no say in deciding their fate. The Soviet sphere of influence would infest eastern Europe for decades and US foreign policy dominated the second half of the 20th century. Churchill resisted the end of the UK’s global empire and independence for Britain’s colonies came piecemeal; they were let go with bitterness.Catherine De Vries is professor of political science at Bocconi University in Milan Continue reading...

Events

One Rep Global secures strategic partnership with Nobu Hotel London to target growing Indian market  ETTravelWorld.com

Events

It is already clear the US president is hellbent on ushering in a new dawn in which traditional alliances are abandoned – and nations must fend for themselves, says Tobias Ellwood

Politics

As Pope Francis remains hospitalized in Rome, thousands of faithful from around the world have been gathering by St. Peter’s and by the hospital to pray the rosary for him

Events

Gisèle Pelicot won global praise for her dignity as her husband Dominique Pelicot was tried and convicted of raping her while inviting dozens of men to do the same

Events

The Chancellor's room for manoeuvre is believed to have been wiped out by global turmoil and sluggish economic growth

Politics

With one bound he was free! That is what Sir Keir Starmer 's admirers are saying about his sudden transformation into a globe-trotting international statesman.

Politics

Late Fleetwood Mac Star Christine McVie’s London Penthouse Selling for Nearly £7M  Mansion Global

Economics

Christine McVie’s London Penthouse Hits the Market for £6.95 Million  Mansion Global

Economics

Robin van Persie may have found that, for this year at least, fairytales have their limits. Only 10 days have passed since he was tasked with leading the club that forged him and it was a delicious twist of fate that Inter, contributors to a formative moment in his playing career, posed his first Champions League test. This proved a harsh introduction to the sharper end of management and it will be a shock for the ages if a depleted Feyenoord, willing but callow, can turn around a two-goal deficit at San Siro next week.Inter simply weathered an early storm and, summoning the poise and wisdom that so often helps Serie A sides dismiss irritating arrivistes, brought their potent strike force to bear. Marcus Thuram and Lautaro Martínez finished clinically either side of half-time and at this point it would be a stretch to claim Piotr Zielinski’s missed penalty may be consequential. While Milan had fallen here in the playoffs and been humbled in the return leg too, their city rivals simp...

Events

Ten Chinese hackers have been charged alongside two Chinese law enforcement officers in a global hacking campaign that targeted dissidents, news organizations and U.S. agencies

Politics

We need a ‘coalition of the willing’ capable of bringing together those in Europe and the global south. Britain should facilitate thatThere are only so many times Donald Trump can be offered a state and royal visit to temper his political tantrums. With his latest attacks on Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the halting of aid to Ukraine, it’s already clear that not even the offer of a bed for the night at Balmoral has worked.The silver lining of the Trump experience over the past fortnight is hopefully that it leads to a more realistic appraisal not just of the implications of the re-election of this narcissistic, bullying, corporate thug, but an understanding of the role the US has played over generations. Trump and his gang members JD Vance and Elon Musk are just the ugliest of faces of the US global policy pursued for a century at least.John McDonnell is MP for Hayes and Harlington. He was Labour’s shadow chancellor from 2015 to 2020 Continue reading...

Politics

The closely-watched S&P Global UK services PMI showed the economy effectively flatlining last month, with a score of 51.

Economics

How a group of Silicon Valley math prodigies, AI researchers and internet burnouts descended into an alleged violent cultYears before she became the peculiar central thread linking a double homicide in Pennsylvania, the fatal shooting of a federal agent in Vermont and the murder of an elderly landlord in California, a computer programmer bought a sailboat.The programmer was known to friends, foes and followers as Ziz. She had come to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2016 as part of an influx of young people arriving to study the dangers that artificial intelligence could pose to humanity. Continue reading...

Events

The model and Jo Malone London’s Global Brand Ambassador and the face of their English Pear & Freesia Campaign on her beauty routine

Politics

Scotland talisman captured on camera during Serie A clash

Events