With house prices rising worldwide, international investors and speculators are turning their eyes to housing as an object of investment. What if we tackled this problem at its root through a fairer ownership system? Globally, in many places, such a system is already being implemented by Community Land Trusts. Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote that the first […]
Europe
We all remember the image of the two lonely dictators at the Winter Olympics in Beijing. Putin was the only international leader to attend, and he was courted accordingly. In return, he was allowed to take back home with him new trade contracts and the promise of ‘unlimited friendship’. Nevertheless, China cannot have been enthusiastic […]
In the shadow of the war in Ukraine and the French presidential election, the Slovene parliamentary election took place on Sunday 24 April. The outcome of the election in Slovenia was important primarily for reinvigorating democracy in Slovenia. But it was also important for the future of democracy in Europe. The resounding electoral ‘no’ to […]
It is now proverbial that the coronavirus recession was better managed from the point of view of macroeconomics than the previous major crisis in Europe: that of the eurozone. Austerity has been by and large avoided, and social cohesion has been better preserved through solidarity at all levels. Where the distinction has to be particularly […]
The re-election of Viktor Orbán and Fidesz in the 2022 Hungarian elections was not a surprise, but the extent of their victory was. Appealing to society’s craving for security and stability in times of the war in Ukraine proved decisive, as did the united opposition’s failure to convince voters that they would be better off […]
Not for the first time, Europe finds itself in the middle of a fossil gas conflict. Not for the first time, Russia is reducing its supplies and using gas as a political weapon. The Ukraine conflict is threatening to escalate and, with it, the gas crisis. Germany made a mistake and, contrary to what our […]