“In my country the people can do as they like, although it often happens that they don’t like what they have done” —Winston Churchill, 1946 During the Second World War, as US power was eclipsing Britain’s, Harold Macmillan, a future prime minister, reportedly said, “These Americans represent the new Roman Empire and we Britons, like the Greeks of old, must ...

It’s an election year in India, with the world’s largest polls expected in the spring. The focus of politicians is, as usual, on farmers and rural areas and competitive pandering to both — hardly surprising in a country that considers itself a nation of villages. However, this narrative has one major flaw. India is, in fact, more urban than politicians ...

In Flemish, they call it a “Graadmeter.” In English, it’s a bellwether. Either way, it’s applicable to the layoffs announced by Proximus SA. The former Belgian telecom monopoly is cutting about 6 percent of its workforce as it accelerates the “digitalisation” of its business (though its statement does little to explain exactly what that means). Erstwhile national carriers almost uniformly ...