Opinion

Up to World War II, the history of Alsace region along the Rhine used to be an example of everything that was wrong with Europe. Then it became a case study in everything that could go right in Europe — and potentially the world. Are we forgetting the Alsatian lesson and going back to the bad old world? That Alsatian ...

A year ago, the course of the pandemic changed, thanks to the first safe and effective vaccines against Covid-19. Today, after administering 7.3 billion doses and preventing countless severe deaths, we have more data than ever to justify that early enthusiasm — and the need to keep jabbing. On top of waning immunity and the lifting of restrictions, countries with ...

It’s been 12 months. On November 9 last year, Pfizer Inc awoke the world to the triumphant news that it had developed a vaccine for Covid-19 that worked. It was one of the clearest market turning points in memory. As far as most of us were concerned, it was also one of the best items of news we could remember. ...

Firms are at pains to promote diversity in their leadership and at the entry level. But what about the vast mass of employees in between? Socially minded investors need to have middle managers in their sights too. The terms for middle management — “permafrost,” “the frozen middle” — are generally miserable. “Frontline managers” is often preferred. However they’re described, the ...

Big banks are rolling in free cash, but investors are struggling to believe that some of them will ever hand it over. They should take another look. Fifteen of the biggest US and European banks have piled up more than $125 billion of excess capital after the first nine months of 2021. Profits soared after a spell of record corporate ...

Global warming is here and the world is not ready. The need to adapt to a transforming climate used to be seen as a distraction from the more urgent goal of preventing change. Today, it’s clear adaptation can no longer wait. Floods, droughts, severe hurricanes and a heat dome in the Pacific Northwest this year alone have been a reminder ...

Who needs a metaverse when you have Elon Musk’s Twitter feed? In the latest installment, the bad boy billionaire conducted a poll via Tesla Inc’s ersatz communications department, asking real people on the internet whether he should sell roughly $20 billion worth of his shares in the company. The majority verdict: Yes. So there you have it. The masses have ...

“When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?” That’s the first witch setting the opening scene in Macbeth but it might as well be any commentator on the current state of the UK or outlook for the pound. The lows for sterling this year versus the dollar at $1.34 look set to be tested again soon. ...

In 2009, President Barack Obama took a short break from his summer holiday on Martha’s Vineyard to tap then-Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke for a second term. Joe Biden, by contrast, is more likely to interrupt his Thanksgiving dinner to perform the same duty. The White House has been prevaricating for months over whether to give Jerome Powell, the current ...

If US troops were deployed on Taiwan, China’s government-run Global Times warned in August, Beijing would “destroy and expel” them and “realise reunification by force.” Two months later, media reports confirmed that the Pentagon had indeed placed small numbers of US forces on Taiwan. The People’s Liberation Army didn’t strike. But the episode was enough to make one wonder whether ...