Opinion

In weighing how to advance his new Covid relief package, President Joe Biden is wrestling with a dilemma. Does he press as quickly as possible, with or without Republican cooperation, to pass the plan he’s laid out? Or does he seek compromise, risking both delay and a dilution of his proposals, in an effort that Republicans might scorn in any ...

Will 2021 be the year that leadership becomes feminine? As the year begins, there are more top female leaders than ever before. In the US, about a quarter of the legislature is female. Kamala Harris just became the first woman Vice President. Half of the Biden-Harris administration’s cabinet is female — another first. Women leaders are making gains in business ...

In the eyes of many voters, Boris Johnson stopped being prime minister for the whole of the United Kingdom as soon as the Covid pandemic began to rage last March. Instead he appears to have shrunk to the status of England’s uncertain chief executive, taking orders from technocrats and scientific advisers. North of the border, it is Nicola Sturgeon, leader ...

Supporters and opponents of gentrification seem to agree on one thing: It can’t be stopped. The more important question is whether the process can be managed — its benefits maximised and its costs mitigated. With enough will and engagement at the community level, as well as strong direction and coordination from local governments? The first thing to note is that ...

What would one even call a merged Exxon Mobil and Chevron? Exron sounds a little too much like another former energy powerhouse from Texas. Standard Oil would be a reasonable compromise given it would reunify so many of the baby Rockefellers. But the PR types and the lawyers might think it best not to put that in front of the ...

No US president, or former president, has ever been convicted in a Senate impeachment trial. Donald Trump is highly unlikely to break that streak. That’s a principal reason some members of Congress started promoting censure as an alternative to impeachment right after the Capitol riot. The idea is getting new attention now that Senate Republicans have solidified their opposition to ...

Sometimes blowout earnings aren’t enough. For the third quarter in a row, Facebook Inc and Apple Inc generated billions upon billions in profits and flexed the power of their dominant businesses. Despite the impressive showings, the market reacted with a shrug — and perhaps for good reason. Both technology companies reported strong quarterly earnings that handily beat Wall Street expectations. ...

What happens to a global financial centre when hundreds of thousands of residents head for the door? The jury is still out on London after its Brexit- and pandemic-inspired exodus. Now it’s Hong Kong’s turn to pose the question. The UK started taking applications from January 31 under a new immigration program for Hong Kong residents, introduced in response to ...

At best, President Joe Biden’s new commitment to “Buy American” is largely symbolic and won’t change much in practice. At worst, it marks a real intention to raise new import barriers, and poses a threat to international cooperation on trade. In either case, it represents a failure to explain to the country where its interests really lie. On the face ...

As a dual citizen of the US and Germany, I’ve spent much of my life pondering how my two countries deal with their respective histories. The latest occasion was Martin Luther King Jr Day. That’s the date the departing administration of Donald Trump chose to issue a 41-page report called the “1776 Commission.” The document was produced at Trump’s behest ...