Browsing: Media opinion 3

“Interest rates would rise. The financial markets are worried about France. They don’t know which way our country is headed. … France’s attractiveness would decline. In recent years, since 2015, France has become more attractive to foreign investors. … But since the dissolution of parliament, investors have been asking themselves: should they invest elsewhere? Should they wait and see if France remains hospitable? Some projects have already been cancelled, others have been scaled back or postponed. The fall of the Barnier government would only fuel this spiral of mistrust.”

China, after decades of mostly export-based growth, must now deal with massive problems of industrial overcapacity. The country is now trying to encourage more domestic consumption and to diversify its trading partners.

The government’s current position puts it out of step with a number of UK institutions, such as the Church of England, the University of Glasgow and Lloyds Bank – as well as the Guardian – who, in recent years, have not only issued formal apologies but announced proposals for reparatory justice. The insistence on focusing on “current future-facing challenges” such as climate resilience and debt restructuring went down like a lead balloon with legal experts, campaigners and the Caribbean Community (Caricom). Many felt it showed a deep ignorance of what the campaign for reparative justice actually is.

“The FA’s decision to appoint Thomas Tuchel as the new England manager is so, so sad. … The manager of a national team, any national team, should be from the same country as his players. It should be compulsory, one of the rules of the game, a point that isn’t even up for discussion. … This should be about one country’s best taking on another country’s best. If that best isn’t good enough, then so be it. Do something about the lack of resources at your disposal to ensure you do have the best players and coaches if you want to win something.”

Armstrong understood that renewables would be cheaper energy sources in the long run compared to burning dirty coal, but his was essentially a lone voice. The presumed abundance of coal led to the commissioning of the world’s first coal power plant in 1882. The U.K.’s coal plants have since burned through 4.6 billion tonnes of coal, emitting 10.4Gt of CO2, stresses Dr Sim Evans, deputy editor of Carbon Brief.

“Barnier’s cabinet is likely to reassure the business world. … First in terms of method: the prime minister is consulting experts widely and has undertaken to continue doing so in preparation for his government policy statement. This marks the beginning of a culture of compromise that is quite foreign to France. And secondly in the choice of personnel: there are few or no big names in this team, but the ministers are experts in their fields and will be careful not to break with the dynamic created over the past seven years. … With the cast, the method and the direction now set, the 2025 budget will be the acid test.”

“Forget the soothing diplomatic tones from Dublin – justice is a portfolio nobody wanted. Justice means guaranteed (and often personalised) conflict with states such as Hungary and Slovakia. … The reality is that in a decade Ireland has gone from holding agriculture and rural development (a third of the EU budget), to trade (the crown jewel of the EU’s competencies) via financial services (stripped of the important bits) to the thankless task of policing wannabe European dictators under a ‘democracy shield’.”

“Then, for more than 90-minutes on Tuesday night, Harris put Trump on the defensive, taunting him about the size of his crowds and pressing him over his shifting positions on abortion. It clearly rattled the former president, who took the bait again and again. With the race on a knife’s edge, and Trump’s support relatively stable despite his 34 felony convictions, an assassination attempt and the replacement of his Democratic opponent, Harris could hardly afford a shaky performance, much less a defeat. In the end, she delivered what fellow Californian, the governor Gavin Newsom, described as a “masterclass”.”