Tag: friday wisdom

  • FRIDAY’S WORDS OF WISDOM: THE NEW FEW BY FERDINAND MOUNT

    The blurb in the back of The New Few (or a Very British Oligarchy) by Ferdinand Mount (Simon & Schuster, 2012) rather modestly describes the author as a former columnist for The Spectator, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Times, editor of the TLS and former head of the Downing Street Policy Unit. What it omits is […]

    Read More

  • FRIDAY’S WORDS OF WISDOM: THE UPSIDE OF IRRATIONALITY BY DAN ARIELY

    Dan Ariely is probably the best known voice in the popularization of behavioural economics. Behavioural economics represents the most significant challenge to the ideas of classical economic theorists built around notions of more-or-less perfectly rational individuals who calculate and diligently pursue narrow profit maximisation. Building on the insights of behavioural psychology – especially in its […]

    Read More

  • FRIDAY’S WORDS OF WISDOM: WHAT MONEY CAN’T BUY BY MICHAEL J SANDEL

    Michael J Sandel opens What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2012) with a list (3-5) of some novel items that can be bought: In California prisoners can pay $82 a night for better, quieter cells. $8 to drive alone in a car pool lane during rush hour in […]

    Read More

  • FRIDAY’S WORDS OF WISDOM: THE TRIADS OF IRELAND BY KUNO MEYER

    The Triads of Ireland by Kuno Meyer (1906, available from Project Gutenberg) is a collection of a specifically Irish form of poetry popular amongst Irish bards that probably date from the Ninth Century[i]. They are, as the name suggests, based on threes – they’re sometimes witty, sometimes profound, sometimes strange and I discovered them recently […]

    Read More

  • FRIDAY’S WORDS OF WISDOM: BEYOND OUTRAGE BY ROBERT REICH

    Robert Reich has been banging on about the risks to advanced economies of increasing levels of inequality for longer than most.  The Work of Nations (published in 1991 and the book that got him headhunted by Bill Clinton’s campaign and, eventually, appointed as US Secretary of Labor) set out pretty accurately how the “global” economy […]

    Read More

  • FRIDAY’S WORDS OF WISDOM: END THIS DEPRESSION NOW! BY PAUL KRUGMAN

    I am slightly worried, given the brightly coloured cover of this book and the snappy title (screaming exclamation mark and all), that Paul Krugman’s End This Depression Now! (Melrose Road Partners, 2012) is going to end up in the hands of a lot of disappointed people looking for a quick fix for the their mental […]

    Read More

  • FRIDAY’S WORDS OF WISDOM: THE LONELY VOICE: A STUDY OF THE SHORT STORY BY FRANK O’CONNOR

    I first read some of Frank O’Connor’s short stories (and translated Irish poetry) when I was at school and they made an impression because when I picked up a second hand collection recently, some of the stories came back to me word for word and, I realised, they’d been pickling in my brain for decades. […]

    Read More

  • FRIDAY’S WORDS OF WISDOM: DEFENDING POLITICS BY MATTHEW FLINDERS

    Writing in defence of politics and, indeed, politicians is always a potentially risky pastime. The overwhelming public perception of politics is so cynically negative that anyone who speaks out in favour of those who take on public office is immediately the subject to suspicion (mostly of “being ambitious” or, more kindly, of “being niave”). And, […]

    Read More

  • FRIDAY’S WORDS OF WISDOM: A COUNTRY IS NOT A COMPANY BY PAUL KRUGMAN

    FRIDAY’S WORDS OF WISDOM: A COUNTRY IS NOT A COMPANY BY PAUL KRUGMAN

    A Country is Not a Company by Paul Krugman, (Harvard Business School Classics, 2009) is a brief essay that highlights the fallacy behind the notion that success in business automatically provides individuals with the insight necessary contribute advice towards the management of a national economy. A country is not a big corporation. The habits of […]

    Read More

  • FRIDAY’S WORDS OF WISDOM: CHRIS DEAN ON HOPE

    Something different this week, because, some days, it feels like I’m living through a terrible remake of the 1980s directed by Uwe Boll… The Redskins are a celebration of hope and pride. Amidst all the dross of the music scene, all the kajagoogoo-gaga imbecility and whinging shite, there’s, like, only a handful of bands that […]

    Read More