North Sea oil

102 results back to index


pages: 614 words: 168,545

Rentier Capitalism: Who Owns the Economy, and Who Pays for It? by Brett Christophers

"World Economic Forum" Davos, accounting loophole / creative accounting, Airbnb, Amazon Web Services, barriers to entry, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, Big Tech, book value, Boris Johnson, Bretton Woods, Brexit referendum, British Empire, business process, business process outsourcing, Buy land – they’re not making it any more, call centre, Cambridge Analytica, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, Cass Sunstein, cloud computing, collective bargaining, congestion charging, corporate governance, data is not the new oil, David Graeber, DeepMind, deindustrialization, Diane Coyle, digital capitalism, disintermediation, diversification, diversified portfolio, Donald Trump, Downton Abbey, electricity market, Etonian, European colonialism, financial deregulation, financial innovation, financial intermediation, G4S, gig economy, Gini coefficient, Goldman Sachs: Vampire Squid, greed is good, green new deal, haute couture, high net worth, housing crisis, income inequality, independent contractor, intangible asset, Internet of things, Jeff Bezos, Jeremy Corbyn, Joseph Schumpeter, Kickstarter, land bank, land reform, land value tax, light touch regulation, low interest rates, Lyft, manufacturing employment, market clearing, Martin Wolf, means of production, moral hazard, mortgage debt, Network effects, new economy, North Sea oil, offshore financial centre, oil shale / tar sands, oil shock, patent troll, pattern recognition, peak oil, Piper Alpha, post-Fordism, post-war consensus, precariat, price discrimination, price mechanism, profit maximization, proprietary trading, quantitative easing, race to the bottom, remunicipalization, rent control, rent gap, rent-seeking, ride hailing / ride sharing, Right to Buy, risk free rate, Ronald Coase, Rutger Bregman, sharing economy, short selling, Silicon Valley, software patent, subscription business, surveillance capitalism, TaskRabbit, tech bro, The Nature of the Firm, transaction costs, Uber for X, uber lyft, vertical integration, very high income, wage slave, We are all Keynesians now, wealth creators, winner-take-all economy, working-age population, yield curve, you are the product

Brotherstone, ‘A Contribution to the Critique of Post-Imperial British History: North Sea Oil, Scottish Nationalism and Thatcherite Neoliberalism’, in O. Logan and J. McNeigh, eds, Flammable Societies: Studies on the Socio-economics of Oil and Gas (London: Pluto, 2012), pp. 70–98, at p. 77. 27. M. Gutiérrez, ‘Making Markets Out of Thin Air: A Case of Capital Involution’, Antipode 43 (2011), pp. 639–61. 28. K. Myers, ‘National Hydrocarbon Accounting: A Methodology for Monitoring Upstream Sector Governance. The Case of UK North Sea Oil and Gas’, May 2014, p. 25 – pdf available at resourcegovernance.org. 29. 1.5 per cent of Aramco shares were listed on the Saudi stock exchange in December 2019. 30.

The Case of UK North Sea Oil and Gas’, May 2014, p. 25 – pdf available at resourcegovernance.org. 29. 1.5 per cent of Aramco shares were listed on the Saudi stock exchange in December 2019. 30. T. Cave, ‘More Than a Lobby: Finance in the UK’, 26 September 2013, at opendemocracy.net. 31. C. Harvie, Fool’s Gold: The Story of North Sea Oil (London: Penguin, 1995), p. 85. 32. A. Cumbers, ‘North Sea Oil, the State and Divergent Development in the UK and Norway’, in Logan and McNeigh, Flammable Societies, pp. 221–42, at p. 229. 33. Ibid., p. 226. 34. Woolfson et al., Paying for the Piper, p. 28. 35. C. Nakhle, ‘Petroleum Fiscal Regimes: Evolution and Challenges’, in P. Daniel, M. Keen and C.

‘Statistics of Government Revenues from UK Oil and Gas Production’, June 2018, p. 8 – pdf available at assets.publishing.service.gov.uk. 67. For example, Cumbers, ‘North Sea Oil’. 68. D. Saunders, ‘Frugal Norway Saves for Life After the Boom’, Globe and Mail, 31 January 2008. 69. Ibid. 70. K. Morgan, Britain Since 1945: The People’s Peace (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), pp. 446, 568. 71. Woolfson et al., Paying for the Piper, p. xvii. 72. Harvie, Fool’s Gold, p. 294. 73. G. Lodge, ‘Thatcher and North Sea Oil – A Failure to Invest in Britain’s Future’, New Statesman, 15 April 2013. 74. Ibid. 75. Harvie, Fool’s Gold, p. 356. 76.


pages: 872 words: 259,208

A History of Modern Britain by Andrew Marr

air freight, Albert Einstein, anti-communist, battle of ideas, Beeching cuts, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, Bletchley Park, Bob Geldof, Bretton Woods, British Empire, Brixton riot, clean water, collective bargaining, computer age, congestion charging, cuban missile crisis, deindustrialization, Etonian, falling living standards, fear of failure, Fellow of the Royal Society, financial independence, floating exchange rates, full employment, gentleman farmer, Herbert Marcuse, housing crisis, illegal immigration, Kickstarter, liberal capitalism, Live Aid, loadsamoney, market design, mass immigration, means of production, Mikhail Gorbachev, millennium bug, Neil Kinnock, Nelson Mandela, new economy, North Sea oil, Northern Rock, offshore financial centre, open borders, out of africa, Parkinson's law, Piper Alpha, post-war consensus, Red Clydeside, reserve currency, Right to Buy, road to serfdom, Ronald Reagan, Silicon Valley, strikebreaker, upwardly mobile, Winter of Discontent, working poor, Yom Kippur War

Neither of them mentions the great tragedy of Piper Alpha, when 185 men were burned or blown to death (two thirds of the British toll in the Falklands War). The great tomes on Wilson and Callaghan, Major and Blair, likewise find nothing much to say about North Sea oil. Nigel Lawson writes lucidly about it, brushing aside the arguments in favour of treating oil as a national resource to be husbanded with his customary panache. In many of the more general histories, economic and political, North Sea oil gets meagre treatment. Its cultural legacy seems slender, too: the occasional agitprop play, a few poems, but no memorable novel, television drama or film, unless one counts Local Hero, which is more about a village community.

One could write a useful political history which did not move beyond the dilemmas posed by energy supply. We can follow it from the winter of 1947 when the frozen coal stocks blew Attlee off course, through the oil-related shock of Suez and the destruction of Eden, to Heath’s double confrontation with the miners, ending in his defeat in 1974, the rise of Scottish nationalism fuelled by North Sea oil, and then the epic coalfield confrontation between Margaret Thatcher and Arthur Scargill taking the story up to today’s arguments about global warming and gas dependency on Russia. The simple fact of a small and crowded island energy-dependent in an uncertain world has toppled prime ministers and brought violent confrontation to the streets.

The miners put in yet another huge pay claim, which would have added half as much again to many pay-packets. Despite an appeal by its leader, the moderate Joe Gormley, the NUM executive rejected a 13 per cent pay increase and voted to ballot for another national strike. These were the days, just, before North Sea oil and gas were being produced commercially. Britain could survive high oil prices, even shortages, for a while. The country could hold out against a coal strike, for a while. But both together added up to what the Chancellor, Barber, called the greatest economic crisis since the war. It certainly compared to that of 1947.


pages: 554 words: 168,114

Oil: Money, Politics, and Power in the 21st Century by Tom Bower

"World Economic Forum" Davos, addicted to oil, Alan Greenspan, An Inconvenient Truth, Ayatollah Khomeini, banking crisis, bonus culture, California energy crisis, corporate governance, credit crunch, energy security, Exxon Valdez, falling living standards, fear of failure, financial engineering, forensic accounting, Global Witness, index fund, interest rate swap, John Deuss, Korean Air Lines Flight 007, kremlinology, land bank, LNG terminal, Long Term Capital Management, margin call, megaproject, Meghnad Desai, Mikhail Gorbachev, millennium bug, MITM: man-in-the-middle, Nelson Mandela, new economy, North Sea oil, offshore financial centre, oil shale / tar sands, oil shock, Oscar Wyatt, passive investing, peak oil, Piper Alpha, price mechanism, price stability, Ronald Reagan, shareholder value, short selling, Silicon Valley, sovereign wealth fund, transaction costs, transfer pricing, zero-sum game, éminence grise

To avoid oil shortages in Britain and to thwart profiteering, the government agency BNOC (British National Oil Corporation) intervened at the taxpayers’ expense to undercut OPEC prices, and directed that crude should be sold only to refineries. In the early 1980s these restrictions were breaking down, and North Sea oil was leaking onto the “spot market,” attracting dealers in London and New York. Although the quantities traded were small, the free market of Brent oil became the price-setter or benchmark for oil produced in North Africa, West Africa and the Middle East. The Saudis complained of chaos, but the traders loved the opportunities for speculation.

., or Phibro, was good at squeezing, because there were large numbers of small traders — at least 50 in the US alone. To outsiders, Phibro personified the separate world inhabited by oil traders. “You’re ignoring the rule, ‘Don’t steal from thy brethren,’” London trader Peter Gignoux complained. The British government’s remaining control over North Sea oil prices crumbled as Phibro aggressively traded primitive derivatives and futures against rival traders. The “plain-vanilla swap” compelled the customer either to take physical delivery of the oil or pay to cover the loss. For the first time, global oil prices were influenced by traders speculating as proprietors, regardless of the producers or the customers.

During 1986, Deuss decided to execute a monster squeeze on the Brent market. Mike Loya, Transworld’s manager in London, was delegated to mastermind the purchase of more oil than was actually produced in the North Sea. In that speculative market, the cargo of a tanker carrying 600,000 barrels of North Sea oil was normally sold and resold a hundred times before it reached a refinery. If prices were falling, traders who bought at higher prices were exposed to losses, while those selling short would expect to profit. Starting in a small way, Deuss and his traders in London bought increasing amounts of 15-day Brent every month.


pages: 443 words: 98,113

The Corruption of Capitalism: Why Rentiers Thrive and Work Does Not Pay by Guy Standing

"World Economic Forum" Davos, 3D printing, Airbnb, Alan Greenspan, Albert Einstein, Amazon Mechanical Turk, anti-fragile, Asian financial crisis, asset-backed security, bank run, banking crisis, basic income, Ben Bernanke: helicopter money, Bernie Sanders, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, Big Tech, bilateral investment treaty, Bonfire of the Vanities, Boris Johnson, Bretton Woods, business cycle, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, carried interest, cashless society, central bank independence, centre right, Clayton Christensen, collapse of Lehman Brothers, collective bargaining, commons-based peer production, credit crunch, crony capitalism, cross-border payments, crowdsourcing, debt deflation, declining real wages, deindustrialization, disruptive innovation, Doha Development Round, Donald Trump, Double Irish / Dutch Sandwich, ending welfare as we know it, eurozone crisis, Evgeny Morozov, falling living standards, financial deregulation, financial innovation, Firefox, first-past-the-post, future of work, Garrett Hardin, gentrification, gig economy, Goldman Sachs: Vampire Squid, Greenspan put, Growth in a Time of Debt, housing crisis, income inequality, independent contractor, information retrieval, intangible asset, invention of the steam engine, investor state dispute settlement, it's over 9,000, James Watt: steam engine, Jeremy Corbyn, job automation, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, labour market flexibility, light touch regulation, Long Term Capital Management, low interest rates, lump of labour, Lyft, manufacturing employment, Mark Zuckerberg, market clearing, Martin Wolf, means of production, megaproject, mini-job, Money creation, Mont Pelerin Society, moral hazard, mortgage debt, mortgage tax deduction, Neil Kinnock, non-tariff barriers, North Sea oil, Northern Rock, nudge unit, Occupy movement, offshore financial centre, oil shale / tar sands, open economy, openstreetmap, patent troll, payday loans, peer-to-peer lending, Phillips curve, plutocrats, Ponzi scheme, precariat, quantitative easing, remote working, rent control, rent-seeking, ride hailing / ride sharing, Right to Buy, Robert Gordon, Ronald Coase, Ronald Reagan, Sam Altman, savings glut, Second Machine Age, secular stagnation, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, Simon Kuznets, SoftBank, sovereign wealth fund, Stephen Hawking, Steve Ballmer, structural adjustment programs, TaskRabbit, The Chicago School, The Future of Employment, the payments system, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, Thomas Malthus, Thorstein Veblen, too big to fail, Tragedy of the Commons, Travis Kalanick, Uber and Lyft, Uber for X, uber lyft, Y Combinator, zero-sum game, Zipcar

It has also become a labour export regime, moving hundreds of thousands of workers around the world to work on short-term projects, helping to erode labour standards and decrease wages in host countries.10 Between 2000 and 2014, Chinese companies spent €46 billion on over 1,000 direct investments in the European Union, a quarter of which was in the UK.11 In 2015, EU investments by Chinese firms hit a record €20 billion, 70 per cent coming from state-owned enterprises.12 Ironically, neo-liberalism, founded on the claimed superiority of free markets and privatisation, created the conditions for Chinese state enterprises to buy European assets, aided by subsidies from the European Union and EU governments. Greece, Poland, Italy and Portugal have ceded control of ports and other parts of their infrastructure. In 2015, after Chinese state enterprises had taken a big stake in North Sea oil, the British government threw subsidies at another Chinese state company in the sensitive nuclear energy sector. Chinese state enterprises, often heavily indebted, have raised finance on concessionary terms from state-owned banks to buy some of the most iconic corporate names in Europe and America, such as US mobile phone company Motorola, Italian tyre maker Pirelli, Swedish carmaker Volvo and French resort operator Club Med.

Those with above-average subsidies include Saudi Arabia, Russia, the USA, China, South Korea, Canada, Australia and Japan. Perversely, the UK government in 2015 announced that it would slash subsidies on renewable energy such as solar and onshore wind projects, the cheapest forms of clean power, while increasing subsidies for fossil fuel companies, mainly through tax breaks to boost declining North Sea oil production. It is also subsidising polluting ‘diesel farms’ to provide stand-by power to the National Grid, directly and via tax breaks, at a time when the renewable subsidy cuts have driven several solar energy companies out of business and threaten community projects attempting to reduce energy costs for low-income households.

Neo-liberal governments have used considerable sophistry to justify privatising not just ‘the people’s land’ but the resources underneath or on it. One of the worst examples has been the plundering of the world’s minerals for the electronics industry, often through confiscation or usurpation of native land, for mining with cheap, disposable labour power. An egregious case concerns North Sea oil. Leaving aside the contentious issue of whether this is British or Scottish oil, in equity terms it should have been exploited for the benefit of the whole of society. The Hartwick rule should have been applied. Instead, there was a huge rental transfer to an elite. Unlike Norway, which set up a sovereign wealth fund with the proceeds of oil sales, the Thatcher government sold drilling areas at fire-sale prices to a few multinationals.


Battling Eight Giants: Basic Income Now by Guy Standing

basic income, Bernie Sanders, carbon tax, centre right, collective bargaining, decarbonisation, degrowth, diversified portfolio, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Extinction Rebellion, full employment, future of work, Gini coefficient, income inequality, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), job automation, labour market flexibility, Lao Tzu, longitudinal study, low skilled workers, Martin Wolf, Mont Pelerin Society, moral hazard, North Sea oil, offshore financial centre, open economy, pension reform, precariat, quantitative easing, rent control, Ronald Reagan, selection bias, universal basic income, Y Combinator

Its limitations are that the amount is paid only once a year as a lump sum, and it is a variable rather than a predictable amount, depending on the annual returns to the fund. Norway built up its permanent capital fund by retaining ownership of its share of North Sea oil. Today it is the world’s biggest capital fund. 90 Appendix A Had the UK pursued the same North Sea oil strategy as Norway, it would have had an even bigger fund by now, which could easily have funded a generous basic income. That was one of the several missed chances to create such a fund, using the proceeds of sales of public assets. But a British government could still build up a national capital fund from levies on commercial uses of the commons.6 The ethical, moral and economic case for doing so is strong. (4) Namibia, India and Kenya A few years ago, it was largely presumed that a basic income system could not be introduced in any low-income developing country.

See also individual entries definition 1, 4–8 reasons for need 8–9 security 98, 113, 114 system 1, 20, 23, 26, 32, 37, 52, 70, 84, 90–1, 122 n.7 Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) 94 behavioural conditionality 70, 73, 77, 114 behaviour-testing 4, 39, 70, 84 benefits 5, 7, 27 conditional schemes 41 social assistance 23 BET365 11 Beveridge, William 8–9, 38 Beveridge model 21 Big Bang liberalization 18 BJP 92 black economy 40, 60 B-Mincome 99–100 Booker, Cory 101 brain development 98–9 132 Branson, Richard 54 Brexit 53 Britain 6, 8–10, 12–18, 20, 23–4, 26–7, 30–1, 33–4, 37–8, 40–2, 55, 57, 59, 90, 101, 104, 112 British Columbia 95 British Constitution 1 Buck, Karen 57 bureaucracy 40, 49, 100, 102 Bureau of Economic Analysis 16 Business Property Relief 58 California 69, 96–7 Canada 35 capacity-to-work tests 6, 104 cap-and-trade approach 34 Capita 50 capital dividend 59 capital fund 89–90 capital grants 59, 75, 76, 92 carbon dividends 37 carbon emissions 33–4 carbon tax 34–5, 37 care deficit 53 care work 36, 53, 67, 74, 84 cash payments 111 cash transfers 99 ‘casino dividend’ schemes 88 charities 48 The Charter of the Forest (1217) 1 Chicago 99 Child Benefit 57, 58, 72, 123 n.4 childcare 99, 110–11 child development 88 Child Tax Credits 81 chronic psychological stress 26 Citizens Advice 46–8 Citizen’s Basic Income Trust 7, 122 n.7, 123 n.4 citizenship rights 1, 29 civil society organizations 79 Index climate change 34 Clinton, Hillary 126 n.4 Clinton, Bill 105 Coalition government 41, 50 cognitive performance 33 collateral damage 53 common dividends 7, 20, 21, 59–60, 69, 73, 75, 83, 84, 85 Commons Fund 8, 35, 57, 59, 89 community cohesion 3 resilience 23 work 84 ‘community payback’ schemes 102 Compass 59 compensation 2, 7, 16, 104 ‘concealed debt’ 24–5 conditional cash transfer schemes 90 Conservative government 9, 85 Conservatives 23 consumer credit 24 consumption 23 contractual obligations 46 Coote, Anna 113 cost of living 25, 49, 52, 83 council house sales 76 council tax 25 Crocker, Geoff 122 n.15 cross-party plans 80 crowd-funded schemes 100 deadweight effects 102 ‘deaths of despair’ 27 Deaton, Angus 10 debt 23–6, 67, 85 debt collection practices 24–5 decarbonization 34 dementia 33 democratic values 69 Democrats 37 demographic changes 15 Index 133 Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) 11–12, 42–8, 50–2, 73, 81, 92, 129 n.6 depression 28, 94 direct taxes 56, 58 disability benefits 6, 49–52, 83 Disability Living Allowance (DLA) 49–51 Disabled People Against Cuts 52 Dividend Allowance 58 ‘dividend capitalism’ 8 domestic violence 29, 87 Dragonfly 92 due process 46, 49 ecological crisis 33, 37, 39, 114 ecological developments 21 ecological disaster 35 ecological taxes and levies 37 economy benefits 20, 60 crisis 106 damage 34 growth 20, 36, 106 industrialized 20 insecurity 21, 35, 39, 89 security 75, 80, 84, 88 system 15, 27, 38 tax-paying 60 uncertainty 8, 22–3, 31 ‘eco-socialism’ 8 ecosystems 33 Edinburgh 80 education 88, 108 Elliott, Larry 122 n.15 employment 16, 22, 39, 60–1, 81, 89, 93–4, 102, 106, 107, 110, 114 Employment Support Allowance (ESA) 27, 41, 49–51 England 28, 63, 110–11 Enlightenment 85 Entrepreneurs’ Relief 18 equality 31, 85 Europe 37 European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) 120 n.1 European Heart Journal 33 European Union 6, 17, 41 euthanasia 113 extinction 33–7 ‘Extinction Rebellion’ 33 Fabian Society 57–8 Facebook 97 family allowances 56 family benefits 56 family insecurity 23 federal welfare programs 106 Fife 24, 80 financial crash (2007–8) 23, 26, 34 financialization 116 n.22 financial markets 18 Financial Services Authority 123 n.15 Financial Times 19, 123 n.15 financial wealth 18 Finland 28, 61, 93–5 food banks 10, 29–30, 43, 109 food donations 29 food insecurity 108–9 fossil fuels 33–4 France 12, 17, 18, 32, 38, 57 free bus services 112 freedom 8, 30, 84, 85, 101, 114 ‘free food’ 108–9, 129 n.6 ‘free’ labour market 106 free trade 13 Friends Provident Foundation 75 fuel tax 35 fund and dividend model 89 funding 29, 59, 62, 69, 71–2, 112 134 G20 (Group of 20 large economies) 15 Gaffney, Declan 57 Gallup 105 GDP 14, 17–18, 23–4, 34, 36, 59, 89, 108 General Election 91–2, 94 ‘genuine progress indicator’ 36 Germany 17–18, 38, 100 Gillibrand, Kirsten 101 Gini coefficient 9, 12 GiveDirectly 91 Glasgow City 80 globalization 14 Global Wage Report 2016/17 14 global warming 33, 37 Good Society 75, 106 The Great British Benefits Handout (TV series) 92 Great Depression 9 Great Recession 23 greenhouse gas emissions 34, 36 gross cost 110 The Guardian 101, 103, 122–3 n.15 Hansard Society 37 Harris, Kamala 101 Harrop, Andrew 57 Hartz IV 100 HartzPlus 100 health 67, 87, 100 human 33 insurance premiums 35 services 60 healthcare costs 28 hegemony 14 help-to-buy loan scheme 76 Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) 64, 73, 81 Hirschmann, Albert 56 household debt 24 Index household earnings 16 household survey 12 House of Commons 110–11 housing allowance 95 Housing Benefit 24, 41, 53, 71 housing policy 53 hub-and-spoke model 112 Hughes, Chris 97 humanity 33 human relations 3 ‘immoral’ hazard 109 ‘impact’ effects 78 incentive 62 income 81 assistance 88 average 83 components 11 distribution system 4, 13–14, 38, 67, 84, 107, 114 gap 9 growth 16 insecurity 27 men vs. women 15–16 national 14, 36 pensioners’ 16 rental 13–15, 20 social 14, 16–17 support payments 110 tax 1, 7, 57, 89, 111 transfer 85 volatility 22 India 68, 80, 90–2 Indian Congress Party 91 inequality 2, 4, 9–13, 21, 29, 31, 33, 35, 37, 38, 39, 54, 80, 85, 114 growth 17 income 9–10, 15–17, 19 living standard 20 wealth 18–19, 76 informal care 111 Index 135 inheritance tax 58 in-kind services 111 insecurity 21–3, 29, 38, 39, 47, 67, 85, 106 Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) 10 Institute for Public Policy Research 125 n.17 Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) 75, 111 Institute of New Economic Thinking 123 n.15 Institute of Public Policy Research 59 insurance schemes 8 intellectual property 14–15 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 34 International Labour Organization (ILO) 14, 122 n.4 International Monetary Fund (IMF) 31, 34 international tax evasion 18 interpersonal income inequality 83 inter-regional income inequalities 83 intra-family relationships 3 involuntary debt 26 in-work benefits 22 Ireland 35 Italy 18 labour 31, 107 inefficiency 106 law 101 markets 8, 14, 32, 39, 40, 60, 62–3, 96, 100, 106 regulations 13 supply 67, 95 Labour governments 85 labourism 106 Lansley, Stewart 59 Latin America 90 Left Alliance 94 Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich 113 Liberal government 35 life-changing errors 51 life-threatening illness 33 Liverpool 80 living standards 20, 23, 33, 36, 53, 59, 92 Local Housing Allowances 24 London Homelessness Project 92–3 low-income communities 33 low-income families 21 low-income households 17 low-income individuals 86 Low Pay Commission 63 low-wage jobs 60, 107 Luddite reaction 32 lump-sum payments 35, 59, 76 Jackson, Mississippi 99 JobCentrePlus 47 job guarantee policy 101–7 job-matching programs 106 Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) 41, 46 Joseph Rowntree Foundation 21 McDonnell, John 129 n.13 McKinsey Global Institute 31 Macron, Emmanuel 35 Magna Carta 1 ‘Making Ends Meet’ 97 ‘mandatory reconsideration’ stage 51 Manitoba 87–8 Manitoba Basic Annual Income Experiment (Mincome) 87 market economy 105, 114 master-servant model 101 Kaletsky, Anatole 123 n.15 Kenya 90–2 Khanna, Ro 103 Kibasi, Tom 113 136 Index Maximus 50 means-testing 4, 39, 42, 48, 58, 61–2, 70, 84, 88, 90, 109–10, 114 benefits 5, 7, 27, 40, 46, 56, 71–3, 81, 129 n.6 social assistance 23, 41, 95, 122 n.7 system 6 medical services 28 Mein Grundeinkommen (‘My Basic Income’) 100 mental health 26, 28, 94 disorders 88 trusts 28 mental illness 33, 68 migrants 7, 113 ‘minimum income floor’ 45 Ministry of Justice 51 modern insecurity 22 modern life 31 monetary policy 59 Mont Pelerin Society 13 moral commitment 75 moral hazard 109 mortality 27, 76 multinational investment funds 34 Musk, Elon 31, 54 Namibia 90–2 National Audit Office (NAO) 24, 43–4, 46, 76 National Health Service (NHS) 8, 24, 27–8, 44, 68, 80, 108, 111 National Insurance 18, 22, 124 n.4 nationalism 37 National Living Wage 63 National Minimum Wage 63–4 national solidarity 3 Native American community 88 negative income tax (NIT) 23, 87, 95, 100 neo-fascism 37–8 neoliberalism 13, 84 Netherlands 96 New Economics Foundation (NEF) 57, 113, 122 n.15 non-resident citizens 113 non-wage benefits 16 non-wage work 74 North America 67 North Ayrshire 80 North Carolina 88 North Sea oil 89–90 Nyman, Rickard 23 Oakland 96–7 Office for National Statistics (ONS) 14–15, 17, 36 Ontario, Canada 95–6 open economy 84 open ‘free’ markets 13, 15 opportunity dividend 59 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 18, 23, 27, 31 Ormerod, Paul 23 Osborne, George 19 Paine, Thomas 2, 75 Painian Principle 2 panopticon state 55 Paris Agreement (2015) 34 participation income 74–5 paternalism 42, 55 pauperization 63 Pawar, Alderman Ameya 99 pay contributions 21 pension contributions 18, 58 Pension Credit 41 Pericles Condition 75 permanent capital fund 71 personal care services 110–11 Index 137 personal income tax 35 Personal Independence Payment (PIP) 49–51 personal insecurity 23 Personal Savings Allowance 58 personal tax allowances 17, 58, 59 perverse incentives 50 physical health 26, 94 piloting in Britain 67–81 applying 80–1 rules in designing 70–80 policy development 3, 69 political decision 78 political discourse 92 political instability 35 political system 38 populism 37–8, 75 populist parties 37 populist politics 39 Populus survey 55 post-war system 8 poverty 2, 4, 10–12, 22, 27, 29, 36, 38, 40, 60–1, 89, 100, 108–9, 114, 125 n.17, 129 n.6 precarity 29–30, 38, 39, 60–1, 85, 103, 129 n.6 Primary Earnings Threshold 124 n.4 private debt 23–4, 39 private inheritance 2 private insurance 85 private property rights 13 private wealth 18 privatization 13, 17, 112 property prices 76 prostitution 43 Public Accounts Committee (PAC) 51 public costs 28 public debt 23 public inheritance 61 public libraries 47 public policy 97 public sector managers 103 public services 4, 17, 62, 108, 112, 114 public spending 89 public wealth 18 ‘quantitative easing’ policy 59 quasi-basic income 89, 98 quasi-universal basic services 30 quasi-universal dividends 35 quasi-universal system 61, 70, 90 Randomised Control Trial (RCT) 124–5 n.14 rape 44 Ratcliffe, Jim 12 Reagan, Ronald 13 Reed, Howard 59 refugees 7 regressive universalism 57 regular cash payment 7 rent arrears 24 controls 53 rentier capitalism 13–21, 107, 116 n.22 republican freedom 2–3, 30, 84 Republicans 37 Resolution Foundation 10, 15, 19, 25, 76 ‘revenue neutral’ constraint 7 right-wing populism 37–8 robot advance 31–3 Royal College of Physicians 33 Royal Society of Arts 55, 59, 124 n.12 RSA Scotland 125 n.17 Rudd, Amber 9 Russia 113 138 Sanders, Bernie 101 scepticism 31 schooling 67, 89 Scotland 69, 80, 111 Second World War 19, 21 security 8, 38, 55, 68, 84 economic 3, 4, 49, 56 income 73–4 social 8, 22, 49 Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) 68 self-employment 45 Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer 3, 115 n.3 Smith, Iain Duncan 42 ‘snake oil’ 113 social assistance 3, 28 social benefit 20 social care 102, 104, 110–11 social crisis 106 social dividend scheme 92 Social Fund 29 social inheritance 2 social insecurity 21 social insurance 22, 85 social integration 44 social justice 2, 8, 20, 69, 84, 101, 114 social policy 8, 23, 26, 30, 42, 53, 84–5, 96 social protection system 32 social relation 100 social security 10, 70–1, 95 social solidarity 3, 8, 39, 61, 84–5, 91 social spending 17 social status 104 social strife 35 social value 29 ‘something-for-nothing’ economy 19–20, 61 Index Speenhamland system 63 State of the Global Workplace surveys 105 statutory minimum wages 106 stigma 47, 55 stigmatization 41, 109 Stockton 97–9 Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED) 97 stress 26–9, 39, 51, 67, 68, 85, 93 student loans 24 substitution effects 102–3 suicides 26–7 Summers, Larry 105–6 Sweden 113 Swiss bank Credit Suisse 12 Switzerland 35 tax advantages 49 and benefit systems 17, 18, 69, 110 credits 3, 17, 24, 63, 105, 106 policies 16 rates 72 reliefs 17–18, 57–8, 61 tax-free inheritance 19 technological change 105 technological revolution 14, 31, 114 ‘teething problems’ 42 Thatcher, Margaret 13 Thatcher government 9, 18 The Times 92 Torry, Malcolm 122 n.7 Trades Union Congress 24 tribal casino schemes 76 ‘triple-lock’ policy 16 Trump, Donald 37 Trussell Trust 29, 43 Tubbs, Michael 97–8 Index 139 Turner, Adair 123 n.15 two-child limit 44 UK.


pages: 309 words: 85,584

Nine Crises: Fifty Years of Covering the British Economy From Devaluation to Brexit by William Keegan

Alan Greenspan, banking crisis, Bear Stearns, Berlin Wall, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, Boris Johnson, Bretton Woods, Brexit referendum, British Empire, capital controls, congestion charging, deindustrialization, Donald Trump, Etonian, eurozone crisis, Fall of the Berlin Wall, financial engineering, financial innovation, financial thriller, floating exchange rates, foreign exchange controls, full employment, gig economy, inflation targeting, Jeremy Corbyn, Just-in-time delivery, light touch regulation, liquidity trap, low interest rates, Martin Wolf, military-industrial complex, moral hazard, negative equity, Neil Kinnock, Nixon triggered the end of the Bretton Woods system, non-tariff barriers, North Sea oil, Northern Rock, oil shock, Parkinson's law, Paul Samuelson, pre–internet, price mechanism, quantitative easing, Ronald Reagan, school vouchers, short selling, South Sea Bubble, Suez crisis 1956, The Chicago School, transaction costs, tulip mania, Winter of Discontent, Yom Kippur War

I myself was one of the few survivors of the old regime, and suddenly found myself in demand for the annual dinner, which had long since taken on a life of its own. Well, I have always taken the long view in these matters. * * * The Anderson regime was intent on cosying up to the Callaghan and Thatcher governments from 1976 onwards, not least with regard to concessions for the exploitation of North Sea oil. Atlantic Richfield were obviously in the North Sea for the money, but I myself, along with many other observers, was concerned that this great windfall was being wasted. It seemed to me that the North Sea money should have been used, as indeed it was by the Norwegian government, to plan investment for the future, when the revenues would inevitably diminish.

After that, there was a huge turnaround in the markets and the problem became the strength of the pound as opposed to the weakness. Shortly after I joined The Observer in July 1977, the atmosphere surrounding sterling switched from a very negative one to great enthusiasm for the currency. We had got through the 1976 crisis and it was as if the financial markets suddenly discovered that Britain was in possession of North Sea oil – although the oil and gas had been in their sights earlier. In contrast to the position in 1976, the agreed official policy now was to hold the pound down by intervening in the foreign exchange market to take dollars and other currencies into the reserves, rather than to let the pound rise too high for the competitiveness of British industry, which was the point on the IMF’s mind during the Malcolm Crawford incident about the appropriate exchange rate.

The then president of the Bundesbank, Otmar Emminger, described what happened to the pound in those few years as ‘by far the most excessive overvaluation which any currency has experienced in recent monetary history’. There is a deep-rooted myth that the dramatic rise in the pound in 1979–81 was due to the arrival of North Sea oil and sterling’s role as a ‘petro currency’. But, as we saw in the previous chapter, other countries in the possession of oil did not experience similar episodes. A subsequent study established that possession of oil accounted for less than a fifth of the rise in the pound, which was largely caused by the enormous increases in interest rates required by adherence to the then fashionable doctrine of monetarism.


Britannia Unchained: Global Lessons for Growth and Prosperity by Kwasi Kwarteng, Priti Patel, Dominic Raab, Chris Skidmore, Elizabeth Truss

Airbnb, banking crisis, Carmen Reinhart, central bank independence, clockwatching, creative destruction, Credit Default Swap, demographic dividend, Edward Glaeser, eurozone crisis, fail fast, fear of failure, financial engineering, glass ceiling, informal economy, James Dyson, Kenneth Rogoff, knowledge economy, long peace, margin call, Mark Zuckerberg, Martin Wolf, megacity, Mexican peso crisis / tequila crisis, Neil Kinnock, new economy, North Sea oil, oil shock, open economy, paypal mafia, pension reform, price stability, profit motive, Ronald Reagan, Sand Hill Road, Silicon Valley, Stanford marshmallow experiment, Steve Jobs, Suez crisis 1956, tech worker, Walter Mischel, wealth creators, Winter of Discontent, working-age population, Yom Kippur War

Rubbish piled up on the streets, and infamously during the 1978 so-called Winter of Discontent, even the dead were left unburied. ‘Goodbye, Great Britain,’ said a Wall Street Journal editorial, ‘it was nice knowing you.’10 ‘Britain is a tragedy,’ mourned Henry Kissinger. ‘It has sunk to borrowing, begging, stealing until North Sea oil comes in.’11 According to a Brussels correspondent, Britain was now only admired in Europe ‘for its ability to stagger along on its knees’.12 The dictator Idi Amin wrote to Heath offering aid, and claiming that he was ‘following with sorrow the alarming economic crisis befalling on Britain’.13 In response to the crisis, British society turned inwards.

That success is now in danger of seeming more a blip than a trend. A legacy of a bloated state, high taxes and excessive regulation threatens to take the drive out of the British economy. In many ways, Britain faces a harder task than Canada. It does not enjoy Canada’s resilient financial sector, or its bounty of commodity exports. The windfall of North Sea oil is starting to peter away. Britain’s adjustment has to be made in the face of the worldwide downturn, rather than the benign economy of the 1990s. While Canada’s neighbour, the United States, continued to boom, Britain’s neighbour, the Eurozone, looks if anything to be in an even worse position than us.

(1967) 9 favelas (Brazilian shantytowns) 101–4 drug lords 102–3 entrepreneurial spirit 103–4 feed-in tariffs 85 Ferguson, Niall 21, 66, 91 First Care Products 79 fiscal rules 25, 27, 29, 30, 31, 33 see also Golden Rule Flaherty, Jim 35 Flikr 95 Frankel, Jeffrey 29 fuel prices 62 Furedi, Frank 87 139 geek culture 48–51 General Motors 92 Germany birth rate 107 economic growth 8 educational reform 41 high-tech industry 52 and PISA results 40–1, 57 welfare reform 4 Giffords, Gabrielle 78, 79–80 Gladwell, Malcolm 86 Global Competitiveness Report 2011/12 88 global financial crisis (2007–08) 2–3, 4, 9–10, 31–2 responses to 13–14 globalisation 4, 54 Golden Rule 28, 29 Google 60, 81, 93 Gou, Terry 105 Gove, Michael 38 Greece 3 Griffin, John 62 Haddock, Richard 64 Harford, Tim 92 Hari, Johann 19 Harper, Stephen 35, 36 Harvard University Harvard Institute of Economic Research 68, 69 and New Keynesianism 25, 26 Hasan, Medhi 19 Hawke, Bob 32 Heath, Edward 8, 9, 114 Henderson, Sir Nicholas 7, 8 Heritage Foundation 36 Hernández, Daniel, Jr 78 Hewlett Packard 81, 93 Higher Education Policy Institute 57 Hinduja brothers 72–3 Hodge, Margaret 43 Hoffman, Reid 97 Hong Kong 5, 36, 66, 113 Howard, John 33 Human Rights Act 74 140 Britannia Unchained Hutton, Will 26 hyperinflation 21, 83, 104, 105 IBM 81 ICQ (instant messaging programme) 81 Imperial College 58 India 4–5, 100, 113, 115 attitudes to science and technology 44, 46, 49–51 Institutes of Technology 51, 53 work ethic 57, 72–3 innovation 5, 93–4, 97, 98–9, 105, 114 and informal economy 88–9 and necessity 86, 91 patent applications 81, 82, 95–7 and risk 91–2 see also entrepreneurship; Israeli entrepreneurial culture; venture capital instant messaging 81 Intel 68, 81 intellectual capital 52, 53, 112 intellectual property law 55, 89 International Indicators of Educational Systems (INES) project (OECD) 39 International Monetary Fund (IMF) 34, 114 internet 55, 81, 88, 99, 108–9 Intuit 92 Iraq War (2003) 10 Isagba, Beau 1 Isenberg, Daniel 83, 94, 95–6 ‘Israeli bandage’ 78–80 Israeli entrepreneurial culture 78–86 government support for 83–6 and Jewish immigrants from Soviet Union 86 technology sector 80–1, 86 and venture capital 5, 80, 84–5, 94 Italy 3, 52 Ive, Jonathan 91 Jackson, Tim 10 Jain, Nitin 50 Japan aging population 106–7 education 40, 43, 55 work ethic 106 Jebel Ali Free Zone (Dubai) 88 Jefferson, Thomas 90 Jobs, Steve 89 Jobseeker’s Allowance 74 John-Baptiste, Ashley 45–6 Johnson, Samuel 98 Jones, Peter 97 Katz, Lawrence 25 Katzir , Ephraim 83 Keating, Paul 32 Keegan, William 26, 28 Kennedy, John F. 23–4 Keynes, John Maynard 20 Keynesian economics 14–15, 20, 24, 28 Kinnock, Neil 28 Kissinger, Henry 9 Krugman, Paul 19 Kumar, Manmohan S. 22 Laski, Harold 14 Last.fm 55, 98 Le Dang Doanh 89 Leavis, F.R. 46 Lehman Brothers 92 leverage 35 Li, David 47–8 Liberal Party (Canada) 16–18, 35 The Limits to Growth 9 LinkedIn 95, 97, 98 London tube-drivers 63 Lopes, Antonio Francisco Bonfim (‘Nem’) 103 Loughner, Jared Lee 78 Lula da Silva, Luiz Inácio 100–1 M-Systems Ltd 81 Macaulay, Thomas 19, 21 Macmillan, Harold 114 Major, John 28 Malaysia, women and tech careers 50 Index Mandelson, Peter 94, 115 Manpower Talent Shortage Survey 73 Margin Call (film) 47 Marland, Jonathan, Baron 85 Marshall, Alfred 52 marshmallow test 71–2 Martin, Paul 16–18, 35, 36 Massé, Marcel 18 Mayer, Marissa 48 meritocracy, in emerging economies 49 Merkel, Angela 46 Mexico debt default 22 education 44, 55 Peso Crisis (1994) 16 women and tech careers 50 Michau, Jean-Baptiste 70 Michel, Harald 107 Microsoft 68, 81 miners’ strike (1983–84) 114–15 Mirabilis 81 Mischel, Walter 71 Mittal, Lakshmi 73 mobile phones, dual-sim-card 89 Moo.com 55 Moody’s 47 Mossbourne Academy (Hackney) 59 Motorola 81 Mulroney, Brian 15–16, 36 NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) 15 NASDAQ 80, 94 A Nation at Risk, report on US education system 39, 40 National Commission on Excellence in Education 38–9 National Employment Savings Trust Scheme (UK) 87 National Health Service (NHS) 28, 29, 31 Netanyahu, Binyamin 86 Neuwirth, Robert 89 New Keynesianism 25, 26 New Labour 24, 25 and growing deficit 29–33 141 inaccuracy of budget forecasts 29 investment in public services 12, 28–9 macroeconomic framework 27–30 tax increases 28–9 North Korea 36 North Sea oil 9, 37 Obama, Barack 100 ‘Occupy London’ protests 10 O’Donnell, Gus 27, 30 OECD, comparing school systems 31, 38–41 Ofsted 59, 71, 73 Old Age Pensions Act (1908) 69 Oliveira, Silvinha 103 Olympic Games in Brazil 101–2, 103 London tube drivers pay 63 Paypal 93, 95 Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil 104 pensions 3, 32, 63, 69–70, 110 pension age 69 Peston, Robert 28 PISA tests see Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) ‘The Poles are Coming’ 63–4 poll tax riots (1990) 69, 115 The Population Bomb, (1968) 9 Postlethwaite, T.


pages: 82 words: 24,150

The Corona Crash: How the Pandemic Will Change Capitalism by Grace Blakeley

Anthropocene, asset-backed security, basic income, Big Tech, bond market vigilante , Bretton Woods, business cycle, capital controls, carbon tax, central bank independence, coronavirus, corporate governance, COVID-19, creative destruction, credit crunch, crony capitalism, debt deflation, decarbonisation, degrowth, deindustrialization, don't be evil, financial deregulation, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, full employment, gig economy, global pandemic, global value chain, green new deal, Greenspan put, income inequality, informal economy, inverted yield curve, invisible hand, Jeff Bezos, liberal capitalism, light touch regulation, lockdown, low interest rates, Martin Wolf, Modern Monetary Theory, moral hazard, move fast and break things, Network effects, North Sea oil, Northern Rock, offshore financial centre, pensions crisis, Philip Mirowski, post-war consensus, price mechanism, quantitative easing, regulatory arbitrage, rent control, reshoring, Rishi Sunak, savings glut, secular stagnation, shareholder value, social distancing, structural adjustment programs, too big to fail, universal basic income, unorthodox policies, Washington Consensus, yield curve

Thatcher portrayed her fight against the unions as part of a strategy to ‘modernise’ the UK economy by weaning it off dirty, unsafe industries like coal and steel and refocusing economic activity on finance and professional services. Ultimately, the expansion of the finance sector created a self-reinforcing cycle that led to a long-term trend of deindustrialisation in the UK’s regions. Capital flows into UK finance and North Sea oil drove up the value of sterling, making it even harder for the UK’s manufacturers to compete internationally.26 In 1970, financial and insurance activities made up 5 per cent of total gross value added, compared with 27 per cent for the manufacturing sector; by 2007, manufacturing and finance both made up about 10 per cent of the UK economy.27 Most of these manufacturing jobs did not disappear – they were exported to the rest of the world.

Tom Bottomore, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981 [1910]. 13 Blakeley, Stolen, ‘Chapter Two: Vulture Capitalism: The Financialisation of the Corporation’. 14 Thomas Philippon, ‘The Economics and Politics of Market Concentration’, NBER Reporter, no. 4, December 2019. 15 Karsten Kohler, Alexander Guschanski and Engelbert Stockhammer, ‘The Impact of Financialisation on the Wage Share: A Theoretical Clarification And Empirical Test’, Cambridge Journal of Economics 43, no. 4 (July 2019). 16 Mimoza Shabani, Judith Tyson, Jan Toporowski and Terry McKinley, ‘The Financial System in the UK’, FESSUD Studies in Financial Systems, no. 14, February 2015. 17 Josh Ryan Collins, Laurie Macfarlane and Toby Lloyd, Rethinking the Economics of Land and Housing, London: Zed Books, 2017. 18 Blakeley, Stolen, ‘Chapter Three: Let Them Eat Houses: The Financialisation of the Household’. 19 Colin Crouch, ‘Privatised Keynesianism: An Unacknowledged Policy Regime’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations 11, no. 3 (August 2009). 20 Adam Tooze, ‘Notes on the Global Condition: Of Bond Vigilantes, Central Bankers and the Crisis, 2008–2017’, 2017, adamtooze.com. 21 Zak Cope, The Wealth of (Some) Nations: Imperialism and the Mechanics of Value Transfer, London: Pluto, 2019. 22 Grace Blakeley, ‘On Borrowed Time: Finance and the UK Current Account Deficit’, Institute for Public Policy Research, Commission on Economic Justice, 2018. 23 Blakeley, Stolen, ‘Chapter One: The Golden Age of Capitalism’. 24 Jeremy Green, ‘Anglo-American Development, the Euromarkets, and the Deeper Origins of Neoliberal Deregulation’, Review of International Studies 42, no. 3 (July 2016): 425–49. 25 Philip Mirowski and Dieter Plehwe, eds, The Road from Mont Pelerin: The Making of the Neoliberal Thought Collective, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009. 26 Grace Blakeley, ‘On Borrowed Time’; Bank of England, ‘North Sea Oil and Gas: Costs and Benefits’, Bank of England Quarterly Statistical Bulletin, March 1982. 27 Office for National Statistics, ‘Changes in the Economy Since the 1970s’, 2019, ons.gov.uk. 28 Cope,The Wealth of (some) Nations. 29 ‘Five facts about the UK service sector’, Office for National Statistics, 29 September 2016. 30 Crouch, ‘Privatised Keynesianism’. 31 ONS, ‘Employees in the UK by Industry: 2018’, Office for National Statistics, 26 September 2019, ons.gov.uk. 32 Blakeley, Stolen. 33 Richard Disney and Guannan Luo, ‘The Right to Buy Public Housing in Britain: A Welfare Analysis’, Journal of Housing Economics 35 (March 2017): 51–68. 34 Collins et al., Rethinking the Economics of Land and Housing. 35 Shabani et al., ‘The Financial System in the UK’. 36 Ibid. 37 Ibid. 38 Thomas Hale, ‘The Bank of England Has a Strange Idea of What QE Achieved’, Financial Times Alphaville, 3 August 2018, ftalphaville.ft.com. 39 Jannes van Loon and Manuel B.


pages: 811 words: 160,872

Scots and Catalans: Union and Disunion by J. H. Elliott

active measures, agricultural Revolution, banking crisis, British Empire, centre right, land tenure, mass immigration, mobile money, new economy, North Sea oil, Red Clydeside, sharing economy, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, urban renewal, work culture

Mrs Thatcher was an old-style Unionist with little or no understanding of Scottish sensitivities, and although Scottish Conservatives won 31.3 per cent of the votes in the 1979 general election, support in Scotland for her government began to wane as she privatized industry, closed down the mines and pushed through a series of policies that jarred with the sensibilities and aspirations of the Scottish electorate. These moves came at a time when the development of the North Sea oil deposits was beginning to yield rich rewards. The SNP was quick to see the political opportunities that this presented, and argued to great effect that, instead of being channelled southwards, the oil was a Scottish resource and that the large revenues it was generating should be placed under Scottish control and used for the benefit of a Scotland ravaged by high unemployment. 14 Prime Minister Thatcher would have none of this.

Nothing was excluded, from the events of 1707 to the brutal suppression of the 1745 rebellion, the persistent neglect, or worse, of Scotland’s interests by an uncomprehending Westminster parliament, the decay of its traditional industries, and the prospects of a brighter future once the nation was allowed full control over the revenues from ‘Scotland’s’ North Sea oil. But above all, this was a debate about the nation’s sense of itself, in which everyone, whether young or old, had a view to express, and did not hesitate to do so. With the leaders of the three main British parties, together with leading Scottish public figures, including the former prime minister, Gordon Brown, all actively campaigning for a ‘No’ vote, the rejection of an ill-defined ‘independence’ appeared at the start of the campaign to be a foregone conclusion.

Spain after 1978 was an infinitely more benign country than the Spain of General Franco, and its new Constitution gave the Catalans an unprecedented measure of self-government. After 1997 the Scots, like the Catalans, were managing more of their business than at any time since the early eighteenth century. In addition, the North Sea oil bonanza had done much to revive the ravaged economy of the Thatcher years, although many would argue that the government could have done far more to prevent the ravages from occurring. But in neither instance can oppression be held responsible for the upsurge of nationalism, even if radical Catalan nationalists, as if by some instinctive reflex, still used, and continue to use, oppression as an argument for independence.


pages: 202 words: 62,199

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown

90 percent rule, Albert Einstein, Clayton Christensen, Daniel Kahneman / Amos Tversky, David Sedaris, deliberate practice, double helix, en.wikipedia.org, endowment effect, impact investing, Isaac Newton, iterative process, Jeff Bezos, Lao Tzu, lateral thinking, loss aversion, low cost airline, Mahatma Gandhi, microcredit, minimum viable product, Nelson Mandela, North Sea oil, Peter Thiel, power law, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Richard Thaler, Rosa Parks, Salesforce, Shai Danziger, side project, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, sovereign wealth fund, Stanford prison experiment, Steve Jobs, TED Talk, Vilfredo Pareto

I have found this story cited in several places: for example, Jill Rigby’s Raising Respectful Children in an Unrespectful World (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006), ch. 6. But I have yet to find an original source for the story and therefore share this only as an anecdote. 15. BUFFER 1. Guy Lodge, “Thatcher and North Sea Oil: A Failure to Invest in Britain’s Future,” New Statesman, April 15, 2013, www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/04/thatcher-and-north-sea-oil-%E2%80%93-failure-invest-britain%E2%80%99s-future. 2. Dale Hurd, “Save or Spend? Norway’s Commonsense Example,” CBN News, July 11, 2011, www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2011/July/Save-or-Spend-Norways-Common-Sense-Example-/. 3. Richard Milne, “Debate Heralds Change for Norway’s Oil Fund,” FT.com, June 30, 2013, www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8466bd90-e007-11e2-9de6-00144feab7de.html#axzz2ZtQp4H13. 4.

Nonessentialist Essentialist Assumes the best-case scenario will happen Forces execution at the last minute Builds in a buffer for unexpected events Practices extreme and early preparation When a Nonessentialist receives a windfall, she tends to consume it rather than to set it aside for a rainy day. We can see an example of this in the way nations have responded to finding oil. For example, in 1980, when Britain discovered North Sea oil, the government suddenly had a massive windfall in additional tax revenues, to the tune of 166 billion pounds ($250 billion) over a decade.1 Arguments can be made for and against how this money was used. But what is beyond contestation is that it was used; instead of creating an endowment to prepare against unexpected disasters (such as, in hindsight, the coming great recession), the British government spent it in other ways.


pages: 300 words: 106,520

The Nanny State Made Me: A Story of Britain and How to Save It by Stuart Maconie

"there is no alternative" (TINA), banking crisis, basic income, Bernie Sanders, Big Tech, bitcoin, Black Lives Matter, Boris Johnson, British Empire, Bullingdon Club, cognitive dissonance, collective bargaining, Corn Laws, David Attenborough, Desert Island Discs, don't be evil, Downton Abbey, driverless car, Elon Musk, Etonian, Extinction Rebellion, failed state, fake news, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, full employment, G4S, gentrification, Golden age of television, Gordon Gekko, greed is good, Greta Thunberg, helicopter parent, hiring and firing, housing crisis, Jeremy Corbyn, job automation, Mark Zuckerberg, market fundamentalism, Marshall McLuhan, North Sea oil, Own Your Own Home, plutocrats, post-truth, post-war consensus, rent control, retail therapy, Right to Buy, road to serfdom, Russell Brand, Silicon Valley, Stephen Fry, surveillance capitalism, The Chicago School, universal basic income, Winter of Discontent

Norway put their enormous North Sea oil revenues into a sovereign fund. It became literally a national treasure, funding a world-class welfare system and the needs of an aging population. Venezuela, under Hugo Chávez, used their oil wealth to help the poor. We, naturally, did no such thing with our oily windfall. Margaret Thatcher used our revenues to alleviate a balance of payments deficit, fund costly tax cuts and unemployment benefits, and soften the blow of her vengeful industrial restructurings. All of this played well with the electorate of Middle England – Tony Blair remarked in 1987 that North Sea oil was ‘utterly essential to Mrs Thatcher’s electoral success’ – and some of it may have been necessary.

In the spring of 1982, the Argentinian junta invaded the Falkland Islands, a British colony that few other than ardent pub quizzers could place on a map, and Thatcher ordered the dispatch of a naval task force to regain the islands. Cast deliberately by her advisors as a kind of ‘Britannia with battleships’, once the war was won, she swept back to power in a landslide in 1983. In this she was helped by the first fruits of the discovery of North Sea oil and the dire, chaotic state of Labour under the derided Michael Foot. Foot’s case is illustrative of the gulf that has always existed between the political class and the electorate. Like Enoch Powell, another remote ideologue, Westminster lore continually talks up Foot’s spellbinding oratory and reputation as a great parliamentarian.

An ambulance came immediately and got me and paramedics took me to the hospital ward. I was in the hospital for fifteen days and I was given the best of care for free. And as well as that I got paid fifteen hundred pounds for my loss of earnings.’ How can they afford it? The same way we could have done. With the black gold of the North Sea. Oil. But, unlike us, the Norwegians used their resources for the good of the people. In May 1963, Einar Gerhardsen’s government proclaimed sovereignty over the Norwegian continental shelf, declaring that the state owned any natural resources on there. But the Nordic oil boom really began in 1969 with the discovery of oil on the mighty Ekofisk field.


pages: 434 words: 150,773

When the Iron Lady Ruled Britain by Robert Chesshyre

Berlin Wall, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, Black Monday: stock market crash in 1987, British Empire, corporate raider, deskilling, Etonian, Fall of the Berlin Wall, financial deregulation, full employment, gentrification, housing crisis, manufacturing employment, Mars Society, mass immigration, means of production, Neil Kinnock, North Sea oil, oil rush, plutocrats, Right to Buy, Ronald Reagan, school choice, Silicon Valley, the market place, trickle-down economics, union organizing, wealth creators, young professional

Republicanism in Britain has fewer adherents than t’ai chi, and even a change at the top – unwelcome though that will be among many diehard royalists when the time inevitably comes – will not alter the British infatuation with a crowned head of state and a balcony of relations. Unlike Norwegians who invested their profits from the North Sea, in 1987 we were already squandering our North Sea oil – ‘pissing it against the wall’ in the words of Aberdonian bumper stickers. We are in a perilous enough economic situation as it is: had it not been for oil we would be a basket case alongside Greece. Oilmen told me how the people who beat a path to their doors in search of work were mostly from overseas (one said he would find them curled up asleep outside his office when he arrived in the morning).

Fishing on Saturday mornings after all bore a heavy price tag. While I was in Washington DC, Britain for the first time began to import more manufactured goods than she exported. In the autumn of 1985, a House of Lords committee forecast the collapse of manufacturing, which, it said, would be followed – once North Sea oil is exhausted – by virtual national bankruptcy, bringing with it social and political turmoil. However, although by the time I returned very little was any longer being manufactured in Britain that you could eat off, sit on, drive, watch or listen to, money was being made in some mysterious way.

After a two-week visit there, he found it ‘takes me a little time to settle back into the much slower pace of the UK.’ He had recently flown to Hong Kong for a two-hour meeting, winning a contract that otherwise would have gone elsewhere. But he was deeply angered by what he saw as the squandering of North Sea oil, and wondered why it had not been spent on the national infrastructure. ‘What the hell are we going to do when it runs out?’ he asked. The gloomy answer he provided himself was that the unemployed may ‘one day turn on us and destroy us all.’ We had, he said, perhaps been purged enough by strong Thatcherite medicine.


The Rise and Fall of the British Nation: A Twentieth-Century History by David Edgerton

active measures, Arthur Marwick, Berlin Wall, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, blue-collar work, British Empire, business cycle, call centre, centre right, collective bargaining, colonial exploitation, company town, Corn Laws, corporate governance, deglobalization, deindustrialization, dematerialisation, deskilling, Donald Davies, double helix, Dr. Strangelove, endogenous growth, Etonian, European colonialism, feminist movement, first-past-the-post, full employment, gentrification, imperial preference, James Dyson, knowledge economy, labour mobility, land reform, land value tax, low interest rates, manufacturing employment, means of production, Mikhail Gorbachev, military-industrial complex, Neil Kinnock, new economy, non-tariff barriers, North Sea oil, offshore financial centre, old-boy network, packet switching, Philip Mirowski, Piper Alpha, plutocrats, post-Fordism, post-industrial society, post-truth, post-war consensus, public intellectual, rising living standards, road to serfdom, Ronald Reagan, scientific management, Suez canal 1869, Suez crisis 1956, technological determinism, The inhabitant of London could order by telephone, sipping his morning tea in bed, the various products of the whole earth, trade liberalization, union organizing, very high income, wages for housework, wealth creators, Winter of Discontent, women in the workforce, working poor

Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES): 60th Anniversary (London, 2009), available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/digest-of-uk-energy-statistics-dukes-60th-anniversary, accessed 12 January 2018. 36. Alex Kemp, The Official History of North Sea Oil and Gas, vol. 2: Moderating the State’s Role (London, 2013), p. 384. 37. Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES): 60th Anniversary, chart 1, p. 5, plus 1913 coal production converted to toe (tons of oil equivalent) by dividing by 1.43. 38. Christopher Harvie, Fool’s Gold: The Story of North Sea Oil (London, 1994), p. 219. 39. Kemp, Official History, p. xii. 40. Harvie, Fool’s Gold, pp. 81, 144–5. 41. Ibid., p. 73. 42. See the wonderful Joe Moran, On Roads: A Hidden History (London, 2009). 43.

The United Kingdom developed a balance of payments deficit, which reached 4 per cent of GDP, the same as the proportion of GDP accounted for by oil imports at their peak in value.33 The upshot was an end to the growth of the oil economy. The growth of refining ended in 1973; oil was no longer routinely used in power stations. But the United Kingdom was quite exceptionally fortunate. North Sea oil started coming ashore in 1975, and within a decade the United Kingdom was a net exporter of oil, the peak corresponding to even higher world oil prices following the Iranian revolution in 1979. To produce oil at a time when oil was so expensive was supremely lucky. It gave hope for plans for a new national reconstruction in the 1970s.

The peak surplus in the crude oil trade came in 1984, with 48 million tonnes of surplus.35 This was comparable in tonnage to exports of coal in the interwar years. The value of oil and gas peaked in 1984–5 at 7 per cent of GDP; in that year 7 per cent of government revenues came from oil and gas taxes. A second peak in output, not value, came in 1999 and was considerably higher than the first in 1986, as the proportion of gas was going up.36 North Sea oil and gas production was alone now about the same as the coal output of 1913.37 Despite the return of the United Kingdom to being a major energy producer, oil and gas production hardly figured in the self-image of the nation. The whole sector was much less visible than coal had been or still was, especially perhaps in retrospect.


pages: 409 words: 118,448

An Extraordinary Time: The End of the Postwar Boom and the Return of the Ordinary Economy by Marc Levinson

affirmative action, airline deregulation, Alan Greenspan, banking crisis, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, Boycotts of Israel, Bretton Woods, business cycle, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, car-free, Carmen Reinhart, central bank independence, centre right, clean water, deindustrialization, endogenous growth, falling living standards, financial deregulation, flag carrier, floating exchange rates, full employment, George Gilder, Gini coefficient, global supply chain, Great Leap Forward, guns versus butter model, high-speed rail, income inequality, income per capita, indoor plumbing, informal economy, intermodal, inverted yield curve, invisible hand, It's morning again in America, Kenneth Rogoff, knowledge economy, late capitalism, Les Trente Glorieuses, linear programming, low interest rates, manufacturing employment, Multi Fibre Arrangement, new economy, Nixon shock, Nixon triggered the end of the Bretton Woods system, North Sea oil, oil shock, Paul Samuelson, pension reform, Phillips curve, price stability, purchasing power parity, refrigerator car, Right to Buy, rising living standards, Robert Gordon, rolodex, Ronald Coase, Ronald Reagan, Simon Kuznets, statistical model, strikebreaker, structural adjustment programs, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, Thomas Malthus, total factor productivity, unorthodox policies, upwardly mobile, War on Poverty, Washington Consensus, Winter of Discontent, Wolfgang Streeck, women in the workforce, working-age population, yield curve, Yom Kippur War, zero-sum game

Labour, trying to oust Prime Minister Edward Heath after four years of Conservative rule, was indeed dominated by its socialist wing, in which a radical group called Militant Tendency had become highly influential. Labour was running on a manifesto calling for “a fundamental and irreversible shift in the balance of power and wealth in favour of working people and their families” and insisting that North Sea oil and a large part of the manufacturing sector should be in the hands of state-owned companies.16 Angry voters granted no party a majority, delivering a hung Parliament for the first time since 1929. For three days, Great Britain was without a government, as Heath bargained for the backing of the Liberal Party’s fourteen members of Parliament.

The Labour government that took office in 1974 bowed to union pressure to add more troubled companies to the government’s portfolio, from the insolvent automaker British Leyland to Drake and Scull, an engineering contractor worth less than one million pounds. It also created an entity called British National Oil Company, through which the state took direct control of a significant portion of North Sea oil.14 The performance of the nationalized industries had been unimpressive even when times were good, and it deteriorated sharply in the 1970s; over the course of the decade, a time when private companies were earning about 17 percent return on investment, the state-owned firms collectively earned an average return of 4.3 percent.

More than half of the 170 collieries run by the National Coal Board when the strike began would close within five years, and 79,000 heavily subsidized jobs would go with them.23 The popularity of Thatcher’s stand against the miners opened the way to large-scale privatization of British industry, and Scargill’s defeat removed a powerful opponent from the scene. In May 1984, shortly after the coal miners’ strike began, state-owned British Gas sold its half-interest in onshore oil fields. Two months later, the company’s North Sea oil fields, organized into Enterprise Oil, were listed on the London Stock Exchange. In August, the carmaker Jaguar was sold as a going concern. December brought the sale of 51 percent of British Telecom, raising 3.9 billion pounds, six times as much as any previous British stock issue. Shipyards went on sale, one after the other, starting in 1985.


pages: 258 words: 83,303

Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization by Jeff Rubin

addicted to oil, air freight, banking crisis, Bear Stearns, big-box store, BRICs, business cycle, carbon footprint, carbon tax, collateralized debt obligation, collective bargaining, creative destruction, credit crunch, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, decarbonisation, energy security, food miles, Ford Model T, hydrogen economy, illegal immigration, immigration reform, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), invisible hand, James Watt: steam engine, Jevons paradox, Just-in-time delivery, low interest rates, market clearing, megacity, megaproject, North Sea oil, oil shale / tar sands, oil shock, peak oil, profit maximization, reserve currency, South Sea Bubble, subprime mortgage crisis, the market place, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, trade liberalization, work culture , zero-sum game

And as economists predicted, higher oil prices triggered huge investments in technology that dramatically improved energy efficiency, whether it was smaller cars or natural-gas-fired electricity plants. It is also true that new supply was brought on line and helped force down the price of a barrel of oil. The British North Sea oil fields gushed oil into world markets, as did Prudhoe Bay in Alaska, helping restore global supply and fueling economic booms in the UK and Alaska. Once again the laws of demand and supply seemed to be working, with higher prices bringing forth the new supply that economics textbooks said they always fetch.

In fact, by the 1980s the oil companies had already spent more on drilling technology in the North Sea than NASA spent putting a man on the moon. But the North Sea wells had their best monthly production numbers in 1985. Their peak annual production came in 1999, and had dropped by 43 percent by 2007. While not long ago the UK was an oil exporter to be reckoned with (indeed, the benchmark North Sea oil is Brent Light Crude), today it is a net importer. And that process is repeating itself worldwide. The peak year for deepwater oil discovery was back in 1996. Given past lags between discovery and peak production for other sources of oil supply, a peak in offshore production is not far away. Why does it matter if offshore production will soon peak?

p. 28: The figures for per capita oil consumption around the world are based on data from the CIA World Factbook (www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/). p. 35: Though it is hard to believe that drilling for oil in the North Sea is more expensive than putting a man on the moon, that is the way the numbers add up. A 1975 article in Time estimates that the investment in North Sea oil infrastructure up to 1980 would cost $11 billion more than the American lunar program (www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,913489,00.html). p. 36: An oilfield’s output does not follow a smooth curve, which is why the North Sea’s peak monthly production arrived fourteen years before its peak annual number.


pages: 160 words: 46,449

The Extreme Centre: A Warning by Tariq Ali

Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, Berlin Wall, bonus culture, BRICs, British Empire, centre right, deindustrialization, Dr. Strangelove, Edward Snowden, Fall of the Berlin Wall, financial deregulation, first-past-the-post, full employment, Great Leap Forward, labour market flexibility, land reform, light touch regulation, means of production, Mikhail Gorbachev, military-industrial complex, Monroe Doctrine, mortgage debt, negative equity, Neil Kinnock, North Sea oil, obamacare, offshore financial centre, popular capitalism, reserve currency, Ronald Reagan, South China Sea, The Chicago School, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, trade route, trickle-down economics, Washington Consensus, Westphalian system, Wolfgang Streeck

During Reagan’s first term in office, low-income families lost $23bn in revenue and Federal benefits, while high-income families gained over $35bn. This explained the massive endorsement of Reagan in the prosperous suburbs and the Sun Belt. In Britain, more subservient than ever before, individual greed was shamelessly encouraged by the lowering of income tax (helped by the North sea oil bonanza), along with the sale of council houses and other state assets. Financial deregulation stimulated the formation of a class of nouveau entrepreneurs, who thought little of safety regulations or trade-union rights for their employees. A hallucinatory euphoria, aided and abetted by a sycophantic news establishment, helped to cement the new consensus.

I. 191–92 Lévy, Dominique 145n Liberal Democrat Party 17–18, 20, 34 Libya 119, 149, 153, 166 Lileikis, Aleksandras 8n Linux 174–75 Livingstone, Ken 37n LJ Group 47 LloydsPharmacy’s Healthcare Advisory Panel 47, 53 Lugo, Fernando 152 M5S (Five Star Movement) 187–91 McCartney, Ian 51 Mair, Peter 9, 10–11n; Ruling the Void 146n Major, John 37 Malnick, Edward 44n Mandelson, Peter 21, 66 Marshall Plan 88 Marx, Karl 172 May, Theresa 81n Mearsheimer, John 142n, 162–64 Meek, James, Private Island 19n Mendick, Robert 44n Merkel, Angela 131n Milburn, Alan 13, 46–47, 53, 58–59 Miliband, David 36, 40–41 Miliband, Ed 17, 40–41, 82 Milne, Alasdair 61, 65 Milne, Seumas 41n, 80; The Enemy Within 13n Milošević, Slobodan 117 miners’ strike 19n, 65 Monbiot, George 79, 80 Monnet, Jean 89–90 Morales, Evo 177, 182n Morgan, Sally 52–53 Morris, Emily 9n Morrison, Herbert 25 Mullen, Mike 160 Munif, Abdelrahman 138n Murdoch, Rupert 7, 44, 66, 80 Murdoch, Wendy 44 Murphy, Darren 53 Nairn, Tom 73 Napolitano, Giorgio 187 National Health Alliance Party 58 National Health Service 22, 43, 49–50, 50; Coalition policy 54–55, 58; funding 56, 57, 60; Pollock interview 55–60; Private Finance Initiative 29, 54, 58–59, 148–49n; privatization 53, 56–58; National Hunger March Against the Means Test, 1932 61–62 NATO 105, 109–10, 149, 153; development of 110–20; French withdrawal 113; future of 120–21; membership 111–13; post–Cold War 113–20, 129–30 Negri, Antonio 105 neoliberalism 7, 8, 11–12, 17, 25, 55, 91, 92–98, 144–47, 148–49, 174, 178–79, 183, 191 New Labour 5–6, 13; and the BBC 66; and big money 42; devolution policy 29–30; education policy 37–38; electoral victory, 1997 20–22; electoral victory, 2001 32–33; electoral victory, 2005 33–34; and the EU 30–31; foreign policy 31–32; leadership competition, 2011 40–41; market culture 25–29; NHS policy 29, 54, 58–59; political geography 32–33; and Scotland 75 New York Times 8n, 167 North sea oil 7 Norway 71, 111 NSA 124, 174 Obama, Barack 3, 92, 141, 150–52, 152 occupation movements 95, 143 Ofsted 53 Olympic Delivery Authority 53 Paddington Station rail crash 28–29 Papademos, Lucas 179–80 Pemberton, Max 54n People’s Vow 84, 85–86 Pepsico 47 Pizzarotti, Federico 188 Plaid Cymru 29 Podemos 9, 9–10, 15, 102, 107, 184–86 Polanyi, Karl, The Great Transformation 136–37 Pollock, Allyson 55–60 Portugal 9, 94, 100, 101, 112, 121, 144, 179 Powell, Colin 153–54, 155 Powell, Enoch 103 Prentis, Dave 149n Prescott, John 13, 27, 28 Priest, Dana 117n Private Finance Initiatives 29, 54, 58–59, 148–49 privatization 7, 11, 27–29, 53 Putin, Vladimir 130n, 141 railways 27–29 Rambouillet Agreement 118 Raynsford, Nick 51 Reagan, Ronald 3, 6, 12 Reid, Melanie 79 Reith, Lord John 61 Renzi, Matteo 187 Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) 153 Rome, Treaty of 88, 107 Roosevelt, Franklin D. 145 Russia 115–16, 121, 127, 129–30, 141, 159, 161, 163, 168, 172, 173, 191; revolution of 1917 175 Salmond, Alex 80 Sarkozy, Nicolas 113, 131 Saudi Arabia 45–46, 138n, 150 Savile, Jimmy 64–65 Scotland 5, 9, 41; ‘Better Together’ campaign 77; health policy 56; the Highland Clearances 74; Independence Campaign 15, 77–79; Independence Campaign media coverage 78–81; Independence Referendum, 2014 68–72, 81–82; New Labour policy 29–30; the People’s Vow 84, 85–86; post-referendum 82–84; Radical Independence Campaign 83, 186; rise of nationalism 74–77; Scottish Labour Party 82; Scottish National Party (SNP) 29, 71, 75, 78, 82, 83; Scottish Parliament 75, 81; the Union 72–73; voter registration 68–69 Scott, Sir Walter 73 Second World War 11, 88, 90 Short, General Michael 117 Simitis, Costas 179 SITA 50 Smilde, David 177n Smith, Adam, The Wealth of Nations 126n Smith, John 20, 75 Smith, Richard 53 Snowden, Edward 124 social democracy, collapse of 2–3 Solana, Javier 112–13 sovereign debt crisis, 2008 91–92, 98–99, 179–83 Soviet Union 90, 145; fall of 2, 97–98, 113, 133, 137, 142, 145–46, 152; and NATO 111–12 Spain 9, 14, 15, 31, 94, 99–100, 102, 107, 107–8, 112–13, 144, 179, 181–86 Stevens, Simon 53 Stiglitz, Joseph 155, 156 Stobart, Luke 184n Straw, Jack 13, 45–46 Streeck, Wolfgang 10–11n; Buying Time 108 Sturgeon, Nicola 83 Syriza 9, 9–10, 15, 76, 102, 107, 180–81, 184 Taliban 118–19, 150 Thatcher, Margaret 3, 5, 12, 13–15, 19, 23, 33, 34, 42n, 63–64, 65, 74, 124 third way 3, 31, 33 Thompson, Mark 65 Todd, Emmanuel, After the Empire 141n Torvalds, Linus 175 Tsipras, Alexis 180, 184 Turkey 111, 137 Ukip 18, 84, 190 unemployment 19, 23, 99–100, 102, 103, 106–7, 136, 158, 181 United Arab Emirates 150 UnitedHealth UK 53 United States of America 1–2, 12–13, 18, 98, 172; British relationship with 31–32, 123, 131; budget deficit 157–58, 160; and capitalism 135–40; and China 158–68, 169; defence spending 127, 141, 154, 155–56, 157, 165; Democrats 20–21, 148; economic performance 23–25; enemies 127–29; and the EU 88, 97; exercise of power 140–47; First Gulf War 152–54; GDP 160; global economic crisis, 2008 144–47; health funding 56–57; hegemony 123–27, 129–31, 134–35, 140–47, 149–52, 161, 168–69; inequality 24–25; invasion of Iraq, 2003 154–55; Middle East policy 150–51; military policy 152–57; and NATO 110, 114, 114–15, 118, 120, 121, 149; overseas military bases 157; war on terror 128–29, 155 Venezuela 79, 96, 151, 152, 177, 178 Verhofstadt, Guy 104–5 Versailles, Treaty of 90 Vietnam 172; Vietnam War 129, 153 Vine, David 150–52 Wales 29–30, 56 Walt, Stephen 164–65 Warner, Lord Norman 49–50 Warsaw Pact 112, 114 Washington Consensus 91, 131, 142 Weinberger, Caspar 153 Whitlam, Gough 2 Wilde, Oscar 87 Wilpert, Gregory 176n Wilson, Brian 52 Wilson, Harold 25, 45 Windrush Ventures Ltd 43–44 Wine, Martin 167n Wood, Tony, Chechnya 130n World Bank 11 Wu Ming 188 Xansa PLC 49–50 Xuetong, Yan 133, 165 Yeltsin, Boris 130 Yugoslavia, former 112, 114–18, 130 Zilliacus, Konni 111–12


pages: 304 words: 90,084

Net Zero: How We Stop Causing Climate Change by Dieter Helm

3D printing, autonomous vehicles, Berlin Wall, biodiversity loss, blockchain, Boris Johnson, carbon credits, carbon footprint, carbon tax, clean water, congestion charging, coronavirus, COVID-19, CRISPR, decarbonisation, deindustrialization, demand response, Deng Xiaoping, Donald Trump, electricity market, Extinction Rebellion, fixed income, food miles, Ford Model T, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, general purpose technology, Great Leap Forward, green new deal, Greta Thunberg, Haber-Bosch Process, high-speed rail, hydrogen economy, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Internet of things, Jevons paradox, lockdown, market design, means of production, microplastics / micro fibres, North Sea oil, ocean acidification, off grid, off-the-grid, oil shale / tar sands, oil shock, peak oil, planetary scale, precautionary principle, price mechanism, quantitative easing, remote working, reshoring, rewilding, Ronald Reagan, smart meter, South China Sea, sovereign wealth fund, statistical model, systems thinking, Thomas Malthus

They should in effect borrow from us through our bequeathing these monies set aside, rather than us borrow from them by building up debt and expecting them to pay. Without this, current consumption is too high, and the economy is pursuing an unsustainable growth path. It is a requirement that goes well beyond putting aside some of the benefits of, say, depleting North Sea oil, used for our immediate gratification in lower taxes. It is notable that the UK has not even managed to do this. Future generations should also benefit from any sustainable economic growth which takes place from now until their time comes. Some environmentalists claim that there can be no more economic growth at all, and hence the future generation will not be better off in this respect.[5] The argument is that the earth has finite resources and hence the population runs up against natural constraints.

In a normal competitive market, the cheapest reserves would be produced first. In this market, the Saudis in particular choose not to do this to their full potential capacity. As the price is credibly kept well above $5 a barrel, other supplies come into the market which would not otherwise be produced. The North Sea oil and gas industry developed because of the oil shocks in the 1970s, with much higher costs than in the Middle East. So too did Alaska, the offshore Gulf of Mexico, and eventually even the tar sands of Alberta in Canada could turn a profit at the higher prices. These high-cost producers need the Saudis and others to manipulate the market to keep the price up.

acid rain 25, 194 Africa xiv, xv, 2, 25, 30, 38, 44, 45, 47, 48, 51, 137, 229 agriculture 2, 6, 12, 13, 14, 23, 35–6, 43, 44–5, 70, 76, 86, 87–8, 95, 100, 102, 109, 116, 146–7, 149, 159, 163–80, 181, 183, 192, 197, 198, 206, 220 baseline, the 164–8 biodiversity loss and 2, 5, 100, 164, 165, 168, 169, 171, 172, 174, 180 biofuels and 197–8 carbon emissions and 2, 12, 13, 35–6, 76–7, 146–7, 163–80 carbon price and 167–70, 171, 172, 173, 180 China and 28–9, 35, 45, 180 economics of 76, 165, 166–7, 171, 174 electricity and 13, 166, 168, 174, 178, 180 fertiliser use see fertiliser lobby 14, 110, 164, 165, 169, 170, 197 methane emissions 23, 84, 177, 178, 179 net gain and 172–4 net value of UK 76, 166 new technologies/indoor farming 87–8, 174–9, 180, 213 peat bogs and 2, 179 pesticide use see pesticides petrochemicals and 166 polluter-pays principle and 76, 168–70, 172, 173 pollution 36, 86, 163, 165–6, 168–70, 172, 173, 177–8, 230 public goods, agricultural 170–4, 180 sequestering carbon and 12, 95, 163, 166, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173–4, 177, 179, 180 soils and 2, 146, 163, 164, 165, 166, 168, 169, 171, 172, 175, 179 subsidies 14, 76, 102, 109, 116, 164, 165, 166, 167, 169, 170, 172, 180, 228 25 Year Plan and 179–80 Agriculture Bill (2018), UK 170 air conditioning 135–6, 224, 233 air quality xiii, 13, 25, 46, 52, 61, 70, 135, 153, 177, 180, 201, 216, 230, 232 air transport 3–4, 6, 11, 13, 22, 50, 53, 73, 87, 88, 92, 107, 125, 128, 129, 132, 133, 134, 149, 156–7, 186, 195, 201, 203–5 aluminium 7, 117 Amazon rainforest 2, 34, 35, 95, 145, 149–50, 151, 155, 229, 230 ammonia 35, 137, 191 anaerobic digesters 35, 165, 230 animal welfare 167, 177 antibiotics 93, 165, 174 Arctic 26, 46, 114, 178 artificial intelligence (AI) 32, 175, 220, 231 autonomous vehicles 13, 129, 132, 175, 189–90, 231 Balkans 137–8 Bank of England 121 batteries 6, 31, 131, 135, 141, 183, 184, 185–90, 191, 199, 204, 213, 214, 219, 220, 221, 225, 231 beef 5, 95, 116, 117, 167, 230 Berlin, Isaiah 104 big 5 polluter products 117–18, 120 bin Salman, Mohammad 27 biocrops 36 biodiversity xiv, 2, 5, 12, 13, 28, 35, 51, 76, 94, 100, 148, 149, 152, 153, 158, 159, 164, 165, 168, 169–70, 171, 172, 174, 180, 227, 233 bioenergy 31, 34–5, 36 biofuels 21, 35, 49, 50, 67, 70, 95, 135, 183, 184, 197–8, 210, 230 biomass 32, 34, 49, 50, 67, 69, 109, 146, 147, 151, 210, 217 bonds, government 220 BP 27, 149, 187, 199 Deepwater Horizon disaster, Gulf of Mexico (2010) 147 Brazil 2, 35, 38, 44–5, 47, 95, 145, 149–50, 155, 198 Brexit 42, 47, 56, 117, 165 British Gas 102, 139 British Steel x, 194 broadband networks 6, 11, 90, 92, 125, 126, 127–8, 130–1, 132–3, 135, 140–1, 199, 201, 202, 205, 211, 214, 231, 232 Brundtland Commission 45 BT 127–8, 141 Openreach 214 Burn Out (Helm) ix, xiv Bush, George W. 36, 48, 53, 103 business rates 76, 165 Canada 52, 191, 193 capitalist model 26, 42, 99, 227 carbon border tax/carbon border adjustment xii, 11, 13, 60, 80, 115–20, 194–6, 204 carbon capture and storage (CCS) xiv, 12, 75–6, 95, 109, 146, 147–8, 149, 154, 159, 203–4, 207, 209, 222, 223 Carbon Crunch, The (Helm) ix, xiv, 221 carbon diary 4–5, 8, 10, 11, 64–6, 83, 86, 116, 143, 144, 155, 156, 167, 180, 181, 185, 203, 205 carbon emissions: agriculture and see agriculture by country (2015) 30 during ice ages and warm periods for the past 800,000 years 21 economy and 81–159 electricity and see electricity global annual mean concentration of CO2 (ppm) 19 global average long-term concentration of CO2 (ppm) 20 measuring 43–6 since 1990 1–14, 17–37 transport and see individual method of transport 2020, position in 36–7 UN treaties and 38–57 unilateralism and 58–80 see also unilateralism carbon offsetting xiii–xiv, 4, 5, 12, 34, 45, 72, 74, 79, 94–6, 97, 105, 143–59, 192, 201, 203, 207, 214, 222, 223, 234 for companies 148–50 for countries 151–5 for individuals 155–7 markets 71–2, 110–13, 117, 144, 157–9, 208 travel and 156, 201–3 see also sequestration carbon permits 71–2, 79, 110–13, 117, 144, 208 carbon price/tax xii, xiii, xv, 8, 11, 12, 13, 26, 60, 61, 71, 72, 77, 79, 80, 84, 85–6, 102–3, 105, 106–24, 134, 143, 146, 147, 150, 151–4, 157, 159, 192, 197, 198, 199, 203, 227–30, 232, 234 agriculture and 167, 168, 169–70, 171, 173, 180 domain of the tax/carbon border adjustment xii, 11, 13, 60, 80, 115–20, 121, 124, 192, 194–6, 197, 204, 227 electric pollution and 216–18 ethics of 107–10 floor price 115, 117, 208 for imports 11, 13 prices or quantities/EU ETS versus carbon taxes 110–13 setting 113–15 transport and 192–9 what to do with the money 121–4 where to levy the tax 119–20 who fixes the price 120–1 carbon sinks 2, 5, 166, 169, 203 carboniferous age 34 cars 1, 3, 4, 7, 20, 22, 36, 44, 70, 73, 114, 129, 181, 182, 183, 184–5, 190, 191, 193, 196, 197, 198, 199 see also electric vehicles cartels 39, 40, 43, 45, 46, 47, 56 cattle farming 35, 36, 95, 150, 166, 167, 173, 177, 198 Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) 102, 139, 218 cement 6, 7, 26, 29, 34, 87, 117, 171 charging networks, electric vehicle 91, 129–30, 141–2, 184, 185–90, 199, 200, 202, 219 Chernobyl 78 China xi, xv, 1–2, 5, 8, 18, 42, 46, 47, 48, 64, 66, 74, 101, 180, 229 Belt and Road Initiative 28, 45 coal use 1–2, 8, 23–4, 24, 28, 31, 38, 117, 154, 206, 208 Communist Party 2, 27, 42, 46 demand for fossil fuels/carbon emissions 1–2, 8, 18, 20, 22, 23–4, 24, 25, 27–31, 36, 38, 51, 73, 117, 154, 206, 208 export market x–xi, 5, 9, 64, 66, 117, 155, 194 fertiliser use 35 GDP xv, 27, 29 nationalism and 42 petrochemical demand 22 renewables companies 9, 32, 73, 74, 77, 79 Tiananmen Square 42 unilateralism and 58, 59 UN treaties and 46, 47, 48, 53, 54, 55, 58, 59 US trade war 56, 118 Churchill, Winston 183 citizen assemblies 99–101 climate change: carbon emissions and see carbon emissions 1.5° target 38, 57 2° target 1, 10, 22–3, 28, 30, 38, 39, 45, 47, 54, 55, 57, 108, 122, 155, 206 see also individual area of climate change Climate Change Act (2008) 66, 74–7 Clinton, Bill 40, 48 Club of Rome 98 coal 1–2, 5, 8, 13, 20, 23–5, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 34, 36, 38, 50, 52, 53, 60–1, 67, 72, 77, 78–9, 101, 109, 112, 116, 117, 119, 134, 136, 145, 147, 148, 151, 154, 155, 182, 183, 194, 196, 206–9, 210, 212, 214, 216, 217, 218, 229, 230 coastal marshes 146, 159 colonialism 45 Committee on Climate Change (CCC), UK x–xi, 7, 74–5, 120, 164, 166, 169, 217, 235 ‘Net Zero: The UK’s Contribution to Stopping Global Warming’ report x–xi conference/video calls 6, 129, 156, 202, 205 Conference of the Parties (COP) xii, 10, 48, 50, 53–4, 55, 59, 205 congestion charges 198 Copenhagen Accord 48, 53–4, 59 Coronavirus see Covid-19 cost-benefit analysis (CBA) 71, 108, 110, 114, 138 cost of living 116 Covid-19 x, xi–xii, 1, 3, 6, 9, 18, 19, 22, 25, 27, 30, 37, 44, 46, 50, 57, 65, 69, 80, 89, 93, 129, 135, 148, 171, 201, 202, 204, 232 CRISPR 176 crop yields 172, 177 dams 2, 36, 52–3, 179 DDT (Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) 100 deforestation 2, 5, 34, 35, 36, 38, 43, 44, 47, 55, 87, 95, 145, 146, 149–50, 155, 172–3, 179, 197–8, 229 Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) 170 deindustrialisation x, 29, 46, 52, 54, 59, 72–4, 218 Deng Xiaoping 27 Denmark 69–70, 136–7 desalination 135–6, 179 diesel 4, 20–1, 70, 76, 86, 109, 119, 121, 129, 132, 164, 165, 166, 174, 175, 178, 179, 181, 182, 185, 186, 191, 192, 196–7, 208, 217, 230 ‘dieselgate’ scandal 196–7 digitalisation 1, 8, 11, 13, 33, 92, 117, 136, 174, 175, 180, 206, 211, 215, 221, 228–9, 231 DONG 69 Drax 147, 151, 154, 218 economy, net zero 10–12, 81–159 delivering a 96–103 intergenerational equity and 96–7 markets and 103–5 net environmental gain see net environmental gain political ideologies and 98–101 polluter-pays principle see polluter-pays principle public goods, provision of see public goods, provision of technological change and 98 EDF 139, 218 Ehrlich, Paul 98 electricity 1–2, 4, 6, 11, 12, 13, 23, 31, 32, 49, 53, 61, 65, 66, 68, 70, 73, 77, 78, 79, 91, 92, 101, 102, 109, 117, 125, 127, 128, 129–30, 131–2, 134, 135, 136, 137, 139, 140, 141, 149, 158, 166, 168, 174, 178, 180, 182, 183, 228, 229, 231, 232, 234, 235 coal, getting out of 206–7 electric pollution and the carbon price 216–18 electric vehicles 4, 6, 13, 20, 23, 49, 61, 91, 92, 94, 121, 125, 128, 129–30, 131–2, 134, 141, 183–92, 193, 194, 197, 200, 201, 202, 206, 219, 228 equivalent firm power auctions and system operators 210–16 future of 206–25 gas, how to get out of 207–9 infrastructure, electric 185–90, 218–20 low-carbon options post-coal and gas 209–10 net gain and our consumption 222–5 R&D and next-generation renewables 220–2 renewable see renewables Energy Market Reform (EMR) 219 equivalent firm power (EFP) 212–16, 217, 220 ethanol 35, 71, 95, 197 eucalyptus trees xiv, 152 European Commission 60, 71, 72, 112 European Union (EU) xiv, 2, 7, 8, 9, 37, 42, 44, 46, 47, 117, 137, 165, 166, 197; baseline of 1990 and 51–2 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 76, 165 competition regime and customs union 56 deindustrialisation and 46, 52, 54, 59, 72–4 directives for 2030 66 Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) 71–2, 73, 79, 110–13, 117, 144, 208 importing carbon emissions 59 Internal Energy Market (IEM) 68, 71 Kyoto and 9, 51, 59, 66–7 Mercosur Agreement 44, 95 net zero target for 2050 66, 115, 143, 155, 167, 180 Paris and 54 Renewable Energy Directive 68–71, 73, 109 2020 targets signed into law 66 2020–20–20 targets 67, 69, 74 unilateralism and 59, 66–71, 80 Eurostar 133 externalities 104, 170, 180, 196 Extinction Rebellion 6 farmers 14, 26, 35, 36, 43, 71, 76, 86, 95, 102, 109, 110, 146–7, 164, 165, 166, 169, 170, 174, 175, 196, 197, 198 fertiliser 4, 6, 7, 26, 29, 35, 61, 73, 86, 87, 116, 117, 119, 163, 165, 169, 174, 175, 178, 179, 191, 194, 197 fibre/broadband networks 6, 11, 90, 92, 125, 126, 127–8, 130–1, 132–3, 135, 140–1, 201, 202, 205, 211, 214, 231, 232 financial crisis (2007/8) 1, 19, 69 first-mover advantage 75 First Utility 199 flooding 13, 77, 149, 152, 153, 159, 170, 233 food miles 167 food security 170–1 food waste 178, 180, 231 Forestry Commission xiv Formula One 186, 196 fossil fuels, golden age of 20–5 see also individual fossil fuel France 46, 47, 52, 56, 73, 78, 101, 113, 130, 136, 138 free-rider problem 39–40, 43, 62–4, 106, 119 fuel duty 121, 195–6 fuel efficiency 197 fuel prices 26, 112–13, 209 fuel use declaration 195 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster (2011) 52, 78 Fukuyama, Francis: The End of History and the Last Man 40–1 gardens 6, 43, 143, 156 gas, natural ix, 2, 5, 8, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 31, 32, 36, 50, 52, 68, 69, 79, 102, 109, 117, 119, 129, 136, 137, 146, 147–8, 149, 183, 190, 193, 194, 207–9, 210, 211, 214, 216–17 G8 47 gene editing 172, 176, 231 general election (2019) 121 genetics 98, 172, 174–6, 231 geoengineering 177 geothermal power 137, 178 Germany 9, 30, 47, 52, 59, 60, 62, 66, 67, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 75, 77–80, 83, 91, 101, 112, 136, 137, 138, 144, 206, 208, 209 Energiewende (planned transition to a low-carbon, nuclear-free economy) 59, 69, 77–80, 112, 144, 208 Gilets Jaunes 101, 113 GMOs (genetically modified organisms) 176, 177 Great Northern Forest, Britain 151 Green and Prosperous Land (Helm) xiii, xiv, 165, 169, 234 greenbelt 173 greenhouse effect 17 green new deal 90, 102, 234 green parties/green votes 69, 77, 78 green QE (quantitative easing) 102–3 green walls 153, 231 greenwash 156 gross domestic product (GDP) xii, xv, 1, 25, 27, 29, 41, 57, 59, 73, 76, 83, 93, 98, 103, 133, 165, 207, 227, 229, 233 growth nodes 133 G7 47 G20 47 Haber-Bosch process 35, 163 Hamilton, Lewis 186 ‘hands-free’ fields 175 Harry, Prince 6 Heathrow 133, 134 hedgerow 76, 166, 167, 172 Helm Review (‘The Cost of Energy Review’) (2017) ix, 120, 141, 200, 210, 212, 215, 217, 220, 238 herbicide 163 home insulation 102 House of Lords 170 housing 101, 223–4 HS2 92, 125, 132–4, 138, 202 Hume, David 49 hydrogen 13, 49, 92, 125, 128, 135, 137, 183, 184, 190–2, 199, 200, 204, 206, 213, 228 hydro power 31, 35, 36, 50, 52–3, 70, 136, 137, 191 Iceland 137, 178 imports x–xi, xiii, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 62, 68, 70, 117–18, 155, 167, 178, 173, 180, 196, 227 income effect 72, 111 income tax 121, 122, 232 India xiv, xv, 25, 30, 31, 38, 43, 44, 47, 48, 51, 54, 55, 57, 154, 229 individuals, net zero for 155–7 Indonesia 2, 35 indoor farming 87–8, 177–8, 180, 213 indoor pollutants 223, 232 Industrial Revolution 1, 18, 19, 25, 47, 116, 145 INEOS Grangemouth petrochemical plant xi information and communications technology (ICT) 117, 202, 231 infrastructures, low-carbon xiii, xiv, 11–12, 14, 28, 60, 62, 65, 66, 90, 91–4, 96, 105, 109, 123, 125–42, 143, 147, 151, 154, 159, 171, 184, 186, 187, 190, 199–200, 214, 218–20, 228, 230, 231–2, 234–5 centrality of infrastructure networks 128–30 electric 125–41, 218–20 making it happen 141–2 net zero national infrastructure plan 130–6 private markets and 125–8, 141–2 regional and global infrastructure plan 136–7 state intervention and 126, 127–8, 141–2 system operators and implementing the plans 138–41 inheritance tax 76, 165 insects 164, 177, 231 insulation 102, 224 Integrated Assessment Models 114 intellectual property (IP) 75 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 17–18, 47, 55, 57, 108, 172 internal combustion engine 13, 22, 181–2, 183, 184, 200, 221, 228 Internal Energy Market (IEM) 68, 71, 138 International Energy Agency (IEA) 25, 207 International Monetary Fund (IMF) 51 internet banking 131, 213 internet-of-things 128, 175 Iran 27, 42, 113, 137 Iraq 56, 192 Ireland 43, 157 Italy 137, 182 Japan 27, 28, 30, 52, 73, 78, 101, 185 Jevons Paradox 224 Johnson, Boris 89–90 Kant, Immanuel 104 Keynes, John Maynard 89, 102, 103, 105 Kyoto Protocol (1997) xii, 2, 7, 9, 13, 17–18, 37, 38, 39, 40–1, 47–8, 49, 51, 52–3, 59, 66–7, 119 laissez-faire 104, 138, 188 land use 35, 61, 95, 172, 237 LED (light-emitting diode) lighting 87, 178, 179, 180, 213 liquefied natural gas (LNG) 136, 183 lithium-ion battery 185 lobbying 10, 14, 33, 69, 71, 109, 110, 111–12, 115, 121, 157, 169, 170, 187, 197, 209, 223, 227, 228 location-specific taxes 194 maize 35, 165, 197 Malaysia 2, 229 Malthus, Thomas 98 Mao, Chairman 27, 42 meat xi, 65, 164, 177, 180, 232 Mekong River 2, 28, 179, 229 Mercosur Agreement 44, 95 Merkel, Angela 78 methane 4, 23, 84, 177, 178, 179, 216 microplastics 22 miracle solution 49–50, 55, 209 mobile phone 5, 125, 185 National Farmers’ Union (NFU) 110, 164, 165, 169, 170, 171 National Grid 139, 141, 189, 200, 211, 214, 219 nationalisations 101–2, 126–7 nationalism 41, 43, 55, 56, 138 nationally determined contributions (NDCs) 54–5 natural capital xiii, 14, 33–6, 51, 85, 86, 88, 90, 94, 97, 154, 158, 168, 171, 173–4, 236 Nature Fund 123, 169, 234 net environmental gain principle xiii, xiv, 10, 12, 62, 84, 94–6, 105, 143–59, 169, 172–4, 192, 201–3, 222–5 agriculture and 169, 172–4 carbon offsetting and see carbon offsetting electricity and 222–5 principle of 94–6, 143–4 sequestration and see sequestration transport and 192, 201–3 Netherlands 138 Network Rail 214 net zero agriculture and see agriculture defined x–xv, 3–14 economy 10–12, 81–159 see also economy, net zero electricity and see electricity transport and see individual method of transport 2025 or 2030 target 89 2050 target x, xi, 5, 59, 66, 74, 75, 115, 120, 135, 143, 155, 167, 169, 180, 184, 216, 217, 222, 226, 230, 231, 232 unilateralism and see unilateralism NHS 65 non-excludable 91, 93, 126, 170 non-rivalry 91, 93, 126, 170 North Korea 42 North Sea oil/gas 9, 40, 75, 97, 102, 137, 139, 147, 148, 193 Norway 130, 137, 191 nuclear power 5, 9, 12, 18, 23, 52, 60, 73, 77–9, 109, 125, 128, 129, 136, 140, 178, 194, 199, 206, 207, 208, 209–10, 212, 214, 216, 218, 219, 222, 228 Obama, Barack 48, 53, 54, 59 oceans 2, 14, 22, 33, 85, 86, 88, 148, 163, 231 offsetting see carbon offsetting offshore wind power 31, 69, 75–6, 208, 212, 219, 221 Ofgem 220 oil ix, 2, 20, 22–3, 25, 26, 27, 31, 32, 33, 36, 39, 40, 50, 67, 69, 86, 97, 117, 119, 129, 136, 137, 146, 147, 148–9, 150–1, 152, 181–3, 184, 185, 187, 189, 190, 192–4, 196, 197, 199, 206, 209, 210, 216–17, 229 OPEC 39, 40, 193 Orbán, Viktor 41, 42 organic food 61, 87, 178 Ørsted 70 palm oil 2, 5, 6, 35, 36, 66, 71, 167, 173, 197–8, 230 pandemic see Covid-19 Paris Climate Change Agreement (2015) xii, 2, 10, 13, 18, 30, 37, 38, 39, 48, 49, 54–5, 56, 57, 58, 66, 80, 105, 106, 118, 119, 227 peat bogs xiv, 2, 13, 14, 33, 35, 36, 43, 109, 146, 169, 179 pesticides 4, 26, 61, 163, 165, 169, 174, 178, 231 petrochemicals xi, 7, 8, 20, 22–3, 29, 73, 80, 86, 117, 166, 182 petrol 4, 86, 119, 121, 129, 185, 186, 187, 191, 192, 199 photosynthesis 34, 197 plastics 1, 22, 28, 35, 43, 66, 86, 87, 119, 143, 166, 184, 231 polluter-pays principle xiii, xv, 84–90 agriculture and 76, 168–70, 172, 173 carbon price and see carbon price/tax generalised across all sources of pollution 86 identifying polluters that should pay 86 importance of 10–11, 13, 61, 62, 65 intergenerational balance and 96–7 net environmental gain and 94 sequestration and see sequestration, carbon sustainable economy and 96–7, 105, 106 transport and 192–5, 198–9 see also individual type of pollution population growth 93, 97, 177, 178, 179, 232 privatisation 127, 140, 218–19, 220 property developers 94 public goods, provision of xiii, 10, 11–12, 62, 75, 84, 90–4, 96, 104, 105, 109, 122, 123, 126, 128, 141, 147, 151, 153, 159, 164, 168, 173–4, 180, 192, 199–200, 202, 218, 229, 230 agricultural 170–4, 180 low-carbon infrastructures see infrastructures, low-carbon research and development (R&D) see research and development (R&D) Putin, Vladimir 27, 41, 42, 89 railways 11, 13, 13, 87, 91, 92, 94, 125, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132–3, 138, 139, 156, 182, 183, 187, 202, 212, 214, 232 rainforest 2, 5, 34, 35, 36, 38, 44, 47, 55, 87, 95, 145, 149, 155, 173, 179–80, 197, 229 rationalism 40–1 Reagan, Ronald 103 red diesel 76, 109, 164, 165, 196 regulated asset base (RAB) 127, 141, 215, 220 remote working 128, 156, 201–2, 205 renewables ix, 6, 8, 9–10, 18, 19, 21, 26, 31–5, 36, 49, 50, 55, 61, 67, 72, 77, 79, 85, 86, 109, 110, 112, 123, 125, 128, 131, 135, 138, 140, 144, 149, 178, 188, 191, 194, 197, 199, 207, 209–10, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 219, 220–2, 224, 228 Chinese domination of market 9, 32, 73, 74, 77, 79 cost-competitiveness of 9–10, 49, 51, 61, 68 failure of, 1990-now 19, 31–3, 36 modern global renewable energy consumption measured in TWh per year 32 miracle solution and 49–51 Renewable Energy Directive 68–71, 73, 109 subsidies ix, 9, 10, 50, 68–9, 71, 79, 80 see also individual renewable energy source Renewables UK 110 research and development (R&D) xiv, 12, 13, 14, 62, 65, 66, 90, 93–4, 104, 109, 123, 165, 172, 192, 200, 218, 220–2, 223, 228, 234 reshoring businesses 8, 204 rivers 2, 22, 28, 86, 128, 152, 165, 169, 179, 214, 230 roads 11, 28, 45, 91, 92, 125, 129, 131–2, 140, 165, 182, 189, 194, 198, 202, 232 robotics 32, 175, 204, 206, 231 Rosneft 26 Royal Navy 183 Russia 26, 27, 30, 40, 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 50, 52, 55, 56, 192, 193 RWE 139, 218 Ryanair 156–7 rye grass 35 salmon 169, 177 Saudi Arabia 26, 33, 40, 42, 50, 137, 192, 193 Saudi Aramco 26, 50 seashells 34 sequestration, carbon xi, xiv, 12, 61, 66, 85, 90, 95, 143–59, 228, 229, 231, 232 agriculture and 12, 163, 166, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 176–7, 179, 180 baseline definition and 146–7 biofuels and 35, 146, 217 carbon capture and storage (CCS) xiv, 12, 75–6, 95, 109, 146, 147–8, 149, 154, 159, 203–4, 207, 209, 222, 223 companies, net zero for 148–51 countries, offsetting for 151–5 electricity and 222, 223 gas and 207 individuals, net zero for xi, xiv, 155–7 markets, offsetting 157–9 natural capital destruction and 2, 19, 33–6, 44, 45, 51 natural sequestration xi, xiii, 2, 7, 12, 14, 33–6, 37, 45, 52, 66, 85, 90, 94–6, 105, 143–59, 163, 168, 171, 173, 176–7, 179, 180, 203, 206, 207, 222, 223 net gain principle and 143–4, 146, 149–50 offsetting principle and 143–5 peat bogs and see peat bogs principle of xi, xiii, 2, 7, 12–13 soils and see soils transport and 185, 190, 203 tree planting and see trees, planting/sequestration and types of 145–8 wetlands/coastal marshes and 146, 159, 233 shale gas 8, 208 Shell 27, 149, 199 shipping 8, 13, 22, 28, 36, 49, 114, 125, 137, 181, 182–3, 191, 194–5, 203–5, 217 Siberia 2, 46 smart appliances 128, 129, 132 smart charging 11, 13, 128, 129, 130, 139, 214, 219 soils xiii, 2, 5, 7, 12, 14, 33, 35, 36, 43, 55, 76, 109, 146, 149, 152, 156, 159, 163, 164, 165, 166, 168, 169, 171, 172, 175, 179, 203, 228 solar panels/solar photovoltaics (PV) 5, 6, 9, 12, 13, 21, 31, 32, 33, 49, 53, 68, 69, 71, 74, 79, 87, 91, 135, 136, 137, 178, 179, 188, 204, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 213, 214, 216, 217, 221, 222, 223, 224–5 Sony 185 Soviet Union 18, 40, 52, 67–8, 89 soya 95 Spain 69, 130, 137 sport utility vehicles (SUVs) 106, 121, 192 spruce xiv, 152, 170 standard of living xv, 1, 5, 8, 10, 11, 14, 229, 233 staycations 201 steel x–xi, 6, 7, 8, 26, 28, 29, 53, 66, 73, 80, 87, 116, 117, 118, 119, 171, 184, 194–5 Stern, Nicholas: The Economics of Climate Change 41, 63 subsidies ix, 9, 10, 14, 32, 50, 51, 52, 53, 69, 71, 76, 79, 80, 89, 102, 109, 110, 113, 116, 123, 140, 154, 164, 165, 166, 167, 169, 170, 172, 180, 193, 196, 198, 209, 215, 221, 222, 228, 230 sugar cane 35, 71, 95, 197, 198 sulphur pollution 22, 25, 28, 78, 191, 194, 197, 230 sustainable economic growth xv, 10, 12, 14, 61, 83, 92, 94, 97, 98, 105, 227, 233 Taiwan 42 taxation xii, 11, 62, 71, 72, 76, 80, 87, 89, 90, 91, 92, 97, 101, 102, 103, 106–24, 126, 127, 130, 133, 147, 150, 151–2, 153–4, 157, 159, 165, 169, 170, 192–6, 197, 198, 199, 203, 232, 234 technological change 98, 127, 141, 174–5, 221 Thatcher, Margaret 17 Thompson, Emma 6 3D printing 175, 204 Thunberg, Greta 6, 205 tidal shocks 159 top-down treaty frameworks 13, 38–57, 80, 110, 119 tourism/holidays 6, 22, 36, 88, 94, 107, 114, 128, 156, 201, 204–5 transport, reinventing 181–205 aviation 195, 201, 203–5 see also air transport batteries and charging networks 185–90 biofuels 196–8 electric alternative 183–5 hydrogen and fuel cells 190–2 innovation, R&D and new infrastructures 199–200 internal combustion engine 181–2 net gain and offsets (reducing travel versus buying out your pollution) 201–3 oil 183–4 polluter pays/carbon tax 192–6 shipping 203–5 urban regulation and planning 198–9 vehicle standards 196–8 see also individual type of transport Treasury, UK 120–2 trees, planting/sequestration and xi, xiii, xiv, 2, 7, 13, 14, 33, 34, 45, 76, 85, 94–6, 146, 148, 149–51, 152–3, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 168, 169, 172, 179, 203, 231 trophy project syndrome 133 Trump, Donald 2, 8, 41, 42, 48, 89, 99, 103, 121 25 Year Environment Plan xiii, 153, 170, 179–80 UK 47, 69 agriculture and 164, 166, 167, 173 carbon emissions (2015) 30 carbon price and 115, 120 Climate Change Act (2008) 66, 74–7 coal, phasing out of 24–5, 60–1, 77, 208 Committee on Climate Change (CCC) x–xi, 7, 74–6, 120, 164, 166, 169, 217, 235 deindustrialisation and 72–4 80 per cent carbon reduction target by 2050 74 electricity and 206, 208, 218, 219, 224 Helm Review (‘The Cost of Energy Review’) (2017) ix, 120, 141, 200, 210, 212, 215, 217, 220, 238 infrastructure 125, 132–3, 134, 137, 139–40 net zero passed into law (2019) 66 sequestration and 145, 150, 153, 154, 155, 156 transport and 195–6, 197, 198 unilateralism and 58–9, 60–1, 65, 66, 69, 72–7, 80 unilateralism xi, 8, 10, 11, 25, 58–80, 83, 105, 106, 119, 125, 143, 144, 155, 164, 167, 197, 203, 227 in Europe 66–80 incentive problem and 58–60 morality and 62–6 no regrets exemplars and/showcase examples of how decarbonisation can be achieved 60–2 place for 80 way forward and 80, 83 United Nations xi, xii, 6, 10, 17, 37, 38, 118 carbon cartel, ambition to create a 39–40, 43, 45, 46–7, 56 climate treaty processes xi, 6, 10, 13, 17–18, 36, 37, 38–57, 59, 80, 110, 118, 119, 204–5 see also individual treaty name Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 17–18, 36, 38, 59 miracle solution and 50–1 origins and philosophy of 41 Security Council 46, 47, 57 United States 8, 74, 139, 206 agriculture in 175, 176, 197 carbon emissions 8, 29, 30 China and 27–8, 42, 118 coal and 2, 24, 28, 29, 208 economic imperialism 45 energy independence 50 gas and 8, 20, 23, 24, 29, 50, 208 oil production 40, 50, 193 pollution since 1990 29 unilateralism and 58, 59, 74 UN climate treaty process and 38, 40–1, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 53, 54, 56 universal service obligations (USOs) 92, 126, 131, 202 utilitarianism 41, 63–4, 108, 110 VAT 117, 119–20, 121, 122, 232 Vesta 69 Volkswagen 196–7 water companies 76, 214, 230 water pollution/quality xiv, 12, 22, 61, 76, 152, 153, 165, 169, 170, 171, 172, 175, 177, 178, 179, 180, 232 Wen Jiabao 53, 59 wetlands 159, 233 wildflower meadow 164, 184 wind power 5, 9, 12, 21, 31, 32, 33, 49, 53, 68, 69–70, 71, 74, 75, 76, 78, 79, 91, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 178, 188, 191, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214–15, 216, 217, 219, 221, 222 wood pellets 67, 217, 230 Woodland Trust 156, 158 World Bank 51 World Trade Organization (WTO) 52, 56, 118 World War I 183 World War II (1939–45) 78, 90, 92, 101, 106, 171 Xi Jinping 27, 41, 42 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS So much is now discussed, written and published about climate change that it is impossible to keep track of all the ideas and conversations that have influenced my understanding of the subject.


pages: 348 words: 102,438

Green and Prosperous Land: A Blueprint for Rescuing the British Countryside by Dieter Helm

3D printing, Airbnb, Anthropocene, barriers to entry, biodiversity loss, British Empire, carbon tax, clean water, conceptual framework, corporate social responsibility, Crossrail, decarbonisation, deindustrialization, demographic transition, Diane Coyle, digital map, facts on the ground, food miles, Haber-Bosch Process, high-speed rail, illegal immigration, Internet of things, Kickstarter, land reform, mass immigration, microplastics / micro fibres, New Urbanism, North Sea oil, precautionary principle, precision agriculture, quantitative easing, rewilding, smart meter, sovereign wealth fund, the built environment, Tragedy of the Commons, urban planning, urban sprawl

Winning the prize, and making sure we hang on to it, requires cementing the money into a comprehensive and integrated framework. Chapter 10 sets out how to do this within a Nature Fund. This acts a bit like sovereign wealth funds do for oil- and gas-producing countries. It should include the economic rents from these non-renewable activities like North Sea oil and gas production, mirroring other sovereign wealth funds, but it can also bring together the monies from pollution taxes and charges, from subsidies directed towards public goods and the net gain payments. Crucially it would be for nature, not general public spending. The net gain principle set alongside the polluter-pays principle together ensure that there is enough money to pay for an enhanced natural environment.

So the Norwegians put the surplus economic rents into their sovereign wealth fund for the benefit of future generations. Norway spends about 3 per cent of the fund each year, which it argues is the return that its investments can be expected to make. In other words, 3 per cent is the maximum spending consistent with maintaining the value of the fund intact over time. The contrast with Britain and its North Sea oil and gas could not be greater. Here there is no fund. The money has been spent over the last four decades and there is nothing to bequeath future generations, except the liabilities. When it comes to a Nature Fund, the arguments for protecting the interests of future generations are even stronger because the natural capital that we can bequeath is renewable.

It might also receive some of the economic rents from the depletion of the non-renewables, depending on whether these are to be put in a sovereign wealth fund and, if this is the case, whether they are to be spent on improving renewables in compensation for the depletion of the non-renewables, or on the general economy as in the case of Norway. The difference between including and not including the non-renewable economic rents would amount to a lot of revenue. It would not be as much as it would have been had the sovereign wealth fund concept been used from the outset for North Sea oil and gas, but still it would be a significant revenue flow. It would also include other mineral depletions from mining and quarrying.12 Some of this activity should be stopped anyway, such as peat extraction, so the revenues would be net of the ending of harmful activities, and over time the North Sea reserves will be further depleted.13 A fund with this sort of revenue would be transformational: it would ensure that the natural environment is enhanced.


pages: 352 words: 98,561

The City by Tony Norfield

accounting loophole / creative accounting, air traffic controllers' union, anti-communist, Asian financial crisis, asset-backed security, bank run, banks create money, Basel III, Berlin Wall, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, Bretton Woods, BRICs, British Empire, capital controls, central bank independence, colonial exploitation, colonial rule, continuation of politics by other means, currency risk, dark matter, Edward Snowden, Fall of the Berlin Wall, financial innovation, financial intermediation, foreign exchange controls, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, G4S, global value chain, Goldman Sachs: Vampire Squid, interest rate derivative, interest rate swap, Irish property bubble, Leo Hollis, linked data, London Interbank Offered Rate, London Whale, Londongrad, low interest rates, Mark Zuckerberg, Martin Wolf, means of production, Money creation, money market fund, mortgage debt, North Sea oil, Northern Rock, Occupy movement, offshore financial centre, plutocrats, purchasing power parity, quantitative easing, Real Time Gross Settlement, regulatory arbitrage, reserve currency, Ronald Reagan, seigniorage, Sharpe ratio, sovereign wealth fund, Suez crisis 1956, The Great Moderation, transaction costs, transfer pricing, zero-sum game

Nevertheless, 1979 is a useful starting point for discussing two significant policies affecting the UK financial markets: the abolition of foreign exchange controls and the ‘Big Bang’ reform of the London Stock Exchange. One of the first moves of the incoming UK Conservative government in 1979 was to abolish the existing controls on foreign exchange markets. It was able to do so with little risk of a collapse of sterling’s exchange value because the UK’s North Sea oil production and net exports had begun to increase sharply. Removing exchange controls was seen as a way of enabling more capital outflow from the UK. This was intended as a means of limiting the likely upward pressure on sterling’s exchange rate from the oil export revenues, but the key point was to get more income from foreign investment.

Some critics of the Thatcher government’s policies on finance argue that its view was short-sighted because it ignored the importance of the UK’s manufacturing industry and in any case failed to boost the role of the City or to increase net income from foreign investments.30 Particularly in the years immediately after the ‘Big Bang’, it was not clear how selling off UK financial companies to foreign investors could be counted as a major policy success. But this analysis misses the point about what was really going on. Even with the build-up of North Sea oil and gas export revenues and a domestic recession that cut imports, the UK’s current account position only briefly moved from deficit to surplus in the early 1980s. It was soon back in deficit again. The British economy was looking uncompetitive, but this did not lead to any government initiatives to raise productivity.

militarism 1–2 military power 6, 106 military spending 109–10 Mitterrand, François 63, 67 mobile phones 118, 121–2 monetary policy, UK 66 money advance of 86–7 creation of 83–5 national 115–16 value 163 money-capital 77–8 money-capitalists, and financial institutions 76–7 money-dealing capital 79 money-dealing capitalists 76–7, 77–8 money-market securities 76–7 Monopolies Commission 119–20 monopolistic companies 118 monopoly 90, 97 anti-monopoly policies 119–20 banks position 139 contemporary 121–3, 124, 125 and imperialism 100, 117–21 Lenin’s analysis 117–18 measure of 122–3 and mergers and acquisitions 122 network analysis 123, 124, 125 monopoly capitalism 93 monopoly power 119, 120, 126–7 Morgenthau, Henry 26–7, 36 mortgage-backed securities 140 mortgage loans 83, 143, 151 Mossadegh, Mohammad 59 Motorola 122 Murdoch, Rupert 113 national economy Hilferding’s analysis 93–4 state regulation 115–16 National Security Agency (US) 59 NEC 122 neoliberalism 13 Netherlands, the 205 network analysis, monopoly 123, 124, 125 network centrality 206 New Development Bank 18, 222–3 New York 185 bond market 49 development as financial centre 36–40 disadvantages 37–8, 40 foreign securities market 48 New York Federal Reserve 164 New York Times 173 New Zealand 31, 58, 60 Nokia 121–2 non-financial businesses 143 Northern Rock crisis, 2007 85, 116 North Sea oil 66, 69 nouveaux riches, the 78 NYSE Euronext 216 Obama, Barack 227 Occupy Movement, the 102 October 1987 stock market crash xi Office for National Statistics 138 Office of Fair Trading 120 offshore financial centres 205, 208 oil prices 55–7 oligarchs 78, 216 Olympic Games, 2012 120 OPEC 55–6 current account surplus 56–7 eurocurrency bank deposits 57 oil revenues 66 Orange 180 organised capitalism 95 Otis Elevator 121 outsourcing 98, 118–19 overdrafts 79–80 ownership stake, return on equity (RoE) 129–30 Oxfam 215 Panitch, Leo 14–17, 18 parasitism constructive 213–14 financial 95–7, 227–8 global 97–102 Lenin’s analysis 97–102 Marx’s analysis 95–7, 98 Paris 46, 47 patents 126 Paulson, Hank 125 pension funds 82–3, 99, 135 assets 103 PetroChina 222 petrodollars 55 Plaza Accord, the 68 policy-makers 13 political power 117 political pressures 6 portfolio flows 198–9, 199 portfolio investment 118, 201, 201, 202–3 portfolio investment theory 131 power 7–8, 100–2, 126–7.


pages: 590 words: 153,208

Wealth and Poverty: A New Edition for the Twenty-First Century by George Gilder

accelerated depreciation, affirmative action, Albert Einstein, Bear Stearns, Bernie Madoff, book value, British Empire, business cycle, capital controls, clean tech, cloud computing, collateralized debt obligation, creative destruction, Credit Default Swap, credit default swaps / collateralized debt obligations, crony capitalism, deindustrialization, diversified portfolio, Donald Trump, equal pay for equal work, floating exchange rates, full employment, gentrification, George Gilder, Gunnar Myrdal, Home mortgage interest deduction, Howard Zinn, income inequality, independent contractor, inverted yield curve, invisible hand, Jane Jacobs, Jeff Bezos, job automation, job-hopping, Joseph Schumpeter, junk bonds, knowledge economy, labor-force participation, longitudinal study, low interest rates, margin call, Mark Zuckerberg, means of production, medical malpractice, Michael Milken, minimum wage unemployment, Money creation, money market fund, money: store of value / unit of account / medium of exchange, Mont Pelerin Society, moral hazard, mortgage debt, non-fiction novel, North Sea oil, paradox of thrift, Paul Samuelson, plutocrats, Ponzi scheme, post-industrial society, power law, price stability, Ralph Nader, rent control, Robert Gordon, Robert Solow, Ronald Reagan, San Francisco homelessness, scientific management, Silicon Valley, Simon Kuznets, Skinner box, skunkworks, Solyndra, Steve Jobs, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas L Friedman, upwardly mobile, urban renewal, volatility arbitrage, War on Poverty, women in the workforce, working poor, working-age population, yield curve, zero-sum game

We have a consequence without a cause.”1 The question is, which is the real wealth: the consequence, possessed by the oil-rich lands like Saudi Arabia, or the cause, manifested for centuries, for example, by relatively barren islands like Japan and Great Britain, and now by Hong Kong and Taiwan? The question acquires high importance as Great Britain itself stumbles into its legacy of North Sea oil and threatens to squander it. Will this oil be seen later as a “curse in disguise,” which prevents Britain from recovering from its real losses: the declining productivity of its work force and the slackness of its management? Oil, like a neutron bomb, could end by destroying the real wealth of the land—the morale and ingenuity of its people—and leave standing only the sterile structures of an advanced industrial economy, ruled by a bloated and increasingly oppressive bureaucracy, trained only in the barren arts of redistributing bonanzas.

Britain might have led in transfer payments, but the United States exceeded almost all capitalist countries in proportion of GNP devoted to direct government appropriations of private-sector resources, for all purposes from housing to defense. This is probably the most important index of government impact on an economy. Without the energy crisis, such government growth might have been manageable. But unlike Britain with its North Sea oil, the United States, in order to pay a $60 billion tax to OPEC, was forced to expand its exports massively. Government, unfortunately, despite its many uses, is not usually an exportable item. As the United States increased its exports, therefore, unsubsidized workers had to make do with less in order that civil servants and OPEC might have more.

Such industries exist all over Europe today, firms feeding on the societies they once amply fed. Not one of the nationalized manufacturing companies in Europe has made a consistent profit; all are burdens on the economies they seemingly dominate but actually subvert. In Great Britain the discovery of North Sea oil has been called a “curse in disguise” because it allowed that country to continue financing its parasite leviathans throughout the 1970s and even to endow new nationalized firms such as the now-defunct Inmos, which was a hopeless laggard in the computer industry, as well as virtual government creatures like the failed DeLorean Autos, for which Britain outbid lucky Puerto Rico for the right to lavish immense subsidies on the firm and to deplete the national economy in order to “create” a few jobs and destroy many more.


A History of British Motorways by G. Charlesworth

New Urbanism, North Sea oil, restrictive zoning, the built environment, Traffic in Towns by Colin Buchanan, urban planning, urban renewal

One reason was the effect of the marked increase in the price of oil demanded by the Oil Producing and Exporting Countries (OPEC) starting in 1973, which without doubt has led to serious recession in countries of the Western WorId. Although Britain has to a considerable extent been cushioned from some effects of the oil crisis by North Sea oil and gas the economy has been in serious decline and successive Governments have been seeking economies, notably by cutting capital expenditure programmes, and, as had occurred in similar circumstances in earlier years, the new roads programme did not escape being cut. Another factor of considerable importance affecting progress with motorway programmes was the delay resulting from Public Inquiries and the effect this had on the ability of the Ministry of Transport to spend its budget.

Nevertheless the original dual-carriageway programme, including motorways, in the Central Belt appears to have been largely completed by 1980. In a statement on roads in Scotland issued by the Government in 1980 13 it was noted that a road network providing quick and easy access was important in improving the prospects of firms in Scotland and that this applied particularly to the Central Belt and to areas affected by North Sea oil developments. Priority for the increasingly scarce resources for roads would go to important strategic routes and new trunk roads would be built only where there were pressing current problems. The Secretary of State attached great importance to the development of local road systems as complementing the motorway and trunk road network.

Instead formations were made sufficiently wide to take shoulders if required later and meanwhile emergency lay-bys were provided at 1 mile intervals. This gave rise to considerable criticism on safety grounds and in 1973 the Secretary of State announced that in view of the rate of growth oftraffic due to developments associated with North Sea oil, hard shoulders would be built on these early sections and would be included in future motorways. In 1972 the Secretary of State announced his decision on the line of the route from Milnathort through to Craigend at the southern end of the Perth by-pass. This decision followed a Public Inquiry on 28 days between September and November 1971.


pages: 932 words: 307,785

State of Emergency: The Way We Were by Dominic Sandbrook

anti-communist, Apollo 13, Arthur Marwick, back-to-the-land, banking crisis, Bretton Woods, British Empire, centre right, collective bargaining, Corn Laws, David Attenborough, Doomsday Book, edge city, estate planning, Etonian, falling living standards, fear of failure, Fellow of the Royal Society, feminist movement, financial thriller, first-past-the-post, fixed income, full employment, gentrification, German hyperinflation, global pandemic, Herbert Marcuse, mass immigration, meritocracy, moral panic, Neil Kinnock, new economy, New Urbanism, Norman Mailer, North Sea oil, oil shock, Own Your Own Home, post-war consensus, sexual politics, traveling salesman, union organizing, upwardly mobile, urban planning, Winter of Discontent, young professional

‘I found great comfort in Watership Down.’36 Most writers of the mid-1970s, however, portrayed nature in a much darker light, emphasizing its propensity to fight back against human exploitation, even to destroy mankind itself. In 1976 alone, two competing pulp thrillers, Richard Doyle’s Deluge and Walter Harris’s The Fifth Horseman, showed Britain being engulfed by monstrous floods. In the latter, in good science-fiction style, the terror has been unleashed by man’s own arrogance, with North Sea oil drilling (then a topical subject) having destroyed the seabed and brought a tidal wave crashing over Britain’s shores. As one character sagely puts it: ‘Nature abhors a vacuum … We’re taking out oil and gas, and putting nothing back.’ But the book that really set the standard for nature biting back was James Herbert’s gory blockbuster The Rats (1974), whose terrifyingly graphic vision of feral black rats swarming across London, leaving a trail of mutilated corpses in their wake, drew ferocious criticism from shocked reviewers.

By May 1973, Tesco, British Oxygen, Legal & General and the Abbey National had already committed themselves to opening offices or warehouses in the new town, and by the end of the 1970s more new jobs had been created in Milton Keynes than in any other city in Britain, with the exception of the North Sea oil boomtown of Aberdeen. And although housing completions had fallen behind demand, that was simply because industry and jobs were coming to Milton Keynes much faster than anybody had expected. By the end of 1973, the developers had finished more than 5,000 homes, and by 1976 the town’s population already stood at 76,000 people.

The atmosphere, one reporter wrote, ‘was overwhelmingly influenced by Scotland, and Scotch. It was at once powerful and obscene, and gave no comfort to England who might have been on Scottish soil.’ Only weeks earlier, the Scottish National Party – driven by bitter frustration with the major national parties and excitement at the potential benefits of North Sea oil – had made sweeping gains in the council elections. Now, as goals by Gordon McQueen and Kenny Dalglish confirmed the visitors’ superiority over Revie’s constipated England, Wembley seemed awash with Celtic triumphalism. That the quality of the football was generally poor – it was yet another match crippled by defensive tactics and endless fouls – bothered the visitors not at all.


pages: 232 words: 76,830

Dreams of Leaving and Remaining by James Meek

"World Economic Forum" Davos, Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, agricultural Revolution, anti-communist, bank run, Boris Johnson, Brexit referendum, centre right, Corn Laws, corporate governance, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Etonian, full employment, global supply chain, illegal immigration, Jeff Bezos, Jeremy Corbyn, Leo Hollis, low skilled workers, Martin Wolf, mega-rich, Neil Kinnock, North Sea oil, Northern Rock, obamacare, offshore financial centre, race to the bottom, Ronald Reagan, savings glut, Shenzhen special economic zone , Skype, sovereign wealth fund, special economic zone, Stephen Hawking, working-age population

It also projected pessimism too widely over Grimsby’s economic future. I found pockets of optimism. An unexpected new source of work had appeared, skilled work that matched brawn and endurance with extreme engineering finesse. Essentially Grimsby hoped to become to wind power what Aberdeen became to the North Sea oil industry. There was an offshore wind rush on, primed by green taxes collected by private power firms through electricity bills. Like the movements of catchable fish, wind power was unpredictable; unlike fish, it was inexhaustible. While there was only one common two-hundred-mile Eurolimit for fish, national two-hundred-mile zones remained in place for wind farms, and Britain’s zone is vast.

There’s one world price, but the cost of getting the oil out of the ground varies from place to place, mainly according to how difficult it is to get at and how much local workers are paid. It’s simple, for any oilfield, to work out how low the world price would have to go to stop oil extraction being profitable.* Saudi oil is cheap; North Sea oil is expensive. How to find similar benchmarks for food? As I talked to Laborde, I realised how naive my question was. It’s not just that the Saudi Arabia of rice, the Saudi Arabia of prawns and the Saudi Arabia of soya beans are all different. It’s that with staple crops like wheat, there are multiple different grades, varieties and uses, making it hard to compare like with like.


pages: 294 words: 80,084

Tomorrowland: Our Journey From Science Fiction to Science Fact by Steven Kotler

adjacent possible, Albert Einstein, Alexander Shulgin, autonomous vehicles, barriers to entry, Biosphere 2, Burning Man, carbon footprint, carbon tax, Colonization of Mars, crowdsourcing, Dean Kamen, Dennis Tito, epigenetics, gravity well, Great Leap Forward, haute couture, Helicobacter pylori, interchangeable parts, Kevin Kelly, life extension, Louis Pasteur, low earth orbit, North Sea oil, Oculus Rift, off-the-grid, oil shale / tar sands, peak oil, personalized medicine, Peter H. Diamandis: Planetary Resources, private spaceflight, RAND corporation, Ray Kurzweil, Richard Feynman, Ronald Reagan, self-driving car, SpaceShipOne, stem cell, Stephen Hawking, Stewart Brand, synthetic biology, theory of mind, Virgin Galactic, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, Whole Earth Catalog, WikiLeaks

This means that today, right now, we have companies willing and able to place multibillion dollars bets [a typical deep-sea platform runs between five and fifty billion] on high-risk, robotically-run, resource extraction missions — which is asteroid mining to a tee.” “You need to examine the facts,” says Eric Anderson, “No laws of physics need to be reconfigured to mine an asteroid. There are no technology gaps. Truthfully, building a North Sea oil platform is a lot harder.” And, suddenly, Houston, we have proof of concept. 3. So what will this concept look like in our lifetime? Already, Planetary Resources has raised over $1.5 million to help launch the ARKYD 100 space telescope, which is specifically designed to hunt for near-Earth asteroid mining prospects.

There’s also President Obama’s announcement that he wants to land astronauts on an asteroid by 2025. Teams at Johnson Space Center in Houston and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena are hard at work on this goal, so a government-sponsored first step is not out of the question. Others believe that big energy companies — the same ones who built North Sea oil platforms — will have, by then, staked claims on near-Earth asteroids. Jeffrey Kargel compares the short-term future of asteroid exploitation to the early exploration of North America, starting with the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1803. “That expedition was followed by decades of military expeditions, geologic surveys, and infrastructure development.


pages: 365 words: 88,125

23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang

accelerated depreciation, affirmative action, Alan Greenspan, AOL-Time Warner, Asian financial crisis, bank run, banking crisis, basic income, Berlin Wall, Bernie Madoff, borderless world, business logic, Carmen Reinhart, central bank independence, collateralized debt obligation, colonial rule, corporate governance, Credit Default Swap, credit default swaps / collateralized debt obligations, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, deindustrialization, deskilling, digital divide, ending welfare as we know it, Fall of the Berlin Wall, falling living standards, financial deregulation, financial innovation, full employment, German hyperinflation, Gini coefficient, Glass-Steagall Act, hiring and firing, Hyman Minsky, income inequality, income per capita, invisible hand, joint-stock company, joint-stock limited liability company, Joseph Schumpeter, Kenneth Rogoff, knowledge economy, labour market flexibility, light touch regulation, Long Term Capital Management, low skilled workers, manufacturing employment, market fundamentalism, means of production, Mexican peso crisis / tequila crisis, microcredit, Myron Scholes, North Sea oil, offshore financial centre, old-boy network, post-industrial society, price stability, profit maximization, profit motive, purchasing power parity, rent control, Robert Solow, shareholder value, short selling, Skype, structural adjustment programs, the market place, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, Tobin tax, Toyota Production System, trade liberalization, trickle-down economics, women in the workforce, working poor, zero-sum game

To begin with, it is not as if Britain is the only country in which these things have happened. The declining shares of manufacturing in total output and employment – a phenomenon known as de-industrialization – is a natural occurrence, many commentators argue, common to all rich countries (accelerated in the British case by the finding of North Sea oil). This is widely believed to be because, as they become richer, people begin to demand more services than manufactured goods. With falling demand, it is natural that the manufacturing sector shrinks and the country enters the post-industrial stage. Many people actually celebrate the rise of services.

The knowledge-based services that I mentioned earlier – banking, consulting, engineering, and so on – are highly tradable. For example, in Britain since the 1990s, exports of knowledge-based services have played a crucial role in plugging the balance of payments gap left behind by de-industrialization (and the fall in North Sea oil exports, which had enabled the country – just – to survive the negative balance of payments consequences of de-industrialization during the 1980s). However, even in Britain, which is most advanced in the exports of these knowledge-based services, the balance of payments surplus generated by those services is well below 4 per cent of GDP, just enough to cover the country’s manufacturing trade deficits.


pages: 382 words: 100,127

The Road to Somewhere: The Populist Revolt and the Future of Politics by David Goodhart

Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, agricultural Revolution, assortative mating, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, borderless world, Boris Johnson, Branko Milanovic, Bretton Woods, Brexit referendum, British Empire, call centre, capital controls, carbon footprint, central bank independence, centre right, coherent worldview, corporate governance, credit crunch, Crossrail, deglobalization, deindustrialization, Donald Trump, Downton Abbey, Edward Glaeser, en.wikipedia.org, Etonian, European colonialism, eurozone crisis, falling living standards, first-past-the-post, gender pay gap, gig economy, glass ceiling, global supply chain, global village, Great Leap Forward, illegal immigration, income inequality, informal economy, Jeremy Corbyn, job satisfaction, knowledge economy, labour market flexibility, low skilled workers, market friction, mass immigration, meritocracy, mittelstand, Neil Kinnock, New Urbanism, non-tariff barriers, North Sea oil, obamacare, old-boy network, open borders, open immigration, Peter Singer: altruism, post-industrial society, post-materialism, postnationalism / post nation state, race to the bottom, Richard Florida, Ronald Reagan, selection bias, shareholder value, Skype, Sloane Ranger, stem cell, the long tail, Thomas L Friedman, transaction costs, trickle-down economics, ultimatum game, upwardly mobile, wages for housework, white flight, women in the workforce, working poor, working-age population, World Values Survey

Indeed, global capital mobility is now out of intellectual fashion: an IMF paper published in early 2016 identified 152 capital ‘surge’ episodes between 1980 and 2014 in fifty-three countries, with 20 per cent leading to a banking or currency crisis.8 But even if the reach and rigidity of globalisation has been exaggerated and may, in any case, now be in retreat, greater economic openness has had a big impact on many British lives in recent decades. The rapid de-industrialisation from the 1970s onwards was partly a policy choice of successive governments but it was hastened by the unusual openness of the economy (and the sharp rise in the pound in the 1980s, partly the result of North Sea oil). And thanks to that openness if you work for a non-public body that employs more than 1,000 people there is a more than 50 per cent chance you will have a foreign owner. And of course the large immigration flows of recent years from Europe and further afield are part of the same story. The changes overall have brought many benefits to many people in rich and poor countries.

The benefit of having employees represented at the highest level in large German companies—something that the May government has been thinking about for Britain too—can also be seen in the more gradual pace of de-industrialisation in the heavy industrial Ruhr region of Germany in the 1980s and 1990s compared with most of Britain’s industrial regions. The pace of de-industrialisation in Britain picked up sharply in the early 1980s as the effect of North Sea oil sent the pound rocketing and Mrs Thatcher’s new free market government removed all capital controls, and in some cases sharply cut financial support to nationalised industries. (The closure of uneconomic coal mines led to the year long 1984/5 strike and the rapid subsequent rundown of the whole industry).


pages: 801 words: 242,104

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond

biodiversity loss, Biosphere 2, California energy crisis, classic study, clean water, colonial rule, correlation does not imply causation, cuban missile crisis, Donner party, Easter island, European colonialism, Exxon Valdez, Garrett Hardin, Great Leap Forward, illegal immigration, job satisfaction, low interest rates, means of production, Medieval Warm Period, megaproject, new economy, North Sea oil, Piper Alpha, polynesian navigation, profit motive, South Sea Bubble, statistical model, Stewart Brand, Thomas Malthus, Timothy McVeigh, trade route, Tragedy of the Commons, transcontinental railway, unemployed young men

Under Scottish rule, the Orkney islanders continued to speak a Norse dialect until the 1700s. Today, the Orkney descendents of indigenous Picts and Norse invaders remain prosperous farmers enriched by a terminal for North Sea oil. Some of what I have just said about the Orkneys also applies to the next North Atlantic colony, the Shetland Islands. They too were originally occupied by Pict farmers, conquered by Vikings in the ninth century, ceded to Scotland in 1472, spoke Norse for some time thereafter, and have recently profited from North Sea oil. Differences are that they are slightly more remote and northerly (50 miles north of Orkney and 130 miles north of Scotland), windier, have poorer soils, and are less productive agriculturally.

On the other hand, coal occurs in pure seams up to 10 feet thick stretching for miles, so that the ratio of dumped wastes to product extracted is only about one for a coal mine, far less than the already-mentioned figures of 400 for a copper mine and 5,000,000 for a gold mine. The lethal Buffalo Creek disaster at a U.S. coal mine in 1972 served as a wake-up call for the coal industry, much as the Exxon Valdez and North Sea oil rig disasters did for the oil industry. While the hardrock mining industry has had its share of disasters in the Third World, those have occurred too far from the eyes of the First World public to have served as a comparable wake-up call. Stimulated by Buffalo Creek, the U.S. federal government in the 1970s and 1980s instituted tighter regulation, and required stricter operating plans and financial assurance, for coal mining than for hardrock mining.

.; see also Anasazi Tainos in Vinland natural experiment method natural gas Nature Conservancy, The Navajo people neighbors, hostile Netherlands, polders in Nettles, Bill Nevada, gold mines in Newfoundland New Guinea agriculture of and Australia landmass bottom-up management in deforestation of and El Niño government of indicator species of Kutubu oil field mining in plant domestication in population growth of settlement of silviculture in volcanic ashfall on wood supplies on Nordrseta hunting ground Norfolk Island Norse Greenland abandonment of agriculture in burial customs in climate in communal cooperation in conservative society of decline of deforestation of environment of Erik the Red in Eurocentrism in food in fuel in Gardar Cathedral Gardar Farm hunting in Hvalsey Church integrated economy of Inuit in iron poverty in isolation of native species in population of religion in Sandnes Farm settlement of social stratification in soil quality in starvation in survival of trade with tree shortage in turf cutting in Viking colony in violence in North Atlantic: map sea ice in North Sea, oil/gas in Norway, see Scandinavia nutrients, recycling of Nygaard, Georg Ogowila tephra oil industry disasters in double-hulled tankers in government regulation of Kutubu oil field long-range outlook in natural gas in Point Arguello and public opinion on Salawati Island technology in Oil Search Limited Ok Tedi copper mine Olaf I, king of Norway Olafsson, Thorstein Olav the Quiet, king of Norway Olmecs Ord River Scheme, Australia O’Reilly, David Orkney Islands Orliac, Catherine overgrazing ozone layer, destruction of “Ozymandias” (Shelley) Pacific islands: deforestation of disappearance of societies in Polynesian expansion in sustainable food production on Pacific Ocean: Andesite Line garbage transport to map Packard Foundation packrat midden analysis palynology (pollen analysis) Panguna Copper Mine Pa Nukumara Papua New Guinea, see New Guinea PCBs Peary, Robert Pegasus Gold Inc.


pages: 311 words: 17,232

Living in a Material World: The Commodity Connection by Kevin Morrison

addicted to oil, Alan Greenspan, An Inconvenient Truth, barriers to entry, Berlin Wall, biodiversity loss, carbon credits, carbon footprint, carbon tax, clean water, commoditize, commodity trading advisor, computerized trading, diversified portfolio, Doha Development Round, Elon Musk, energy security, European colonialism, flex fuel, food miles, Ford Model T, Great Grain Robbery, Gregor Mendel, Hernando de Soto, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, hydrogen economy, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), junk bonds, Kickstarter, Long Term Capital Management, managed futures, Market Wizards by Jack D. Schwager, Michael Milken, new economy, North Sea oil, oil rush, oil shale / tar sands, oil shock, out of africa, Paul Samuelson, peak oil, planned obsolescence, price mechanism, Ronald Coase, Ronald Reagan, Silicon Valley, sovereign wealth fund, the payments system, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, trade liberalization, transaction costs, uranium enrichment, vertical integration, young professional

ENERGY | 49 The difference between now and the 1970s is that there are no new conventional North Sea oil fields coming on, and the promises of the new supply from the Caspian Sea and central Asia have consistently failed to live up to expectations. At the same time demand for oil – predominately for transportation – remains strong due to the emerging mobile classes in China and India. The cost of cars is coming down, too. Tata Motors, the Indian carmaker, intends to sell its new Tata Nano for $2500 each, or about half the cost of the next cheapest car. Today’s equivalent of the North Sea oil fields – that is, oil supply from a politically stable region – is the Canadian tar sands, also known as oil sands.


pages: 471 words: 109,267

The Verdict: Did Labour Change Britain? by Polly Toynbee, David Walker

Alan Greenspan, An Inconvenient Truth, banking crisis, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, blood diamond, Bob Geldof, Boris Johnson, call centre, central bank independence, congestion charging, Corn Laws, Credit Default Swap, Crossrail, decarbonisation, deglobalization, deindustrialization, Etonian, failed state, first-past-the-post, Frank Gehry, gender pay gap, Gini coefficient, high net worth, hiring and firing, illegal immigration, income inequality, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), knowledge economy, labour market flexibility, market bubble, mass immigration, military-industrial complex, millennium bug, moral panic, North Sea oil, Northern Rock, offshore financial centre, pension reform, plutocrats, Ponzi scheme, profit maximization, purchasing power parity, Right to Buy, shareholder value, Skype, smart meter, social distancing, stem cell, The Spirit Level, too big to fail, University of East Anglia, working-age population, Y2K

First American then Chinese intransigence meant no deals, no timetables, only the usual expressions of good intent for some unspecified time in the future. Labour left the UK as dependent on carbon as ever. And even more dependent on foreign energy supply. In 2009 gas generated 45 per cent of UK electricity, coal 32 per cent. Long gone were the rich flows of home-drilled North Sea oil and gas, whose revenues had helped pay for mass unemployment in the Thatcher years. The North Sea was running down. In 2006 the UK became a net importer of natural gas, foreign supplies meeting 38 per cent of UK electricity demand. The geopolitics of carbon shifted east and the EU became sensitive to its dependency after Russia started using its gas and oil as a diplomatic tool: why manoeuvre tanks when you can turn off the taps?

., 1 Gallagher, Liam, 1 Gallagher, Noel, 1 gambling, 1 gangmasters, 1, 2 gas, 1 Gates, Bill, 1 Gateshead, 1 Gaza, 1 GCHQ, 1 GCSEs, 1, 2, 3, 4 Gehry, Frank, 1 Geldof, Bob, 1 gender reassignment, 1 General Teaching Council, 1 genetically modified crops, 1 Germany, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 economy and business, 1, 2, 3, 4 and education, 1, 2 and health, 1, 2 Ghana, 1 Ghandi’s curry house, 1 Ghent, 1 Gladstone, William Ewart, 1, 2 Glaister, Professor Stephen, 1 Glasgow, 1, 2, 3, 4 Gleneagles summit, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 globalization, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and crime, 1 and foreign policy, 1, 2, 3 and inequality, 1 and migration, 1, 2 Gloucester, 1 Goldacre, Ben, 1 Good Friday agreement, 1 Goodwin, Sir Fred, 1 Goody, Jade, 1 Gormley, Antony, 1 Gould, Philip, 1 grandparents, and childcare, 1 Gray, Simon, 1 Great Yarmouth, 1 Greater London Authority, 1, 2 Greater London Council, 1 green spaces, 1 Greenberg, Stan, 1 Greengrass, Paul, 1 Greenspan, Alan, 1, 2 Greenwich, 1 Gregg, Paul, 1 Guardian, 1, 2, 3 Guizot, François, 1 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, 1 Gummer, John, 1 Gurkhas, 1 Guthrie of Craigiebank, Lord, 1 Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospital, 1 habeas corpus, suspension of, 1 Hacienda Club, 1 Hackney, 1 Hale, Baroness Brenda, 1 Hallé Orchestra, 1 Ham, Professor Chris, 1 Hamilton, Lewis, 1 Hammersmith Hospital, 1 Hammond, Richard, 1 Hardie, Keir, 1 Hardy, Thea, 1 Haringey, 1, 2 Harman, Harriet, 1 Harris of Peckham, Lord, 1 Harrison, PC Dawn, 1, 2 Harrow School, 1 Hartlepool, 1, 2 Hastings, 1, 2 Hatfield rail crash, 1 Hatt family, 1, 2, 3, 4 health, 1 and private sector, 1, 2 and social class, 1 spending on, 1, 2 Health Action Zones, 1 Health and Safety Executive, 1 Heathcote, Paul, 1 Heathrow airport, 1, 2, 3, 4 Hellawell, Keith, 1 Hennessy, Professor Peter, 1 Henry, Donna Charmaine, 1, 2, 3 heroin, 1 Hewitt, Patricia, 1, 2 Higgs, Sir Derek, 1 Hills, Professor John, 1, 2, 3 Hirst, Damien, 1 HMRC, 1, 2, 3 Hogg, John, 1, 2, 3 Hoggart, Richard, 1 Holly, Graham, 1 homelessness, 1, 2 Homerton Hospital, 1 homosexuality, 1, 2, 3 ‘honour’ killings, 1 Hoon, Geoff, 1 hospital-acquired infections, 1 hospitals and clinics, 1, 2, 3, 4 A&E units, 1, 2 closures, 1, 2, 3 foundation trusts, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and PFI, 1 House of Commons reforms, 1, 2 House of Lords reforms, 1, 2, 3, 4 housing market, 1, 2, 3 housing policies, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Howe, Elspeth, 1 Hoxton, 1 Huddersfield, 1 Hudson, Joseph, 1 Hull, 1, 2, 3 Human Rights Act, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 Humber Bridge, 1 hunting ban, 1 Hussein, Saddam, 1, 2, 3, 4 Hutton, John, 1 Hutton, Will, 1, 2 identity cards, 1, 2 If (Kipling), 1 Imperial War Museum North, 1 income inequalities, 1, 2, 3 gender pay gap, 1, 2 and high earners, 1 and social class, 1 Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), 1 Independent Safeguarding Authority, 1 independent-sector treatment centres (ISTCs), 1 Index of Multiple Deprivation, 1 India, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 individual learning accounts, 1 inflation, 1 and housing market, 1, 2 International Criminal Court, 1 International Monetary Fund (IMF), 1, 2, 3 internet, 1, 2, 3 and crime, 1 and cyber-bullying, 1 file sharing, 1 gambling, 1 and sex crimes, 1 Iran, 1, 2, 3 Iraq, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 arms supplies, 1 Chilcot inquiry, 1, 2, 3, 4 and Territorial Army, 1 and WMD, 1 Ireland, 1, 2, 3 Irish famine, 1 Irvine of Lairg, Lord, 1, 2 Ishaq, Khyra, 1 Islamabad, 1 Isle of Man, 1 Isle of Wight, 1, 2 Israel, 1 Italy, 1, 2, 3 and football, 1 Ivory Coast, 1 Japan, 1, 2, 3, 4 Jenkins, Roy, 1, 2 Jerry Springer: The Opera, 1 Jobcentre Plus, 1, 2 John Lewis Partnership, 1, 2 Johnson, Alan, 1, 2, 3, 4 Johnson, Boris, 1, 2 Judge, Lord (Igor), 1 Judge, Professor Ken, 1 Julius, DeAnne, 1 jury trials, 1, 2 Kabul, 1 Kapoor, Anish, 1, 2 Karachi, 1 Karadžic, Radovan, 1 Kashmir, 1 Kaufman, Gerald, 1 Keegan, William, 1 Keep Britain Tidy, 1 Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, 1 Kensit, Patsy, 1 Keynes, John Maynard, 1 Keys, Kenton, 1 Kidderminster Hospital, 1 King, Sir David, 1, 2 King, Mervyn, 1 King Edward VI School, 1 King’s College Hospital, 1 Kingsnorth power station, 1 Kirklees, 1 Knight, Jim, 1 knighthoods, 1 knowledge economy, 1 Kosovo, 1, 2, 3, 4 Kynaston, David, 1 Kyoto summit and protocols, 1, 2, 3 Labour Party membership, 1 Lacey, David, 1 Ladbroke Grove rail crash, 1 Lamb, General Sir Graeme, 1 Lambert, Richard, 1 landmines, 1 Lansley, Andrew, 1 lapdancing, 1 Las Vegas, 1 Lawrence, Stephen, 1 Lawson, Mark, 1 Layard, Professor Richard, 1 Le Grand, Professor Julian, 1 Lea, Ruth, 1 Lea Valley High School, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Leahy, Sir Terry, 1, 2 learndirect, 1 Learning and Skills Council, 1 learning difficulties, 1, 2 learning mentors, 1 Leeds, 1, 2, 3, 4 legal reforms, 1 Leigh, Mike, 1 Lenon, Barnaby, 1 Lewes, 1 Lewisham, 1 Liberty, 1 licensing laws, 1, 2 life expectancy, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Life on Mars, 1 Lincoln, 1 Lindsell, Tracy, 1, 2 Lindsey oil refinery, 1 Lisbon Treaty, 1 Liverpool, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Liverpool FC, 1 living standards, 1, 2 living wage campaign, 1, 2 Livingstone, Ken, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Livni, Tzipi, 1 Loaded magazine, 1 local government, 1, 2, 3 and elected mayors, 1 Lockerbie bomber, 1 London, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 bombings, 1, 2 congestion charge, 1, 2 detention of foreign leaders, 1 G20 protests, 1 Iraq war protests, 1, 2 mayoral election, 1, 2 and transport policy, 1, 2, 3 London Array wind farm, 1 Longannet, 1 Longfield, Anne, 1 Lord-Marchionne, Sacha, 1 Lorenzetti, Ambrogio, 1 lorry protests, 1, 2 Lowry Museum, 1 Lumley, Joanna, 1 Luton, 1, 2, 3, 4 Lyons, Sir Michael, 1 Macfadden, Julia, 1 Machin, Professor Stephen, 1, 2 Maclean, David, 1 Macmillan, Harold, 1 Macmillan, James, 1 McNulty, Tony, 1 Macpherson, Sir Nick, 1 Macpherson, Sir William, 1 McQueen, Alexander, 1 Madrid, 1, 2, 3 Major, John, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Malaya, 1 Malloch Brown, Mark, 1 Manchester, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 club scene, 1, 2 and crime, 1, 2 Gorton, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and local government, 1 and transport policy, 1, 2, 3 Manchester Academy, 1 Manchester United FC, 1, 2 Manchester University, 1 Mandelson, Peter, 1, 2 Manpower Services Commission, 1 manufacturing, 1, 2, 3 Margate, 1 ‘market for talent’ myth, 1 marriage rate, 1 Martin, Michael, 1 maternity and paternity leave, 1, 2 Mayfield, Charlie, 1 Medical Research Council, 1 mental health, 1, 2, 3, 4 mephedrone, 1 Metcalf, Professor David, 1 Metropolitan Police, 1, 2, 3 Mexico, 1, 2 MG Rover, 1 Michael, Alun, 1 Middlesbrough College, 1, 2 migration, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 Milburn, Alan, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Miliband, David, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Miliband, Ed, 1, 2, 3 Millennium Cohort Study, 1, 2 Millennium Dome, 1, 2, 3 Miloševic, Slobodan, 1 Milton Keynes, 1 minimum wage, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Mitchell, Senator George, 1 modern art, 1 Mohamed, Binyam, 1 Monbiot, George, 1 Moray, 1 Morecambe, 1, 2 Morecambe Bay cockle pickers, 1 Morgan, Piers, 1 Morgan, Rhodri, 1 mortgage interest relief, 1 Mosley, Max, 1 motor racing, 1 Mowlam, Mo, 1 Mozambique, 1 MPs’ expenses, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 MRSA, 1 Mugabe, Robert, 1 Muijen, Matt, 1 Mulgan, Geoff, 1 Mullin, Chris, 1 Murdoch, Rupert, 1, 2, 3 Murphy, Richard, 1 museums and galleries, 1, 2, 3 music licensing, 1 Muslims, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 mutualism, 1 Myners, Paul, 1 nanotechnology, 1, 2, 3 National Air Traffic Control System, 1 National Care Service, 1 national curriculum, 1 national debt, 1 National Forest, 1 National Health Service (NHS) cancer plan, 1 drugs teams, 1 and employment, 1, 2 internal market, 1 IT system, 1 league tables, 1 managers, 1, 2 NHS direct, 1 primary care, 1 productivity, 1, 2 and public satisfaction, 1 staff numbers and pay, 1 and targets, 1, 2, 3 waiting times, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 National Heart Forum, 1 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), 1, 2 National Insurance, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 National Lottery, 1, 2, 3 National Offender Management Service, 1 National Savings, 1 National Theatre, 1 Natural England, 1, 2 Nazio, Tiziana, 1 Neighbourhood Watch, 1 Netherlands, 1, 2 neurosurgery, 1 New Deal, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 New Deal for Communities, 1, 2 New Forest, 1 Newcastle upon Tyne, 1, 2 Newham, 1, 2 newspapers, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Nigeria, 1 Nightingale, Florence, 1 non-doms, 1 North Korea, 1 North Middlesex Hospital, 1 North Sea oil and gas, 1 Northern Ireland, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Northern Rock, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Norway, 1 Nottingham, 1, 2 NSPCC, 1 nuclear power, 1 Number Ten Delivery Unit, 1 nurses, 1, 2, 3, 4 Nutt, Professor David, 1 NVQs, 1 O2 arena, 1 Oakthorpe primary school, 1, 2 Oates, Tim, 1 Obama, Barack, 1, 2 obesity, 1, 2 Octagon consortium, 1 Office for National Statistics, 1, 2 Office of Security and Counter Terrorism, 1 Ofsted, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Ofwat, 1 Oldham, 1, 2, 3, 4 O’Leary, Michael, 1 Oliver, Jamie, 1, 2 Olympic Games, 1, 2, 3 Open University, 1 O’Reilly, Damien, 1, 2 orthopaedics, 1 Orwell, George, 1, 2 outsourcing, 1, 2, 3, 4 overseas aid, 1, 2 Oxford University, 1 paedophiles, 1, 2, 3 Page, Ben, 1, 2 Pakistan, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Palestine, 1, 2 parenting, 1 absent parents, 1 lone parents, 1, 2 teenage parents, 1 Paris, 1, 2 Park Lane, 1 Parkinson, Professor Michael, 1 particle physics, 1 party funding, 1, 2, 3 passport fraud, 1 Passport Office, 1 Patch, Harry, 1 Payne, Sarah, 1, 2 Peach, Blair, 1 Pearce, Nick, 1 Peckham, 1, 2 Aylesbury estate, 1 Peel, Sir Robert, 1 pensioner poverty, 1, 2 pensions, 1, 2 occupational pensions, 1, 2 pension funds, 1, 2 private pensions, 1 public-sector pensions, 1 state pension, 1, 2 Persian Gulf, 1 personal, social and health education, 1 Peterborough, 1 Peugeot, 1 Philips, Helen, 1 Phillips, Lord (Nicholas), 1, 2 Phillips, Trevor, 1 Pilkington, Fiona, 1 Pimlico, 1 Pinochet, Augusto, 1 Plymouth, 1, 2 Poland, 1, 2 police, 1 and demonstrations, 1 numbers, 1, 2, 3 in schools, 1, 2, 3 pornography, 1 Portsmouth FC, 1, 2 Portugal, 1 post offices, 1 Postlethwaite, Pete, 1 poverty, 1, 2, 3 see also child poverty; pensioner poverty Premier League, 1 Prescott, John, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 press officers, 1 Preston, 1 Prevent strategy, 1 Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), 1, 2 prisons, 1, 2 Private Finance Initiative (PFI), 1, 2 probation, 1, 2 property ownership, 1 prostitution, 1, 2, 3 Public Accounts Committee, 1 public sector reform, 1, 2 public service agreements, 1 public spending, 1, 2, 3 and the arts, 1 and science, 1 Pugh, Martin, 1 Pullman, Philip, 1 QinetiQ, 1 Quality and Outcomes Framework, 1 quangos, 1, 2 Queen, The, 1 Quentin, Lieutenant Pete, 1, 2 race relations legislation, 1 racism, 1, 2 RAF, 1, 2, 3 RAF Brize Norton, 1 railways, 1 Rand, Ayn, 1 Rawmarsh School, 1 Raynsford, Nick, 1 Reckitt Benckiser, 1 recycling, 1 Redcar, 1 regional assemblies, 1, 2 regional development agencies (RDAs), 1, 2, 3 regional policy, 1 Reid, John, 1 Reid, Richard, 1 religion, 1, 2 retirement age, 1, 2 right to roam, 1 Rimington, Stella, 1 Rio Earth summit, 1 road transport, 1 Rochdale, 1, 2 Roche, Barbara, 1 Rogers, Richard, 1 Romania, 1, 2 Rome, 1 Rooney, Wayne, 1 Roosevelt, Franklin D., 1 Rosetta Stone, 1 Rosyth, 1 Rotherham, 1, 2, 3 Royal Opera House, 1 Royal Shakespeare Company, 1 Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, 1 Rugby, 1 rugby union, 1 Rumsfeld, Donald, 1 rural affairs, 1, 2 Rushdie, Salman, 1 Russia, 1, 2 Rwanda, 1 Ryanair, 1, 2 Sainsbury, Lord David, 1 St Austell, 1 St Bartholomew’s Hospital, 1, 2 St Pancras International station, 1 Salford, 1, 2, 3, 4 Sanchez, Tia, 1 Sandwell, 1 Sarkozy, Nicolas, 1, 2 Savill, Superintendent Paul, 1 Saville, Lord, 1 savings ratio, 1 Scandinavia, 1, 2, 3 Scholar, Sir Michael, 1 school meals, 1, 2 school uniforms, 1 school-leaving age, 1 schools academies, 1, 2, 3, 4 building, 1 class sizes, 1 comprehensive schools, 1, 2 faith schools, 1, 2, 3, 4 grammar schools, 1, 2, 3 and inequality, 1 nursery schools, 1 and PFI, 1, 2, 3 police in, 1, 2, 3 primary schools, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 private schools, 1, 2 secondary schools, 1, 2, 3 in special measures, 1 special schools, 1 specialist schools, 1 and sport, 1 science, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Scotland, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and children, 1 devolution, 1 electricity generation, 1 and health, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Scottish parliament, 1, 2 Section 1, 2 security services, 1 MI5, 1, 2, 3 Sedley, Stephen, 1 segregation, 1 self-employment, 1 Sellafield, 1 Serious Organized Crime Agency, 1 sex crimes, 1 Sex Discrimination Act, 1 Shankly, Bill, 1 Sharkey, Feargal, 1 Shaw, Liz, 1 Sheen, Michael, 1 Sheffield, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Sheringham, 1 Shetty, Shilpa, 1 Shipman, Harold, 1 shopping, 1 Short, Clare, 1 Siemens, 1 Siena, 1 Sierra Leone, 1, 2 Skeet, Mavis, 1 skills councils, 1 slavery, 1 Slough, 1 Smith, Adam, 1 Smith, Chris, 1 Smith, Jacqui, 1, 2 Smith, John, 1, 2 Smithers, Professor Alan, 1, 2 smoking ban, 1, 2 Snowden, Philip, 1 social care, 1, 2, 3 Social Chapter opt-out, 1 social exclusion, 1, 2 Social Fund, 1 social mobility, 1, 2 social sciences, 1 social workers, 1 Soham murders, 1, 2, 3, 4 Solihull, 1, 2 Somalia, 1, 2 Souter, Brian, 1 South Africa, 1 South Downs, 1 Spain, 1, 2, 3 special advisers, 1 speed cameras, 1 Speenhamland, 1 Spelman, Caroline, 1 Spence, Laura, 1 sport, 1, 2 see also football; Olympic Games Sri Lanka, 1, 2 Stafford Hospital, 1 Staffordshire University, 1 Standard Assessment Tests (Sats), 1, 2, 3 Standards Board for England, 1 statins, 1, 2, 3 stem cell research, 1 STEM subjects, 1 Stephenson, Sir Paul, 1 Stern, Sir Nicholas, 1, 2 Stevenson, Lord (Dennis), 1 Stevenson, Wilf, 1 Steyn, Lord, 1 Stiglitz, Joseph, 1 Stockport, 1 Stonehenge, 1 Stoppard, Tom, 1 Straw, Jack, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 student fees, 1 Stuff Happens, 1 Sudan, 1, 2 Sugar, Alan, 1 suicide bombing, 1 suicides, 1 Sun, 1, 2 Sunday Times, 1, 2 Sunderland, 1, 2 supermarkets, 1, 2 Supreme Court, 1, 2 Sure Start, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 surveillance, 1, 2 Sutherland, Lord (Stewart), 1 Swansea, 1 Sweden, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Swindon, 1 Taliban, 1, 2 Tallinn, 1 Tanzania, 1 Tate Modern, 1 Taunton, 1 tax avoidance, 1, 2, 3 tax credits, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 council tax credit, 1 pension credit, 1, 2, 3 R&D credits, 1 taxation, 1, 2 10p tax rate, 1 capital gains tax, 1, 2 corporation tax, 1, 2, 3, 4 council tax, 1, 2 fuel duty, 1, 2, 3 green taxes, 1, 2 and income inequalities, 1 income tax, 1, 2, 3, 4 inheritance tax, 1, 2 poll tax, 1 stamp duty, 1, 2, 3 vehicle excise duty, 1 windfall tax, 1, 2, 3 see also National Insurance; VAT Taylor, Damilola, 1 Taylor, Robert, 1 teachers, 1, 2, 3 head teachers, 1, 2 salaries, 1, 2 teaching assistants, 1, 2 teenage pregnancy, 1, 2, 3 Teesside University, 1 television and crime, 1 and gambling, 1 talent shows, 1 television licence, 1, 2, 3 Territorial Army, 1 terrorism, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Terry, John, 1 Tesco, 1, 2, 3, 4 Tewkesbury, 1 Thames Gateway, 1 Thameswey, 1 Thatcher, Margaret, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 Thatcherism, 1, 2, 3 theatre, 1 Thornhill, Dorothy, 1 Thorp, John, 1 Tibet, 1 Tilbury, 1 Times, The, 1 Times Educational Supplement, 1, 2 Timmins, Nick, 1 Titanic, 1 Tomlinson, Mike, 1 Topman, Simon, 1, 2 torture, 1, 2 trade unions, 1, 2, 3 Trades Union Congress (TUC), 1, 2, 3 tramways, 1 transport policies, 1, 2 Trident missiles, 1, 2, 3 Triesman, Lord, 1 Turkey, 1, 2 Turnbull, Lord (Andrew), 1 Turner, Lord (Adair), 1, 2, 3 Tweedy, Colin, 1 Tyneside Metro, 1 Uganda, 1 UK Film Council, 1 UK Sport, 1 UK Statistics Authority, 1 unemployment, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 United Nations, 1, 2, 3 United States of America, 1, 2 Anglo-American relationship, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and child poverty, 1 and clean technologies, 1 economy and business, 1, 2, 3 and education, 1, 2, 3 and healthcare, 1, 2 and income inequalities, 1 and internet gambling, 1 and minimum wage, 1 universities, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and migration, 1 and terrorism, 1 tuition fees, 1 University College London Hospitals, 1 University for Industry, 1 University of East Anglia, 1 University of Lincoln, 1 Urban Splash, 1, 2 Vanity Fair, 1 VAT, 1, 2, 3 Vauxhall, 1 Venables, Jon, 1 Vestas wind turbines, 1 Victoria and Albert Museum, 1 Waitrose, 1 Waldfogel, Jane, 1 Wales, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and children, 1 devolution, 1 Walker, Sir David, 1 walking, 1, 2 Walsall, 1 Wanless, Sir Derek, 1 Wanstead, 1 Warm Front scheme, 1 Warner, Lord Norman, 1 Warsaw, 1 Warwick accord, 1 water utilities, 1 Watford, 1 welfare benefits child benefit, 1, 2 Employment Support Allowance, 1 and fraud, 1, 2, 3, 4 housing benefit, 1 incapacity benefit, 1, 2 Income Support, 1 Jobseeker’s Allowance, 1, 2, 3 and work, 1, 2 Welsh assembly, 1, 2 Wembley Stadium, 1 Westfield shopping mall, 1 Wetherspoons, 1 White, Marco Pierre, 1 Whittington Hospital, 1 Wiles, Paul, 1 Wilkinson, Richard, and Kate Pickett, 1 Williams, Professor Karel, 1 Williams, Raymond, 1 Williams, Rowan, 1 Wilson, Harold, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Wilson, Sir Richard, 1 wind turbines, 1, 2 Winslet, Kate, 1 winter fuel payments, 1 Wire, The, 1 Woking, 1, 2 Wolverhampton, 1 Woolf, Lord, 1 Wootton Bassett, 1, 2 working-class culture, 1 working hours, 1, 2 World Bank, 1 Wrexham, 1 Wright Robinson School, 1, 2, 3 xenophobia, 1 Y2K millennium bug, 1 Yarlswood detention centre, 1 Yeovil, 1 Yiewsley, 1 York, 1, 2, 3, 4 Young Person’s Guarantee, 1 Youth Justice Board, 1 Zimbabwe, 1, 2 About the Author Polly Toynbee is the Guardian’s social and political commentator.


pages: 367 words: 108,689

Broke: How to Survive the Middle Class Crisis by David Boyle

anti-communist, AOL-Time Warner, banking crisis, Berlin Wall, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, Bonfire of the Vanities, bonus culture, call centre, collateralized debt obligation, corporate raider, Credit Default Swap, credit default swaps / collateralized debt obligations, deindustrialization, delayed gratification, Desert Island Discs, Eugene Fama: efficient market hypothesis, eurozone crisis, Fall of the Berlin Wall, financial deregulation, financial independence, financial innovation, financial intermediation, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, Frederick Winslow Taylor, gentrification, Goodhart's law, housing crisis, income inequality, Jane Jacobs, job satisfaction, John Bogle, junk bonds, Kickstarter, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, low interest rates, market fundamentalism, Martin Wolf, Mary Meeker, mega-rich, Money creation, mortgage debt, Neil Kinnock, Nelson Mandela, new economy, Nick Leeson, North Sea oil, Northern Rock, Ocado, Occupy movement, off grid, offshore financial centre, pension reform, pensions crisis, Plutonomy: Buying Luxury, Explaining Global Imbalances, Ponzi scheme, positional goods, precariat, quantitative easing, school choice, scientific management, Slavoj Žižek, social intelligence, subprime mortgage crisis, too big to fail, trickle-down economics, Vanguard fund, Walter Mischel, wealth creators, Winter of Discontent, work culture , working poor

The then Environment Secretary Michael Heseltine warned that people might respond by taking their money out of the country to buy villas in France. But, again, we only have Lawson’s word for this.[11] Howe and Lawson had calculated that, despite the worst fears of their critics, there would be no catastrophic outflow of funds, nor a collapse in the value of the pound — for the same reason that the economy was in crisis. Because of North Sea Oil, the pound was now a petro-currency. So they took a deep breath and hoped for the best. The announcement was made and, to their surprise, the pound kept on rising. It carried on doing so until Britain’s exports were unaffordable abroad and UK manufacturing industry staggered, and — hopelessly outdated, under-invested and beset by insane labour relations — all but gave up the ghost.

Edgar, 122 Hopkinson, David, 139, 146, 150 Horta-Osorio, Antonio, 155 Hoskyn, John, 59 hospital consultants, 89, 249 house-price inflation, 3, 15, 18, 20–1, 24, 55–85, 160, 280, 284, 286 ‘Barber Boom’, 56 and building societies’ cartel, 65–6, 71–3 and divorce, 79–80 and housing density, 78–9 and Lloyd’s scandal, 28, 32 and mortgage interest tax relief, 108–9 and rents, 68–9 and school catchments, 20, 210–11, 221 and size of houses, 77–9 and working couples, 74–6 house prices, 56, 61, 68–9, 74, 87 household loans, increase in, 69 housing market, parallel, 301–2 housing shortages, 56 Howard, Michael, 177 Howe, Elspeth, 58 Howe, Sir Geoffrey, 58–60, 62–7, 97, 99, 128, 130 Human Scale Education, 235 Hutber, Patrick, 5, 36–7, 45, 47, 55, 60, 174–5, 283 I IKB, 156 IMF, 59, 128 immigrants, 39 Imperial College, London, 140 income tax, 36 Independent, 118 Independent on Sunday, 175 index-linked funds, 197–8 Industrial Revolution, 152 inflation, 36, 58, 161, 199, 279–80, 284, 286, 289 Initial Rentokil, 295 Institute of New Economic Thinking, 157 insurance, 171 interest rates, artificially low, 195, 203 ISAs, 171 It’s a Wonderful Life, 122–3 Italy, 97, 299 J Japan, 75, 152, 176, 299 Jenkins, Simon, 72, 226, 266 Jersey, 147 Jews, 39 job seeker’s allowance, 271 jobbers, 136–7, 145–7 Johnson, Rob, 157 Johnson, Simon, 151 Jones, Owen, 68, 287–8 Joseph, Sir Keith, 58, 99, 177, 220 JP Morgan, 143, 152 Judd School, 216–17 Julius II, Pope, 278 Jung, Carl, 95 junk bonds, 148, 154 K Katz, Cindi, 46 Kay, John, 104 Kensington and Chelsea, 211 Kent, 216–19 Keynes, John Maynard, 157, 290 Killik, Paul, 147 King, Mervyn, 129–31, 141 King’s School, Tyneside, 238–9 Kingsland Foundation School, 204–6 Kinnock, Neil, 31 Kinsman, Francis, 174 Kozlowski, Dennis, 117 Kramer, Sebastian, 80 Kynaston, David, 130, 311 L Labour Party, 24, 66–7, 179, 182, 194, 287 Lambton, Lucinda, 224 Lane, Deborah, 11–14, 17 Latin American debt crisis, 71 Lawson, Nigel, 58–60, 62–6, 71–2, 128, 130 and building societies, 97, 99–100, 104 and City deregulation, 138, 149 and end of MIRAS, 108–9 and pension reforms, 177, 180–5, 188, 190, 194 Leeds, 225 Leeson, Nick, 158 Leigh-Pemberton, Robin, 151 leisure time, 17 Leith, William, 15, 83 Lewis, Michael, 153–4 Lewis, Roy, 37–9 Liberal Democrats, 211 libraries, 17 Little Venice, 1–2 Lloyd George, David, 38, 172, 255 Lloyd’s of London, 27–35, 50–1, 69, 286 Lloyds Bank, 71, 109, 118, 122, 155, 171 Local Enterprise Partnership, 293 localism, 299 Lockheed Martin, 132 London education, 210–11, 219, 221, 232, 240 housing, 68–9, 85 middle classes, 41–2 wealth disparities, 284 London Olympics, 221 London Oratory School, 228 London Rebuilding Society, 296 London School of Economics, 140–1 London Stock Exchange, deregulation of, 135–40, 147–51 M M&G, 139 McDonald’s, 47 Maclnnes, Colin, 305 McKinsey, 261, 266 ‘Macmillan Gap’, 152 McRae, Hamish, 118 Major, John, 30–1, 101, 176, 213, 258, 263–4 and education reforms, 221–5 Major, Stephen, 113 Manchester, 95, 189, 224, 255 Manchester High School for Girls, 225 Mandelson, Peter, 24, 263 Mangan, Lucy, 76 Marks & Spencer, 243, 248 Martin’s Bank, 96, 122 Marx, Karl, 272–3 Mass Observation, 40 Maude, Angus, 37–9 Maxwell, Robert, 190–1, 201 Meacher, Michael, 182 medical schools, 212 Meeker, Mary, 133 Merrill Lynch, 139, 155 Merton, 211, 213 Metroland, 82 Mexico, 200 Michelangelo, 278 Middle Class Association, 37 Middle Class Defence Organisation, 38 Middle Class International, 38 Middle Class Union, 38 middle-class values, 13–14, 46–9 aspiration, 88, 234 authenticity, 242 confidence, 87 corrosion by financial sector, 154–6, 158–62 education, 14, 45–6, 49–50, 204 independence, 52, 69, 84, 86, 174, 283 internationalism, 163 moderation, 125, 160 thrift, 36, 39, 45, 49, 108, 120, 160, 169, 174, 195, 283, 301, 305 tolerance, 47, 274 middle classes and assimilation, 39 average incomes, 274 ‘casualisation’ of, 175 and children’s intelligence, 229–30 Cobbett’s description of, 282–3 definitions of, 39–45, 52 demography, 35–6 differences of taste within, 305 disapproval and embarrassment, 46–9 disparities of wealth within, 116 impoverishment, 267–72 in London, 41–2 and racism, 230 solidarity with working classes, 289–90 and status, 20, 267 vilification of working classes, 230, 287–8 Middle England, 39 middle managers, 255 Middleton, Peter, 182 Miliband, Ed, 22 miners’ strike, 148, 288 Mischel, Walter, 45 Moody-Stuart, Elizabeth, 211 Morgan, John Pierpont, 143 Morgan Grenfell, 135 Morgan Stanley, 133 Morris, Peter, 175 Morris, William, 255 Morrison, Steve, 205 mortgage interest tax relief, 61, 108–9, 182 mortgages, 14–15, 18, 20, 203, 270, 287, 290 and building societies, 71–2, 97–8, 101 ‘Grandparent Mortgages’, 75 and house-price inflation, 56–7, 60–1, 65–6 interest-only, 75, 171 and lack of choice, 82–4 and multiples of salaries, 75 and rents, 68–9 see also remortgaging Mount, Ferdinand, 26 Mrs Miniver, 275 Muesli Belt, 44, 83 Multis, 43 musicals, 44, 53 N nannies, 169 napkin rings, 39–40 Nasdaq index, 155 National Association of Pension Funds, 180, 184, 191 National Childbirth Trust, 73, 164–5 National Health Service (NHS), 85, 177, 180, 249, 253–4, 260, 267, 291 National Insurance, 181–2, 184 National Lottery, 221, 253 National Theatre, 125–6 National Trust cafés, 87–9, 163 Nationwide Building Society, 112–14, 119 NatWest, 30, 71, 96 Neill Report, 33 Nelson, Admiral Horatio, 198 Nether Wallop, 245–7 Netscape, 114 New Economics Foundation, 116 New Labour, 230 New Public Management, 263–4 New York, 78, 122, 186, 218 New York Stock Exchange, 155 newspapers, 253 Nikko, 149 noise complaints, 78 Nonconformists, 39 Norman, Montagu, 95 North Sea oil, 64, 279 Northern Ireland, 221 Northern Rock, 72, 101, 110, 112, 118 Northwood, 73 Nottingham, 225, 238, 295 nurseries, 19, 76–7, 299 O Oakwood High School, 224 Obama administration, 152 Observer, 110 Occupy movement, 289–90 Office of Fair Trading (OFT), 135–6 Ofsted, 205–6, 231, 269 oil prices, 59, 299 old age pensions, introduction of, 38, 172 Oliver, Jamie, 295 One Per Cent, the, 23–6, 45, 69, 121, 159, 161, 163, 165, 193 O’Neal, Stanley, 155 Orpington, 162 Osborne, David, 261 Outhwaite, Dick, 30–1 outsourcing, 23, 26, 41, 160, 248, 285 Owen, Wilfred, 234 Oxford University, 80, 88, 234 P Pahl, Ray, 49 Palmer, Alasdair, 175 Parents’ Charter, 222–3 Parkinson, Cecil, 137–8, 149 parks, 17 Patten, John, 224, 226–8, 238 Pawson, Andrew, 233 Pearce, Edward, 62 Penhaligon, David, 102–3 Penman, Andrew, 213–14 pensions, 167–203, 270, 281, 284–5, 290, 302 annuities, 172, 196–7 automatic enrolment, 202 average pot, 204 Brown’s tax on, 19, 194 Conservative reforms, 176–85 defined benefit vs. defined contribution, 175–6, 195–6 and home ownership, 14, 19, 21, 85, 200–1, 203 mis-selling of, 188 occupational, 172–3, 175, 178, 185, 188, 190–3, 196–7, 201–2 public sector pensions, 43, 192, 202, 253 SERPs, 179–84 state pensions, 81, 178, 200–1 surpluses, 193–4 Pepper, Gordon, 66 Perry, Grayson, 289, 297, 305 pets, 10 Pinchin Denny, 138 Pinsent Masons, 189 plutonomy, 25, 143, 152, 159–60 political economy, 48, 51 Popcorn, Faith, 83 post offices, closure of, 252 Post-Autistic Economics campaign, 157 Potosí, 279–80 Power, Michael, 257 ‘Precariat’, 17 Pride and Prejudice, 281–2 Priestley, J.


pages: 341 words: 107,933

The Dealmaker: Lessons From a Life in Private Equity by Guy Hands

Airbus A320, banking crisis, Bear Stearns, British Empire, Bullingdon Club, corporate governance, COVID-19, credit crunch, data science, deal flow, Etonian, family office, financial engineering, fixed income, flag carrier, high net worth, junk bonds, lockdown, Long Term Capital Management, low cost airline, Nelson Mandela, North Sea oil, old-boy network, Paul Samuelson, plutocrats, proprietary trading, Silicon Valley, South Sea Bubble, sovereign wealth fund, subprime mortgage crisis, traveling salesman

There I am welcomed by a soft-spoken man in an understated suit who reveals himself to be a KGB officer. He suggests I leave the country quickly as I am dealing with some ‘very bad people’. I take his advice. Later that year I receive a Christmas card ‘from your friends in Moscow’. It includes a photo of my children. 1999. I’m still at Nomura, where I am preparing to buy a portfolio of North Sea oil wells. When negotiations start, oil is averaging $16 per barrel. The price soon falls, however, and as it approaches $10, Nomura’s Tokyo office loses its nerve. We do the maths and calculate that if oil drops to $6 we stand to lose $200 million. We pull out. As it happens, oil doesn’t end up at $6 that year, but bottoms out at $9.

(Beatles, The), 191 Hendon Hall Hotel, London, 301 Hermes, 275 Hertford College, Oxford, 52 Hewlett-Packard, 70 Hill, Rupert, 44 Hill Samuel, 65 Holiday Inn, 182 Holy Trinity school, Cookham, 6–9, 12–13 homosexuality, 248 Hong Kong, 72, 74, 96, 123, 275 ‘Hotel California’ (Eagles), 258 Howard, Mark, 256–7 Howe, Geoffrey, 57 Hugo, Victor, 325 Hurdelbrink, Michael, 126–7, 129 Hyper Entertainment, 131 hyperglycaemia, 32 hypnotism, 294 ‘I Am Human’ (Escape The Fate), ix ‘I Fought the Law’ (The Clash), 229 ‘If–’ (Kipling), 25, 245 In Rainbows (Radiohead), 204 India, 96, 223, 226–7 initial public offerings (IPOs), 160, 163 Inland Revenue, 138, 225–6, 247 Inntrepreneur, 107 Institute for Fiscal Studies, 321 Institute for Government, 321 Intelligent Investor, The (Graham), 16 InterContinental Hotels Group, 182 International Monetary Fund, 50 ‘Internationale, The’, 245 Investcorp, 81 Investment Advisory Committee (IAC), 179–80 Iran, 156 Iraq, 82–3 Ireland, 11 Iron Maiden, 172 Irving, John, 19 Island Records, 207 Islington, London, 321, 323 Italy, 262, 273, 276 Jackson, Gary, 55 Jackson, Janet, 206–7 Jagger, Michael ‘Mick’, 205 Japan, xii–xiii, 72–3, 79, 84, 91–114, 124, 136, 148–9 fish markets in, 166 four as unlucky number, 273 fugu, 148 hostess clubs, 136 leadership in, 200 nemawashi, 101–2, 111 sokaiya, 124 Yakuza, 124, 129 Zaitech bubble (c. 1984–9), 79 Jennings, Waylon, 41 Jericho, Oxford, 60 John Hancock, 225 Jones, Davy, 39 Joseph, Keith, 50 Judd School, Tonbridge, 23–5, 28–9, 31–3 junk bonds, 79–81 Kachingwe, Mayamiko, 151, 155, 157 karaoke, 200 Keble College, Oxford, 34, 35 Kent House, Knightsbridge, 185 Keogh, John, 67, 70, 72, 74 KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti), xiii Kiernan, Jamie, 66 King George Island, Antarctica, 277 King, Justin, 266, 268–71, 273–7, 281, 283–5, 295–6, 308 Kingfisher Airlines, 156 Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, 36–9 Kinski, Michael, 144–5, 146, 148 Kipling, Rudyard, 25, 245 Klein, Michael, 123–4, 161, 163, 173, 181, 187, 219, 222 Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), 164, 165, 215 Kona, Hawaii, 166 Kroll, 158 Kulenkampff, Georg, 157, 159 Kuwait, 82, 222 Lady Gaga, 141 Laine, Sami, 313 Langeni people, 17 Lansdowne’s, Sevenoaks, 26–8, 29 Las Vegas, Nevada, 257 Lawson, Dominic, 57 Lawson, Nigel, 56 Lawson, Nigella, 57 Leahy, Terence ‘Terry’, 266 Leat, Chad, 222, 238, 239 Lehman Brothers, 128, 218 Leicester Square, London, 263 Leighton, Allan, 218 Lemaire Channel, 278 Lennon, John, 208 Levi, Lorenzo, 157 Liar’s Poker (Lewis), 84 Libby, Lewis ‘Scooter’, 241 Limited Partners (LPs), 183 Linden Park, Tunbridge Wells, 33, 34 Linens ’n Things, 215 Livingstone, Kenneth ‘Ken’, 132 Lloyd George, David, 58 Lloyds Banking Group, 267, 271 London, England Citigroup litigation, 255–7 Goldman Sachs, 65–72, 74–8 Nomura, 91–114, 122–40 London School of Economics, 32 London Stock Exchange, 92 Long-Term Capital Management, 125 Love (Cirque du Soleil), 207 Lynch, Gerard, 248 Lynn, Lesley, 222, 226, 227 Mackintosh, Clive, 54 Macmillan, Harold, 58 Macquarie Group, 159 Magdalen College, Oxford, 54, 55 Magic Circle, 232 Magnuson, Rick, 91, 137 Mallya, Vijay, 156 ‘Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies …’ (Jennings and Nelson), 41 Man Group, 182, 186 Manchester United FC, 182, 289 Mandela, Nelson, 5 Mansfield College, Oxford, 34–6, 43–59, 322 Maria Grey Teacher Training College, 4, 9 market crash (1989), 194 Marks & Spencer, 183 Martin, George, 207 Mason, Nicholas, 113 Matsuura, Shu, 105 Mauna Kea, Hawaii, 227 May, Brian, 113 May, Philip, 54, 56 May, Theresa, 56 McCartney, Paul, 208 McCrae, Julian, 321 McDonald’s, 86, 203, 264–6, 278, 283, 289, 290, 309–10, 315 McKillop, Tom, 292 McKinsey, 261, 314 McLaughlan, Roger, 273 Medici family, 262 Melchionna, Jerry, 93, 126–8 mergers and acquisitions, 120 Mermaid Theatre, Blackfriars, 39 Merrill Lynch, 86, 91, 92, 149, 172 Midland Bank, 65 Miles, Bill, 144, 145, 163 Millennium Dome, London, 130–36 Miller, Andrew, 290, 291 Ministry of Defence, 196, 279–81, 300 Minogue, Kylie, 178, 209–10 Mondale, Walter, 130 Monday Club, 53–4 Monkees, The, 39 Moody’s, 169 Moore, Michael, 244–5 Moreno, Glen, 292 Morgan Stanley, 85, 128–9, 155, 226 Morris, Doug, 195 Mortara, Michael, 84 mortgage-backed securities (MBSs), 194 Moscow, Russia, xii–xiii Moulton, Jon, 263 Mthethwa people, 17 Murdoch, James, 198 Murdoch, Rupert, 155, 174 music industry, 169–71, 176, 190, 195–6, 198, 201, 203, 207, 234 ‘My Way’ (Sinatra), 200 Naga, 283, 310–11 Natal University, 3 National Association for Gifted Children, 9 National Lottery, 117 Nazi Germany (1933–45), 9, 26, 33 Nazzaro, Pasquale, 290, 291 Nelson Street, Oxford, 60 Nelson, Willie, 41 nemawashi, 101–2, 111 New Century, 181 New Jersey, United States, 222 New Millennium Experience Company, 133–6 New York Times, 169 New York, United States, 69, 75, 80, 84 Citigroup litigation, 233, 234, 238–52 Nomura, 125, 126 Pearl Street, 80, 81, 240 New Zealand, 225 News Corporation, 155 Newcourt, 123 newts, 132 Nicoli, Eric, 173, 174, 176, 198–9, 242, 256 Nikko, 79 Nirvana, 181 Nixon, Peter, 37 Nomura, xii–xiv, 79, 91–114, 121, 123–40, 143–4, 313 Angel Trains, 110–11, 121 Annington Homes, 279 AT&T Capital, 123 CCA, 125–9 Citigroup and, 123–4 Millennium Dome, 130–36 PFG, 98–114, 120, 129, 137, 144, 313 Phoenix Inns, 100–108 sokaiya scandal (1997), 124 Terra Firma and, 225 Unique Pub Company, 123 US shares listing (2000), 136–7 Nonconformist Christianity, 43 Norman, Archibald, 218 North Carolina, 148 North Sea oil, xiii, xv Northern Foods, 220 Northern Ireland, 50 Norway, 264–6 O’Donnell, Augustine ‘Gus’, 162, 186 O’Driscoll, Pat, 220 Oaktree Capital, 215 Odeon, 198 Odeon Cinemas, 278 Old Government House Hotel, Guernsey, 180 Old Lane, 226–7 Old, Richard, 55 Oman, 302, 305 Ono, Yoko, 208 Operation Desert Storm (1991), 82–3 Oriel College, Oxford, 49 Orpington, Kent, 38 Osaka, Japan, 148 Oxford University, 4, 10, 32–6, 39, 43–59, 263 Bullingdon Club, 45 Conservative Association (OUCA), 53–8, 61 debating society, 49–50 drinking culture, 46 Hertford College, 52 Magdalen College, 54, 55 Mansfield College, 34–6, 43–59, 322 Union, 53, 54, 56, 58–9 University College, 321 Pandit, Vikram, 223, 226–7 Panel on Takeovers and Mergers, 178 Parmaco, 296, 300, 311–16 Parmalat, 243 Partners Group, 316 Patten, John, 52–3 Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, 241 Pea Stacks, Guernsey, 325–6 Pearl Street, New York, 80, 81, 240 Peasants’ Revolt (1381), 321 Pegasus Aviation Finance Company, 155 Penner, Ethan, 91–3, 124–8, 170 Permira, 173 Personal Presentations, 315 Pessina, Stefano, 164, 166 philosophy, 48 Phoenix, Arizona, 86 Phoenix Inns, 100–108 photography, 14, 25, 29–31 Pimlico, London, 169 Pink Floyd, 113, 172, 178 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 276 pobbles, 28 Point, The (1977 play), 39 poker, 29 Poland, 57–8 Poster Shop, London, 60 Premier Inn, 316 Prescott, John, 132, 134 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), 135 Prince, Charles ‘Chuck’, 188, 217, 223 Principal Finance Group (PFG), 98–114, 120, 129, 137, 144, 160, 313 private equity, 98, 110, 118–22, 123, 177, 193 Private Guy, 58–9 Project Blackjack, 219 Project Ford, 273 Project Poker, 219 pronunciation, 11 Proposition 8 (2008), 248 prostitution, 195 Prudential Insurance, 170 Pryce, Tim, 138, 150, 180, 217, 224, 232, 233, 247, 248, 249, 252 pubs, 100–108, 123 Punja, Riaz, 155 punk music, xi, 43 Punta Arenas, Chile, 277 Qaboos bin Said, Sultan of Oman, 302 Qantas, 108 Qatar, 268 Queen (band), 113 Queen’s University Belfast, 32 Radiohead, 172, 204 Railtrack, 108 Railway and Bike pub, Sevenoaks, 26 railways, 108–11, 121, 196 Rakoff, Jed Saul, 236, 251–2 Randolph Hotel, Oxford, 66 Ravenscroft Preparatory School, Somerset, 13–19, 23 Reckitt Benckiser, 223 Renoir, Pierre-Auguste, 325 Retreat, The, Cookham, 6 ‘Revolution 1’ (Beatles, The), 303 Rhode Island, 126 Rhodesia (1965–79), xv, 4, 5, 6 Riccardi family, 262 Ritter, E.


Scotland Travel Guide by Lonely Planet

agricultural Revolution, biodiversity loss, British Empire, carbon footprint, clean water, country house hotel, demand response, European colonialism, Ford Model T, James Watt: steam engine, land reform, North Ronaldsay sheep, North Sea oil, off-the-grid, oil shale / tar sands, Piper Alpha, place-making, retail therapy, smart cities, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, three-masted sailing ship, tontine, upwardly mobile, urban decay, urban sprawl

Within its bounds you’ll find two of Scotland’s four largest cities – Dundee, the city of jute, jam and journalism, the cradle of some of Britain’s favourite comic characters, and home to Captain Scott’s Antarctic research ship, the Discovery; and Aberdeen, the granite city, an economic powerhouse fuelled by the riches of North Sea oil. Angus is a region of rich farmland and scenic glens dotted with the mysterious stones left behind by the ancient Picts, while Aberdeenshire and Moray are home to the greatest concentration of Scottish Baronial castles in the country, and dozens of distilleries along the River Spey.

Montrose POP 11,800 Despite its seaside setting, broad main street of Victorian buildings and reputation as a golfing resort, Montrose exudes an austere and slightly down-at-heel atmosphere. It sits at the mouth of the River South Esk, where its industrial harbour serves the North Sea oil industry; and is backed by the broad, tidal mud flats of Montrose Basin, a rich feeding ground for thousands of resident and migrant birds. At the southern edge of town, Montrose Basin Visitor Centre (www.montrosebasin.org.uk; Rossie Braes; adult/child £4/3; 10.30am-5pm Mar-Oct, 10.30am-4pm Fri-Sun Nov-Feb) has indoor and outdoor hides, and viewing platforms with high-powered binoculars and remote-controlled TV cameras where you can zoom in on the local wildlife.

The granite spire dates from the 19th century, but there has been a church on this site since the 12th century; the early 15th-century St Mary’s Chapel survives in the eastern part of the church. Aberdeen Maritime Museum MUSEUM (www.aagm.co.uk; Shiprow; 10am-5pm Mon-Sat, noon-3pm Sun) Overlooking the nautical bustle of the harbour is the Maritime Museum. Centred on a three-storey replica of a North Sea oil production platform, its exhibits explain all you ever wanted to know about the petroleum industry. Other galleries, some situated in Provost Ross’s House , the oldest building in the city and part of museum, cover the shipbuilding, whaling and fishing industries. Sleek and speedy Aberdeen clippers were a 19th-century shipyard speciality, used by British merchants for the importation of tea, wool and exotic goods (opium, for instance) to Britain, and, on the return journey, the transportation of emigrants to Australia.


pages: 131 words: 41,052

Why Europe Will Run the 21st Century by Mark Leonard

Berlin Wall, Celtic Tiger, continuous integration, cuban missile crisis, different worldview, European colonialism, facts on the ground, failed state, global reserve currency, Global Witness, invisible hand, knowledge economy, mass immigration, non-tariff barriers, North Sea oil, one-China policy, Panopticon Jeremy Bentham, pension reform, reserve currency, Robert Gordon, shareholder value, South China Sea, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, trade liberalization, Washington Consensus

Chapter 7 1Milward, Alan S. (1994), European Rescue of the Nation State, London: Routledge. 2For an extremely compelling and contrasting analysis of EU legitimacy see Simon Hix’s The Political System of the European Union (1999) Palgrave Macmillan. 3Moravcsik, Andrew (2002), ‘In Defense of the “Democratic Deficit”: Reassessing Legitimacy in the European Union’, Journal of Common Market Studies, vol. 40, no. 4, p. 607. 4Ibid. 5Hix, Simon. 6Gould, Philip (2003), ‘The Empty Stadium’, Progressive Politics, vol. 2.3. 7Bevanger, Lars (1 May 2003), ‘Norway’s EU debate re-surfaces’, BBC News (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2991833.stm). 8The debate in Norway about EU membership is increasingly polarized, with many calling on Norway to join the EU and some arguing that it should leave the EEA, as no one thinks the status quo is tenable for much longer. The only reason Norway remains outside the EU is because it subsidizes its agriculture at a higher level than would be allowed under the CAP and can only afford to do this because of North Sea oil and gas. Hence, Norwegian farmers are very anti-European. But this is a luxury only a few states can afford, and is hence not a model for the UK. 9House of Commons Hansard Debates (20 November 1991). 10Alan Milward’s book European Rescue of the Nation State explains this well. 11My former colleague Tom Arbuthnott explores this point in more depth in his intriguing pamphlet, Can Europe Save National Democracy, London: The Foreign Policy Centre, 2003. 12I have written about ways of inputting European democracy in European Democracy: A Manifesto and Network Europe published by the Foreign Policy Centre (2004). 13Norman, Peter (2003), The Accidental Constitution, Brussels: EuroComment. 14Ibid. 15Moravcsik, Andrew (2002), ‘In Defense of the “Democratic Deficit”: Reassessing Legitimacy in the European Union’, Journal of Common Market Studies, vol. 40, no. 4, p. 607.


pages: 1,445 words: 469,426

The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power by Daniel Yergin

anti-communist, Ascot racecourse, Ayatollah Khomeini, bank run, Berlin Wall, book value, British Empire, Carl Icahn, colonial exploitation, Columbine, continuation of politics by other means, cuban missile crisis, disinformation, do-ocracy, energy security, European colonialism, Exxon Valdez, financial independence, fudge factor, geopolitical risk, guns versus butter model, Ida Tarbell, informal economy, It's morning again in America, joint-stock company, junk bonds, land reform, liberal capitalism, managed futures, megacity, Michael Milken, Mikhail Gorbachev, Monroe Doctrine, new economy, North Sea oil, oil rush, oil shale / tar sands, oil shock, old-boy network, postnationalism / post nation state, price stability, RAND corporation, rent-seeking, Ronald Reagan, shareholder value, stock buybacks, Suez canal 1869, Suez crisis 1956, Thomas Malthus, tontine, vertical integration, Yom Kippur War

It now held title to the government's participation oil, reflecting the right to buy 51 percent of North Sea production, and was meant to be the national champion. The British government's push for more revenues and more control of North Sea oil led the head of one company finally to explode, "I don't see any difference any more between those OPEC countries and Britain." In some ways, that same thought was on the mind of Harold Wilson, Britain's Prime Minister. He was sitting in a second-floor study at 10 Downing Street, puffing on his pipe, in the summer of 1975, a few weeks after the celebration over the first barrels of North Sea oil. Wilson had already had one of the longest-running tenures as Prime Minister. He had also made a major contribution to political theory with a line that deserved to be engraved on the wall of every parliament and congress around the world: "In politics, a week is a long time."

"Luck," he replied. Toward the end of 1970, British Petroleum announced the discovery of oil in the Forties field, on the British side, one hundred miles northwest of Ekofisk. It was a huge reservoir. A series of major strikes followed in 1971, including Shell and Exxon's discovery of the huge Brent field. The North Sea oil rush was on. The 1973 oil crisis turned the rush into a roar. Fortunately, a new generation of technology was either available or under development that would allow production to proceed in the North Sea, a province of the sort that the industry had never before attempted. The whole venture was risky and dangerous—physically and economically.

Altogether, the development of the North Sea was one of the greatest investment projects in the world, made all the more expensive by rapidly inflating costs. It was also a technological marvel of the first order. And it was carried out in an amazingly expeditious manner. On June 18, 1975, the British Secretary of State for Energy, Anthony Wedgwood Benn, turned a valve at a ceremony on an oil tanker in the estuary of the River Thames. The first North Sea oil flowed ashore to a refinery. Publicly, Benn enthusiastically declared that June 18 should from then on be a day of national celebration. Personally, however, he did not enjoy the inaugural event at all. Benn was a leader of the left wing of the Labour party with a passion for nationalization and an inbred detestation of capitalism, especially as it was represented by the oil industry, and was extremely distrusting by nature.


pages: 1,373 words: 300,577

The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World by Daniel Yergin

"Hurricane Katrina" Superdome, "World Economic Forum" Davos, accelerated depreciation, addicted to oil, Alan Greenspan, Albert Einstein, An Inconvenient Truth, Asian financial crisis, Ayatollah Khomeini, banking crisis, Berlin Wall, bioinformatics, book value, borderless world, BRICs, business climate, California energy crisis, carbon credits, carbon footprint, carbon tax, Carl Icahn, Carmen Reinhart, clean tech, Climategate, Climatic Research Unit, colonial rule, Colonization of Mars, corporate governance, cuban missile crisis, data acquisition, decarbonisation, Deng Xiaoping, Dissolution of the Soviet Union, diversification, diversified portfolio, electricity market, Elon Musk, energy security, energy transition, Exxon Valdez, facts on the ground, Fall of the Berlin Wall, fear of failure, financial innovation, flex fuel, Ford Model T, geopolitical risk, global supply chain, global village, Great Leap Forward, Greenspan put, high net worth, high-speed rail, hydraulic fracturing, income inequality, index fund, informal economy, interchangeable parts, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), It's morning again in America, James Watt: steam engine, John Deuss, John von Neumann, Kenneth Rogoff, life extension, Long Term Capital Management, Malacca Straits, market design, means of production, megacity, megaproject, Menlo Park, Mikhail Gorbachev, military-industrial complex, Mohammed Bouazizi, mutually assured destruction, new economy, no-fly zone, Norman Macrae, North Sea oil, nuclear winter, off grid, oil rush, oil shale / tar sands, oil shock, oil-for-food scandal, Paul Samuelson, peak oil, Piper Alpha, price mechanism, purchasing power parity, rent-seeking, rising living standards, Robert Metcalfe, Robert Shiller, Robert Solow, rolling blackouts, Ronald Coase, Ronald Reagan, Sand Hill Road, Savings and loan crisis, seminal paper, shareholder value, Shenzhen special economic zone , Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley billionaire, Silicon Valley startup, smart grid, smart meter, South China Sea, sovereign wealth fund, special economic zone, Stuxnet, Suez crisis 1956, technology bubble, the built environment, The Nature of the Firm, the new new thing, trade route, transaction costs, unemployed young men, University of East Anglia, uranium enrichment, vertical integration, William Langewiesche, Yom Kippur War

That pointed in one direction—toward greater scale. And the way to get there was through mergers. “WERE HE ALIVE TODAY . . .” Sanderstolen is a rustic mountain resort in central Norway, reached only by a twisting two-lane highway that has to be laboriously plowed during the winter. In the years after discovery of North Sea oil in Norway’s offshore, it became the venue for the Norwegian government and the oil companies operating in the Norwegian sector to get together and thrash out industry issues—talk in the morning, cross-country skiing in the afternoon. One morning in February 1998, two investment bankers, Joseph Perella and Robert Maguire, offered a view of the industry that caught the attention of the executives gathered there that year.

As much as 1.1 million barrels per day passes in and out of Cushing—a great deal of oil in absolute terms, but equivalent to only about 6 percent of total U.S. oil consumption. That oil is the physical commodity that provides the “objective correlative” to the “paper” barrels and “electronic” barrels traded around the world. A couple of other types of crudes are also used as markers, most notably Brent based on North Sea oil. Notwithstanding, prices for a good deal of the world’s crude oil are set against the benchmark of the WTI oil—also known as domestic sweet—sitting in those tanks in Cushing, making what is today a quiet little Oklahoma town, its fever long gone, one of the hubs for the world economy. But Cushing’s sedateness would stand in increasing contrast to the growing clamor and controversy that would be set off by the ascending price of oil in the global market.

Futures and options trading in oil rose from small amounts in the mid-1980s to very large volumes. By 2004 trading in oil futures on the NYMEX was 30 times what it had been in 1984. Similar growth was registered on the other major oil futures market. This was the ICE exchange in London, originally called the International Petroleum Exchange, where Brent, the North Sea oil stream, is traded. The Brent contract in London and the “sweet crude” contract in New York became the global standards for oil against which other crudes were benchmarked. WTI was oriented toward North America; Brent, toward the Eastern Hemisphere. Later a Dubai contract was introduced in the Middle East.


pages: 502 words: 128,126

Rule Britannia: Brexit and the End of Empire by Danny Dorling, Sally Tomlinson

3D printing, Ada Lovelace, Alfred Russel Wallace, anti-communist, anti-globalists, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, Boris Johnson, Brexit referendum, British Empire, Bullingdon Club, Cambridge Analytica, centre right, colonial rule, Corn Laws, correlation does not imply causation, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, deindustrialization, disinformation, Dominic Cummings, Donald Trump, Edward Snowden, electricity market, en.wikipedia.org, epigenetics, Etonian, falling living standards, Flynn Effect, gentrification, housing crisis, illegal immigration, imperial preference, income inequality, inflation targeting, invisible hand, Jeremy Corbyn, knowledge economy, market fundamentalism, mass immigration, megacity, New Urbanism, Nick Leeson, North Sea oil, offshore financial centre, out of africa, Right to Buy, Ronald Reagan, Silicon Valley, South China Sea, sovereign wealth fund, spinning jenny, Steven Pinker, Suez canal 1869, Suez crisis 1956, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, University of East Anglia, Wayback Machine, We are the 99%, wealth creators

Moreover, because carbon dioxide resulting from pollution can stay in the atmosphere for centuries, historical emissions are even more important than current emissions; they have greater aggregate effect.42 Britain burnt its coal first and had extensive reserves to exhaust. You might say that such profligacy was all in the distant past, but over the past forty years, Scotland’s North Sea oil has been largely squandered, to pay for 1980s tax cuts which mostly benefited better-off people in England, and which then encouraged economic inequality to grow further. This compares very badly with the Norwegian approach, where oil was and still is used to underwrite a sovereign wealth fund, and has been extracted more slowly as a result.

Britain leaving the EU is often talked about as a divorce, especially when what has to be determined includes a financial settlement – what the UK owes the EU. But the divorce could just as easily be within the UK. Scotland can still leave the rest of the UK. If it leaves, what is it owed for all the Scottish oil revenues England squandered? Thatcher cut taxes for the rich (i.e. mainly the English) on the back of North Sea oil revenues in the 1980s. The great arguments for reparation may have only just begun. England may find out that it has a great many debts. Should not the former colonies, the Commonwealth, be asking Prince Charles for reparations for slavery when he is king? Perhaps there is a reason for not opposing his anointment as the future head of the Commonwealth.


pages: 565 words: 134,138

The World for Sale: Money, Power and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources by Javier Blas, Jack Farchy

accounting loophole / creative accounting, airport security, algorithmic trading, Asian financial crisis, Ayatollah Khomeini, banking crisis, book value, BRICs, business climate, business cycle, collapse of Lehman Brothers, commodity super cycle, coronavirus, corporate raider, COVID-19, Deng Xiaoping, Donald Trump, electricity market, energy security, European colonialism, failed state, financial innovation, Ford Model T, foreign exchange controls, Great Grain Robbery, invisible hand, John Deuss, junk bonds, Kickstarter, light touch regulation, lockdown, low interest rates, margin call, new economy, North Sea oil, offshore financial centre, oil shale / tar sands, oil shock, oil-for-food scandal, Oscar Wyatt, price anchoring, proprietary trading, purchasing power parity, Ronald Reagan, Scramble for Africa, sovereign wealth fund, special economic zone, stakhanovite, Suez crisis 1956, trade route, vertical integration, WikiLeaks, Yom Kippur War, éminence grise

It was a trademark Deuss plan, combining his unmatched political connections with his financial firepower in the oil market. The venue for Deuss’s trade was the Brent market. The Brent oilfield, about 190 kilometres off the Shetland Islands at a depth of roughly 140 metres, started pumping crude in 1976 and quickly became the gold standard for oil traders. In its early days, Brent served as a clever way for North Sea-oil producers, such as BP and Shell, to reduce their tax bill. The companies timed when to buy and sell cargoes in such a way as to show the British authorities lower sales prices than they otherwise would have, a process that became known as ‘tax spinning’. By the mid-1980s, the Brent field, operated by Shell, together with several others that fed into its pipeline system, was pumping enough crude each month to fill about forty-five tankers, each carrying about 600,000 barrels.

Morgan, 130 J&S, 208 –9 , 210 –11 Jaeggi, Daniel, 211 , 216 Jamaica, 72 –84 , 86 , 98 , 142 , 154 , 204 , 310 Jamalco, 80 James, Greg, 186 , 191 Jamison, David, 155 , 164 Jankilevitsch, Gregory, 208 –9 , 210 –11 , 216 Japan, 13 , 18 , 24 , 28 aluminium trade, 82 atomic bombings (1945), 223 coal consumption, 177 , 183 , 187 , 273 grain consumption, 39 G7 summit (1979), 70 Gulf War (1990–91), 100 oil consumption, 44 reconstruction, 179 , 180 , 223 rice futures, 102 sogo shosha , 13 Sumitomo, 250 supercycles and, 180 Jesselson, Ludwig, 8 , 24 , 25 , 27 , 28 , 35 , 37 , 41 , 326 Iran oil deal (1973), 52 –3 Rich’s resignation (1974), 58 –9 , 121 jets, 184 JOC Oil, 65 –6 Johnson, Lyndon Baines, 43 Jugometal, 29 Kabila, Joseph, 223 –4 , 225 , 227 , 229 Kabila, Laurent-Désiré, 223 Kalmin, Steve, 270 Kardashian, Kim, 152 Kashagan, 297 Katanga, Congo, 219 , 223 , 224 , 226 –9 Katumba Mwanke, Augustin, 224 , 225 , 227 Kazakhstan, 131 , 153 , 165 , 168 , 185 , 199 , 258 , 302 aluminium production, 140 , 141 , 145 , 146 , 147 oil production, 65 , 168 , 206 , 296 –9 Vitol, trade with, 296 –9 wheat production, 245 KazMunaiGas (KMG), 297 Kazzinc, 184 Kelm, Erwin, 38 Kenya, 93 , 232 KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti ), 23 Khodorkovsky, Mikhail, 213 –15 , 299 Khomeini, Ruhollah, 67 , 94 , 96 Khrushchev, Nikita, 34 Kingston, Jamaica, 72 –3 , 77 Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, 33 Kirkuk, Iraq, 280 , 283 –5 , 287 , 289 Klebnikov, Paul, 149 Kleinwort Benson, 277 Klöckner & Co, 114 Klomp, Ton, 206 Knoechel, Eberhard, 258 Koch, Charles and David, 64 , 290 Kolwezi, Congo, 218 , 226 , 227 Krasnoyarsk, Russia, 141 –2 , 145 –6 , 148 Kulibayev, Timur, 298 –9 Kurdistan, 198 , 280 –91 , 295 , 298 , 299 , 302 , 328 Kuwait Gulf War (1990–91), 100 –101 , 106 , 108 –10 , 157 oil crisis, first (1973–4), 54 –5 Rotterdam market trade, 62 Kyrgyzstan, 158 Lada, 86 Lage, Carlos, 152 Lagos, Nigeria, 236 Lakhani, Murtaza, 197 –9 , 202 –3 , 284 Larocca, José, 238 Lay, Kenneth, 173 lead, 35 , 85 , 129 Lebanon, 226 Lehman Brothers, 243 , 265 Leiman, Ricardo, 244 Leopoldville, Belgian Congo, 33 letters of credit, 61 Lew, Jack, 312 Liberia, 308 Libya, 1 –8 , 64 , 92 , 166 , 247 , 283 , 285 Liechtenstein, 46 light-touch regulation, 19 Lilley, David, 195 Linetskiy, Vadim, 211 lithium, 319 Lithuania, 161 , 181 London, England, 3 , 5 , 11 , 20 , 55 , 199 Glencore–Xstrata merger (2012), 272 –3 International Petroleum Exchange, 115 property market, 147 Rotterdam market and, 63 Stock Exchange, 203 telegraph in, 26 Vitol in, 163 London Metal Exchange (LME), 79 –82 , 102 , 123 , 145 , 195 , 251 Louis Dreyfus, 10 , 19 , 39 , 241 , 244 , 248 , 262 , 277 , 320 Loya, Mike, 115 Lualaba river, 218 Lubumbashi, Congo, 33 Luckock, Ben, 285 , 286 Lutter, Gerd, 64 Lvov, Felix, 145 Mabanaft, 31 –4 , 35 –6 , 37 , 56 , 68 , 261 Oiltanking, 63 –4 Soviet deal (1954), 22 –4 , 32 , 33 –4 , 44 , 51 , 135 , 261 , 302 MacLennan, David, 17 , 31 , 231 MacMillan family, 249 , 277 , 278 MacMillan, Harold, 87 MacMillan, John, 25 , 27 , 29 –31 , 38 , 41 , 242 Madrid, Spain, 48 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 123 , 126 Mahoney, Chris, 259 malachite, 226 Mali, 294 Malta, 66 , 286 , 308 Manafort, Paul, 284 Manhattan Project (1942–6), 223 Manley, Michael, 76 –7 , 83 Mao Zedong, 177 Maradona, Diego, 152 Marathon Petroleum, 53 Marc Rich + Co, 14 , 16 , 19 , 20 , 37 , 47 , 59 –61 , 86 –7 , 117 –27 , 143 aluminium trade, 77 –84 , 122 , 125 , 144 , 165 Angola, trade with, 282 , 300 bribery, use of, 310 Cobuco, 91 –4 coup (1993–4), 125 –7 , 184 , 190 Cuba, trade with, 157 –8 Dauphin resignation (1992), 122 foundation of (1974), 59 –61 Glasenberg joins (1984), 182 Granaria acquisition (1981), 245 Hall job offer (1982), 106 indictments (1983), 96 –7 , 130 , 155 Iran, trade with, 68 –9 , 94 –7 Jamaica, trade with, 72 –4 , 77 –84 , 86 , 98 , 142 Nigeria, trade with, 61 oil team resignation (1993), 125 Philipp Bros. collapse (1990), 113 profits, 69 Russia, trade with, 122 South Africa, trade with, 88 , 89 , 90 , 94 , 98 , 122 Soviet Union, trade with, 136 –7 Strothotte resignation (1992), 121 –2 Südelektra stake (1990), 189 Tajikistan, trade with, 162 volume of trade, 293 Weiss resignation (1992), 122 zinc play (1991–2), 122 –4 , 128 , 170 , 251 margin calls, 124 Marimpex, 64 , 89 Marquard & Bahls, 32 Marsa al-Brega, Libya, 5 –6 Marshall Islands, 308 Mashkevich, Alexander, 185 Maté, Daniel, 259 Mayfair, London, 84 , 147 , 199 , 281 , 297 Mayuf, Abdeljalil, 7 McCarthy, Joseph, 22 McIntosh, Ian, 248 Meier, Henri, 127 Menatep, 213 Mercuria, 206 , 207 –9 , 210 –12 , 216 , 261 , 262 , 318 , 324 mercury, 48 Merrill Lynch, 138 Metallgesellschaft, 25 , 114 , 123 , 172 , 195 metals, 9 , 14 , 25 , 26 , 57 aluminium, see aluminium cobalt, 9 , 223 , 224 , 226 , 273 , 314 , 318 , 319 copper, see copper futures, 102 iron ore, 175 –6 , 181 , 261 , 264 lead, 35 , 85 , 129 lithium, 319 mercury, 48 nickel, 137 , 176 , 181 , 265 , 319 zinc, see zinc Mexico, 129 , 130 , 157 , 167 , 180 , 234 , 240 , 273 , 312 MG, 172 , 195 Milosevic, Slobodan, 167 Minerals & Chemicals Corporation, 276 mining, 85 , 171 , 186 –94 , 326 in Australia, 175 –6 , 186 –7 in Congo, 218 –29 Mistakidis, Telis, 194 , 259 , 270 , 272 Mitterrand, François, 161 Mobil, 170 Mobutu Sese Seko, 223 Model T car, 253 Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, 46 , 50 , 67 , 88 , 67 Mombasa, Kenya, 93 Monaco, 63 Mongolia, 140 Monte Carlo, 144 Morgan Stanley, 13 , 102 , 111 , 155 Morocco, 33 , 47 Morrison, James, 68 Mosaic, 278 Mosul, Iraq, 283 Mount Holly, South Carolina, 81 Mount Isa, Queensland, 193 –4 Mountstar Metals, 138 Mozambique, 161 Murray, Simon, 269 Muscat, Oman, 153 Mutanda, Congo, 219 , 223 , 224 , 226 –9 Namibia, 232 , 233 do Nascimento, Leopoldino Fragoso, 229 Nasmyth, Jan, 55 Nasser, Gamal Abdel, 45 –6 National Iranian Oil Company, 52 , 68 –9 Nazarbayev, Nursultan, 297 –8 Nazi Germany (1933–45), 22 , 24 , 26 , 47 , 87 Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, 284 Netherlands, 48 , 65 , 120 , 163 , 164 , 236 , 237 , 243 Neverland , 286 New Comfort , 323 New Mexico, United States, 323 New York, United States Aluminum for Defense, 75 Great Grain Robbery (1972), 38 –42 Jesselson in, 24 , 28 Rich in, 37 , 47 , 58 Rotterdam market and, 63 telegraph in, 26 Weisser in, 35 New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), 104 Newfoundland, Canada, 170 Nicaragua, 77 , 85 , 87 , 161 nickel, 137 , 176 , 181 , 265 , 319 Nigeria, 85 , 181 , 220 , 232 , 325 Alison-Madueke corruption (2011–15), 221 Elf, trade with, 61 Glencore, trade with, 12 , 168 , 314 jihadis in, 294 Probo Koala affair (2006), 236 rice consumption, 232 Rotterdam market trade, 62 Trafigura, trade with, 130 Vitol, trade with, 166 Nixon, Richard, 51 , 254 Noble Group, 196 , 244 , 262 , 276 –7 Non-Aligned Movement, 92 North Dakota, United States, 261 , 323 North Korea, 138 , 162 North Sea oil, 114 –16 , 122 , 123 , 204 , 316 NRC Handelsblatt, 65 O’Malley, Tom, 53 , 61 , 113 Obama, Barack, 311 , 320 Och-Ziff Capital Management, 228 October War (1973), 53 Ognev, Yury, 246 Ohio, United States, 285 oil Brent oilfield, 114 –16 , 122 , 123 , 204 , 316 Chad trade, 294 –6 Chinese trade, 179 –80 , 201 coronavirus pandemic (2019–), 15 , 321 –5 crisis, first (1973–4), 53 –7 , 62 , 67 , 69 , 88 , 104 , 105 , 163 crisis, second (1979), 18 , 67 –9 , 92 , 104 Cuban trade, 151 –3 , 156 –61 Gulf War (1990–91), 100 –101 , 106 , 108 –10 Iraq trade, 197 –203 , 207 , 210 , 280 –91 Israel pipeline, 43 , 45 , 46 –7 , 49 –51 , 94 , 285 –6 Kazakhstan trade, 296 –9 Kurdistan trade, 280 –91 optionality, 205 –6 Romanian trade, 167 –9 Rotterdam market, 62 –6 Russian trade, 9 , 65 , 199 , 206 –17 , 287 , 300 –303 , 313 , 319 Seven Sisters, see Seven Sisters South African trade, 87 –91 , 94 , 98 Soviet trade, 22 –4 , 32 , 33 –4 , 44 , 51 , 66 , 156 –7 , 165 United States trade, 317 ‘Oil Crisis, The’ (Akins), 52 Oilflow SPV I DAC, 281 –2 , 287 –90 , 292 oilseeds, 9 , 39 Oiltanking, 64 Old Testament, 284 Olympic Games, 78 , 87 –8 , 182 Oman, 64 , 116 , 153 , 166 , 199 onions, 252 Onsan, South Korea, 324 Operation Desert Storm (1991), 110 optionality, 205 –6 options, 101 –2 , 103 , 110 , 116 , 123 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 106 , 275 Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), 44 –5 , 53 , 62 –3 , 67 , 114 Cobuco and, 92 , 93 coronavirus pandemic (2019–), 322 Iraq surcharges and, 200 –201 oil crisis, first (1973–4), 53 –7 , 62 , 67 , 69 , 88 , 105 , 163 oil crisis, second (1979), 68 South Africa embargo (1973), 88 World OPEC project (1988), 116 Ortega, Daniel, 87 Otto, Nikolaus, 253 Oxfam, 250 Oxford University, 105 , 147 , 154 Page, Gregory, 278 Palm Jumeirah, Dubai, 288 Panama, 46 , 201 , 308 paper barrels, 102 , 103 Paribas, 60 –61 , 95 Parque Central hotel, Havana, 151 –3 , 160 –61 Pauli, Heinz, 127 Pax Americana, 24 , 180 Peakville Limited, 201 Pechiney, 171 Pelosi, Nancy, 249 Pemex, 234 –5 Pennsylvania, United States, 280 , 281 , 290 pension funds, 102 , 131 , 269 , 271 , 278 , 280 –82 , 288 , 290 , 295 PepsiCo, 137 perestroika , 135 Perkins, Ian, 187 Permian basin, 323 Peru, 85 , 130 , 226 , 264 Peshmerga, 283 Pestalozzi, 19 Pestalozzi, Peter, 19 Peterson, Tor, 259 Petra, 64 Petraco, 287 Petrobras, 313 petrodollars, 56 , 57 , 67 , 70 , 200 , 288 Phibro Energy, 100 –101 , 106 –10 , 111 , 113 , 194 Phibro-Salomon, 112 –13 Philipp, Julius, 25 , 26 , 37 Philipp Brothers, 14 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 28 –9 , 34 –5 , 56 , 57 , 61 , 98 , 186 apprenticeships, 37 copper trade, 195 East Germany, trade with, 29 Gulf War (1990–91), 100 –101 , 107 –10 Hall joins (1982), 106 Hong Kong office, 196 Iran oil deal (1973), 52 –3 , 55 Israel pipeline trade, 49 –51 , 94 , 285 metals trade, 28 –9 , 34 –5 , 49 , 57 , 76 , 113 Mineral & Chemicals merger (1960), 276 Phibro Energy, 100 –101 , 106 –10 , 111 , 113 Phibro-Salomon merger (1981), 112 , 316 profits, 38 , 69 , 163 Rich’s resignation (1974), 57 –9 , 121 secrecy, 276 Socar’s acquisition (2015), 319 Soviet Union, trade with, 29 , 135 , 137 Yugoslavia, trade with, 28 , 29 Philippines, 86 , 241 Piercy, George, 54 Pinochet, Augusto, 87 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 36 Pojdl, Pavel, 211 Poland, 208 pollution, 21 , 318 Posen, Danny, 48 , 120 , 128 , 162 Posen, Felix, 37 , 47 , 135 , 137 , 183 , 274 potatoes, 104 Probo Koala , 236 , 238 Public Employees’ Retirement Systems, 280 , 290 , 295 public relations (PR), 278 Puerto Rico, 91 Puma Energy, 230 put options, 188 Putin, Vladimir, 9 , 147 , 208 , 212 –15 , 299 –303 , 313 , 328 PVM, 65 Q book, 171 Qaboos bin Said, Sultan of Oman, 64 , 153 , 166 al-Qaeda, 294 Qatar, 2 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 272 –3 , 301 –2 Querub, Isaac, 123 , 126 Ramadi, Iraq, 283 Ramaphosa, Cyril, 185 Ras Lanuf, Libya, 5 –6 Raznoimport, 135 , 137 , 139 , 162 Reagan, Ronald, 77 Red Kite, 195 Red Scare (1947–57), 22 Reid, Trevor, 191 Republic of the Congo, 314 Reuben College, Oxford, 147 Reuben, David, 133 –5 , 137 –47 , 207 –8 Reuben, Simon, 147 Reynolds, 80 Rhodesia (1965–79), 309 rice, 102 , 177 , 232 Rice, Condoleezza, 224 Rich, Denise, 98 , 120 Rich, Marc, 14 , 20 , 45 , 46 –53 , 68 , 70 , 86 –7 , 117 –27 , 305 , 327 bribery, use of, 310 Cobuco, 91 –4 coup (1993–4), 125 –7 , 184 , 190 Dauphin resignation (1992), 122 death (2013), 325 divorce (1996), 120 early rising, 185 FBI Most Wanted status, 95 Glasenberg, relationship with, 183 indictment (1983), 96 –7 , 130 , 155 Iran, trade with, 52 –3 , 55 , 68 –9 , 94 –7 Israel pipeline trade, 49 –51 , 94 , 285 Jamaica, trade with, 72 –4 , 77 –84 , 86 , 98 knife analogy, 60 , 98 , 156 , 309 , 327 Marc Rich + Co, foundation of (1974), 59 –61 oil team resignation (1993), 125 pardoning (2001), 97 –8 politics, views on, 290 resignation from Philipp Bros. (1974), 57 –9 , 121 South Africa, trade with, 88 , 89 , 90 , 94 , 98 Strothotte resignation (1992), 121 –2 Weiss resignation (1992), 122 zinc play (1991–2), 122 –4 Rio Tinto, 273 , 274 Roche, 127 , 188 –92 , 267 Rockefeller, John, 32 Rolling Stones, The, 127 Roman Empire (27 BCE – CE 476), 252 Romania, 129 , 153 , 167 –9 Rommel, Erwin, 5 Rosenberg, David, 122 –4 Rosneft, 9 , 214 –16 , 287 , 300 –303 , 313 , 319 Rotterdam market, 62 –6 , 70 , 164 Rotterdam, Netherlands, 62 , 63 , 64 , 70 , 82 , 145 Roundhead, 201 Royal Dutch Shell, 13 , 32 , 54 , 64 , 115 , 154 , 165 , 171 –2 Rubin, Robert, 194 Rusal, 148 Russian Federation, 9 , 14 , 17 , 122 , 131 , 273 , 299 –302 aluminium trade, 133 –5 , 139 –50 animal feed trade, 261 coronavirus pandemic (2019–), 322 Crimea annexation (2014), 300 food price crisis (2007–8), 239 emerging market status, 17 , 180 Iraq, trade with, 200 , 287 oil trade, 9 , 65 , 199 , 206 , 207 –17 , 287 , 299 –302 , 303 Rosneft, 9 , 214 –16 , 287 , 300 –303 , 313 , 319 sanctions on, 300 –303 , 312 sovereign debt default (1998), 169 wheat production, 245 –7 Salomon, 113 Salomon Brothers, 69 , 108 , 112 , 316 Salvador, El, 161 Samoa, 144 sanctions, 86 , 309 , 311 –13 , 320 BNP Paribas and, 304 –8 on Cuba, 9 , 152 , 305 –8 on Deripaska, 312 on Gertler, 225 , 312 –13 on Iran, 305 , 309 , 312 , 320 –21 on Iraq, 197 –203 , 207 , 210 , 310 on Russia, 300 –303 , 312 secondary sanctions, 311 –12 on South Africa, 64 , 87 –90 , 93 , 182 , 183 , 308 , 309 on Sudan, 305 on Venezuela, 312 on Yugoslavia, 167 on Zhuhai Zhenrong, 320 dos Santos, José Eduardo, 229 Sarir–Tobruk pipeline, 6 Saudi Arabia, 36 , 181 Aramco, 51 –2 , 319 barley consumption, 241 Gulf War (1990–91), 109 oil crisis, first (1973–4), 54 –5 oil crisis, second (1979), 68 OPEC established (1960), 44 Rotterdam market trade, 62 South Africa, trade with, 88 World OPEC project (1988), 116 Saunders, Walter ‘Barney’, 38 Sayanogorsk, Russia, 148 Schönenberg club, Switzerland, 184 Schwab, Muriel, 326 Scotland, 291 Seaga, Edward, 77 Sechin, Igor, 9 , 300 –302 secondary sanctions, 311 –12 Semlitz, Stephen, 111 Senegal, 33 , 222 , 240 September 11 attacks (2001), 190 –91 Serbia, 167 Seven Sisters, 17 , 32 –3 , 44 , 49 , 51 –2 , 66 , 70 , 101 , 105 , 170 , 319 oil crisis, first (1973–4), 56 , 61 –3 , 134 Shapiro, John, 111 Sharp, Graham, 125 , 128 , 129 , 170 Shear, Neal, 111 Sheffield, Scott, 323 Shell, see Royal Dutch Shell Shetland Islands, 114 Shipping Research Bureau, 89 Siberia, Russia, 79 , 131 , 140 , 141 , 208 , 210 , 214 Singapore, 19 , 91 , 154 , 322 Sirte, Libya, 6 Skilling, Jeffrey, 173 Small, Hugh, 83 Smith, Adam, 16 Smolokowski, Wiaczeslaw, 208 –9 , 210 –11 , 216 Socar, 319 Société Générale, 95 Somalia, 309 Soros, George, 262 South Africa, 14 , 48 , 181 –2 apartheid, 64 , 87 –90 , 93 , 182 , 183 , 308 , 309 coal trade, 186 , 187 , 191 , 192 ferrochrome trade, 190 gold trade, 232 oil trade, 64 , 87 –91 , 93 , 94 , 98 , 122 , 182 –3 , 220 , 308 South Carolina, United States, 281 South Korea, 183 , 321 , 324 South Sudan, 284 , 289 Soviet Union (1922–91), 9 , 133 –50 Cargill, trade with, 31 , 38 –42 , 135 collapse (1991–2), 17 , 133 –5 , 139 –50 , 151 –3 , 161 , 165 , 207 , 208 Cuba, trade with, 151 , 152 , 153 , 156 Deuss deal (1976), 66 Exportkhleb, 38 , 135 Great Grain Robbery (1972), 38 –42 , 57 , 69 , 135 , 310 Jamaica, relations with, 77 , 86 Mabanaft, trade with, 22 –4 , 32 , 33 –4 , 44 , 51 , 135 , 261 , 302 Marc Rich + Co, trade with, 136 –7 Marimpex, trade with, 64 nuclear weapons, 141 perestroika (1985–91), 135 Philipp Brothers, trade with, 29 , 135 , 137 Raznoimport, 135 , 137 , 139 , 162 Soyuznefteexport, 23 , 34 , 35 , 65 , 135 Vitol, trade with, 165 soybeans, 114 , 181 , 240 , 318 Soyuznefteexport, 23 , 34 , 35 , 65 , 135 Spain, 97 , 98 spot markets, 68 , 70 , 84 , 93 , 94 , 109 , 251 St Moritz Hotel, New York, 35 stagflation, 56 Staley, Warren, 231 , 253 Standard Oil, 32 steamships, 25 Strait of Malacca, 323 Strategic Fuel Fund, 89 Strothotte, Willy, 98 , 120 , 131 –2 , 274 IPO (2011), 258 Jamaica, trade with, 72 –4 , 78 , 80 , 83 , 142 jet, 184 Marc Rich coup (1993), 124 –7 , 184 Marc Rich resignation (1992), 121 –2 Mount Isa Mines deal (2002), 193 –4 Roche, relations with, 188 Russia, trade with, 146 step back (2002), 185 , 187 Xstrata and, 191 –2 Sucres et Denrées, 114 , 159 Sudan, 206 , 284 , 289 , 305 Südelektra, 189 –91 Suez Canal, 36 , 43 , 45 –6 , 53 , 168 sugar, 9 , 57 , 114 , 156 –60 sulphur, 104 , 168 , 232 , 234 , 235 Sumitomo, 250 Sun, 116 Sunday Times, The , 50 , 271 supercycle, 180 –81 , 185 , 196 , 216 Africa and, 219 , 232 China and, 193 , 240 , 245 food prices and, 240 , 248 optionality and, 206 Suriname, 154 Sweden, 209 Switzerland, 7 , 8 , 11 , 12 , 14 , 55 corruption in, 20 , 69 , 310 Glencore in, 170 , 185 , 257 Iran, trade with, 95 light-touch regulation, 19 Marc Rich in, 20 , 58 –60 , 63 , 73 , 95 , 96 , 117 , 124 Trans-Asiatic Company, 46 Vitol in, 160 , 163 , 164 syphilis, 48 Syria, 8 , 45 , 53 , 248 , 283 Tajikistan, 162 Tangier, Morocco, 33 tantalum, 223 Tanzania, 232 Tarasov, Artem, 136 –7 , 139 Tashkent, Uzbekistan, 140 –41 taxation, 21 avoidance, 149 , 201 , 213 –14 , 281 bribes and, 69 , 310 ethanol industry and, 253 , 254 spinning, 115 Rich and, 20 , 95 –7 Switzerland and, 117 Vitol and, 21 Taylor, Cristina, 154 Taylor, Ian, 10 , 14 , 153 –6 , 164 , 165 –6 , 291 , 293 , 321 Conservative Party donations, 290 Cuba, trade with, 151 –3 , 156 –61 death (2020), 325 Enron bid (2001), 173 Kurdistan, trade with, 291 Libya, trade with, 1 –8 , 166 Nigeria, trade with, 166 oil peak prediction, 318 Russia, trade with, 165 , 300 telegraph, 25 Templeton, Franklin, 282 , 290 Tendler, David, 28 , 112 , 113 , 277 , 316 Texaco, 170 Texas, United States, 36 , 104 , 261 , 323 , 325 Thailand, 232 Thomajan, Robert ‘Bob’, 120 –21 Tiku, Arvind, 298 –9 Timchenko, Gennady, 209 , 212 , 214 , 216 , 300 , 313 tin, 102 Titan Oil Trading, 299 Tito, Josip Broz, 29 Titusville, Pennsylvania, 32 TNK-BP, 300 , 301 Tobruk, Libya, 3 , 6 Törnqvist, Torbjörn, 20 , 209 , 212 , 214 –16 , 230 , 313 , 327 Total, 61 , 170 toxic waste, 233 –8 , 304 Tradax International, 30 , 41 , 242 Trafford, John, 60 , 61 Trafigura, 11 , 14 , 59 , 87 , 119 , 129 –30 , 170 , 174 , 318 Angola, trade with, 229 –30 BNP Paribas, relations with, 304 –8 , 312 bonds, 261 bribery, use of, 314 , 315 coronavirus pandemic (2019–), 324 Cuba, trade with, 159 , 306 –8 foundation (1993), 129 –30 IPO, views on, 277 Iraq, trade with, 201 , 203 , 285 –6 , 287 Jamaica, trade with, 310 Kurdistan, trade with, 285 –6 , 287 profits, 249 public relations (PR), 278 Texas terminal, 261 toxic waste scandal (2006), 233 –8 , 304 volume of trade, 293 women in, 15 Trans-Asiatic Company, 46 Trans-World Group, 134 , 137 –49 , 165 , 208 Transamine, 35 Transol, 63 Transworld Oil, 66 , 89 , 95 , 114 –16 Trump, Donald, 97 , 284 , 317 Tselentis Mining, 186 Tunisia, 247 de Turckheim, Eric, 87 , 125 , 128 , 129 , 306 Turkey, 66 , 180 , 285 Turkmenistan, 161 , 165 twelve apostles, 131 20th Century Fox, 96 Ukraine, 136 , 140 , 162 , 300 , 310 –11 Unipec, 320 United Arab Emirates (UAE), 46 , 116 , 199 , 262 , 281 , 288 , 319 United Kingdom Brent oilfield, 114 –16 , 122 , 123 , 204 , 316 Cargill in, 243 corruption in, 20 , 311 Financial Services Authority (FSA), 250 FTSE 100 index, 15 , 269 , 276 , 278 , 282 Glencore-Xstrata merger (2012), 271 –3 G7 summit (1979), 70 Libyan Civil War (2011), 1 –8 pension funds, 269 , 278 Scottish independence referendum (2014), 291 shareholder spring (2012), 271 Suez Crisis (1956), 36 Tarasov in, 136 –7 United Nations Convention against Corruption, 275 Iraq sanctions, 101 , 198 , 200 , 201 , 202 sanctions, use of, 309 South Africa sanctions, 88 , 183 , 309 World Food Programme, 240 Yugoslavia sanctions, 167 United States Afghanistan War (2001–14), 311 BNP Paribas prosecution (2014), 304 –8 , 312 , 314 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 43 , 76 , 316 China trade war (2017–), 317 –18 Cuba sanctions, 152 , 305 –8 dollar, 311 ethanol production, 254 –5 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (1977), 310 gold standard abandonment (1971), 51 G7 summit (1979), 70 Helms–Burton Act (1996), 160 Iran hostage crisis (1979–81), 20 , 94 , 96 Iraq War (2003–11), 201 , 283 , 311 Manhattan Project (1942–6), 223 oil production, 317 , 323 Operation Desert Storm (1991), 110 Pax Americana, 24 , 180 pension funds, 131 , 280 –82 , 288 , 290 potato futures default (1976), 104 Red Scare (1947–57), 22 Rich indictment (1983), 96 –7 , 130 Russia sanctions, 300 –303 sanctions, use of see sanctions, secondary sanctions, 311 –12 September 11 attacks (2001), 190 –91 supercycles and, 180 Watergate scandal (1972–4), 254 , 309 Zhuhai Zhenrong sanctions, 320 University of Southern California, 182 University of Witwatersrand, 182 Urals, Russia, 168 uranium, 223 Uzbekistan, 140 –41 , 162 Vale, 264 –5 , 269 Valium, 127 value-at-risk, 195 Vanol, 63 Varsano, Serge, 159 Venezuela, 20 , 34 , 44 , 73 , 154 , 157 , 199 , 312 , 314 very large crude carriers (VLCCs), 107 –8 Vidal, Edmundo, 129 Vienna, Austria, 53 , 54 , 200 Vietnam, 43 , 241 , 261 Viëtor, Henk, 163 Vishnevskiy, Igor, 148 , 149 –50 , 162 Viterra, 273 –4 Vitol, 14 , 162 –6 , 174 , 262 , 318 African petrol stations investment (2011), 261 bribery, use of, 314 Cuba, trade with, 151 –3 , 156 –61 , 306 Enron bid (2001), 173 Euromin, 143 , 165 IPO, views on, 277 Iran, trade with, 166 , 309 Iraq, trade with, 201 , 203 , 285 , 286 –7 , 291 , 310 Jamaica, trade with, 154 Kazakhstan, trade with, 296 –9 Kurdistan, trade with, 285 , 286 –7 , 291 Libya, trade with, 1 –8 , 166 , 283 , 285 Newfoundland refinery loss (1997), 170 Nigeria, trade with, 166 profits, 163 , 248 , 249 Russia, trade with, 143 , 165 , 300 , 301 shareholders, 19 Singapore, trade with, 155 South Africa, trade with, 88 Soviet Union, trade with, 165 tax avoidance, 21 women in, 15 Viëtor split (1976), 163 –4 volume of trade, 293 Vonk’s retirement (1995), 166 Yugoslavia, trade with, 167 Vodafone, 278 Voest-Alpine, 114 Volcker, Paul, 201 Volga-Urals basin, 34 Vonk, Ton, 165 , 166 Wall Street, 13 , 15 , 24 , 47 , 84 , 119 , 130 , 274 financialisation, 102 oil trade, 111 –12 , 114 supercycles and, 196 Wall Street (1987 film), 65 Watergate scandal (1972–4), 254 , 309 Waxman, Henry, 98 Weinberg, Morris ‘Sandy’, 97 Weinstein, Harvey, 20 Weir, Jeremy, 277 , 301 , 315 Weiss, Manny, 77 , 80 –82 , 120 , 121 , 125 , 142 , 145 Weisser, Alberto, 241 Weisser, Theodor, 25 , 27 , 31 –2 , 33 , 37 , 41 , 42 , 63 , 261 Soviet deal (1954), 22 –4 , 32 , 33 –4 , 44 , 51 , 135 , 261 , 302 Wen Jiabao, 239 –41 West Germany (1949–90), 22 –4 , 70 West Virginia, United States, 281 , 295 West, Kanye, 152 Weyer, Christian, 60 –61 wheat, 30 , 31 , 39 –41 , 56 , 232 , 239 –41 , 245 –7 Williams, Edward Bennett, 97 Wimar, 299 Woertz, Patricia, 254 –5 women, 15 World Bank, 80 , 85 , 294 , 303 World Food Programme, 240 World Trade Organization (WTO), 178 , 196 , 317 World War II (1939–45), 5 , 16 , 17 , 22 , 27 , 28 , 31 –2 , 47 , 87 Wyatt, Oscar, 64 , 110 , 200 , 203 Wyler, Paul, 187 , 275 , 311 Xstrata, 175 –6 , 178 , 181 , 189 –94 , 263 –73 , 276 , 301 Glencore coal mines deal (2001–2), 191 –2 Glencore merger, 264 –5 , 267 , 269 –73 Vale bid (2007), 264 –5 , 269 Yamani, Ahmed Zaki, 36 , 54 –5 Yang Qinglong, 320 Yeltsin, Boris, 147 , 213 Yemen, 168 , 206 , 247 Yom Kippur War (1973), 53 Yugoslavia (1945–92), 28 , 29 , 167 , 309 Yukos, 213 –15 , 299 Zak, Zbynek, 117 –18 , 124 , 130 , 278 –9 Zambia, 85 , 226 , 232 Zhuhai Zhenrong, 320 , 327 Zimbabwe, 220 , 230 –32 zinc, 35 , 81 , 85 , 129 Asturiana de Zinc, 123 , 191 Glencore, 258 , 273 Marc Rich play (1991–2), 122 –4 , 128 , 170 , 251 Russian production, 135 , 165 Zug, Switzerland, 58 , 59 , 60 , 63 , 73 , 95 , 96 , 117 , 124 , 182 , 183 THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING Find us online and join the conversation Follow us on Twitter twitter.com/penguinukbooks Like us on Facebook facebook.com/penguinbooks Share the love on Instagram instagram.com/penguinukbooks Watch our authors on YouTube youtube.com/penguinbooks Pin Penguin books to your Pinterest pinterest.com/penguinukbooks Listen to audiobook clips at soundcloud.com/penguin-books Find out more about the author and discover your next read at penguin.co.uk Cornerstone UK | USA | Canada | Ireland | Australia New Zealand | India | South Africa Cornerstone is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com .


pages: 166 words: 49,639

Start It Up: Why Running Your Own Business Is Easier Than You Think by Luke Johnson

Albert Einstein, barriers to entry, Bear Stearns, Bernie Madoff, business cycle, collapse of Lehman Brothers, compensation consultant, Cornelius Vanderbilt, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, creative destruction, credit crunch, false flag, financial engineering, Ford Model T, Grace Hopper, happiness index / gross national happiness, high net worth, James Dyson, Jarndyce and Jarndyce, Jarndyce and Jarndyce, Kickstarter, mass immigration, mittelstand, Network effects, North Sea oil, Northern Rock, patent troll, plutocrats, Ponzi scheme, profit motive, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Silicon Valley, software patent, stealth mode startup, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, traveling salesman, tulip mania, Vilfredo Pareto, wealth creators

It was an astounding success, making a return of at least 1,500 per cent for its original subscribers. It was he who muttered the immortal phrase describing a television franchise as a ‘licence to print money’ (no longer the valid statement it once was). He went on to become a pioneer backer of North Sea oil, and later launched Thomson Holidays, Britain’s first package-tour operator. Subsequently he became the owner of The Times and the Sunday Times, and ultimately his organization merged with Reuters to become one of Canada’s largest corporations. All this, and a peerage too, after sixty. He’s not the only late developer in business history.


The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World (Hardback) - Common by Alan Greenspan

addicted to oil, air freight, airline deregulation, Alan Greenspan, Albert Einstein, asset-backed security, bank run, Berlin Wall, Black Monday: stock market crash in 1987, Bretton Woods, business cycle, business process, buy and hold, call centre, capital controls, carbon tax, central bank independence, collateralized debt obligation, collective bargaining, compensation consultant, conceptual framework, Corn Laws, corporate governance, corporate raider, correlation coefficient, cotton gin, creative destruction, credit crunch, Credit Default Swap, credit default swaps / collateralized debt obligations, crony capitalism, cuban missile crisis, currency peg, currency risk, Deng Xiaoping, Dissolution of the Soviet Union, Doha Development Round, double entry bookkeeping, equity premium, everywhere but in the productivity statistics, Fall of the Berlin Wall, fiat currency, financial innovation, financial intermediation, full employment, Gini coefficient, Glass-Steagall Act, Hernando de Soto, income inequality, income per capita, information security, invisible hand, Joseph Schumpeter, junk bonds, labor-force participation, laissez-faire capitalism, land reform, Long Term Capital Management, low interest rates, Mahatma Gandhi, manufacturing employment, market bubble, means of production, Mikhail Gorbachev, moral hazard, mortgage debt, Myron Scholes, Nelson Mandela, new economy, North Sea oil, oil shock, open economy, open immigration, Pearl River Delta, pets.com, Potemkin village, price mechanism, price stability, Productivity paradox, profit maximization, purchasing power parity, random walk, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, reserve currency, Right to Buy, risk tolerance, Robert Solow, Ronald Reagan, Savings and loan crisis, shareholder value, short selling, Silicon Valley, special economic zone, stock buybacks, stocks for the long run, Suez crisis 1956, the payments system, The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thorstein Veblen, Tipper Gore, too big to fail, total factor productivity, trade liberalization, trade route, transaction costs, transcontinental railway, urban renewal, We are all Keynesians now, working-age population, Y2K, zero-sum game

Nevertheless, Dutch disease can strike anywhere. Great Britain went through an apparent bout of it in the early 1980s, following the development of North Sea oil. As Britain changed from a net importer of oil to a net exporter, the dollar-sterling exchange rate rose and the prices of British export goods temporarily became increasingly uncompetitive. Norway, with a population of less than five million, had to take dramatic action to insulate its small economy from the North Sea oil bonanza. The country created a large stabilization fund that reduced pressure on the krone's exchange rate after it spiked in the late 1970s.

., 6, 27, 3 1 , 55n, 57-65, 73, 74, 235, 298 Clinton compared with, 58, 144 in election of 1968, 52, 57-59, 86, 216, 246 pardoning of, 75, 245 profane side ofj 59 resignation of, 64, 208 Social Security and, 94 wage and price controls of, 16, 61—62, 63, 297, 344, 395,446n, 482 Nixon Mudge Rose Guthrie Alexander & Mitchell, 57 North Korea, 12,316 North Sea oil, 259, 4 5 6 - 5 7 Norway, 259, 440 nuclear attack, Federal Reserve precautions against, 2-3 nuclear power, 453-54, 461 nuclear weapons, 8, 34, 38, 135-36, 137, 191 "oasis of prosperity" remark, 192 objectivism, 4 0 - 4 1 , 5 1 , 52 O'Connor, Frank, 40 Office of Management and Budget, U.S., 145, 183, 209,213-14,239 Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, U.S., 199 oil, 79, 84, 2 1 1 , 241, 274, 386, 437-50, 456-61 consumption of, 4 3 7 ^ 0 , 442, 445, 446, 4 5 8 - 5 9 , 460 Dutch disease and, 257-59 in Latin America, 336, 339-40 natural gas compared with, 450 price of, 83, 114, 126, 190, 207, 328, 331, 340, 437-42, 444-49, 457, 459, 484 refining of, 437, 443-44 of Russia, 190,324-31 see also OPEC oil futures, 368,441 Okun, Arthur, 6 1 , 77 Olayan, Mary, 80 Olayan, Suleiman, 79-80 O'Neill, Paul, 209-10, 214-17, 219, 220, 238, 241, 428 O'Neill, Tip, 95-96, 245 OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries), 79, 80, 258, 329, 438-40, 4 4 2 ^ 3 , 446,449,459,460,461 oil shock (1973), 6, 62, 7 1 , 75, 439, 446 savings of, 483-84 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 4 5 7 , 4 5 8 n Economic Policy Committee of, 15 Ortiz, Guillermo, 341 outsourcing, 315, 319, 401, 477n Owen, Robert, 264, 503 525 More ebooks visit: http://www.ccebook.cn ccebook-orginal english ebooks This file was collected by ccebook.cn form the internet, the author keeps the copyright.


pages: 753 words: 233,306

Collapse by Jared Diamond

biodiversity loss, Biosphere 2, California energy crisis, classic study, clean water, colonial rule, correlation does not imply causation, cuban missile crisis, Donner party, Easter island, European colonialism, Exxon Valdez, Garrett Hardin, Great Leap Forward, illegal immigration, job satisfaction, low interest rates, means of production, Medieval Warm Period, megaproject, new economy, North Sea oil, Piper Alpha, polynesian navigation, prisoner's dilemma, South Sea Bubble, statistical model, Stewart Brand, Thomas Malthus, Timothy McVeigh, trade route, Tragedy of the Commons, transcontinental railway, unemployed young men

Under Scottish rule, the Orkney islanders continued to speak a Norse dialect until the 1700s. Today, the Orkney descendants of indigenous Picts and Norse invaders remain prosperous farmers enriched by a terminal for North Sea oil. Some of what I have just said about the Orkneys also applies to the next North Atlantic colony, the Shetland Islands. They too were originally occupied by Pict farmers, conquered by Vikings in the ninth century, ceded to Scotland in 1472, spoke Norse for some time thereafter, and have recently profited from North Sea oil. Differences are that they are slightly more remote and northerly (50 miles north of Orkney and 130 miles north of Scotland), windier, have poorer soils, and are less productive agriculturally.

On the other hand, coal occurs in pure seams up to 10 feet thick stretching for miles, so that the ratio of dumped wastes to product extracted is only about one for a coal mine, far less than the already-mentioned figures of 400 for a copper mine and 5,000,000 for a gold mine. The lethal Buffalo Creek disaster at a U.S. coal mine in 1972 served as a wake-up call for the coal industry, much as the Exxon Valdez and North Sea oil rig disasters did for the oil industry. While the hardrock mining industry has had its share of disasters in the Third World, those have occurred too far from the eyes of the First World public to have served as a comparable wake-up call. Stimulated by Buffalo Creek, the U.S. federal government in the 1970s and 1980s instituted tighter regulation, and required stricter operating plans and financial assurance, for coal mining than for hardrock mining.


pages: 497 words: 150,205

European Spring: Why Our Economies and Politics Are in a Mess - and How to Put Them Right by Philippe Legrain

3D printing, Airbnb, Alan Greenspan, Asian financial crisis, bank run, banking crisis, barriers to entry, Basel III, battle of ideas, Berlin Wall, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, book value, Boris Johnson, Bretton Woods, BRICs, British Empire, business cycle, business process, capital controls, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, carbon tax, Carmen Reinhart, Celtic Tiger, central bank independence, centre right, clean tech, collaborative consumption, collapse of Lehman Brothers, collective bargaining, corporate governance, creative destruction, credit crunch, Credit Default Swap, crony capitalism, Crossrail, currency manipulation / currency intervention, currency peg, debt deflation, Diane Coyle, disruptive innovation, Downton Abbey, Edward Glaeser, Elon Musk, en.wikipedia.org, energy transition, eurozone crisis, fear of failure, financial deregulation, financial engineering, first-past-the-post, Ford Model T, forward guidance, full employment, Gini coefficient, global supply chain, Great Leap Forward, Growth in a Time of Debt, high-speed rail, hiring and firing, hydraulic fracturing, Hyman Minsky, Hyperloop, immigration reform, income inequality, interest rate derivative, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Irish property bubble, James Dyson, Jane Jacobs, job satisfaction, Joseph Schumpeter, Kenneth Rogoff, Kickstarter, labour market flexibility, labour mobility, land bank, liquidity trap, low interest rates, margin call, Martin Wolf, mittelstand, moral hazard, mortgage debt, mortgage tax deduction, North Sea oil, Northern Rock, offshore financial centre, oil shale / tar sands, oil shock, open economy, peer-to-peer rental, price stability, private sector deleveraging, pushing on a string, quantitative easing, Richard Florida, rising living standards, risk-adjusted returns, Robert Gordon, savings glut, school vouchers, self-driving car, sharing economy, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, Skype, smart grid, smart meter, software patent, sovereign wealth fund, Steve Jobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, too big to fail, total factor productivity, Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, working-age population, Zipcar

Some argue that firms hung on to surplus workers because it was costly to fire them and rehire them when demand picked up, but it seems implausible that businesses would hoard lots of labour for so long. Nor can this explain why there were so many new hires, no doubt because wages have fallen. On the supply side, sectoral issues, such as the decline in North Sea oil production, make a difference. As banks have retrenched, measured productivity in the financial sector has also fallen, but since its output was overstated in the bubble years, some of this decline is more apparent than real.406 More generally, firms have failed to invest enough and so the capital stock has depreciated.

Britain’s industrial and skills base is now so shrivelled that it has been unable to benefit much from a cheaper pound. A broken banking system has also failed to fund promising new exporters. While the foreign-owned car industry and the pharmaceuticals and aerospace sectors have fared well, overall exports of Britain’s higher-tech industries have been flat in recent years.417 A plunge in North Sea oil and gas production and the delay in developing alternatives such as shale gas have made matters worse. Britain remains unhealthily reliant on exports of financial services, for which demand has fallen.418 Worse, Britain has failed to tap into the boom in emerging economies. As a share of GDP, it exports less to emerging economies than any other of the Group of Seven (G7) largest advanced economies – and indeed less to China than any EU-15 country, including Greece.419 Japan sends nearly a quarter of its goods exports to Brazil, Russia, India and China (the BRICs), Germany a tenth – and Britain only 5 per cent.420 Worse, Britain’s exports to the BRICs have grown more slowly in recent years than any other G-7 economy’s.421 That said, since Britain sends more of its exports to America, it will hopefully do better if the US recovery strengthens.


pages: 524 words: 143,993

The Shifts and the Shocks: What We've Learned--And Have Still to Learn--From the Financial Crisis by Martin Wolf

air freight, Alan Greenspan, anti-communist, Asian financial crisis, asset allocation, asset-backed security, balance sheet recession, bank run, banking crisis, banks create money, Basel III, Bear Stearns, Ben Bernanke: helicopter money, Berlin Wall, Black Swan, bonus culture, break the buck, Bretton Woods, business cycle, call centre, capital asset pricing model, capital controls, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, Carmen Reinhart, central bank independence, collateralized debt obligation, corporate governance, creative destruction, credit crunch, Credit Default Swap, credit default swaps / collateralized debt obligations, currency manipulation / currency intervention, currency peg, currency risk, debt deflation, deglobalization, Deng Xiaoping, diversification, double entry bookkeeping, en.wikipedia.org, Erik Brynjolfsson, Eugene Fama: efficient market hypothesis, eurozone crisis, Fall of the Berlin Wall, fiat currency, financial deregulation, financial innovation, financial repression, floating exchange rates, foreign exchange controls, forward guidance, Fractional reserve banking, full employment, Glass-Steagall Act, global rebalancing, global reserve currency, Growth in a Time of Debt, Hyman Minsky, income inequality, inflation targeting, information asymmetry, invisible hand, Joseph Schumpeter, Kenneth Rogoff, labour market flexibility, labour mobility, Les Trente Glorieuses, light touch regulation, liquidationism / Banker’s doctrine / the Treasury view, liquidity trap, Long Term Capital Management, low interest rates, mandatory minimum, margin call, market bubble, market clearing, market fragmentation, Martin Wolf, Mexican peso crisis / tequila crisis, Minsky moment, Modern Monetary Theory, Money creation, money market fund, moral hazard, mortgage debt, negative equity, new economy, North Sea oil, Northern Rock, open economy, paradox of thrift, Paul Samuelson, price stability, private sector deleveraging, proprietary trading, purchasing power parity, pushing on a string, quantitative easing, Real Time Gross Settlement, regulatory arbitrage, reserve currency, Richard Feynman, risk-adjusted returns, risk/return, road to serfdom, Robert Gordon, Robert Shiller, Ronald Reagan, savings glut, Second Machine Age, secular stagnation, shareholder value, short selling, sovereign wealth fund, special drawing rights, subprime mortgage crisis, tail risk, The Chicago School, The Great Moderation, The Market for Lemons, the market place, The Myth of the Rational Market, the payments system, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, too big to fail, Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, vertical integration, very high income, winner-take-all economy, zero-sum game

It could certainly have borrowed and spent more if it had wished to do so. Again, in the case of the UK, the economy was still smaller in early 2014 than six years earlier, despite the upsurge in growth in 2013. True, this dismal performance – the slowest recovery on record – was partly because of the contraction in the output of North Sea oil. Nevertheless, the recovery had been very slow in coming. Moreover, the rate of growth still had not surpassed its historic trend. Furthermore, in the UK, too, short- and long-term interest rates remained very low, even though the actual fiscal deficits greatly exceeded those planned by the incoming coalition government in 2010.

In the US, the new orthodoxy generated a recovery that was feeble by historical standards, but not too bad for an economy hit by a financial crisis, particularly one far too large to gain much from export-led economic growth. In other crisis-hit countries, the economic rewards were far slower in coming. The UK’s austerity programme, launched in 2010, removed fiscal support for recovery and, together with the falling output of North Sea oil, adverse shifts in the terms of trade and rising domestic prices of imports, resulted in economic stagnation for a further three years. The outcome was far worse in crisis-hit parts of the Eurozone, where the approach taken was close to liquidationism (on which see further below). In brief, the short-term record of the new orthodoxy was far from a catastrophe.


pages: 851 words: 247,711

The Atlantic and Its Enemies: A History of the Cold War by Norman Stone

affirmative action, Alvin Toffler, Arthur Marwick, Ayatollah Khomeini, bank run, banking crisis, Berlin Wall, Bernie Madoff, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, Bonfire of the Vanities, Bretton Woods, British Empire, business cycle, central bank independence, Deng Xiaoping, desegregation, disinformation, Dissolution of the Soviet Union, European colonialism, facts on the ground, Fall of the Berlin Wall, financial deregulation, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, Frederick Winslow Taylor, full employment, gentrification, Gunnar Myrdal, Henry Ford's grandson gave labor union leader Walter Reuther a tour of the company’s new, automated factory…, Herbert Marcuse, illegal immigration, income per capita, interchangeable parts, Jane Jacobs, Joseph Schumpeter, junk bonds, labour mobility, land reform, long peace, low interest rates, mass immigration, means of production, Michael Milken, Mikhail Gorbachev, military-industrial complex, Mitch Kapor, Money creation, new economy, Norman Mailer, North Sea oil, oil shock, Paul Samuelson, Phillips curve, Ponzi scheme, popular capitalism, price mechanism, price stability, RAND corporation, rent-seeking, Ronald Reagan, Savings and loan crisis, scientific management, Seymour Hersh, Silicon Valley, special drawing rights, Steve Jobs, Strategic Defense Initiative, strikebreaker, Suez crisis 1956, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, trade liberalization, trickle-down economics, V2 rocket, War on Poverty, Washington Consensus, Yom Kippur War, éminence grise

Reagan’s United States could somehow absorb interest rates at this level, because of a unique feature of the civilization: Americans moved, and expected to, from parts of the country that did not work to parts of the country that did. Besides, the bankruptcy laws were far easier than in England, and bankruptcy was almost par for the course. Foreign money moved to the USA in any case. The British also got foreign investment, given North Sea oil, and of course the income from it helped as regards budgets. But the problems were more difficult to solve: the pound was absurdly overvalued, at $2 in 1979 and $2.50 in 1980, very helpful for buying American assets, very bad for exports. This was a very unfortunate context in which to proceed, and it took Margaret Thatcher time to find her way.

Bohley, Bärbel Böhm, Karl Bokassa, Jean-Bédel Bolivia Bologna Bolsheviks: and bureaucracy and China Civil War Congress of the Peoples of the East (1920) lies of Revolution and science Bond, James (fictional character) Bonn Borinage Borland Software Corporation Borodin, Mikhail Boston Bourgès-Maunoury, Maurice BP (British Petroleum) Bradlee, Ben Braestrup, Peter Brandt, Willy: background and character elected Chancellor foreign minister mayor of West Berlin memoirs Nobel Peace Prize Ostpolitik resignation Braşov Bratislava author’s imprisonment in Braudel, Fernand Braun, Otto Brazil Breakfast at Tiffany’s (film) Brecht, Bertolt Brentano, Lujo Brescia Brest-Litovsk Bretherton, Russell Bretton Woods conference (1944) Bretton Woods system end of Triffin Dilemma Brezhnev, Leonid: and Afghanistan and arms limitiation talks background and character and de Gaulle death and East Germany and Helsinki conference (1975) and Johnson and Middle East nationalities policy and Orthodox Church ‘our common European home’ and Poland political reforms and ‘Prague Spring’ and Soviet satellite states and Stalin succeeds Khrushchev and Vietnam Brioni island Britain: agriculture atomic bombs automobile industry balance of payments banking system and Chinesewar civil service class system coal industry Communist Party council housing crime cultural institutions currency controls and Cyprus defence expenditure Department of Trade and Industry Depression (1930s) devaluation of sterling divorce rates economic and political decline education system (see also universities) and EEC/EU and Egypt emigration and establishment of NATO and European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) Falklands War (1982) family breakdown film industry financial deregulation fishing industry general elections: (1945); (1950); (1951); (1959); (1970); (1974); (1979); (1983) gold reserves and GreekWar IMF bail-out (1976) import surcharges income per capita Industrial Revolution industrial wastelands inflation intelligentsia and Iran Lend-Lease aid and Malaya and Marshall Plan middle classes miners’ strike (1984-5) monarchy National Health Service nationalization of industry navy North Sea oil nuclear weapons oil imports Poll Tax post-war debt post-war shortages and rationing privatizations productivity levels property prices public transport race riots scientific and technological developments Second World War shipbuilding steel industry strikes Suez crisis taxation television textile industry trade unions underclass unemployment universities Welfare State Westland affair (‘Westgate’; 1986) winter weather of 1946-7 withdrawal of forces from Gulf (1971) zone of occupation in Germany British Airways British Commonwealth British Empire: American antipathy towards decline of decolonization revitalization attempts trade British Leyland (automobile manufacturer) British Petroleum (BP) British Steel British Telecom Brittan, Sir Samuel Bronfman, Edgar Brown, Andrew Brucan, Silviu Bruce, David Bruges Brussels Brussels Exhibition (1958) Brussels Pact (1948) Bryan, William Jennings Brzezinski, Zbigniew Bucak, Mehmet Celal Bucharest Buck, Pearl S.

Miami Michael I, King of Romania Microsoft (corporation) Midnight Cowboy (film) Midnight Express (film) Mikoyan, Anastas Milan, Catholic University Milken, Michael Millar, Ronald Miller, William Milward, Alan Minc, Julia Mindszenty, József, Cardinal miners’ strike (Britain; 1984-5) Minford, Patrick Minh, Duong Van MIR (Latin American Movement for the Revolutionary Left) MIRVs (multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicles) Mises, Ludwig von Missing (film) Missoffe, François Mitchell, John Mitterrand, Danielle Mitterrand, François Mobil (oil company) mobile phones Modrow, Hans Mollet, Guy Molotov, Vyacheslav: and Austria and Germany and Hungary and Khrushchev and Korean War Molotov Plan Moscow conference (1947) and nuclear weapons obstructiveness ‘our common European home’ on Stalin’s death Mondale, Walter ‘Fritz’ Monde, Le (newspaper) monetarism monetary union, European money, as emblem of the eighties Mongolia Monnet, Jean Monnet Plan Mons Montand, Yves Montanelli, Indro Montesquieu, Charles de Secondat, baron de Montgomery, Bernard, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein Moon landings Moore, Barrington Morgan, Kenneth, Baron Moro, Aldo Morocco Moscow: alcohol prohibition Hotel Lux Khrushchev as Party head Olympic Games (1980) Oriental Workers University post-war rebuilding see also Kremlin Moscow conference (1947) Moslems: Greece India Pakistan Palestine Vietnam see also Islam Mossadegh, Mohammad overthrown motor cars see automobile industry Mounier, Emmanuel Mount, Ferdinand Mountbatten, Louis, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma Moynihan, Daniel Patrick Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus Muggeridge, Malcolm mujaheddin Müller-Armack, Alfred multinational corporations Munich Münzenberg, Willi Murdoch, Rupert Murray, Charles Murray, Lionel ‘Len’, Baron Murray of Epping Forest Musil, Robert Muskie, Edmund Mussolini, Benito Mussorgsky, Modest My Lai massacre (1968) Myrdal, Gunnar Nagasaki Nagorny Karabakh Nagy, Imre Najibullah, Mohammed Namur Nancy Festival (France) Nanking massacre (1937) Nanterre, University of Naples: earthquake (1980) student population Napoleon I Code Napoléon Napoleonsee Louis Napoleon Nasser, Gamel Abdal: and Algerian independence and Aswan Dam coup of 1952 death disasters of regime Egyptian-Syrian union pan-Arab nationalist ambitions Six Day War (1967) and Suez crisis National Archives (British) National Coal Board (British) National Enterprise Board (British) National Freight (British lorry company) National Health Service (British) National Review (magazine) National Rifle Association (American) National Security Council (American; NSC) National Union of Journalists (British) National Union of Mineworkers (British) National Union of Public Employees (British; NUPE) nationalism Belgium China Hungary India Ireland Kurdish Middle East Romania Scotland Slovakia South East Asia Spain USSR Yugoslavia nationalization of industry: Britain Chile France NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization): establishment of and European missile bases fiftieth anniversary French withdrawal from military command headquarters moved to Brussels intelligence network and Korean War military-financial complex Turkish membership West German membership natural gas Nature (magazine) Nazism see Germany, Nazi; neo-Nazism Needham, Joseph Neil, Andrew Nekrich, Alexandr Nemchinov, Vasily Németh, Miklós Nenni, Pietro neo-Nazism Nerchinsk, Treaty of (1689) Neruda, Pablo Neues Deutschland (newspaper) Neues Forum (East German independent political movement) Nevşehir New Deal (Roosevelt) New Delhi New Frontier (Kennedy) New Republic (magazine) New York: affluence anti-Vietnam War protests bankruptcy and collapse of public services Castro in crime financial centre government Kennedy airport poverty New York Review of Books New York Times New Zealand Newsweek (magazine) Newton Dunn, Bill Nhu, Madame Ngo Dinh Nicaragua Contras Nicholas of Cusa Nicolson, Sir Harold Nielsen, Birgit Nietzsche, Friedrich Nigeria, oil production Nightingale, Florence Nissan (automobile manufacturer) Nixon, Richard: appearance and character and Cambodia and Ceauşescu and Chile China visit (1972) and Congress economic policy election as President: (1968); (1972) impeachment proceedings and resignation and Israel loses 1960 election reputation row with Khrushchev over culture and SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) ‘silent majority’ speech Vice-President and Vietnam Watergate scandal Nkrumah, Kwame NKVD (Soviet People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs) Noble, Denis Nol, Lon Norilsk North Korea: establishment of and Japan Kim II Sung regime missiles see also Korean War North Sea oil North Vietnam: agricultural collectivization Army bombing of Chinese military support establishment of executions see also Vietnam War Norway Novorossiysk Novotný, Antonín nuclear physics nuclear power nuclear weapons: American development of British development of French development of Geneva conference on nuclear tests (1958) ‘nuclear deterrent’ doctrine Pakistan’s development of ‘peaceful coexistence’ doctrine SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) Soviet development of threatened use in Korean War see also ICBMs NUPE (British National Union of Public Employees) Nuremberg trials Nuti, Mario Oberdorfer, Don Observer (newspaper) Öcalan, Abdullah Occidental Petroleum OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) OEEC (Organization for European Economic Cooperation) oil crisis of 1973 oil prices oil production: Indonesia Mexico Middle East Nigeria North Sea OPEC Sahara USA USSR Venezuela Oistrakh, David Olçay, Osman Olympic Games, Moscow (1980) Onassis, Aristotle O’Neill, Thomas ‘Tip’ OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) opera opium ‘Optimal Functioning’ (Soviet planning system) Orbán, Viktor Organization of American States Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries see OPEC Orlov, Andrey Orlov, Yuri Orthodox Church Orwell, George Coming Up for Air Nineteen Eighty-Four Osborne, John Ostpolitik O’Sullivan, John Oswald, Lee Harvey Ottoman Empire collapse of Outer Mongolia Owen, Sir Geoffrey Oxford University Bodleian Library Özal, Turgut: background, family and character death economic reforms foreign policy and Kurdish nationalism opposition to premiership and presidency Packard, Vance, Status Seekers Pakistan: and Afghanistan American support for and China establishment of nuclear weapons development war in Kashmir Palermo Palestine: British Mandate partition Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Palestinians Palme, Olof Panama Panmunjom papacy Papandreou, Andreas Paris: 1930s 1960s Bibliothèque Nationale bourgeoisie Centre Beaubourg Eiffel Tower financial institutions Louvre museum metro Musée’Orsay Palais de Chaillot post-war rationing property prices revolution of 1848 suburban tower blocks Paris Commune Paris Peace accords (1973) Paris Peace conference (1947) Paris summit (1960) Parsifal (opera) Partisan Review Pasternak, Boris Pathans Patten, Chris, Baron Patten of Barnes Patti, Adelina Pavlov, Georgy Pavlovsky, General Ivan PDK (Kurdistan Democratic Party) Pearl Harbor Peasant Party (Hungarian) peasantry Chile China Cuba Czechoslovakia France Germany Greece Hungary Italy Poland Romania Russia USSRp> Turkey Vietnam Peck, Gregory Pei, I.


Lonely Planet Scotland by Lonely Planet

always be closing, biodiversity loss, British Empire, carbon footprint, clean water, country house hotel, demand response, Donald Trump, European colonialism, Ford Model T, gentrification, James Watt: steam engine, land reform, North Ronaldsay sheep, North Sea oil, Northpointe / Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions, retail therapy, rewilding, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, three-masted sailing ship, upwardly mobile, urban decay, urban sprawl

Within its bounds you’ll find two of Scotland’s four largest cities: Dundee, the city of jute, jam and journalism, home to Captain Scott’s Antarctic research ship, the Discovery, and the stunning V&A Dundee museum of design; and Aberdeen, the granite city, an economic powerhouse fuelled by the riches of North Sea oil. Angus is a region of rich farmland and scenic glens dotted with the mysterious stones left behind by the ancient Picts, while Aberdeenshire and Moray are home to the greatest concentration of Scottish Baronial castles in the country, and dozens of whisky distilleries along the River Spey. When to Go Jun & Jul Classic boats large and small fill Portsoy harbour for the Scottish Traditional Boat Festival.

The granite spire dates from the 19th century, but there has been a church on this site since the 12th century; the early-15th-century St Mary’s Chapel survives in the eastern part of the church. oAberdeen Maritime MuseumMUSEUM (map Google map; %01224-337700; www.aagm.co.uk; Shiprow; h10am-5pm Mon-Sat, noon-3pm Sun) F Overlooking the nautical bustle of Aberdeen harbour is the Maritime Museum, centred on a three-storey replica of a North Sea oil-production platform, which explains all you ever wanted to know about the petroleum industry. Other galleries, some situated in Provost Ross’s House, the oldest building in the city and part of the museum, cover the shipbuilding, whaling and fishing industries. Sleek and speedy Aberdeen clippers were a 19th-century shipyard speciality, used by British merchants to import tea, wool and exotic goods (opium, for instance) to Britain, and, on the return journey, transport emigrants to Australia.

War & Peace Scotland largely escaped the trauma and devastation wrought by WWII on the industrial cities of England (although Clydebank was bombed). Indeed, the war brought a measure of renewed prosperity to Scotland as the shipyards and engineering works geared up to supply material. But the postwar period saw the collapse of shipbuilding and heavy industry, on which Scotland had become overreliant. After the discovery of North Sea oil off the Scottish coast, excitement turned to bitterness for many Scots, who felt that revenues were being siphoned off to England, though some parts of the country, such as Aberdeen, prospered. This issue, along with takeovers of Scottish companies by English ones (which then closed the Scots operation, asset-stripped and transferred jobs to England), fuelled increasing nationalist sentiment.


Lonely Planet Scotland by Lonely Planet

always be closing, biodiversity loss, British Empire, carbon footprint, clean water, country house hotel, demand response, Donald Trump, European colonialism, Ford Model T, gentrification, James Watt: steam engine, land reform, Neil Armstrong, North Ronaldsay sheep, North Sea oil, Northpointe / Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions, off-the-grid, retail therapy, rewilding, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, three-masted sailing ship, tontine, upwardly mobile, urban decay, urban sprawl

Within its bounds you'll find two of Scotland's four largest cities: Dundee, the city of jute, jam and journalism, cradle of some of Britain's favourite comic characters, and home to Captain Scott's Antarctic research ship, the Discovery; and Aberdeen, the granite city, an economic powerhouse fuelled by the riches of North Sea oil. Angus is a region of rich farmland and scenic glens dotted with the mysterious stones left behind by the ancient Picts, while Aberdeenshire and Moray are home to the greatest concentration of Scottish Baronial castles in the country, and dozens of distilleries along the River Spey. When to Go AJun/Jul Classic boats large and small fill Portsoy harbour for the Scottish Traditional Boat Festival.

The granite spire dates from the 19th century, but there has been a church on this site since the 12th century; the early 15th-century St Mary's Chapel survives in the eastern part of the church. Aberdeen Maritime MuseumMUSEUM ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %01224-337700; www.aagm.co.uk; Shiprow; h10am-5pm Mon-Sat, noon-3pm Sun)F Overlooking the nautical bustle of Aberdeen harbour is the Maritime Museum, centred on a three-storey replica of a North Sea oil production platform, which explains all you ever wanted to know about the petroleum industry. Other galleries, some situated in Provost Ross's House, the oldest building in the city and part of the museum, cover the shipbuilding, whaling and fishing industries. Sleek and speedy Aberdeen clippers were a 19th-century shipyard speciality, used by British merchants for the importation of tea, wool and exotic goods (opium, for instance) to Britain, and, on the return journey, the transportation of emigrants to Australia.

War & Peace Scotland largely escaped the trauma and devastation wrought by WWII on the industrial cities of England (although Clydebank was bombed). Indeed, the war brought a measure of renewed prosperity to Scotland as the shipyards and engineering works geared up to supply material. But the postwar period saw the collapse of shipbuilding and heavy industry, on which Scotland had become over-reliant. After the discovery of North Sea oil off the Scottish coast, excitement turned to bitterness for many Scots, who felt that revenues were being siphoned off to England. This issue, along with takeovers of Scots companies by English ones (which then closed the Scots operation, asset-stripped and transferred jobs to England), fuelled increasing nationalist sentiment.


pages: 196 words: 57,974

Company: A Short History of a Revolutionary Idea by John Micklethwait, Adrian Wooldridge

affirmative action, AOL-Time Warner, barriers to entry, Bear Stearns, Bonfire of the Vanities, book value, borderless world, business process, Carl Icahn, Charles Lindbergh, classic study, company town, Corn Laws, Cornelius Vanderbilt, corporate governance, corporate raider, corporate social responsibility, creative destruction, credit crunch, crony capitalism, double entry bookkeeping, Etonian, Fairchild Semiconductor, financial engineering, Great Leap Forward, hiring and firing, Ida Tarbell, industrial cluster, invisible hand, James Watt: steam engine, John Perry Barlow, joint-stock company, joint-stock limited liability company, Joseph Schumpeter, junk bonds, knowledge economy, knowledge worker, laissez-faire capitalism, manufacturing employment, market bubble, Michael Milken, military-industrial complex, mittelstand, new economy, North Sea oil, pneumatic tube, race to the bottom, railway mania, Ronald Coase, scientific management, Silicon Valley, six sigma, South Sea Bubble, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, strikebreaker, The Nature of the Firm, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thorstein Veblen, trade route, transaction costs, Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, tulip mania, wage slave, William Shockley: the traitorous eight

Privatization was such a radical idea that the Tories scarcely mentioned it in their 1979 manifesto, and the government initially flirted with “corporatization”—making public companies act more like private ones. Eventually, Thatcher and her guru, Keith Joseph, rejected the idea as insufficient—like trying to “make a mule into a zebra by painting stripes down its back.”2 The mules had to be put back in the private sector. In 1982 and 1984, the government privatized its share in North Sea oil and gas; this was soon followed by British Telecom, British Gas, British Airways, and British Steel. Even the water supply and the electricity grid were handed over to private companies. By 1992, two-thirds of state-owned industries had been pushed into the private sector. Privatization was invariably followed by the downsizing of the workforce (sometimes by as much as 40 percent) and the upsizing of executive salaries, both of which raised the public’s hackles, and the Conservatives made a complete hash of privatizing British Rail.


pages: 223 words: 66,428

The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday by Alexander McCall Smith

British Empire, do what you love, North Sea oil, Philippa Foot, trolley problem

A man from Lerwick, a Shetlander. You don’t often get mediums from up north. It’s the first time, in fact, that we’ve had anybody from the Shetland Islands—or even from Orkney.” Isabel looked up from her crossword. She had heard about Georgina, who looked after an aged mother in Leith and whose husband had died on a North Sea oil platform. There had been an explosion, Grace had told her, and Georgina had been left alone with her aged mother. It was the explosion, Isabel imagined, that had begun the path that led to the spiritualist meetings and the quest for a message from the other side. The other side—that was what Grace called it, although Isabel preferred the other shore, if one were to have an expression for a place whose existence was debatable.


pages: 222 words: 70,559

The Oil Factor: Protect Yourself-and Profit-from the Coming Energy Crisis by Stephen Leeb, Donna Leeb

Alan Greenspan, book value, Buckminster Fuller, buy and hold, currency risk, diversified portfolio, electricity market, fixed income, government statistician, guns versus butter model, hydrogen economy, income per capita, index fund, low interest rates, mortgage debt, North Sea oil, oil shale / tar sands, oil shock, peak oil, profit motive, reserve currency, rising living standards, Ronald Reagan, shareholder value, Silicon Valley, Vanguard fund, vertical integration, Yom Kippur War, zero-coupon bond

The North Sea is a major example. It was defined as an important oil and gas deposit in 1969. At the time, Britain and Norway, the two major beneficiaries of the discovery, were struggling economically. In fact, it was fashionable in the early 1970s to refer to Britain as a burgeoning third world economy. To develop North Sea oil as rapidly as possible, the most advanced technology available was brought to bear. As a result, in thirty years the North Sea produced about 15 billion barrels of oil, and in the process Norway became rich and Britain shed its status as a third-rate economy. The problem is that there are no encores.


pages: 229 words: 71,872

Fred Dibnah's Age of Steam by David Hall, Fred Dibnah

Apollo 11, cable laying ship, clean water, Fellow of the Royal Society, Isaac Newton, James Watt: steam engine, North Sea oil, railway mania

The phone rang and it was the boiler inspector and he said: ‘I should hang fire a bit. The elongation on the weld metal is a few decimal points short of what it should be and we cannot accept this weld metal in the longitudinal seam.’ The people who’d done the job for me were adamant that there was nothing wrong with it. They did work for the North Sea oil people and they got their radiographer in and their examiner and he also said there was nothing wrong with it. The Scottish Boiler Insurance Company and this company who’d done the job argued between themselves and it went on and on and on. In the end I said: ‘What happens if I rivet it like they used to?’


pages: 256 words: 79,075

Hired: Six Months Undercover in Low-Wage Britain by James Bloodworth

Airbnb, algorithmic management, Berlin Wall, call centre, clockwatching, collective bargaining, congestion charging, credit crunch, deindustrialization, Fall of the Berlin Wall, fulfillment center, gentrification, gig economy, Greyball, independent contractor, Jeff Bezos, low skilled workers, Network effects, new economy, North Sea oil, Panopticon Jeremy Bentham, payday loans, post-truth, post-work, profit motive, race to the bottom, reshoring, scientific management, Silicon Valley, Travis Kalanick, Uber for X, working poor, working-age population

Subsequent investment in modern machinery improved productivity, as did the amalgamation – or ‘rationalisation’, as it was called at the time – of smaller pits into economies of scale where more than a thousand men worked. But the golden age would not last long. As coal was supplanted by cheaper fuels such as North Sea oil and gas, the industry slipped into the decline from which it has never recovered. Domestic demand withered with the switch to diesel and electric in place of steam power on the railways and the modernisation of central heating systems. It also became cheaper to import coal from countries with weak trade unions and fewer scruples about sending children underground and paying poverty wages.


pages: 286 words: 79,305

99%: Mass Impoverishment and How We Can End It by Mark Thomas

"there is no alternative" (TINA), "World Economic Forum" Davos, 2013 Report for America's Infrastructure - American Society of Civil Engineers - 19 March 2013, additive manufacturing, Alan Greenspan, Albert Einstein, anti-communist, autonomous vehicles, bank run, banks create money, behavioural economics, bitcoin, business cycle, call centre, Cambridge Analytica, central bank independence, circular economy, complexity theory, conceptual framework, creative destruction, credit crunch, CRISPR, declining real wages, distributed ledger, Donald Trump, driverless car, Erik Brynjolfsson, eurozone crisis, fake news, fiat currency, Filter Bubble, full employment, future of work, Gini coefficient, gravity well, income inequality, inflation targeting, Internet of things, invisible hand, ITER tokamak, Jeff Bezos, jimmy wales, job automation, Kickstarter, labour market flexibility, laissez-faire capitalism, Larry Ellison, light touch regulation, Mark Zuckerberg, market clearing, market fundamentalism, Martin Wolf, Modern Monetary Theory, Money creation, money: store of value / unit of account / medium of exchange, Nelson Mandela, Nick Bostrom, North Sea oil, Occupy movement, offshore financial centre, Own Your Own Home, Peter Thiel, Piper Alpha, plutocrats, post-truth, profit maximization, quantitative easing, rent-seeking, Robert Solow, Ronald Reagan, Second Machine Age, self-driving car, Silicon Valley, smart cities, Steve Jobs, The Great Moderation, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Tyler Cowen, warehouse automation, wealth creators, working-age population

As change management guru Darryl Conner explains:2 At nine-thirty on a July evening in 1988, a disastrous explosion and fire occurred on the Piper Alpha oil-drilling platform in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland. 166 crew members and two rescuers lost their lives in what was (and still is) the worst catastrophe in the fifty-year history of North Sea oil exportation. One of the sixty-three crew members who survived was Andy Mochan, a superintendent on the rig. From the hospital, he told of being awakened by the explosion and alarms. Badly injured, he escaped from his quarters to the platform edge. Beneath him, oil had surfaced and ignited. Twisted steel and other debris littered the surface of the water.


pages: 305 words: 79,356

Drowning in Oil: BP & the Reckless Pursuit of Profit by Loren C. Steffy

"World Economic Forum" Davos, Berlin Wall, clean water, corporate governance, corporate raider, Exxon Valdez, Fall of the Berlin Wall, North Sea oil, oil rush, oil shock, peak oil, Piper Alpha, Ronald Reagan, South China Sea, sovereign wealth fund, tech worker, Timothy McVeigh

Its weather is cold and terrifying, roiled by relentless gales and massive undulating waves that roll toward the coast like a giant gray blanket unfurled by an angry maid. Its bitter, powerful currents and frequent storm-force winds can make the most hardened sailor or pilot anxious. Against this inhospitable backdrop 250 miles north of Scotland, BP found oil in 1965. Five years later, it discovered the Forties field, touching off a North Sea oil boom and enabling BP to shift its reserve base from the Middle East, where countries were nationalizing their oil fields. The Forties, along with Alaska, became the cornerstone of BP’s reserve base. By 2003, however, the Forties field was in decline. Production had peaked in 1979, and most of the easy oil had been pumped out long ago.


Dinosaurs Rediscovered by Michael J. Benton

All science is either physics or stamp collecting, Bayesian statistics, biofilm, bioinformatics, classic study, David Attenborough, Ernest Rutherford, Ford Model T, germ theory of disease, Isaac Newton, lateral thinking, North Sea oil, nuclear winter, ocean acidification

The revolution I have lived through a revolution. When I started as a student some forty years ago, palaeobiology was a practical subject aimed at solving problems for the oil industry – especially relevant in the town where I grew up, Aberdeen. The granite city was experiencing massive economic growth as a result of the North Sea oil boom. If my professors talked about form and function or evolution, they did so a little apologetically, because they were straying from hard facts. Through my scientific career, I have seen dinosaur science (and palaeobiology in general) change from natural history to testable science. New technologies have revealed secrets locked in the bones – we can now work out the colour of dinosaurs, their bite forces, speeds, and levels of parental care.


pages: 301 words: 85,126

AIQ: How People and Machines Are Smarter Together by Nick Polson, James Scott

Abraham Wald, Air France Flight 447, Albert Einstein, algorithmic bias, Amazon Web Services, Atul Gawande, autonomous vehicles, availability heuristic, basic income, Bayesian statistics, Big Tech, Black Lives Matter, Bletchley Park, business cycle, Cepheid variable, Checklist Manifesto, cloud computing, combinatorial explosion, computer age, computer vision, Daniel Kahneman / Amos Tversky, data science, deep learning, DeepMind, Donald Trump, Douglas Hofstadter, Edward Charles Pickering, Elon Musk, epigenetics, fake news, Flash crash, Grace Hopper, Gödel, Escher, Bach, Hans Moravec, Harvard Computers: women astronomers, Higgs boson, index fund, information security, Isaac Newton, John von Neumann, late fees, low earth orbit, Lyft, machine translation, Magellanic Cloud, mass incarceration, Moneyball by Michael Lewis explains big data, Moravec's paradox, more computing power than Apollo, natural language processing, Netflix Prize, North Sea oil, Northpointe / Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions, p-value, pattern recognition, Pierre-Simon Laplace, ransomware, recommendation engine, Ronald Reagan, Salesforce, self-driving car, sentiment analysis, side project, Silicon Valley, Skype, smart cities, speech recognition, statistical model, survivorship bias, systems thinking, the scientific method, Thomas Bayes, Uber for X, uber lyft, universal basic income, Watson beat the top human players on Jeopardy!, young professional

Massachusetts General Hospital was one of its first clients, and Nvidia now wants to train 100,000 new software developers to use the system for AI-based imaging.49 Remote Medicine The phrase “remote medicine” conjures images of people living in far-off places with limited access to health care, like a spaceship or a North Sea oil rig.50 For many people, however, medicine remains remote not merely for reasons of physical isolation. Think of the hundreds of millions of people living in the developing world, or the tens of millions of disadvantaged Americans who fall between the cracks of the private and public insurance systems.


pages: 207 words: 86,639

The New Economics: A Bigger Picture by David Boyle, Andrew Simms

Abraham Maslow, Alan Greenspan, Alvin Toffler, Apollo 11, Asian financial crisis, back-to-the-land, banking crisis, behavioural economics, Bernie Madoff, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, Bonfire of the Vanities, Bretton Woods, capital controls, carbon footprint, carbon tax, clean water, collateralized debt obligation, colonial rule, Community Supported Agriculture, congestion charging, corporate raider, corporate social responsibility, credit crunch, Credit Default Swap, credit default swaps / collateralized debt obligations, Crossrail, delayed gratification, deskilling, digital divide, en.wikipedia.org, energy transition, financial deregulation, financial exclusion, financial innovation, full employment, garden city movement, Glass-Steagall Act, green new deal, happiness index / gross national happiness, if you build it, they will come, income inequality, informal economy, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Jane Jacobs, John Elkington, junk bonds, Kickstarter, land bank, land reform, light touch regulation, loss aversion, mega-rich, microcredit, Mikhail Gorbachev, Money creation, mortgage debt, neoliberal agenda, new economy, North Sea oil, Northern Rock, offshore financial centre, oil shock, peak oil, pension time bomb, pensions crisis, profit motive, purchasing power parity, quantitative easing, Ronald Reagan, seigniorage, Simon Kuznets, sovereign wealth fund, special drawing rights, systems thinking, the long tail, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas L Friedman, too big to fail, trickle-down economics, Vilfredo Pareto, Washington Consensus, wealth creators, working-age population

Norway, by contrast, has used its oil surpluses to help create a safety net for future generations that is today worth around €260 billion (£198 billion). This amounts to €75,000 (£57,000) for every man, woman and child in the country. The UK could follow Norway’s lead and set up an Oil Legacy Fund, paid for primarily by a windfall tax on oil and gas company profits. Before North Sea oil is exhausted, introducing a windfall tax on oil and gas companies would be a significant funding source. Part of these increased revenues would be used to protect low-income households subject to fuel poverty and who would otherwise be too adversely affected by fossil fuel price rises during the transition to a low-carbon future. 18 Hold accountancy firms accountable Now there is an opportunity to reshape the world of auditing so that it reflects new expectations of transparency, prudence and responsibility in the modern global economy.


The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea by Sebastian Junger

Dava Sobel, fail fast, MITM: man-in-the-middle, North Sea oil, Tragedy of the Commons, urban renewal

The standard practice is to build ships to withstand what is called a twenty-five-year stress—the most violent condition the ship is likely to experience in twenty-five years. The wave that flooded the wheelhouse of the Queen Mary, ninety feet up, must have nearly exceeded her twenty-five-year stress. North Sea oil platforms are built to accommodate a 111-foot wave beneath their decks, which is calculated to be a one-hundred-year stress. Unfortunately, the twenty-five-year stress is just a statistical concept that offers no guarantee about what will happen next year, or next week. A ship could encounter several twenty-five-year waves in a month or never encounter any at all.


pages: 223 words: 10,010

The Cost of Inequality: Why Economic Equality Is Essential for Recovery by Stewart Lansley

"World Economic Forum" Davos, Adam Curtis, air traffic controllers' union, Alan Greenspan, AOL-Time Warner, banking crisis, Basel III, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, Bonfire of the Vanities, borderless world, Branko Milanovic, Bretton Woods, British Empire, business cycle, business process, call centre, capital controls, collective bargaining, corporate governance, corporate raider, correlation does not imply causation, creative destruction, credit crunch, Credit Default Swap, crony capitalism, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, deindustrialization, Edward Glaeser, Everybody Ought to Be Rich, falling living standards, financial deregulation, financial engineering, financial innovation, Financial Instability Hypothesis, floating exchange rates, full employment, Goldman Sachs: Vampire Squid, high net worth, hiring and firing, Hyman Minsky, income inequality, James Dyson, Jeff Bezos, job automation, job polarisation, John Meriwether, Joseph Schumpeter, Kenneth Rogoff, knowledge economy, laissez-faire capitalism, Larry Ellison, light touch regulation, Londongrad, Long Term Capital Management, low interest rates, low skilled workers, manufacturing employment, market bubble, Martin Wolf, Mary Meeker, mittelstand, mobile money, Mont Pelerin Society, Myron Scholes, new economy, Nick Leeson, North Sea oil, Northern Rock, offshore financial centre, oil shock, plutocrats, Plutonomy: Buying Luxury, Explaining Global Imbalances, proprietary trading, Right to Buy, rising living standards, Robert Shiller, Robert Solow, Ronald Reagan, savings glut, shareholder value, The Great Moderation, The Spirit Level, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, too big to fail, Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, Washington Consensus, Winter of Discontent, working-age population

Yet for most of the period since the end of the 1970s, the pound has been held at a higher rate than justified by Britain’s economic strength. It had risen by 50 per cent in real terms against the dollar in the two years to 1981. This over-valuation was initially due, in part, to the discovery of North Sea Oil which made Britain an exporting nation. But the persistently high pound has also been the result of explicit government policy to give preference to financial services and its need to attract global footloose capital. These huge capital inflows were always going to push up the sterling exchange rate.


The Rough Guide to Norway by Phil Lee

banking crisis, bike sharing, car-free, centre right, company town, Easter island, glass ceiling, Nelson Mandela, North Sea oil, out of africa, place-making, sensible shoes, sustainable-tourism, three-masted sailing ship, trade route, walkable city, white picket fence

Haugesund There is no overpowering reason to break your journey between Stavanger and Bergen, but HAUGESUND, a lively industrial town 100km north of Stavanger – via the E39 and the Mortavika–Arsvågen ferry (see Stavanger to Bergen) – has its moments. Now a major player in the North Sea oil industry, Haugesund once thrived on its herring fisheries, whose whopping profits funded the series of large and imposing, early twentieth-century stone buildings that dot Smedasundet, the bustling main harbour. Specific sights are perhaps thin on the ground, but a stroll along the harbourfront is an amiable way to spend half an hour and the tumbling water fountains of adjacent Torggata lead up towards the town’s prettiest church, Vår Frelsers Kirke, a slender brick affair of 1901 whose neo-Gothic design is enlivened by some Jugendstil flourishes.

Independent again from 1905, Norway was propelled into World War II by the German invasion of 1940, an act of aggression that transformed the Norwegians’ attitude to the outside world. Gone was the old insularity, replaced by a liberal internationalism exemplified by Norway’s leading role in the environmental movement. And then came the money – or rather the oil: since its discovery in the late 1960s, Norway’s North Sea oil has made it one of the wealthiest countries in Europe. Early civilizations The earliest signs of human habitation in Norway date from the end of the last Ice Age, around 10,000 BC. In the Finnmark region of north Norway, the Komsa culture was reliant upon sealing, whereas the peoples of the Fosna culture, further south near present-day Kristiansund, hunted both seals and reindeer.


pages: 891 words: 220,950

Winds of Change by Peter Hennessy

anti-communist, Beeching cuts, Berlin Wall, Bletchley Park, Bretton Woods, British Empire, centre right, Corn Laws, creative destruction, cuban missile crisis, Dr. Strangelove, Etonian, Fall of the Berlin Wall, floating exchange rates, full employment, government statistician, Great Leap Forward, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, Joseph Schumpeter, land tenure, liberal capitalism, meritocracy, Mikhail Gorbachev, Nelson Mandela, Norman Macrae, North Sea oil, oil shock, reserve currency, rising living standards, Robert Gordon, Scramble for Africa, Suez canal 1869, Suez crisis 1956, Ted Sorensen, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, total factor productivity, upwardly mobile, uranium enrichment

P. 199–201 Knight, Richard 270 Knowles, David 176 Koestler, Arthur 20–23 Kohl, Helmut 218 Kondrashev, Sergei 246 Korean War 232–3 Kosygin, Alexey 492 Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth 128 Kubrick, Stanley 289 Labour Party and the 1964 general election 24, 479–84 approach to planning and growth 140–42 and CND 295–6, 298–9 in disarray after 1959 defeat 137 ever-lurking centrifugal tendencies of 424 and immigration controls 214, 217 and life peers 166–7 and Michael Young 19 and nationalization 127 natural home of planning 150 and party conference battles 423 and the Profumo affair 372–3 on the side of press against government 366 and the trades unions 485 and Wilson as leader 337, 427–8 Lacouture, Jean 321–2, 327 Lady Chatterley’s Lover (Lawrence) 3, 386 Lady’s Not for Burning, The (Fry) 138 Laos 66–7 Larkin, Philip 180 Lawton, John 388 le Carré, John 240 Le Fanu, Michael 309–10 League of Empire Loyalists 180 League of Nations 196 Leatherslade farm, Oakley 352–3 Lee, Frank 68, 130, 140, 145 ‘Lele tribe of the Congo’ (Douglas) 21–2 Lennox-Boyd, Alan 200 Leonard Stanley 2 ‘Lessons of French Experience, The’ (Clarke) 146 Let Us Face the Future (Labour manifesto 1945) 19 Let’s Go with Labour for the New Britain (Labour manifesto 1964) 455, 478–83 Levin, Bernard 486 Leyland buses 445–7 Life Peerages Act (1958) 166–7 Lindemann, Frederick 357 ‘Lion and the Ostrich, The’ (Koestler) 22–3 Lippmann, Walter 288 Lister’s of Dursley 2 Liverpool FC 458 Lloyd, Geoffrey 354 Lloyd George, David 397, 453 Lloyd, Selwyn and the 1964 election 448, 477 appointed one of Douglas-Home’s nuclear deputies 445 downfall 6, 122–3, 126, 156–63, 272–3 as leadership king maker 403–4 appointed Lord Privy Seal 430–31 and NEDC 140–47, 149 as potential successor to Macmillan 154–6 ‘second grave digger’ 228 and UK’s economic performance 151, 153 Loft, Chas 350 London School of Economics 194 Lonsdale, Gordon 242, 364 Lord’s cricket ground 417 ‘Lost Leader, The’ (Browning) 383 Louis, Roger 204 ‘Love Me Do’ (Beatles) 319 Lubbock, Eric 157 Luce, Richard 210 Lumumba, Patrice 197–8, 203 Luther, Martin 218–19 Lyttelton, Oliver 307 McCleary, Hugh 194 McCloy, John J. 235 McDonald, Iverach 288 McGuire, Stryker 468 ‘Machinery of Government in War’ (Padmore) 223–4 McKenna, Patrick 351 McKenzie, Robert 138 Mackinder, Halford 191 Mackintosh, John 448–9 Maclay, John 160 Maclean, Donald 377 Macleod, Iain and Alec Home 401, 410–11, 429–32 and autumn Cabinet reshuffle 157 as Colonial Secretary 196, 198–202, 205, 208–11 and immigration controls 213–16 leadership battles and ramifications 342, 406, 411–15, 432–5, 439–41 appointed chairman of the Conservative Party 207 and the nuclear war threat 228 ‘too much independence’ 126 McMahon Act 309 McManus, Michael 331 Macmillan, Alexander 360 Macmillan, Dorothy 58, 66, 104, 166, 290, 360, 377–8, 380, 393 Macmillan, Harold and the 2nd Berlin crisis 226–32, 236–9 and the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty 360 agreement at the Commonwealth Conference 116–19 and Alec Home 172, 429, 447–8 assessment of Philby 377–8 and the Beeching Report 349 believed substantial economic change needed 129–36 and ‘Black Saturday’ 265–70, 283, 302 the Britain he presided over 19–21, 24 a Cabinet lacking in true believers 149 the changing mood of British politics 141–3 and civil nuclear power 353–4, 358–60 clung desperately to the United States 13 and CND 298, 303 and the Cold War 220–26, 365 and the Cuban Missile crisis 250, 252–62, 272, 274–6, 278–84, 290 dealing with both de Gaulle and Kennedy 84–8 dealing with economic woes 123–8 and decolonization 183–5, 185–7, 188–9, 204 discussions with de Gaulle 103–12, 113–15, 119–20, 321–6, 329–33 and EEC entry 333–4, 426, 482 and Enoch Powell 199, 376–7 forming a plan 37–54 and George Blake 244–5 and German growth 498 and the ‘Grand Design’ 54–64, 71–2, 77–84, 169, 321, 341 and Harold Wilson 338, 421, 475 and Iain Macleod 196–7, 205–6, 211 illness of 395–8 and immigration controls 212–14, 217–18 and Kennedy 67–70, 393–4 and Khrushchev 233 legacy of 435 and Lord Hailsham 361–2, 487 and ‘magician-in-chief’ description 433 and Maudling’s ‘dash for growth’ 338–41 media interpretations of 27, 30–32 ‘NEDC is a tender plant’ 153–4 new Cabinet of modernizers 163–9 next steps 66–7 and ‘Night of the Long Knives’ 123, 149, 154–63, 376, 430 and the Oxford Union 33–6 pointing the way 89–97 and the Polaris deal 305–15, 322–3, 326–7 and the Profumo affair 365, 368–70, 374–6, 378–85, 388–92 and Rab Butler 435 ramifications of his retirement decision 319, 399–401, 403, 405–17 and Reginald Maudling 443 and religion 463–4 and the Robbins Report 452 rushing to decolonize 179–80 and Selwyn Lloyd 122, 153, 431 and STOCKWELL 6–9 and Thatcherism 137–40 and the theory of the Commonwealth 183–4 threat of civil war in Northern Rhodesia 206 tragedy of failure 100–103 and UK influence in the world 469–70 vintage showdown with Thatcher 144 weakness of the Government’s position 317 ‘Wind of Change’ speech (1960) 119, 180, 183, 188, 191, 202–3 Macmillan, Maurice 384, 395, 398 McNamara, Robert 251, 263–4, 266, 276, 305–7, 312–13 Macrae, Norman 24–5 ‘magic circle’ 432–5 ‘Magnox’ stations 355 Major, John 435 Making of the Prime Minister, The (Howard/West) 486 Mallaby, George 359 Mallard (locomotive) 177 Mandela, Nelson 188, 211 Manningham-Buller, Reginald see Dilhorne, Lord Mao Tse-tung 231 Marchant, Herbert ‘Bill’ 248–9 Margach, James 401 Marks, Derek 404 Marks, Lara 462 Marlborough House 118 Marples, Ernest 170, 175, 228, 346, 349 Marquand, David 144 Marshall, Walter 355 Marx, Karl 426 Maslennikov, Ivan 266 Master Cutlers’ feast (Sheffield) 342 Mau Mau 199, 206 Maudling, Beryl 411 Maudling, Reginald and the 1964 Election 472, 486–7 appointment as Colonial Secretary 196 and ‘dash for growth’ 334, 338–44, 441–4, 479 and EEC-excluded steering committee 333–4 and French planning 148 and leadership battles 411–12, 414–16 and Macmillan 400 and ‘Modernization of Britain’ paper 168 and the nuclear war threat 228 as President of the Board of Trade 73, 141 promotion to the Treasury 161–3 Tory Party Conference (1963) 401 and the UK civil nuclear programme 354, 356 wish for a June election 447 Maultsby, Charles 262–3, 266 Maxwell Fyfe, Sir David see Kilmuir, Lord May, Ernest 252 May, Theresa 210, 435 Medical Research Council 460 Medicine and Politics (Powell) 173 medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs) 251 Meitner, Lise 10–11 Menzies, Robert 117–18, 498 MI5 (Security Service) 225, 298–9, 371–6, 474 MI6 (Secret Intelligence Service) 50, 242–3, 244–6, 245, 258, 290, 375–8, 474–5 MICKY FINN (autumn exercise) 267 Middlemas, Keith 143–4 MiG-19 warplanes 262–3 Mikardo, Ian 336, 419 Mikoyan, Anastas 250, 254, 256, 492 Millar, Ronnie 137–8 Mills, Jack 352 Mills, Lord 160 Milward, Alan 71–2, 75 Ministry of Technology 420, 425 Mirage IV bombers 315 Missile Threat Co-ordination Committee 243 Mitchell, Derek 342, 449, 472–3 Mitrokhin, Vasili 198, 204 Mod phenomenon 463 modernity 154 ‘Modernization of Britain’ (paper) 168–9 ‘Modernization Commissions’ 144 Molody, Konon see Lonsdale, Gordon monetarism 136, 139 Monnet, Jean 13, 44, 68–9, 131, 144, 219 Monson, Leslie 200 Montgomery, Field Marshal Lord Bernard 94 Moore, Charles 416–17 Moorhouse, Geoffrey 501 Morley, Lewis 386 Morris, Bill 26 Morris, Bob 14 Morrison, John 402, 404 Moscow Radio 277 motorways 170–71, 496 Mountbatten, Lord Louis 272 Muggeridge, Malcolm 31 Mulholland, Brendan 365 Murray, Keith 172 Naftali, Timothy 249, 254 Nash, Walter 359 Nassau Agreement (1962) 313–14, 483 meeting (1962) 119 National Anthem 183 National Association of Mental Health 173 ‘National Civil Disobedience Day’ demonstrations 299 National Economic Development Council 1961 (NEDC) and the 1963 Maudling Budget 339–40, 443 ‘a tender plant’ 150–53 creation of 128, 143–6 and the DEA 473 economic growth plans of 438, 496, 498 only partially successful 424 a Selwyn Lloyd idea 139–40 subgroups of 136 Tory justification for 479 National Farmers’ Union (NFU) 80–81, 89 national grid 355 National Health Service 172, 499 National Incomes Commission (NIC) 153, 155–6, 438 National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) 145, 148 National Railway Museum 177 National Security Council (NSC) 218, 251 National Service 180 nationalization 127, 144, 169, 345, 423, 480 NATO and 1949 Treaty 76 and the Cuban missile crisis 271, 281, 286 and fascist Portugal 34 and France 51, 53–4, 57, 62–3, 86–7, 114 interdependence of 85 and Macmillan’s ‘Grand Design’ 43, 49 and multilateral nuclear force idea 315, 329 and nuclear weapons 66, 296, 483–4 and Polaris for Skybolt 306, 310–12 Nazism 46 Netherlands 110 ‘New Approach’ (plan) 155 New Britain speeches 427 New Zealand 74, 107, 118, 190 Newman, John Henry 454 Nigeria 201, 209 ‘Night of the Long Knives’ 123, 149, 376, 430 Night Mail (film) 352 Nitze, Paul 233 Nixon, Richard 107 Nkrumah, Kwame 204 Noble, Lewis 9 Noble, Michael 161 Norstad, Lauris 49, 266, 271–2 North Korea 245 North, Lord 184 North Sea oil 457 Northern Rhodesia 179, 189–90, 205 see also Zambia Notting Hill riots (1958) 211, 215 Nottingham riots (1958) 211 Novaia Zemlya 228, 238 NSA 250 nuclear power 170, 353–9 nuclear test talks see Test Ban Treaty conference nuclear weapons Conservative position on 483–4 and France 50–56, 63 Labour’s position on 483 UKs position on 68, 423 see also hydrogen bombs Nyasaland 179, 189–90 Nympsfield 1–4 Offer, Avner 500 Ogilvie, Mark 269 Ogilvy-Webb, A.

(p. 304). 18 See pp. 361–3 above. 19 Hennessy, The Secret State: Preparing for the Worst 1945–2010 (Penguin, 2010), p. xxv. 7: Tweedy Aristocrat, Gritty Meritocrat 1 He said this to Richard Thorpe in conversation on 13 November 1981. 2 The Green Shield Stamp was very much an artefact of Sixties Britain and led to some funny, if blasphemous graffiti (‘Jesus Saves – Green Shield Stamps’, is one I recall in particular). 8: Wisps of Tomorrow 1 Newman’s Idea of a University was first published in 1873 and was effectively a compilation of two earlier works: Discourses on the Scope and Nature of University Education, published in 1852, which comprised ten lectures designed to prepare the ground for the creation of the Catholic University of Ireland; and a second work, Lectures and Essays on University Subjects, a collection of lectures and articles that Newman wrote as the founding president of the university, which was published in 1859. 2 A more immediate economic prospect, though little noticed at the time, was the promise of succour from the sea in the form of North Sea oil. In May 1964 the government ratified the UN Continental Shelf Convention, which gave the UK sovereignty over its continental shelf to a depth of 200 metres. This reached to what would become the bonanza-laden Forties Field, 110 miles out in the North Sea to the east of the Moray Firth. In September 1964 the Ministry of Fuel and Power issued the first exploration licences (James Bamberg, British Petroleum and Global Oil, 1950–1975: The Challenge of Nationalism (Cambridge University Press, 2000), p. 199). 9: The 8.15 from Lime Street 1 Wilson prided himself on being a former Cabinet Office insider from his time as a member of the War Cabinet secretariat between 1941 and 1943.


words: 49,604

The Weightless World: Strategies for Managing the Digital Economy by Diane Coyle

Alan Greenspan, barriers to entry, Berlin Wall, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, blue-collar work, Bretton Woods, business cycle, clean water, company town, computer age, Corn Laws, creative destruction, cross-subsidies, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, dematerialisation, Diane Coyle, Edward Glaeser, everywhere but in the productivity statistics, financial deregulation, flying shuttle, full employment, George Santayana, global village, Great Leap Forward, hiring and firing, Howard Rheingold, income inequality, informal economy, invention of the sewing machine, invisible hand, Jane Jacobs, Joseph Schumpeter, Kickstarter, knowledge economy, labour market flexibility, laissez-faire capitalism, lump of labour, Mahbub ul Haq, Marshall McLuhan, mass immigration, McJob, Meghnad Desai, microcredit, moral panic, Neal Stephenson, Network effects, new economy, Nick Leeson, night-watchman state, North Sea oil, offshore financial centre, pension reform, pension time bomb, pensions crisis, Robert Solow, Ronald Reagan, Silicon Valley, Snow Crash, spinning jenny, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, the market place, The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thorstein Veblen, Tobin tax, Tragedy of the Commons, two tier labour market, very high income, War on Poverty, winner-take-all economy, working-age population

They take exchange rates to extreme levels unwarranted by the underlying economic conditions because they react so much faster than other markets, either markets for goods or labour markets, to changed conditions. For example, in 1980 the pound appreciated by 25 per cent in value against a range of other currencies. It should have risen part of the way — investors were reacting rationally to the extraction of North Sea Oil and the Thatcher Government’s tight macroeconomic policies. However, the extent of the appreciation was so great that it caused industrial devastation as British exports became too expensive abroad. Manufacturing industry collapsed to such a degree that the 1979 level of output was not regained until 1987 when the economy was booming.


pages: 257 words: 94,168

Oil Panic and the Global Crisis: Predictions and Myths by Steven M. Gorelick

California gold rush, carbon footprint, energy security, energy transition, flex fuel, Ford Model T, income per capita, invention of the telephone, Jevons paradox, meta-analysis, North Sea oil, nowcasting, oil shale / tar sands, oil shock, peak oil, price elasticity of demand, price stability, profit motive, purchasing power parity, RAND corporation, statistical model, stock buybacks, Thomas Malthus

., 62 mass balance, 10, 124, 221–2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 59, 215 McCabe, Peter, 118–21 mercury, 108–9 metals price trends, 103–7 production, 100–2 methane, 18 Mexico, oil reserves, 65, 144 Michigan Basin gas field, 140 Middle East conflicts, 63, 112–13, 115 Minerals Management Service, 26, 28 Montana, 176 myths, 87–181 National Energy Program, 64 national oil bank, 218–19 natural gas conversion to liquid fuels, 173–4 description, 18 discarded, 177 discoveries, 70–1, 128–9, 138, 140, 145–6 236 Index natural gas (cont’d ) initial in-place, 164–5 liquids see NGLs peak estimation, 96 powering motor vehicles by, 210 synthetic fuel from, 175–7 USGS Assessment, 177–9 natural gas condensate, 138, 165, 189 natural gas consumption, 177, 196 natural gas endowment, 177–9 natural gas field growth, 135 natural gas liquids see NGLs natural gas plant liquids, 39 natural gas production, US, 95 natural gas reserves, 177 growth, 135–6 replacement, 138 natural gas resources, 177–80 natural gas, US offshore, 128–9 Nature, 215 neo-Malthusian, 59–62, 66, 98, 103 New York City, horses, 206 NGLs, 27, 28 Nigeria bonus payments, 125 corruption index, 217 OPEC membership, 23 political stability, 217 non-renewable resource model, 195–6 non-renewable resources, 100–3 normal distribution, 93–4 North Sea, oil reserves, 65 Norway, oil production, 66 OAPEC, 23 embargo in 1970s, 63, 115 members, 23 production, 24 offshore oil, 139 oil conventional, 27 definition, 17 era, 1, 3 initial in-place, 164–5 Oil and Gas Journal, 29, 31, 136 oil availability, 220 oil business, 20–3 return on investment (ROI), 21 oil consumption by country, 33–4, 148 per capita, 33, 35, 74–5, 147–9 industrial development and, 74–6 production vs., 38–40 see also oil-use intensity oil crises 1916, 62–3 1918, 63 1970s, 63–5 oil demand, 220 oil dependence, 26, 35–6, 61, 195, 199, 208–9, 213, 215 oil dependence, cost, 12–13 oil depletion models, 8–9 predictions, 61–2 see also oil crises oil discoveries deficit, 66–7 global, 138–44 number peak, 73 peak production and, 73–4 production and, 66 volume peak, 73–4 oil endowment definition, 17 global estimates, 8–9, 119–21, 124 as inflated, 68–9 USGS, 9, 28–9, 68–9, 119–20 historical assessments, 119–20 Hubbert curve and, 7–9 peak oil timing and, 68–9 regional breakdown, 32 status in 2009, 29–31 total, 28 see also US, oil endowment oil expenditures, 79, 153–6 oil extraction price ranges for profitable, 163–4 stages, 162 oil fields, 97 Index oil finding costs, 42–3, 53, 56, 133–4 oil imports, 35–7 from OPEC, 36–7, 208 oil lifting costs, 43, 54, 56 oil panics see oil crises oil price, 24–5 annual average, 77–8, 116 inflation-adjusted, 78–9, 114–15, 116 relative to wages, 114–15 by quality, 40–1 demand and supply relation, 24 gasoline price and, 44–5, 206, 217 reserves and, 132 spikes in, 78–9, 114–15, 219 stability, 26, 217–19, 224 oil production by country, 32–3 by region, 94 consumption vs., 38–40 costs, 23, 42–3, 133–4, 142 curve fitting, 6–9 declining, 65–6, 71–2, 80–1 global Hubbert predictions, 8–9, 95–8 population vs., 111 replacement by reserve additions, 136–8 trend, 110–11, 203–4 OPEC, 33 peak see peak oil see also US, oil production oil quality, 40 pricing by, 40–1 oil recovery technology, 121, 222–3 oil reserves booking, 125–6 by country, 32, 34 global, 123, 132–8 estimates as inflated, 67–8, 124–5 prices and, 132 industry exaggeration, 69, 125 possible and probable, 72 proven, 72 resources vs., 126 237 SEC rules, 69, 125–6 status in 2008, 31–2 oil resource pyramids, 160–5 global, 163–5 US, 161–2 oil sands Canada, 27, 29, 122, 132, 136, 168–70 US, 162, 168 oil shale global, 172–3 US, 162, 170–2 oil shocks, 155–6 oil, unconventional, 27, 165–75 oil-use efficiency see efficiency oil-use intensity, 148–52 oil wells, 96–7 oil window, 170 Oklahoma, 62 OPEC, 21, 23–6 dependence on, 36–7, 208 members, 23 price control, 24–6, 218 price rises in 1970s, 63–4 production, 24–5, 118, 218 quotas, 24, 67 reserves, 23 estimates, 67–8, 124–5 OPEC Basket, 24, 41, 56 Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, see OAPEC Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, see OPEC Orimulsion, 167 Orinoco heavy-oil belt, 167 overshoot and collapse, 60 palm oil, 212–13 panic, see oil crises patent activity, 222 PDVSA, 168 peak oil, 3–4 effects, 62 Hubbert predictions, 7–9, 11–12 238 Index peak oil (cont’d ) modern proponents, 124 oil company views, 16 oil discovery volume and, 73–4 oil endowment and, 68–9 US Department of Energy predictions, 81 peanut oil, 212 Pennsylvania, 1, 20, 160, 176 Peru, oil reserves, 144 petroleum composition, 18–19 definition, 17 refinement, 18–19 unconventional, 27 see also gasoline and oil petroleum endowment, 178–9 Petroleum Producers Association, 20 petroleum products, from barrel of oil, 37–8 Petroleum Week, 88 placer deposits, 156 plankton, 17 platinum, 106 political stability, 217, 221 population growth, 5, 58–61, 111 Porter, Edward, 114 predictions, 2, 4–13, 60–3, 87–93, 95–99, 123–4, 128, 130, 134–5, 223 price elasticity of demand, 45, 56 price gouging, 48–9 PricewaterhouseCoopers, 217 primary recovery, 162 private investment, 144 processing gain, 38, 39 producer rebound, 200 production costs, 23, 42–3, 133–4, 142 production decline, scarcity and, 98–103 profitable oil extraction prices, 113–4 Prudhoe Bay oil field, 128 Qatar, 23, 74, 176 Rand Corporation, 172 reasonable certainty, 125–6 rebound, 199–200 recession, 25, 154–5 recovery factor, definition, 18 remaining reserves, 28 renewable energy resources, 216 renewable resources, 98–100, 102 Requa, Mark L., 63 research and development spending, 222 reserve additions, 127, 130, 136–7 reserve base, 184 reserve growth, 28, 127, 134–6 reserves booking, 125–6 definition, 17, 122 private investment and, 144 revisions based on backdating, 136 see also gold reserves; natural gas reserves; oil reserves resource endowment, 6 resource pyramid, 156–73 resource substitution, 107–8, 207 resources definition, 17, 122 non-renewable, 100–3 renewable, 98–100, 102 reserves vs., 126 rock bit, 223 Royal Dutch Shell in-situ recovery method, 170 oil discoveries, 144 oil reserves, 23, 69, 125–6 Russia heavy oil, 166–7 natural gas, 145 oil production, 32, 144–5 oil reserves, 144 Sasol, 176 Saudi Arabia oil consumption, 74 oil production, 32, 71–2 Index incremental cost, 114 spare capacity, 118 oil reserves, 72 OPEC membership, 23 scarcity, 61, 77–9, 98–116, 186, 196, 219, 222 scarcity rent, 116–18 Science, 2, 5, 65, 90 Scientific American, 106 SEC, 69, 125, 126 SEC Rule (4–10), 125 secondary recovery, 162 security, 12–3, 64, 195, 217–9, 221 Shell see Royal Dutch Shell Shell Canada, 169 Shenhua China Coal Liquefaction Corporation, 177 silver, 106, 108 Simmons, Mathew, 104 Simon-Ehrlich bet, 103–5 Simon, Julian, 103–4 Six Day War (1967), 112–13, 115 Smithsonian Institute, 63 social disintegration, 217 solar power generation, 214 “sour” oil, 40 South Africa, transportation fuels from coal, 176 South America, heavy oil, 167 South Korea, vehicle ownership, 205 South Pars field, 138 soybean oil, 212–13 Spindletop, 160 spot price, 48 St.


pages: 279 words: 90,888

The Lost Decade: 2010–2020, and What Lies Ahead for Britain by Polly Toynbee, David Walker

banking crisis, battle of ideas, bike sharing, Boris Johnson, Brexit referendum, Bullingdon Club, call centre, car-free, centre right, collective bargaining, congestion charging, corporate governance, crony capitalism, Crossrail, David Attenborough, Dominic Cummings, Donald Trump, Downton Abbey, energy transition, Etonian, financial engineering, first-past-the-post, G4S, gender pay gap, gig economy, Gini coefficient, global village, green new deal, Greta Thunberg, high net worth, housing crisis, income inequality, industrial robot, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), James Dyson, Jeremy Corbyn, Large Hadron Collider, low interest rates, manufacturing employment, mass immigration, moral panic, mortgage debt, North Sea oil, offshore financial centre, opioid epidemic / opioid crisis, payday loans, pension reform, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, quantitative easing, Right to Buy, Saturday Night Live, selection bias, smart meter, Uber for X, ultra-processed food, urban renewal, working-age population

It was ‘remarkable how little has actually changed’ in Scottish public services, said Martin Sime of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations. The big question was, and will always be, tax. The annual gap between spending and revenues was spotlighted in the independence referendum: it was 10.1 per cent of GDP if North Sea oil and gas proceeds were excluded, and 9.5 per cent if they were counted in. Moves towards getting more tax in were gentle. The 2012 Scotland Act provided for income tax to increase by 10 per cent more than the UK rate, with a corresponding reduction in the block grant. Edinburgh had its own stamp duty land tax, plus some control over council tax rebates and discretionary housing payments.


pages: 736 words: 233,366

Roller-Coaster: Europe, 1950-2017 by Ian Kershaw

airport security, anti-communist, Apollo 11, Ayatollah Khomeini, banking crisis, Berlin Wall, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, Boris Johnson, Bretton Woods, Brexit referendum, British Empire, business cycle, centre right, colonial rule, cuban missile crisis, deindustrialization, Deng Xiaoping, Donald Trump, European colonialism, eurozone crisis, Exxon Valdez, failed state, Fall of the Berlin Wall, falling living standards, feminist movement, first-past-the-post, fixed income, floating exchange rates, foreign exchange controls, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, full employment, Herbert Marcuse, illegal immigration, income inequality, Jeremy Corbyn, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, labour market flexibility, land reform, late capitalism, Les Trente Glorieuses, liberal capitalism, liberation theology, low interest rates, low skilled workers, mass immigration, means of production, Mikhail Gorbachev, mutually assured destruction, Neil Armstrong, Nelson Mandela, Nixon triggered the end of the Bretton Woods system, North Sea oil, Northern Rock, oil shale / tar sands, oil shock, open borders, post-war consensus, precariat, price stability, public intellectual, quantitative easing, race to the bottom, reserve currency, rising living standards, road to serfdom, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan: Tear down this wall, Sinatra Doctrine, Suez crisis 1956, The Chicago School, trade liberalization, union organizing, upwardly mobile, washing machines reduced drudgery, Washington Consensus, Winter of Discontent, young professional

The big drop in production from both Iran and Iraq, as these two major oil-producing countries began a war in 1980 that was fought with great ferocity and would last for eight years, did nothing to calm nerves. The price of oil tripled again between 1979 and 1981, now standing more than ten times higher than it had been in 1973. It was once more a global crisis, with the worst impact felt by the poor countries of the developing world. Western Europe was in a better position, as North Sea oil started to flow in significant quantities and the development of nuclear power gathered pace. But the European economies were less strong than they had been at the outset of the 1973 crisis. The recession after the second oil crisis was in some ways, therefore, more serious. Morale was already damaged.

Norway was helped by its major oil exports, which even gave it a sizeable budget surplus. But its financial management before the recession had also been sound. Unlike Britain, which had profligately frittered away most of its windfall (amounting in today’s values to well over £160 billion) from North Sea oil on cutting national borrowing, industrial restructuring and tax cuts, Norway had prudently put it into a separate investment fund during the boom years, and reduced public spending while still providing an extremely high standard of living for its citizens. Sweden also recovered quickly and strongly from the global downturn and within two years could register high growth rates (twice as high as in the USA, for instance, which by then was also recovering).


Lonely Planet Norway by Lonely Planet

carbon credits, carbon footprint, cashless society, centre right, energy security, G4S, GPS: selective availability, illegal immigration, Kickstarter, low cost airline, mass immigration, North Sea oil, place-making, trade route, urban renewal, white picket fence

oNorsk OljemuseumMUSEUM (Oil Museum; MAP GOOGLE MAP ; www.norskolje.museum.no; Kjeringholmen; adult/child 120/60kr; h10am-7pm daily Jun-Aug, 10am-4pm Mon-Sat, to 6pm Sun Sep-May; c) Admittedly, the prospect of an 'oil museum' doesn't sound like the most promising option for an afternoon out. But this state-of-the-art place is well worth visiting – both for its striking, steel-clad architecture and its high-tech displays exploring the history of North Sea oil exploration. Highlights include the world's largest drill bit, simulated rigs, documentary films, archive testimony and a vast hall of oil-platform models. There are also exhibitions on natural history, energy use and climate change. The museum nicely balances the technical side of oil exploration and extraction, while honouring those whose working lives have been spent in the industry.

It's spread over several buildings: one is dedicated to fishing, including a model 1900 fishing family's home; and exhibits on the foundation of the island as a small herring trading post barely 150 years ago. A second houses a collection of coastal boats. The Snorreankeret display illustrates the exploration and exploitation of the North Sea oil and gas fields. It's about 2km south of the town centre. Offshore Islands Local ferries leaving from Florø's Fugleskjærskaia Quay connect the mainland to several small islands, each making for a stimulating off-the-beaten-track day trip. The tourist office can reserve ferries and also advise on island accommodation.


pages: 311 words: 99,699

Fool's Gold: How the Bold Dream of a Small Tribe at J.P. Morgan Was Corrupted by Wall Street Greed and Unleashed a Catastrophe by Gillian Tett

"World Economic Forum" Davos, accounting loophole / creative accounting, Alan Greenspan, asset-backed security, bank run, banking crisis, Bear Stearns, Black-Scholes formula, Blythe Masters, book value, break the buck, Bretton Woods, business climate, business cycle, buy and hold, collateralized debt obligation, commoditize, creative destruction, credit crunch, Credit Default Swap, credit default swaps / collateralized debt obligations, diversification, easy for humans, difficult for computers, financial engineering, financial innovation, fixed income, Glass-Steagall Act, housing crisis, interest rate derivative, interest rate swap, inverted yield curve, junk bonds, Kickstarter, locking in a profit, Long Term Capital Management, low interest rates, McMansion, Michael Milken, money market fund, mortgage debt, North Sea oil, Northern Rock, Plato's cave, proprietary trading, Renaissance Technologies, risk free rate, risk tolerance, Robert Shiller, Satyajit Das, Savings and loan crisis, short selling, sovereign wealth fund, statistical model, tail risk, The Great Moderation, too big to fail, value at risk, yield curve

The young trainees in the training program were told solemnly that while the bank would tolerate “errors of judgment,” an “error of principle” was a firing offense. “First-class banking” remained the mantra. Peter Hancock easily passed the course and was dispatched back to the London office, where he spent a couple of years analyzing the credit-worthiness of North Sea oil companies. That was considered a plum job, because the Norwegian and British oil industry was starting to boom. But Hancock was hungry for more. As he looked around the City, he could see the revolution in derivatives and swaps building, and he wanted in. The Morgan Bank was considered too stodgy to be a pioneer in the business.


pages: 332 words: 100,245

Mine!: How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control Our Lives by Michael A. Heller, James Salzman

23andMe, Airbnb, behavioural economics, Berlin Wall, Big Tech, British Empire, Cass Sunstein, clean water, collaborative consumption, Cornelius Vanderbilt, coronavirus, COVID-19, CRISPR, crowdsourcing, Donald Trump, Downton Abbey, Elon Musk, endowment effect, estate planning, facts on the ground, Fall of the Berlin Wall, Firefox, Garrett Hardin, gig economy, Hernando de Soto, Internet of things, land tenure, Mason jar, Neil Armstrong, new economy, North Sea oil, offshore financial centre, oil rush, planetary scale, race to the bottom, recommendation engine, rent control, Richard Thaler, Ronald Coase, sharing economy, Shoshana Zuboff, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, social distancing, South China Sea, sovereign wealth fund, stem cell, surveillance capitalism, TaskRabbit, The future is already here, Tim Cook: Apple, Tony Fadell, Tragedy of the Commons, you are the product, Zipcar

Not surprisingly, owners and squatters in forests focus instead on things they can sell. They burn forests to clear them for grazing, logging, and agriculture. The challenge is to make trees worth more standing than cut down. Norway is doing just that, trying to offset some of the climate harm it has caused by extracting North Sea oil. Thanks to its sovereign wealth fund—profits the country accumulated from oil sales—Norway has been able to spend tens of billions of dollars paying people in the Amazon, Indonesia, and Mexico for their efforts to reduce local deforestation rates. If the rate of forest loss slows, more trees are left standing and more carbon is captured from the atmosphere.


pages: 362 words: 97,288

Ghost Road: Beyond the Driverless Car by Anthony M. Townsend

A Pattern Language, active measures, AI winter, algorithmic trading, Alvin Toffler, Amazon Robotics, asset-backed security, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, backpropagation, big-box store, bike sharing, Blitzscaling, Boston Dynamics, business process, Captain Sullenberger Hudson, car-free, carbon footprint, carbon tax, circular economy, company town, computer vision, conceptual framework, congestion charging, congestion pricing, connected car, creative destruction, crew resource management, crowdsourcing, DARPA: Urban Challenge, data is the new oil, Dean Kamen, deep learning, deepfake, deindustrialization, delayed gratification, deliberate practice, dematerialisation, deskilling, Didi Chuxing, drive until you qualify, driverless car, drop ship, Edward Glaeser, Elaine Herzberg, Elon Musk, en.wikipedia.org, extreme commuting, financial engineering, financial innovation, Flash crash, food desert, Ford Model T, fulfillment center, Future Shock, General Motors Futurama, gig economy, Google bus, Greyball, haute couture, helicopter parent, independent contractor, inventory management, invisible hand, Jane Jacobs, Jeff Bezos, Jevons paradox, jitney, job automation, John Markoff, John von Neumann, Joseph Schumpeter, Kickstarter, Kiva Systems, Lewis Mumford, loss aversion, Lyft, Masayoshi Son, megacity, microapartment, minimum viable product, mortgage debt, New Urbanism, Nick Bostrom, North Sea oil, Ocado, openstreetmap, pattern recognition, Peter Calthorpe, random walk, Ray Kurzweil, Ray Oldenburg, rent-seeking, ride hailing / ride sharing, Rodney Brooks, self-driving car, sharing economy, Shoshana Zuboff, Sidewalk Labs, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, Skype, smart cities, Smart Cities: Big Data, Civic Hackers, and the Quest for a New Utopia, SoftBank, software as a service, sovereign wealth fund, Stephen Hawking, Steve Jobs, surveillance capitalism, technological singularity, TED Talk, Tesla Model S, The Coming Technological Singularity, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, The future is already here, The Future of Employment, The Great Good Place, too big to fail, traffic fines, transit-oriented development, Travis Kalanick, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, urban planning, urban sprawl, US Airways Flight 1549, Vernor Vinge, vertical integration, Vision Fund, warehouse automation, warehouse robotics

I got my first look at Tesla’s Autopilot a few months after its 2014 release, in Oslo, of all places. The Norwegian government has long encouraged the purchase of electric vehicles (EVs) with generous tax credits, and local authorities allow EVs to drive in car-pool lanes. Norway, one of the world’s richest nations, is eager to ditch fossil fuels (despite its long exploitation of North Sea oil and gas). As a result, the capital city’s rush hour is an odd sight—traffic jams of rich, old, white guys driving alone in their pricey Teslas. Sliding in behind the wheel of a sleek black Tesla and going with the flow of Autopilot feels a bit like driving an iPad. In the center of the dashboard is a computer-generated version of your car, shot (as in a driving game) from a chase helicopter’s point of view.


pages: 267 words: 106,340

Europe old and new: transnationalism, belonging, xenophobia by Ray Taras

affirmative action, anti-communist, Ayatollah Khomeini, Berlin Wall, British Empire, carbon footprint, centre right, collective bargaining, Danilo Kiš, energy security, full employment, Gunnar Myrdal, illegal immigration, immigration reform, Kickstarter, low skilled workers, mass immigration, Mikhail Gorbachev, military-industrial complex, Naomi Klein, North Sea oil, open economy, postnationalism / post nation state, Potemkin village, public intellectual, Ronald Reagan, World Values Survey

This eastern enlargement was qualitatively different from earlier cases. In 1972, the six had become the nine with the admission of Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom—all consolidated democracies with advanced market economies. At this time Norwegians, protective of their national identity and flush with new revenue from North Sea oil fields, rejected membership in a referendum. Expansion did not always mean adding members to the Community. European states that maintained close economic links to their former colonies sought a special status for these faraway, now independent states. Accordingly, in 1975 the Yaoundé and Lomé conventions assured increased economic aid and preferential access to EC markets for African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states.


pages: 368 words: 32,950

How the City Really Works: The Definitive Guide to Money and Investing in London's Square Mile by Alexander Davidson

accounting loophole / creative accounting, algorithmic trading, asset allocation, asset-backed security, bank run, banking crisis, barriers to entry, Bear Stearns, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, buy and hold, capital asset pricing model, central bank independence, corporate governance, Credit Default Swap, currency risk, dematerialisation, discounted cash flows, diversified portfolio, double entry bookkeeping, Edward Lloyd's coffeehouse, Elliott wave, equity risk premium, Exxon Valdez, foreign exchange controls, forensic accounting, Glass-Steagall Act, global reserve currency, high net worth, index fund, inflation targeting, information security, intangible asset, interest rate derivative, interest rate swap, inverted yield curve, John Meriwether, junk bonds, London Interbank Offered Rate, Long Term Capital Management, low interest rates, margin call, market fundamentalism, Nick Leeson, North Sea oil, Northern Rock, pension reform, Piper Alpha, price stability, proprietary trading, purchasing power parity, Real Time Gross Settlement, reserve currency, Right to Buy, risk free rate, shareholder value, short selling, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, transaction costs, value at risk, yield curve, zero-coupon bond

The Eurobond market started in London in July 1963 and received a competitive boost thereafter when the United States introduced compulsory US interest equalisation tax, which drove issuers away. The fortunes of sterling have been a more broadly based factor in building up the City. In the late 1970s sterling rose sharply because of the North Sea oil bonanza and, in October 1979, the Conservative Government under Margaret Thatcher as prime minister abolished the exchange controls limiting the amount of currency that UK residents could exchange for another. This removed a restriction on the rise of sterling that had been in force since 1939.


The Future of Money by Bernard Lietaer

agricultural Revolution, Alan Greenspan, Alvin Toffler, banks create money, barriers to entry, billion-dollar mistake, Bretton Woods, business cycle, clean water, complexity theory, corporate raider, currency risk, dematerialisation, discounted cash flows, diversification, fiat currency, financial deregulation, financial innovation, floating exchange rates, full employment, geopolitical risk, George Gilder, German hyperinflation, global reserve currency, Golden Gate Park, Howard Rheingold, informal economy, invention of the telephone, invention of writing, John Perry Barlow, Lao Tzu, Lewis Mumford, low interest rates, Mahatma Gandhi, means of production, microcredit, Money creation, money: store of value / unit of account / medium of exchange, Norbert Wiener, North Sea oil, offshore financial centre, pattern recognition, post-industrial society, price stability, Recombinant DNA, reserve currency, risk free rate, Ronald Reagan, San Francisco homelessness, seigniorage, Silicon Valley, South Sea Bubble, The Future of Employment, the market place, the payments system, Thomas Davenport, trade route, transaction costs, trickle-down economics, two and twenty, working poor, world market for maybe five computers

To work creatively with these discoveries, and use the clarity they inspire to shape a more desirable future. Scenarios are not academic exercises. The scenario-building process enabled Shell to forecast and prepare for the fall of the former Soviet Union, thereby avoiding billion-dollar mistakes in North Sea oil investments. Shell still updates its scenarios roughly every three years. This process also contributed to the 'South African miracle' of the peaceful transition after Apartheid (see sidebar). These same methods were further refined by the Global Business Network founded by several Shell alumni, and later published by Peter Schwartz.


pages: 350 words: 109,379

How to Run a Government: So That Citizens Benefit and Taxpayers Don't Go Crazy by Michael Barber

Affordable Care Act / Obamacare, anti-fragile, Atul Gawande, battle of ideas, Berlin Wall, Black Swan, Checklist Manifesto, collapse of Lehman Brothers, collective bargaining, deep learning, deliberate practice, facts on the ground, failed state, fear of failure, full employment, G4S, illegal immigration, invisible hand, libertarian paternalism, Mark Zuckerberg, Nate Silver, North Sea oil, obamacare, performance metric, Potemkin village, Ronald Reagan, school choice, The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver, transaction costs, WikiLeaks

Of course, privatization is not appropriate for every service – no government has (yet) chosen to sell off an entire school system or even large parts of it, for very good reasons, but in Britain in the late 1970s, huge swathes of the economy were under public ownership – gas, water, electricity, the post office, telephones, much of North Sea oil, the railways … on and on. In 1982, the nationalized industries accounted for over 10 per cent of total national output and employed approaching 2 million people. Moreover, everyone in Britain knew that the services were often poor. In 1980, I moved into my own flat for the first time and called (from a phone box) to order a telephone.


pages: 356 words: 106,161

The Glass Half-Empty: Debunking the Myth of Progress in the Twenty-First Century by Rodrigo Aguilera

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", "World Economic Forum" Davos, activist fund / activist shareholder / activist investor, Alan Greenspan, Anthropocene, availability heuristic, barriers to entry, basic income, benefit corporation, Berlin Wall, Bernie Madoff, Bernie Sanders, bitcoin, Boris Johnson, Branko Milanovic, Bretton Woods, Brexit referendum, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, capitalist realism, carbon footprint, Carmen Reinhart, centre right, clean water, cognitive bias, collapse of Lehman Brothers, Colonization of Mars, computer age, Corn Laws, corporate governance, corporate raider, creative destruction, cryptocurrency, cuban missile crisis, David Graeber, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, death from overwork, decarbonisation, deindustrialization, Deng Xiaoping, Doha Development Round, don't be evil, Donald Trump, Doomsday Clock, Dunning–Kruger effect, Elon Musk, European colonialism, fake news, Fall of the Berlin Wall, first-past-the-post, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, fundamental attribution error, gig economy, Gini coefficient, Glass-Steagall Act, Great Leap Forward, green new deal, Hans Rosling, housing crisis, income inequality, income per capita, index fund, intangible asset, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), invisible hand, Jean Tirole, Jeff Bezos, Jeremy Corbyn, Jevons paradox, job automation, job satisfaction, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, joint-stock company, Joseph Schumpeter, karōshi / gwarosa / guolaosi, Kenneth Rogoff, Kickstarter, lake wobegon effect, land value tax, Landlord’s Game, late capitalism, liberal capitalism, long peace, loss aversion, low interest rates, Mark Zuckerberg, market fundamentalism, means of production, meta-analysis, military-industrial complex, Mont Pelerin Society, moral hazard, moral panic, neoliberal agenda, Network effects, North Sea oil, Northern Rock, offshore financial centre, opioid epidemic / opioid crisis, Overton Window, Pareto efficiency, passive investing, Peter Thiel, plutocrats, principal–agent problem, profit motive, public intellectual, purchasing power parity, race to the bottom, rent-seeking, risk tolerance, road to serfdom, Robert Shiller, Robert Solow, savings glut, Scientific racism, secular stagnation, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley ideology, Slavoj Žižek, Social Justice Warrior, Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits, sovereign wealth fund, Stanislav Petrov, Steven Pinker, structural adjustment programs, surveillance capitalism, tail risk, tech bro, TED Talk, The Spirit Level, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, too big to fail, trade liberalization, transatlantic slave trade, trolley problem, unbiased observer, universal basic income, Vilfredo Pareto, Washington Consensus, Winter of Discontent, Y2K, young professional, zero-sum game

SWFs were popularized during the pre-crisis commodity boom as a way to manage the profits from resource wealth or current account surpluses for the national interest such as by placing them into pensions or for investment. The world’s largest SWF is Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global with $1.1 trillion in assets in 2018 (around $200,000 for every Norwegian citizen), which was capitalized almost entirely from North Sea oil wealth. On the British side, however, the entirety of its oil wealth was reaped by private oil companies with not a penny going into people’s pockets; the Institute for Public Policy Research notes that the UK could have funded a SWF of $500 billion today had it been similarly farsighted as Norway.38 The attractiveness of a SWF is that it can offer dividends from its annual returns.


pages: 423 words: 118,002

The Boom: How Fracking Ignited the American Energy Revolution and Changed the World by Russell Gold

accounting loophole / creative accounting, activist fund / activist shareholder / activist investor, activist lawyer, addicted to oil, Alan Greenspan, American energy revolution, Bakken shale, Bernie Sanders, Buckminster Fuller, California energy crisis, Carl Icahn, clean water, corporate governance, corporate raider, cotton gin, electricity market, energy security, energy transition, financial engineering, hydraulic fracturing, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), man camp, margin call, market fundamentalism, Mason jar, North Sea oil, off-the-grid, oil shale / tar sands, oil shock, peak oil, precautionary principle, Project Plowshare, risk tolerance, rolling blackouts, Ronald Reagan, seminal paper, shareholder value, Silicon Valley, Upton Sinclair

In North Africa, the Silurian shales of Algeria and Libya have earned those countries membership in the oil-exporting cartel OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries). Farther east, the same shales generated gas trapped in carbonate rock cavities now known as the giant North Field between Iran and Qatar, the world’s largest gas reservoir. In northern Europe, the Kimmeridgian Shales led to the 1970s North Sea oil boom. The poetically named La Luna Shale sits under Venezuela. The Qusaiba “hot shale” is believed to be the source of Saudi Arabia’s Ghawar, the largest single collection of crude oil that has ever been—and likely will ever be—discovered. These are conventional reservoirs that until a few years ago were the exclusive target of the world’s petroleum industry.


pages: 424 words: 115,035

How Will Capitalism End? by Wolfgang Streeck

"there is no alternative" (TINA), accounting loophole / creative accounting, air traffic controllers' union, Airbnb, Alan Greenspan, basic income, behavioural economics, Ben Bernanke: helicopter money, billion-dollar mistake, Bretton Woods, business cycle, capital controls, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, Carmen Reinhart, central bank independence, centre right, Clayton Christensen, collective bargaining, conceptual framework, corporate governance, creative destruction, credit crunch, David Brooks, David Graeber, debt deflation, deglobalization, deindustrialization, disruptive innovation, en.wikipedia.org, eurozone crisis, failed state, financial deregulation, financial innovation, first-past-the-post, fixed income, full employment, Gini coefficient, global reserve currency, Google Glasses, haute cuisine, income inequality, information asymmetry, invisible hand, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, junk bonds, Kenneth Rogoff, labour market flexibility, labour mobility, late capitalism, liberal capitalism, low interest rates, market bubble, means of production, military-industrial complex, moral hazard, North Sea oil, offshore financial centre, open borders, pension reform, plutocrats, Plutonomy: Buying Luxury, Explaining Global Imbalances, post-industrial society, private sector deleveraging, profit maximization, profit motive, quantitative easing, reserve currency, rising living standards, Robert Gordon, savings glut, secular stagnation, shareholder value, sharing economy, sovereign wealth fund, tacit knowledge, technological determinism, The Future of Employment, The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thorstein Veblen, too big to fail, transaction costs, Uber for X, upwardly mobile, Vilfredo Pareto, winner-take-all economy, Wolfgang Streeck

FROM THE FISCAL CRISIS OF THE STATE TO THE GREAT RECESSION By the mid-1970s, the accumulated debt of states in the OECD world began to increase steeply and steadily (see above, Figure 1.4, p. 54). Indebtedness rose by and large simultaneously, regardless of country, national economic performance, or the political complexion of the government of the day. North Sea oil made a difference for Britain, unification for Germany, the rise and fall of defence spending for the United States, but always only temporarily. Indebtedness increased for two decades until the mid-1990s, when debt levels seemed to stabilize. After 2008, however, they rapidly returned to the long-term trend.


pages: 436 words: 114,278

Crude Volatility: The History and the Future of Boom-Bust Oil Prices by Robert McNally

"World Economic Forum" Davos, Alan Greenspan, American energy revolution, Asian financial crisis, banking crisis, barriers to entry, Bear Stearns, Bretton Woods, collective bargaining, credit crunch, energy security, energy transition, geopolitical risk, housing crisis, hydraulic fracturing, Ida Tarbell, index fund, Induced demand, interchangeable parts, invisible hand, joint-stock company, market clearing, market fundamentalism, megaproject, moral hazard, North Sea oil, oil rush, oil shale / tar sands, oil shock, peak oil, price discrimination, price elasticity of demand, price stability, sovereign wealth fund, subprime mortgage crisis, Suez canal 1869, Suez crisis 1956, transfer pricing, vertical integration

(The United Kingdom had nationalized North Sea fields in 1975, administered them via a state-owned British National Oil Corporation [BNOC, also called Britoil], and sold oil under administered prices as OPEC countries did.) British price cuts particularly threatened Nigeria, whose barrels competed directly with the North Sea oil but whose price was linked to a competitively high Arab Light marker.6 Meanwhile, Iran cut prices unilaterally, eager to maximize revenues during its war with Iraq and determined to undermine Saudi Arabia’s leadership role in OPEC. Saudi Arabia was busy trying to defend a $34 price that buyers refused to pay as cheaper barrels came on the market.7 As in 1926, when Exxon and Shell started slashing prices for Indian kerosene, a global price war loomed.


pages: 369 words: 120,636

Commuter City: How the Railways Shaped London by David Wragg

Beeching cuts, Boris Johnson, British Empire, Crossrail, financial independence, gentrification, joint-stock company, joint-stock limited liability company, junk bonds, Louis Blériot, low interest rates, North Sea oil, railway mania, Right to Buy, South Sea Bubble, urban sprawl, V2 rocket, Winter of Discontent, yield management

The problem is that when money was available, it was spent none too wisely, and now the money isn’t available as government borrowing has soared. The previous massive debt, built up to finance two world wars, to cover the years of recession between the wars and post-war reconstruction, was largely eliminated due to North Sea oil revenues, but now we are a net importer of oil, gas and coal. One problem with Crossrail is that a contribution was expected from business, but the recession has made this unlikely, and as for HS2, the estimated cost today is £34 billion, money which the government does not have and is unlikely to have for many years.


A Sea in Flames: The Deepwater Horizon Oil Blowout by Carl Safina

addicted to oil, big-box store, book value, carbon tax, clean water, cognitive dissonance, energy security, Exxon Valdez, high-speed rail, hydraulic fracturing, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Jones Act, no-fly zone, North Sea oil, oil shale / tar sands, oil shock, Piper Alpha, Ronald Reagan

Solar water heating has gone from a billion-dollar industry to peanuts overnight; thousands of sun-minded businesses have gone bankrupt. “It died. It’s dead,” says one solar-energy businessman of the time. “First the money dried up, then the spirit dried up.” 1988. Occidental Petroleum’s North Sea production platform Piper Alpha produces about a tenth of all North Sea oil and gas. When it explodes on July 6, it kills 167 men. March 1989. The 987-foot supertanker Exxon Valdez has just been loaded with 50 million gallons of crude oil piped across the vastness of Alaska from the North Slope to a terminal near the tiny village of Valdez, on Prince William Sound.


Ma’am Darling by Craig Brown

Ascot racecourse, Bletchley Park, British Empire, Desert Island Discs, Etonian, Joan Didion, Norman Mailer, North Sea oil, sensible shoes, Timothy McVeigh

Wait till she finds out about my earlier one with Tony.’ Meanwhile, Roddy, always short of cash, had been refused a pay rise of £2 a week from the College of Arms. Learning of his plight, Colin Tennant pulled strings, and within weeks Roddy had become the personal assistant to Algy Cluff, who was making a fast fortune from North Sea oil. Sadly, a brief stint managing a mobile disco offered a poor grounding in the ins and outs of the international oil business. ‘It was obvious to everyone at Cluff’s that I didn’t have a clue what was happening,’ Roddy explained. ‘I was whisked around the City all day by Rolls and occasionally asked to produce pieces of paper.’


pages: 387 words: 119,244

Making It Happen: Fred Goodwin, RBS and the Men Who Blew Up the British Economy by Iain Martin

Alan Greenspan, asset-backed security, bank run, Basel III, Bear Stearns, beat the dealer, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, Bletchley Park, call centre, central bank independence, computer age, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, credit crunch, Credit Default Swap, deindustrialization, deskilling, Edward Thorp, Etonian, Eugene Fama: efficient market hypothesis, eurozone crisis, falling living standards, financial deregulation, financial engineering, financial innovation, G4S, Glass-Steagall Act, high net worth, interest rate swap, invisible hand, joint-stock company, Kickstarter, light touch regulation, London Whale, Long Term Capital Management, long term incentive plan, low interest rates, moral hazard, negative equity, Neil Kinnock, Nick Leeson, North Sea oil, Northern Rock, old-boy network, pets.com, proprietary trading, Red Clydeside, shareholder value, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, too big to fail, upwardly mobile, value at risk, warehouse robotics

Morgan, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10, ref 11, ref 12, ref 13, ref 14 Bear Stearns bought by, ref 1 Jacobite rebellion, ref 1, ref 2 James VI/I, ref 1 Jardine Matheson, ref 1, ref 2 Jevons, William, ref 1 Jin, Bruce, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4 Kay, John, ref 1 King, Mervyn, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10 on bailouts, ref 1 becomes BoE governor, ref 1, ref 2 RBS bailout preference of, ref 1 Kingman, John, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4 Kinnock, Neil, ref 1 Kirwan, Frank, ref 1 Koch, Charles, ref 1, ref 2 Kong, Janis, ref 1, ref 2 KPMG, ref 1, ref 2 Kravis, Henry, ref 1 Kruger, Konrad ‘Chip’, ref 1 Kyle, Chris, ref 1 Labour: 1983 defeat of, ref 1 1987 defeat of, ref 1 1992 defeat of, ref 1 1997 victory of, ref 1, ref 2 2001 victory of, ref 1 2005 victory of, ref 1 bankers honoured by, ref 1, ref 2 Blair gains leadership of, ref 1 and BoE, see Bank of England: and banking supervision Brown ‘boom–bust’ speech to, ref 1 not blameless, ref 1 Scottish, ref 1 and spin-doctoring, ref 1 see also Brown, Gordon LaSalle, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4 Law, John, ref 1 Lawson, Lord (Nigel), ref 1, ref 2 Leeson, Nick, ref 1, ref 2 Legal & General, ref 1, ref 2 Lehman Brothers, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4 Levine, Howard, ref 1 Levine, Jay, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9 and hedging exposure, ref 1 leaves RBS, ref 1 remuneration of, ref 1, ref 2 Levine, Tammy, ref 1, ref 2 Lewis, Will, ref 1, ref 2 Libor scandal, ref 1, ref 2 Lilley, Peter, ref 1 Linklaters, ref 1 Lippens, Maurice, ref 1, ref 2 Lloyds, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3 Lloyds TSB, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10 growing profits of, ref 1 Location, Location, Location, ref 1 Lombard, ref 1, ref 2 London Stock Exchange, ref 1, ref 2 and 1987 crash, ref 1 trading suspended twice by, ref 1 Long-Term Capital Management, ref 1, ref 2 Love, Charles, ref 1 M&G, ref 1 McCain, John, ref 1 McCarthy, Callum, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4 McCarthy, Cormac, ref 1 McConnell, Jack, ref 1, ref 2 McDonald, Sheena, ref 1 McGinnis, Bob, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7 MacHale, Joe, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8 McInnes, Bob, ref 1 McKillop, Tom, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10, ref 11, ref 12, ref 13, ref 14 and ABN Amro, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5 apology of, ref 1 bailout terms heard by, ref 1 board views sought by, ref 1 confirmed as RBS chairman, ref 1 and FG possible departure, ref 1 and FG tenure, ref 1 and FSA, ref 1 RBS arrival of, ref 1 RBS chairmanship assumed by, ref 1 and RBS collapse, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3 and RBS losses, ref 1 removal of, from RBS, ref 1 Telegraph story on, ref 1 McKinsey, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3 McLaughlin, Andrew, ref 1 McLean, Miller, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5 MacLeod, Catherine, ref 1, ref 2 McLuskie, Norman, ref 1, ref 2 McPhail, Cameron, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6 MacPherson, Nick, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3 Major, John, ref 1, ref 2 Masterson, Gavin, ref 1 Matera, Fred, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6 Mathewson, George, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10, ref 11, ref 12 passim, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7 and bank HQ, ref 1 becomes deputy group chief executive, ref 1 FG compared with, ref 1 FG wooed by, ref 1 FG moving on denied by, ref 1 FG rows with, ref 1, ref 2 FSA complains to, ref 1 at Gogarburn opening, ref 1 and HSBC secret talks, ref 1 knighthood of, ref 1 large office of, ref 1 losses of, ref 1 and NatWest, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3 portrait of, ref 1 prepares for retirement, ref 1 passim private jet used by, ref 1 RBS arrival of, ref 1 and RBS rights issue, ref 1 as Salmond adviser, ref 1 stands aside, ref 1 and Tosca, ref 1, ref 2 see also Royal Bank of Scotland Maxton, James, ref 1 Medford Bancorp, ref 1 Mellon Financial, ref 1 Mercury Asset Management (MAM), ref 1 Merrill Lynch, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9 banking and insurance conference of, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3 Meyer, Anthony, ref 1 Michael Laird, ref 1 Midland Bank, ref 1 Miliband, Ed, ref 1 Milton, Lord, ref 1 Monaco Grand Prix, ref 1 Money and the Mechanism of Exchange (Jevons), ref 1 Monopolies and Mergers Commission, ref 1 Moody, Howard, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8 Moody, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3 Moore, Paul, ref 1 Morgan Grenfell, ref 1 Morgan Stanley, ref 1 Morrison, Peter, ref 1 Mosson, Mike, ref 1 Motson, John, ref 1 Mozilo, Angelo, ref 1 Murray, Andy, ref 1 Myners, Lord (Paul), ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7 NASDAQ, ref 1 Nathaniel, Peter, ref 1 National Audit Office, ref 1 National Australia Bank, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5 National Bank, ref 1 National Commercial, ref 1, ref 2 National Health Service, Brown seeks to protect, ref 1 National Provincial, ref 1 Nationwide, ref 1 NatWest, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10, ref 11 and Enron, ref 1 and Fastow deal, ref 1 FG assurance to staff of, ref 1 integration of, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3 RBS launches hostile bid for, ref 1 RBS wins battle for, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3 Neale, James, Fordyce and Downe, ref 1 New Century Financial Corporation, ref 1 New Edinburgh, founding of, ref 1 New Labour, see Labour News International, ref 1 Newsweek, ref 1 Nicklaus, Jack, ref 1 9/11, ref 1 Noble Grossart, ref 1 Norman, Montagu, ref 1 North Sea oil, ref 1 Northern Rock, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8 battle-hardening effect of, ref 1 Obama, Barack, ref 1 Open Championship, ref 1 Orcel, Andrea, ref 1 O’Roarke, John, ref 1 Osborne, George, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3 Panama Canal, ref 1 Paterson, William, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5 Paulson, Hank, ref 1 Paulson, John, ref 1 payment-protection insurance (PPI), ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5 Pell, Gordon, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10 personal debt, ref 1 Peston, Robert, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4 Philip, Prince, Duke of Edinburgh, ref 1 Phillips & Drew, ref 1 Phillips, Peter, ref 1 Phillips, Zara, ref 1 Pickford, Steve, ref 1 Port Financial Corporation, ref 1 Prince Trust, ref 1 Project Columbus, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7 property prices, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10, ref 11 see also sub-prime mortgages Prudential Regulation Authority, ref 1, ref 2 ‘Prufrock’, ref 1 Punta Escocés (Scottish Point), ref 1 Purves, Willie, ref 1, ref 2 Putin, Vladimir, ref 1 PWC, ref 1, ref 2 Rafferty, Jim, ref 1 Randall, Jeff, ref 1 RBS, see Royal Bank of Scotland RBS Americas, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3 RBS Greenwich, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4 new premises of, ref 1 see also Greenwich Capital RBS Insurance, ref 1 Reagan, Nancy, ref 1 Reagan, Ronald, ref 1 Rebonato, Riccardo, ref 1, ref 2 Reid, John, ref 1 Rell, Jodi, ref 1 Retail Direct, ref 1 Richardson, Gordon, ref 1 Rick, Steve, ref 1, ref 2 Rob Roy, ref 1 Robert Fleming & Co., ref 1 Robertson, Iain, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6 Robertson, Leith, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5 Robson, Steve, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10 FG recklessness worries, ref 1 Roden, Neil, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6 Roosevelt, Theodore, ref 1 Rosenfield, Dan, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4 Rosyth Dockyard, ref 1 Rowland, David, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4 Roxborough Manayunk Bank, ref 1 Royal Bank Group, ref 1 Royal Bank International, ref 1 Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS): and ABN Amro, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9 acquisitions of, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5 aggressive targets set at, ref 1 auditing of, ref 1, ref 2 away days of, ref 1, ref 2 bailouts of, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3 passim, ref 1, ref 2 balance sheets of, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3 Bank of Scotland early rivalry with, ref 1 becomes Scotland biggest, ref 1 bets against, ref 1 bicentenary of, ref 1 bids for Birmingham and Midshires, ref 1 and car dealership, ref 1 cash-credit system refined by, ref 1 Christmas lunches at, ref 1 and Citizens Bank, see Citizens Bank City editors’ meeting with, ref 1 compensation claim against, ref 1 confused reporting lines in, ref 1 Corporate Banking and Financial Markets (CBFM) within, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3 Corporate Banking and Financial Markets within, ref 1, ref 2 corporate carnage in, ref 1 depositors move money out of, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3 early Edinburgh premises of, ref 1 early rivals of, ref 1 Edinburgh booms because of, ref 1 and ‘efficient capital’, ref 1 exposure of, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5 extraordinary general meeting of, ref 1 falling share price of, ref 1, ref 2 FG arrives at, ref 1 FG becomes CEO of, ref 1 FG first year at, ref 1 financial monster, ref 1 fines paid by, ref 1 first governor of, ref 1 and Forbes, ref 1 founding of, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4 and FSA, ref 1, ref 2 on FSA watch-list, ref 1 FSA failure to investigate, ref 1, ref 2 FSA post-collapse meeting with, ref 1 Global Banking & Markets (GBM) within, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10, ref 11, ref 12, ref 13, ref 14, ref 15, ref 16, ref 17, ref 18, ref 19, ref 20 Gogarburn premises of, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6 growing profits of, ref 1 Hampton verdict on, ref 1 Harvard study on, ref 1, ref 2 Hester becomes CEO of, ref 1 Hester verdict on, ref 1, ref 2 history of (20C), ref 1 passim; see also Royal Bank of Scotland: originsand early history of horrific annual results of (2009), ref 1 HSBC in secret talks with, ref 1 investment-banking division of, ref 1 and Irish banks’ meltdown, ref 1 as joint stock-bank, ref 1 lagging share price of, ref 1 lay-offs from, ref 1 liquidity concerns of, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5 losses of, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3 McKillop arrives at, ref 1 McKillop assumes chairmanship of, ref 1 McKillop confirmed as chairman of, ref 1 ‘Make it Happen’ slogan of, ref 1, ref 2 market turbulence worries, ref 1 Mathewson arrives at, ref 1 Mathewson invites FG to, ref 1 modern British banking pioneered by, ref 1 morning meetings at, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3 and NatWest, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5 and NatWest integration, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3 new Bishopsgate offices of, ref 1 new chairman sought by, ref 1 New York office of, ref 1 opens for business, ref 1 origins and early history of, ref 1; see also Royal Bank of Scotland: history of (20C) overdraft invented by, ref 1 overextension of (1830s), ref 1 privatisation of, ref 1, ref 2 profits rises of, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5 profits warning by, ref 1 and Project Columbus, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7 promotion for women in, ref 1 in Queen Gogarburn speech, ref 1 ratings agencies’ downgrading of, ref 1 ‘RBS’ becomes preferred name of, ref 1 reconstruction of, ref 1 rights issue of, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3 sports sponsorship by, ref 1 sub-prime mess entered by, ref 1 ‘sues for peace’, ref 1 tier 1 capital of, ref 1, ref 2 twice-suspended shares of, ref 1, ref 2 wholesale reorganisation of, ref 1 widening funding gap of, ref 1 Younger becomes chairman of, ref 1 Younger enters, ref 1 see also Goodwin, Fred; Mathewson, George; RBS Americas; RBS Greenwich; RBS Insurance Rumsfeld, Donald, ref 1 Salmond, Alex, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4 Salomon Brothers, ref 1, ref 2 Samuels, Simon, ref 1 Sandler, Ron, ref 1 Santander, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5 Sants, Hector, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6 Schofield, Tony, ref 1, ref 2 Scholar, Tom, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6 Schroders, ref 1 Scotsman, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3 Scott, Bob, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5 bailout terms heard by, ref 1 Scottish Development Agency (SDA), ref 1 Scottish Enlightenment, ref 1, ref 2, ref 3 Scottish National Party (SNP), ref 1 Scottish Parliament, opening of, ref 1 Scottish Point (Punta Escocés), ref 1 Scottish Reformation, ref 1 Securities and Investments Board (SIB), ref 1 S.G.


pages: 494 words: 116,739

Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change From the Cult of Technology by Kentaro Toyama

Abraham Maslow, Albert Einstein, Apollo 11, behavioural economics, Berlin Wall, Bernie Madoff, blood diamond, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, Cass Sunstein, cognitive dissonance, commoditize, computer vision, conceptual framework, delayed gratification, digital divide, do well by doing good, Edward Glaeser, Edward Jenner, en.wikipedia.org, end world poverty, epigenetics, Erik Brynjolfsson, Evgeny Morozov, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, fundamental attribution error, gamification, germ theory of disease, global village, Hans Rosling, happiness index / gross national happiness, income inequality, invention of the printing press, invisible hand, Isaac Newton, Khan Academy, Kibera, knowledge worker, Larry Ellison, Lewis Mumford, liberation theology, libertarian paternalism, longitudinal study, M-Pesa, Mahatma Gandhi, Mark Zuckerberg, means of production, microcredit, mobile money, Neil Armstrong, Nelson Mandela, Nicholas Carr, North Sea oil, One Laptop per Child (OLPC), Panopticon Jeremy Bentham, pattern recognition, Peter Singer: altruism, Peter Thiel, post-industrial society, Powell Memorandum, randomized controlled trial, rent-seeking, RFID, Richard Florida, Richard Thaler, school vouchers, self-driving car, Sheryl Sandberg, Silicon Valley, Simon Kuznets, Stanford marshmallow experiment, Steve Jobs, Steven Pinker, technological determinism, technological solutionism, technoutopianism, TED Talk, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, the long tail, Twitter Arab Spring, Upton Sinclair, Walter Mischel, War on Poverty, winner-take-all economy, World Values Survey, Y2K

The same problem occurs at a national scale when the resource curse of oil and minerals corrupts leaders and stunts other industries.8 Even more stable countries are prone to “Dutch disease,” where the availability of an easy resource displaces other productive capacity, just as an overused crutch can lead to muscular atrophy.9 Apparent exceptions only affirm the rule. There are trust-fund children who increase the prestige of their families, but they’re focused on more than collecting baubles and living a lavish social life. Among nations, there is, for example, Norway, which took a windfall from North Sea oil, invested it carefully, and pumped some of the returns into one of the world’s most generous foreign aid programs.10 That striving after aspirations leads to greater mind and will is not surprising. Intentional effort leads to learning. What’s most noteworthy about Agyare’s intrinsic growth is her change in heart.


pages: 399 words: 120,226

Dangerous Waters: Modern Piracy and Terror on the High Seas by John S. Burnett

British Empire, cable laying ship, Dava Sobel, defense in depth, Exxon Valdez, Filipino sailors, illegal immigration, Khyber Pass, low earth orbit, Malacca Straits, North Sea oil, South China Sea, three-masted sailing ship, transcontinental railway, UNCLOS, UNCLOS

At a glance, you can’t tell one company’s VLCC from another. In fact, Exxon-Mobil announced it would sell nine of its tankers by the summer of 2003 and then lease the ships, no longer identified as Exxon ships, back from the new Greek owners. Shell perhaps started the trend, in response to the controversial disposal of the North Sea oil rig Brent Spar, in 1995. Shell had proposed dumping the installation, claimed by environmentalists to contain radioactive and toxic sludge, in the North Atlantic. Environmental activists occupied the rig for months to prevent its disposal, and all of it played out in full view of the media. Today, Shell’s famous yellow scallop has been wiped clean from its ships, and its company symbol has vanished from its fleet of VLCCs.


pages: 415 words: 123,373

Inviting Disaster by James R. Chiles

air gap, Airbus A320, airline deregulation, Alignment Problem, Apollo 11, Apollo 13, Boeing 747, crew resource management, cuban missile crisis, Exxon Valdez, flying shuttle, Gene Kranz, Maui Hawaii, megaproject, Milgram experiment, Neil Armstrong, North Sea oil, Piper Alpha, Recombinant DNA, Richard Feynman, Richard Feynman: Challenger O-ring, risk tolerance, Ted Sorensen, time dilation

Compared to the twenty-seven years of the offshore oil industry, major rig mishaps had been hitting historic highs in recent years, with twenty-two rigs reporting fires, blowouts, capsizes, or sinkings in 1980 alone. The reason, said industry sources, was the worldwide acceleration in drilling activity. Although shipyards could build rigs quickly enough, finding expert crews to man them was a major difficulty. In that troubled year of 1980, the Alexander Keilland, a floating dormitory for North Sea oil workers, had rolled over in a winter storm, killing 123 men. It happened after a cracked strut in the steel framework finally broke all the way through under the constant pounding of waves. A shipyard painter had painted over it during construction (known because some of the crack length contained paint) but apparently had not reported it.


pages: 497 words: 123,718

A Game as Old as Empire: The Secret World of Economic Hit Men and the Web of Global Corruption by Steven Hiatt; John Perkins

"RICO laws" OR "Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations", "World Economic Forum" Davos, accelerated depreciation, addicted to oil, airline deregulation, Andrei Shleifer, Asian financial crisis, Berlin Wall, big-box store, Bob Geldof, book value, Bretton Woods, British Empire, capital controls, centre right, clean water, colonial rule, corporate governance, corporate personhood, deglobalization, deindustrialization, disinformation, Doha Development Round, energy security, European colonialism, export processing zone, financial deregulation, financial independence, full employment, global village, high net worth, land bank, land reform, large denomination, liberal capitalism, Long Term Capital Management, Mexican peso crisis / tequila crisis, Mikhail Gorbachev, military-industrial complex, moral hazard, Naomi Klein, new economy, North Sea oil, offshore financial centre, oil shock, Ponzi scheme, race to the bottom, reserve currency, Ronald Reagan, Scramble for Africa, Seymour Hersh, statistical model, structural adjustment programs, Suez crisis 1956, Tax Reform Act of 1986, too big to fail, trade liberalization, transatlantic slave trade, transfer pricing, union organizing, Washington Consensus, working-age population, Yom Kippur War

Working with Ian Rutledge, a respected energy economist from Sheffield in the north of England, I set out to correct ITIC’s omission. I had been an admirer of Rutledge’s work for several years. During the late 1990s, oil companies had lobbied hard against any increase in Britain’s rock-bottom taxation of its North Sea oil production, claiming that an increase would make the North Sea economically unviable and they would have to pull out altogether. Rutledge’s research had shown that, for some of the companies making these claims, the North Sea was in fact their most profitable region in the world, even after tax.


pages: 1,744 words: 458,385

The Defence of the Realm by Christopher Andrew

Able Archer 83, active measures, anti-communist, Ayatollah Khomeini, Berlin Wall, Bletchley Park, Boeing 747, British Empire, classic study, Clive Stafford Smith, collective bargaining, credit crunch, cuban missile crisis, Desert Island Discs, disinformation, Etonian, Fall of the Berlin Wall, false flag, G4S, glass ceiling, illegal immigration, information security, job satisfaction, large denomination, liquidationism / Banker’s doctrine / the Treasury view, Mahatma Gandhi, Mikhail Gorbachev, Neil Kinnock, North Sea oil, operational security, post-work, Red Clydeside, Robert Hanssen: Double agent, Ronald Reagan, sexual politics, strikebreaker, Suez crisis 1956, Torches of Freedom, traveling salesman, union organizing, uranium enrichment, Vladimir Vetrov: Farewell Dossier, Winter of Discontent, work culture

However, the discovery in 1975 in London and Liverpool of PIRA target lists which included public utilities changed Whitehall attitudes and marked a turning point in the history of British protective security. Harold Wilson was sufficiently concerned to ask the Official Committee on Terrorism to review the terrorist (in particular PIRA) threat to North Sea oil and gas supplies.59 By October 1976 a list of Economic Key Points (EKPs) which required protection against peacetime terrorist attack had been completed and added to the responsibilities of the Official Committee on Terrorism. The Committee approved a C Branch proposal for the establishment of a working group to supervise a phased programme of work for the protection of these installations.

BP, however, balked at the cost of implementing all the recommendations, which ran into seven figures, and detailed discussions were still continuing at the time of the attack.76 Cost remained, as it had been for the past decade, the main obstacle to implementing the Security Service’s protective-security recommendations in the private sector. Throughout the 1980s the Security Service believed that, of the hundreds of Economic Key Points (EKPs), ‘only a small number were even reasonably protected.’77 C Branch went by helicopter to inspect most North Sea oil platforms and organized a series of exercises with the Royal Marines to practise recapturing a platform in case one was ever taken over by a terrorist group.78 Whitehall showed little interest. C Branch complained that Whitehall found counter-terrorist protective security boring as well as expensive: Security organisations in departments are not staffed by high fliers.

PIRA is therefore unlikely to be able to identify and simultaneously destroy mutually dependent targets in supply systems in Great Britain, although it might be able to do so in Northern Ireland.81 Even the attack on Sullum Voe seems to have been designed as a spectacular demonstration of PIRA’s ability to penetrate royal security rather than as an operation to do serious damage to the North Sea oil industry. PIRA’s ‘armed struggle’ did not yet aim at undermining the British economy. As with the attempted bombing of Sullum Voe, the Security Service had no advance intelligence on the targets of PIRA’s continental campaign, which resumed on 16 February 1980 when Colonel Mark Coe was shot dead at Bielefeld.


pages: 1,477 words: 311,310

The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict From 1500 to 2000 by Paul Kennedy

agricultural Revolution, airline deregulation, anti-communist, banking crisis, Berlin Wall, book value, Bretton Woods, British Empire, cuban missile crisis, deindustrialization, Deng Xiaoping, disinformation, European colonialism, floating exchange rates, full employment, German hyperinflation, Great Leap Forward, guns versus butter model, Herman Kahn, imperial preference, industrial robot, joint-stock company, laissez-faire capitalism, long peace, means of production, military-industrial complex, Monroe Doctrine, mutually assured destruction, night-watchman state, North Sea oil, nuclear winter, oil shock, open economy, Peace of Westphalia, Potemkin village, price mechanism, price stability, RAND corporation, reserve currency, Ronald Reagan, Silicon Valley, South China Sea, South Sea Bubble, spice trade, spinning jenny, stakhanovite, Strategic Defense Initiative, Suez canal 1869, Suez crisis 1956, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, trade route, University of East Anglia, upwardly mobile, zero-sum game

Some companies (like ICI) were notable exceptions to this trend; the City of London’s financial services held up well, and retailing remained strong—but the erosion of Britain’s industrial base was remorseless. Joining the Common Market in 1971 did not provide the hoped-for panacea: it exposed the British market to even greater competition in manufactures, while tying Britain into the expensive farm-price policies of the EEC. North Sea oil also proved less than a godsend: it brought Britain massive foreign-currency earnings, but that so drove up the price of sterling that it hurt manufacturing exports.227 The economic statistics offer a measure of what Bairoch terms “the acceleration of the industrial decline of Great Britain.”228 Its share of world manufacturing production slipped from 8.6 percent in 1953 to 4.0 percent in 1980.

While it may be difficult to prove The Economist’s tart observation that “since 1983, Britain’s trade balance on manufactures has been in deficit for the first time since the Romans invaded Britain,” it is a fact that even in the late 1950s exports of manufactures were three times as big as imports.98 Now that surplus has gone. What is more, the decline in employment occurs not only in older industries but also in the “sunrise” high-technology firms.99 If the fall in Britain’s manufacturing competitiveness is a century-old tale,100 it has clearly been accelerated by the discovery of North Sea oil, which while producing earnings to cover the visible trade gap has also had the effect of turning sterling into a “petrocurrency,” sending its value to unrealistically high levels for a while and making many of its exports uncompetitive. Even when the oil runs out, causing sterling to decline further, it is not at all clear that that would ipso facto lead to a revival in manufacturing: plant has been scrapped, foreign markets lost (perhaps permanently), and international competitiveness eroded by higher than average rises in unit labor costs.


Making Globalization Work by Joseph E. Stiglitz

"World Economic Forum" Davos, affirmative action, Alan Greenspan, Andrei Shleifer, Asian financial crisis, banking crisis, barriers to entry, benefit corporation, Berlin Wall, blood diamond, business process, capital controls, carbon tax, central bank independence, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, currency manipulation / currency intervention, Doha Development Round, Exxon Valdez, Fall of the Berlin Wall, Firefox, full employment, Garrett Hardin, Gini coefficient, global reserve currency, Global Witness, Great Leap Forward, Gunnar Myrdal, happiness index / gross national happiness, illegal immigration, income inequality, income per capita, incomplete markets, Indoor air pollution, informal economy, information asymmetry, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), inventory management, invisible hand, John Markoff, Jones Act, Kenneth Arrow, Kenneth Rogoff, low interest rates, low skilled workers, manufacturing employment, market fundamentalism, Martin Wolf, microcredit, moral hazard, negative emissions, new economy, North Sea oil, offshore financial centre, oil rush, open borders, open economy, price stability, profit maximization, purchasing power parity, quantitative trading / quantitative finance, race to the bottom, reserve currency, rising living standards, risk tolerance, Seymour Hersh, Silicon Valley, special drawing rights, statistical model, the market place, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas L Friedman, trade liberalization, Tragedy of the Commons, trickle-down economics, union organizing, Washington Consensus, zero-sum game

There is a third problem, first noticed in the 1970s and early 1980s in the aftermath of the discovery of oil in the North Sea; while they enjoyed this obvious bounty, the Dutch began to notice that the rest of their economy had slowed. Here was a developed, well-functioning economy that suddenly faced massive job problems because its firms couldn’t compete. The reason was that the inflow of dollars in payment for the North Sea oil and gas led to a high exchange rate; at that high exchange rate, Dutch exporters couldn’t sell their products abroad and domestic firms found it difficult to compete with imports. The problem, known as the Dutch disease in honor of the country where it was first analyzed, has plagued resource-rich countries around the world as they sell their resources and convert the dollars they earn into local currency.


pages: 454 words: 139,350

Jihad vs. McWorld: Terrorism's Challenge to Democracy by Benjamin Barber

airport security, Alvin Toffler, anti-communist, Apple's 1984 Super Bowl advert, Ayatollah Khomeini, Berlin Wall, borderless world, Bretton Woods, British Empire, classic study, computer age, Corn Laws, Corrections Corporation of America, David Brooks, deindustrialization, Deng Xiaoping, digital map, export processing zone, Fall of the Berlin Wall, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, full employment, George Gilder, global village, invisible hand, It's morning again in America, Joan Didion, Kevin Kelly, laissez-faire capitalism, late capitalism, Live Aid, market fundamentalism, Marshall McLuhan, minimum wage unemployment, new economy, Norbert Wiener, North Sea oil, off-the-grid, pirate software, Plato's cave, postnationalism / post nation state, profit motive, race to the bottom, Right to Buy, road to serfdom, Ronald Reagan, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas L Friedman, undersea cable, vertical integration, young professional, zero-sum game

With roughly one-half of the world’s GDP between them (27 percent for the United States, 16 percent for Japan, and 7 percent for Germany), America, Japan, and Germany import far more than half of their energy—under 50 percent for the United States but more than 90 percent for Japan and somewhere in between for Germany.25 Because it has gone nuclear, France produces most of its own energy, but when we look at consumption rather than production, it too remains import-dependent.26 Among OECD nations, only Canada and Australia, and with their North Sea oil, Norway and the United Kingdom, turn out to be net energy producers—which has allowed Norway to stay out of Europe. On the other hand, the world’s five largest economies are the world’s largest energy importers. The stronger the nation, the more fragile its independence. There also lurks in this welter of statistics a powerful element of injustice that illuminates a darker side of McWorld.


pages: 483 words: 143,123

The Frackers: The Outrageous Inside Story of the New Billionaire Wildcatters by Gregory Zuckerman

activist fund / activist shareholder / activist investor, addicted to oil, Alan Greenspan, American energy revolution, Asian financial crisis, Bakken shale, Bear Stearns, Bernie Sanders, Buckminster Fuller, Carl Icahn, corporate governance, corporate raider, credit crunch, energy security, Exxon Valdez, Great Leap Forward, housing crisis, hydraulic fracturing, Kickstarter, LNG terminal, man camp, margin call, Maui Hawaii, North Sea oil, oil rush, oil shale / tar sands, oil shock, peak oil, Peter Thiel, reshoring, self-driving car, Silicon Valley, sovereign wealth fund, Steve Jobs, Timothy McVeigh, urban decay

Chevron and others still seem committed to Poland’s shale formations, but by the spring of 2013 fewer than fifty wells had been drilled there. The United Kingdom is a likely participant in the shale energy revolution, at least at some point, for a number of good reasons. The nation is seeing a marked slowdown in production from its prized North Sea oil beds. The country has been importing gas since 2004, relying on Norway and the Netherlands, and is in an increasingly precarious position when it comes to key energy supplies. In March 2013, Britain came within six hours of running out of natural gas entirely, the Financial Times reported, as wholesale gas prices surged to record levels.


pages: 572 words: 134,335

The Making of an Atlantic Ruling Class by Kees Van der Pijl

anti-communist, banking crisis, Berlin Wall, book value, Boycotts of Israel, Bretton Woods, British Empire, business cycle, capital controls, collective bargaining, colonial rule, cuban missile crisis, deindustrialization, deskilling, diversified portfolio, European colonialism, floating exchange rates, full employment, imperial preference, Joseph Schumpeter, liberal capitalism, mass immigration, means of production, military-industrial complex, North Sea oil, plutocrats, profit maximization, RAND corporation, scientific management, strikebreaker, Suez crisis 1956, trade liberalization, trade route, union organizing, uranium enrichment, urban renewal, War on Poverty

A notorious example was in the case of the Italian energy monopoly ENI and its independent-minded head, Mattel, whose mysterious death in 1962 cleared the way for the agreement with ESSO concluded a year later.14 In the Netherlands, the Centre-Left Cals cabinet of 1965 did not survive the challenge posed to the oil companies on the issue of North Sea oil exploitation. It was brought down by Norbert Schmelzer, the future Foreign Secretary, whose allegiance to the oil companies (it was revealed later that he was on the payroll of Gulf Oil) in this case proved stronger than his party loyalty. The subsequent governments, however, continued to support the reinforcement of industrial capital, and the formation of AKZO out of AKU and the chemical company KZO may be mentioned in this respect.


pages: 537 words: 144,318

The Invisible Hands: Top Hedge Fund Traders on Bubbles, Crashes, and Real Money by Steven Drobny

Albert Einstein, AOL-Time Warner, Asian financial crisis, asset allocation, asset-backed security, backtesting, banking crisis, Bear Stearns, Bernie Madoff, Black Swan, bond market vigilante , book value, Bretton Woods, BRICs, British Empire, business cycle, business process, buy and hold, capital asset pricing model, capital controls, central bank independence, collateralized debt obligation, commoditize, commodity super cycle, commodity trading advisor, credit crunch, Credit Default Swap, credit default swaps / collateralized debt obligations, currency peg, debt deflation, diversification, diversified portfolio, equity premium, equity risk premium, family office, fiat currency, fixed income, follow your passion, full employment, George Santayana, global macro, Greenspan put, Hyman Minsky, implied volatility, index fund, inflation targeting, interest rate swap, inventory management, inverted yield curve, invisible hand, junk bonds, Kickstarter, London Interbank Offered Rate, Long Term Capital Management, low interest rates, market bubble, market fundamentalism, market microstructure, Minsky moment, moral hazard, Myron Scholes, North Sea oil, open economy, peak oil, pension reform, Ponzi scheme, prediction markets, price discovery process, price stability, private sector deleveraging, profit motive, proprietary trading, purchasing power parity, quantitative easing, random walk, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, reserve currency, risk free rate, risk tolerance, risk-adjusted returns, risk/return, savings glut, selection bias, Sharpe ratio, short selling, SoftBank, sovereign wealth fund, special drawing rights, statistical arbitrage, stochastic volatility, stocks for the long run, stocks for the long term, survivorship bias, tail risk, The Great Moderation, Thomas Bayes, time value of money, too big to fail, Tragedy of the Commons, transaction costs, two and twenty, unbiased observer, value at risk, Vanguard fund, yield curve, zero-sum game

What about on the short side? I can’t think of a single commodity that I would want to be short with a long-term time horizon. I would be very cautious about UK commercial property priced in sterling. I’m very bearish the pound, which has a massive problem long term. The UK is running out of North Sea oil and natural gas, and its manufacturing has been moving east for 30 years. Heavy industries such as oil refining, steel refining, and car manufacturing are all also moving east. The City of London and services sector have been the main drivers for maintaining a reasonable current account balance against a big trade deficit in the UK in recent years.


pages: 464 words: 139,088

The End of Alchemy: Money, Banking and the Future of the Global Economy by Mervyn King

Alan Greenspan, Andrei Shleifer, Asian financial crisis, asset-backed security, balance sheet recession, bank run, banking crisis, banks create money, behavioural economics, Berlin Wall, Bernie Madoff, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, bitcoin, Black Monday: stock market crash in 1987, Black Swan, Boeing 747, Bretton Woods, British Empire, business cycle, capital controls, Carmen Reinhart, Cass Sunstein, central bank independence, centre right, classic study, collapse of Lehman Brothers, creative destruction, Credit Default Swap, crowdsourcing, Daniel Kahneman / Amos Tversky, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, distributed generation, Doha Development Round, Edmond Halley, Fall of the Berlin Wall, falling living standards, fiat currency, financial engineering, financial innovation, financial intermediation, floating exchange rates, foreign exchange controls, forward guidance, Fractional reserve banking, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, full employment, German hyperinflation, Glass-Steagall Act, Great Leap Forward, Hyman Minsky, inflation targeting, invisible hand, Japanese asset price bubble, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Meriwether, joint-stock company, Joseph Schumpeter, Kenneth Arrow, Kenneth Rogoff, labour market flexibility, large denomination, lateral thinking, liquidity trap, Long Term Capital Management, low interest rates, manufacturing employment, market clearing, Martin Wolf, Mexican peso crisis / tequila crisis, Money creation, money market fund, money: store of value / unit of account / medium of exchange, moral hazard, Myron Scholes, Nick Leeson, no-fly zone, North Sea oil, Northern Rock, oil shale / tar sands, oil shock, open economy, paradox of thrift, Paul Samuelson, Ponzi scheme, price mechanism, price stability, proprietary trading, purchasing power parity, quantitative easing, rent-seeking, reserve currency, Richard Thaler, rising living standards, Robert Shiller, Robert Solow, Satoshi Nakamoto, savings glut, secular stagnation, seigniorage, stem cell, Steve Jobs, The Great Moderation, the payments system, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, Thomas Malthus, too big to fail, transaction costs, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, yield curve, Yom Kippur War, zero-sum game

Scotland would not be joining, as were the members of European Monetary Union, a new currency arrangement. Scotland has less need than in the past for subsidies from England to offset adverse shocks specific to Scotland because changes in the industrial structure of both Scotland and England, with the decline of heavy manufacturing and mining and the decreasing contribution from North Sea oil, mean that the two economies tend to move together. Nor would Scotland be faced with a substantial burden in the event of another banking failure. It is true that under sterlingisation major banks in an independent Scotland would have to unscrew the brass plates at their legal headquarters in Edinburgh and move them to London.


pages: 407 words: 135,242

The Streets Were Paved With Gold by Ken Auletta

benefit corporation, British Empire, business climate, business logic, clean water, collective bargaining, full employment, Gunnar Myrdal, guns versus butter model, hiring and firing, invisible hand, Jane Jacobs, job satisfaction, Joseph Schumpeter, Lewis Mumford, military-industrial complex, mortgage debt, Norman Mailer, North Sea oil, offshore financial centre, Parkinson's law, Ponzi scheme, price stability, profit motive, Ralph Nader, RAND corporation, rent control, rent stabilization, Ronald Reagan, social contagion, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, union organizing, Upton Sinclair, upwardly mobile, urban decay, urban renewal, War on Poverty, working-age population

Perhaps this explains why Paul Erdman’s novel The Crash of ’79 led bestseller lists in 1977 and was read by many as a work of nonfiction. A BLEAK PICTURE? Perhaps too bleak. As I write this, no American soldiers are being killed or maimed in foreign adventures; fewer Americans are starving; there is at least more talk about human rights and even evidence of success; England is beginning to tap its North Sea oil riches; Anwar Sadat’s peace initiative and Jimmy Carter’s spirit of Camp David have inspired people around the world. New York has a new mayor with high expectations; you can actually see citizens bending to shovel the dog shit with their pooper-scoopers, the result of a new law that is being obeyed.


pages: 573 words: 142,376

Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Stewart Brand by John Markoff

A Pattern Language, air freight, Anthropocene, Apple II, back-to-the-land, Benoit Mandelbrot, Bernie Madoff, Beryl Markham, Big Tech, Bill Atkinson, Biosphere 2, Brewster Kahle, Buckminster Fuller, Burning Man, butterfly effect, Claude Shannon: information theory, cloud computing, complexity theory, computer age, Computer Lib, computer vision, Danny Hillis, decarbonisation, demographic transition, disinformation, Douglas Engelbart, Douglas Engelbart, Dynabook, El Camino Real, Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, en.wikipedia.org, experimental subject, feminist movement, Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, Filter Bubble, game design, gentrification, global village, Golden Gate Park, Hacker Conference 1984, Hacker Ethic, Haight Ashbury, Herman Kahn, housing crisis, Howard Rheingold, HyperCard, intentional community, Internet Archive, Internet of things, Jane Jacobs, Jaron Lanier, Jeff Bezos, John Gilmore, John Markoff, John Perry Barlow, Kevin Kelly, Kickstarter, knowledge worker, Lao Tzu, Lewis Mumford, Loma Prieta earthquake, Marshall McLuhan, megacity, Menlo Park, Michael Shellenberger, microdosing, Mitch Kapor, Morris worm, Mother of all demos, move fast and break things, New Urbanism, Norbert Wiener, Norman Mailer, North Sea oil, off grid, off-the-grid, paypal mafia, Peter Calthorpe, Ponzi scheme, profit motive, public intellectual, Ralph Nader, RAND corporation, Ray Kurzweil, Richard Stallman, Sand Hill Road, self-driving car, shareholder value, Silicon Valley, South of Market, San Francisco, speech recognition, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Steven Levy, Stewart Brand, systems thinking, technoutopianism, Ted Nelson, Ted Nordhaus, TED Talk, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, The Hackers Conference, Thorstein Veblen, traveling salesman, Turing test, upwardly mobile, Vernor Vinge, We are as Gods, Whole Earth Catalog, Whole Earth Review, young professional

He was thrilled to be around something that was so inaccessible and at the same time significant. The clang and the bang and the visibility of machinery—it felt designed for old school experts, much like the early NASA. The irony of the idea of one of the world’s iconic environmentalists going to work in the heart of the fossil fuel industry did not perturb him. Visiting a North Sea oil platform was his opportunity to see how the world’s infrastructure worked. His charter was to help a giant corporation learn how to “learn,” and he needed to see it from the inside. Both he and Peter Schwartz had no concern that they were perhaps being co-opted; rather they saw it as a rare opportunity to carry on a crusade for environmental sustainability from the inside.


pages: 522 words: 150,592

Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms & a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories by Simon Winchester

Beryl Markham, British Empire, cable laying ship, Charles Lindbergh, colonial rule, financial engineering, friendly fire, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), intermodal, Isaac Newton, Louis Blériot, Malcom McLean invented shipping containers, Nelson Mandela, North Sea oil, Northpointe / Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions, Piper Alpha, polynesian navigation, Suez canal 1869, supervolcano, three-masted sailing ship, trade route, transatlantic slave trade, transcontinental railway, undersea cable

See also Fisheries; Fishing collapse of Grand Banks cod fishery, 364–78 consequences of, 389–92 environmental movement and, 358–63 management of South Atlantic fishery to prevent, 378–89 Överhogdal tapestry, 160 Owen, David, 25 Oxygen, cyanobacteria and, 429–32 Ozone depletion, 346, 438–40 Pacific Ocean, 34, 107, 146, 333, 356n, 408–9, 423n, 433 Packet ships, 290–301 Pack ice, 395–98, 410 Paintings, 196–99 Paleogeography, 442 Paleotempestologists, 423n Palsson, Bjorn, 398n Pan-Atlantic Steamships company, 352 Pangaea, 40–42, 442 Pangaea Ultima, 442–43 Panthalassa Sea, 40–42 Paradise Lost (book), 169–70 Parker, Isaac, 235–36 Parliamentary democracy, first, 273–75 Passenger transport accidents and casualties of, 322–27 by air transport (see Air transport) development of, 314–21 by passenger liners, 11–12, 186, 296–301 submarines and passenger ships, 261–62 Patagonia, 125–26, 444 Patagonian toothfish (Chilean sea bass), 362–63, 378, 384–86, 389 Pelagic fish, 281 Penguins, 384, 418, 445 Penis, sperm whale, 289 Permian period, 40 Pessoa, Fernando, 107 Peter Grimes (music), 195 Pettersson, Otto, 355 Pew Trusts, 362n Phantom islands, 134 Pharmacological pollution, 358 Phoenicians, 51–53, 62–69, 172, 174 Photosynthetic cyanobacteria, 429–32 Physical Geography of the Sea and Its Meteorology, The (book), 129 f Pieces of eight, 87n Pierce, Franklin, 305 Pillars of Hercules, 35, 53, 63–64, 68 Pinnacle Point, 56–60 Pipier Alpha North Sea oil drilling platform, 403 Pirates warfare against fishing, in South Atlantic, 386–89 warfare against New World, 221–29 Pirates of Penzance, The (opera), 194 Plate tectonics, 40–49, 140n, 441–49. See also Seismic activity Plays, 24–27, 149–52, 168–69 Poetry, 24–27, 65n, 149–59, 167–70, 205 Polders and Polder Model, 413–15 Pollution, 345–58 Rachel Carson’s writing about, 353–58 chemical, 357–58, 390 from commercial air transport, 345–48 from commercial cargo shipping, 350–53 radioactive, 355–57 Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), 358 Pompeii, 173n Pond, Atlantic Ocean as the, 15, 332 Póo, Fernando, 112 Portsmouth Point (music), 195 Portugal, 92, 93n, 109–14, 237, 373, 434 Postal service.


pages: 613 words: 151,140

No Such Thing as Society by Andy McSmith

"there is no alternative" (TINA), anti-communist, Ayatollah Khomeini, Berlin Wall, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, Black Monday: stock market crash in 1987, Bob Geldof, Boris Johnson, British Empire, Brixton riot, Bullingdon Club, call centre, cuban missile crisis, Etonian, F. W. de Klerk, Farzad Bazoft, feminist movement, fixed income, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, friendly fire, full employment, glass ceiling, God and Mammon, greed is good, illegal immigration, index card, John Bercow, Kickstarter, liberal capitalism, light touch regulation, Live Aid, loadsamoney, long peace, means of production, Mikhail Gorbachev, mortgage debt, mutually assured destruction, negative equity, Neil Kinnock, Nelson Mandela, North Sea oil, Northern Rock, old-boy network, popular capitalism, Right to Buy, Ronald Reagan, Rubik’s Cube, Sloane Ranger, South Sea Bubble, spread of share-ownership, Stephen Fry, strikebreaker, Suez crisis 1956, The Chicago School, union organizing, upwardly mobile, urban decay, Winter of Discontent, young professional

In 1976, the Labour government had set about reducing the figure, but by 1978–9, with unemployment rising and tax receipts falling, it had slipped back up to £9.25 billion. Howe’s target was to bring it down to £8.25 billion in 1979–80, but all he had done was put it up, despite the money now coming from North Sea oil. The news that Howe brought to an incredulous prime minister was that it was now on course to reach £14.5 billion in the coming year. This was the most testing moment Thatcher ever faced in her capacity as an economic manager. If there are three incidents that defined her as prime minister, they are the miners’ strike, the Falklands War and the economic crisis of 1981.


pages: 560 words: 158,238

Fifty Degrees Below by Kim Stanley Robinson

airport security, bioinformatics, bread and circuses, Burning Man, carbon credits, carbon tax, clean water, DeepMind, Donner party, full employment, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), invisible hand, iterative process, Kim Stanley Robinson, means of production, minimum wage unemployment, North Sea oil, off-the-grid, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Richard Feynman, statistical model, Stephen Hawking, the scientific method

On the sail up to the festival, some of them had encountered an oil tanker, only slightly smaller than the ULCCs (Ultra Large Crude Carriers) of the late twentieth century, double-hulled, as was legally required, and making a dry run on a great circle route from Japan to Norway that passed near the pole. This voyage was demonstrating that the Northwest Passage was open for business at last; and better late than never. Oil could be shipped directly from the North Sea to Japan, cutting the distance by two-thirds. Even if oil was passé, post-peak, old paradigm and all the rest, Japan and the North Sea oil countries were nevertheless awfully pleased to be able to move it over the Pole. They were not ashamed to admit that the world still needed oil, and that while it did, there would be reasons to appreciate certain manifestations of global warming. Shipyards in Glasgow, Norway, and Japan had been revitalized, and were now busy building a new class of Arctic Sea tankers to follow this prototype, boldly going where no tanker had gone before.


pages: 475 words: 155,554

The Default Line: The Inside Story of People, Banks and Entire Nations on the Edge by Faisal Islam

"World Economic Forum" Davos, Alan Greenspan, Asian financial crisis, asset-backed security, balance sheet recession, bank run, banking crisis, Basel III, Ben Bernanke: helicopter money, Berlin Wall, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, bond market vigilante , book value, Boris Johnson, British Empire, capital controls, carbon credits, carbon footprint, carbon tax, Celtic Tiger, central bank independence, centre right, collapse of Lehman Brothers, credit crunch, Credit Default Swap, crony capitalism, Crossrail, currency risk, dark matter, deindustrialization, Deng Xiaoping, disintermediation, energy security, Eugene Fama: efficient market hypothesis, eurozone crisis, Eyjafjallajökull, financial deregulation, financial engineering, financial innovation, financial repression, floating exchange rates, forensic accounting, forward guidance, full employment, G4S, ghettoisation, global rebalancing, global reserve currency, high-speed rail, hiring and firing, inflation targeting, Irish property bubble, junk bonds, Just-in-time delivery, labour market flexibility, light touch regulation, London Whale, Long Term Capital Management, low interest rates, margin call, market clearing, megacity, megaproject, Mikhail Gorbachev, mini-job, mittelstand, Money creation, moral hazard, mortgage debt, mortgage tax deduction, mutually assured destruction, Myron Scholes, negative equity, North Sea oil, Northern Rock, offshore financial centre, open economy, paradox of thrift, Pearl River Delta, pension reform, price mechanism, price stability, profit motive, quantitative easing, quantitative trading / quantitative finance, race to the bottom, regulatory arbitrage, reserve currency, reshoring, Right to Buy, rising living standards, Ronald Reagan, savings glut, shareholder value, sovereign wealth fund, tail risk, The Chicago School, the payments system, too big to fail, trade route, transaction costs, two tier labour market, unorthodox policies, uranium enrichment, urban planning, value at risk, WikiLeaks, working-age population, zero-sum game

People resented the fact that they were being told to adopt a more Spartan lifestyle by a multimillionaire. But his predictions were, of course, quite right. A leaked industry report suggested that UK domestic gas prices could surge by 70 per cent, and then remain there, if oil prices stayed at $100. Ulrich’s efforts to source alternatives to North Sea oil were being hampered by rampant resource nationalism – the escalating tendency for countries with significant energy reserves to use their position as a geopolitical bargaining tool. By far the easiest, cheapest and greenest way to counter this tendency is for consumer countries to pursue energy efficiency on a national scale.


Barcelona by Damien Simonis

Berlin Wall, call centre, carbon footprint, Fall of the Berlin Wall, feminist movement, Frank Gehry, gentrification, haute couture, haute cuisine, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Kickstarter, land reform, Murano, Venice glass, New Urbanism, North Sea oil, retail therapy, Suez canal 1869, sustainable-tourism, urban planning, urban renewal, urban sprawl

Barcelona (Un Mapa), which came out in 2007, looks at six urban characters gathered together but essentially lonely in an L’Eixample apartment. Gràcia-born Isabel Coixet (1960–) has had some ups and downs with some original films. She reached a high point (and four Goyas, the Spanish equivalent of the Oscars) for Vida Secreta de las Palabras (The Secret Life of Words; 2005), in which a taciturn nurse arrives on a moribund North Sea oil platform to take care of a burns patient. She turns out to be a torture victim of the wars in the former Yugoslavia. Her last film, Map of the Sounds of Tokyo (2009) was an uneven but intriguing exploration of the Japanese through some odd characters that include the Spanish wine purveyor played by Catalan star Sergi López.


pages: 504 words: 144,415

Chickenhawk by Robert Mason

index card, life extension, North Sea oil, VTOL

At the beginning of the talk, Bill asked the pilots who had read Chickenhawk. Almost all of them raised their hands. It turns out that Chickenhawk—over twenty years in print—has become a sort of handbook for helicopter pilots all over the world. Since it was published in 1983, I’ve gotten a letter, a phone call, or an e-mail from a reader every day. The North Sea oil pilots read Chickenhawk; I’ve heard from air force, army, navy, and marine pilots. Military pilots in Great Britain and Australia read Chickenhawk. It’s published in English, Dutch, Hebrew, Polish, and Chinese, with a Czech version on the way. Now that I have a Web site (robertcmason.com), I get messages almost every day from Chickenhawk readers all over the world.


pages: 510 words: 163,449

How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World and Everything in It by Arthur Herman

British Empire, California gold rush, classic study, creative destruction, do-ocracy, Edward Jenner, financial independence, gentleman farmer, global village, invisible hand, Isaac Newton, James Watt: steam engine, Joan Didion, joint-stock company, laissez-faire capitalism, land tenure, mass immigration, means of production, new economy, New Urbanism, North Sea oil, oil shale / tar sands, Republic of Letters, Robert Mercer, spinning jenny, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, tontine, transcontinental railway, trickle-down economics, urban planning, urban renewal, vertical integration, working poor

Textile production in the Border country fell by 65 percent. Active Scottish coal pits declined from fifteen to just two. “Today ours is a fearful, anxious nail-biting nation,” wrote SNP activist Jim Sillars in 1985. In the midst of national crisis and decline, the SNP stepped into the breach. Contrary to myth, it was not the promise of nationalizing North Sea oil that propelled the SNP into prominence. It emerged as a mass political party in the late 1960s and early 1970s—long before engineers had any idea of the vast oil reserves located just off the continental shelf from Aberdeen. Instead, it was the failure of either British Labour or Tory conservatism to offer a solution to Scotland’s sense of decline that made the SNP a political powerhouse.


pages: 566 words: 163,322

The Rise and Fall of Nations: Forces of Change in the Post-Crisis World by Ruchir Sharma

"World Economic Forum" Davos, Asian financial crisis, backtesting, bank run, banking crisis, Berlin Wall, Bernie Sanders, BRICs, business climate, business cycle, business process, call centre, capital controls, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, Carmen Reinhart, central bank independence, centre right, colonial rule, commodity super cycle, corporate governance, creative destruction, crony capitalism, currency peg, dark matter, debt deflation, deglobalization, deindustrialization, demographic dividend, demographic transition, Deng Xiaoping, Doha Development Round, Donald Trump, driverless car, Edward Glaeser, Elon Musk, eurozone crisis, failed state, Fall of the Berlin Wall, falling living standards, financial engineering, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, Freestyle chess, Gini coefficient, global macro, Goodhart's law, guns versus butter model, hiring and firing, hype cycle, income inequality, indoor plumbing, industrial robot, inflation targeting, Internet of things, Japanese asset price bubble, Jeff Bezos, job automation, John Markoff, Joseph Schumpeter, junk bonds, Kenneth Rogoff, Kickstarter, knowledge economy, labor-force participation, Larry Ellison, lateral thinking, liberal capitalism, low interest rates, Malacca Straits, Mark Zuckerberg, market bubble, Mary Meeker, mass immigration, megacity, megaproject, Mexican peso crisis / tequila crisis, middle-income trap, military-industrial complex, mittelstand, moral hazard, New Economic Geography, North Sea oil, oil rush, oil shale / tar sands, oil shock, open immigration, pattern recognition, Paul Samuelson, Peter Thiel, pets.com, plutocrats, Ponzi scheme, price stability, Productivity paradox, purchasing power parity, quantitative easing, Ralph Waldo Emerson, random walk, rent-seeking, reserve currency, Ronald Coase, Ronald Reagan, savings glut, secular stagnation, Shenzhen was a fishing village, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley startup, Simon Kuznets, smart cities, Snapchat, South China Sea, sovereign wealth fund, special economic zone, spectrum auction, Steve Jobs, tacit knowledge, tech billionaire, The Future of Employment, The Wisdom of Crowds, Thomas Malthus, total factor productivity, trade liberalization, trade route, tulip mania, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, unorthodox policies, Washington Consensus, WikiLeaks, women in the workforce, work culture , working-age population

Foreigners pump in money to buy the oil, which drives up the value of the currency, in turn making it difficult for local factories—what few exist—to export their goods. The oil windfall tends to undermine every local industry other than oil. This is the classic “Dutch disease,” a term inspired by the collapse of manufacturing in the Netherlands after it discovered North Sea oil in 1959. Despite the developed-world origins of the term, the affliction has hit poor countries hardest. Over the past decade, this disease has struck in Brazil, Russia, South Africa, and much of the rest of Africa. For the most part, only countries that were reasonably well off (and well diversified) before they discovered their resource wealth, such as Norway and Canada, have invested commodity profits wisely enough to avoid seeing their development blocked by the rise and fall of commodity prices.


Money and Government: The Past and Future of Economics by Robert Skidelsky

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", Alan Greenspan, anti-globalists, Asian financial crisis, asset-backed security, bank run, banking crisis, banks create money, barriers to entry, Basel III, basic income, Bear Stearns, behavioural economics, Ben Bernanke: helicopter money, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, book value, Bretton Woods, British Empire, business cycle, capital controls, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, Carmen Reinhart, central bank independence, cognitive dissonance, collapse of Lehman Brothers, collateralized debt obligation, collective bargaining, constrained optimization, Corn Laws, correlation does not imply causation, credit crunch, Credit Default Swap, credit default swaps / collateralized debt obligations, David Graeber, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, debt deflation, Deng Xiaoping, Donald Trump, Eugene Fama: efficient market hypothesis, eurozone crisis, fake news, financial deregulation, financial engineering, financial innovation, Financial Instability Hypothesis, forward guidance, Fractional reserve banking, full employment, Gini coefficient, Glass-Steagall Act, Goodhart's law, Growth in a Time of Debt, guns versus butter model, Hyman Minsky, income inequality, incomplete markets, inflation targeting, invisible hand, Isaac Newton, John Maynard Keynes: Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, Joseph Schumpeter, Kenneth Rogoff, Kondratiev cycle, labour market flexibility, labour mobility, land bank, law of one price, liberal capitalism, light touch regulation, liquidationism / Banker’s doctrine / the Treasury view, liquidity trap, long and variable lags, low interest rates, market clearing, market friction, Martin Wolf, means of production, Meghnad Desai, Mexican peso crisis / tequila crisis, mobile money, Modern Monetary Theory, Money creation, Mont Pelerin Society, moral hazard, mortgage debt, new economy, Nick Leeson, North Sea oil, Northern Rock, nudge theory, offshore financial centre, oil shock, open economy, paradox of thrift, Pareto efficiency, Paul Samuelson, Phillips curve, placebo effect, post-war consensus, price stability, profit maximization, proprietary trading, public intellectual, quantitative easing, random walk, regulatory arbitrage, rent-seeking, reserve currency, Richard Thaler, rising living standards, risk/return, road to serfdom, Robert Shiller, Ronald Reagan, savings glut, secular stagnation, shareholder value, short selling, Simon Kuznets, structural adjustment programs, technological determinism, The Chicago School, The Great Moderation, the payments system, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, Thorstein Veblen, tontine, too big to fail, trade liberalization, value at risk, Washington Consensus, yield curve, zero-sum game

The government expected that the announcement of the monetary targets would lower the inflationary expectations of wage-bargainers, enabling prices to come down with only a moderate increase in unemployment. It did not work this way. With the failure of the money supply figures to behave as required, Thatcher and Howe resorted to monetary and fiscal shock therapy. A bank rate of 17 per cent drove up the exchange rate, already strengthened by North Sea oil revenues. Superimposed on this was a savagely deflationary budget in 1981, which took £4 billion out of the economy 186 t h e t h e ory a n d p r ac t ic e of mon e ta r i sm when unemployment was already rising – the first time since 1931 when, with output rapidly falling, budgetary policy was tightened.


pages: 645 words: 190,680

The Taking of Getty Oil: Pennzoil, Texaco, and the Takeover Battle That Made History by Steve Coll

business cycle, Carl Icahn, corporate governance, corporate raider, financial innovation, interchangeable parts, Jarndyce and Jarndyce, jitney, North Sea oil, power law, Ralph Nader, Ronald Reagan, stock buybacks

AT&T, 408 Medberry, Chauncey, III, 59, 60, 137, 147–148, 179, 182, 185–186, 225, 286, 291, 302, 312, 319 at emergency takeover directors meeting, 303–306, 318 merger mania, 48, 155 Merger Mania (Boesky), 478 Miller, Keeton, Bristow & Brown, 400, 403, 475 Miller, Richard: background of, 400–403 Boisi and, 436–437 closing argument by, 457, 458–459 as confident, 408–409 damages issue and, 408, 456, 468–469 Farris and, 433–435 in Great Zipper Incident, 422–423 Jamail and, 407, 409–410, 423 in jury selection, 413–414 Liedtke cross-examined by, 420–423 Lipton’s testimony and, 441, 447 Terrell and, 404–407 at Texaco board meeting, 450 Winokur’s testimony and, 427–435 Miller, Robert, 37–38, 40–41, 46, 48–49, 137, 297 Mobil Oil, 47, 55, 56 Montgomery Ward, 55 Morgan Stanley & Company, 104, 116, 196, 344 Mukluk project, 340 Municipal Assistance Corporation, 196–197, 258 Murphy, Thomas, 355 Musick, Peeler & Garrett, 90 Nader, Ralph, 345 National Football League, 36 Nelson, Willie, 390, 411 Neutral zone oil reserves, 11, 42 New York City financial crisis, 196–197, 258 New York Times, 249, 421 Nickens, J. C., 430, 433, 456–457 Nixon, Richard, 243, 248 North Sea oil reserves, 42 Norton Simon conglomerate, 153 Nutten, Wesley, 122–125 Oakland Raiders, 36, 39 O’Donnell, Dan, 198 oil industry: collusion in, 335–336 diversification in, 55–56 exploration spending in, 54–55 megacorporations in, 109–110 public perception of, 335–336 royalty trusts in, 50 stock prices in, 50–52 U.S. reserves in, 52–53 O’Melveny & Meyers, 125–126 OPEC, 51, 53, 335, 336, 337, 339 Osterkamp, Horst, 26 Palmer, Arnold, 257, 335 Papamarkou, Alexander, 46–47, 269 Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, 266, 324, 325, 333, 386–387 Pennzoil Company, 243 as aggressor company, 336 antitrust suits initiated by, 383 breach-of-contract suit brought by, 385–387 entrepreneurship cult in, 247–248 in liquidation state, 248–249 public relations work for, 324–325 Pennzoil/Getty takeover attempt advisors’ meetings on, 266–269, 323–331 agreement in principle in, 326–327, 329–331, 350–351 attorneys’ delay in, 357–358 “Christmas surprise” in, 252–253 direct meeting in, 267–269 divorce clause in, 267 ERC problem in, 358 fairness opinion in, 292–293, 300 final merger agreement in, 325, 332–335 four-sevenths plan in, 278, 284, 292 Getty employees and, 333 Getty family lawsuit and, 262–263, 358 initial proposals for, 249–252 Liedtke/Getty summit on, 274–283 museum shares in, 259–260, 279, 281–282 Pennzoil directors in, 253–255 press release on, 324–331 public stockholders in, 323–324, 300–331 self-tender defense in, 269–273 share price in, 261–262, 279–284, 292, 322 “split the blanket clause” in, 278 subsidiaries in, 253 tactical lawsuits filed in, 383–384 tender offer in, 252 Texaco merger negotiations and, 375–377 Pennzoil v.


pages: 840 words: 202,245

Age of Greed: The Triumph of Finance and the Decline of America, 1970 to the Present by Jeff Madrick

Abraham Maslow, accounting loophole / creative accounting, Alan Greenspan, AOL-Time Warner, Asian financial crisis, bank run, Bear Stearns, book value, Bretton Woods, business cycle, capital controls, Carl Icahn, collapse of Lehman Brothers, collateralized debt obligation, credit crunch, Credit Default Swap, credit default swaps / collateralized debt obligations, currency risk, desegregation, disintermediation, diversified portfolio, Donald Trump, financial deregulation, fixed income, floating exchange rates, Frederick Winslow Taylor, full employment, George Akerlof, Glass-Steagall Act, Greenspan put, Hyman Minsky, income inequality, index fund, inflation targeting, inventory management, invisible hand, John Bogle, John Meriwether, junk bonds, Kitchen Debate, laissez-faire capitalism, locking in a profit, Long Term Capital Management, low interest rates, market bubble, Mary Meeker, Michael Milken, minimum wage unemployment, MITM: man-in-the-middle, Money creation, money market fund, Mont Pelerin Society, moral hazard, mortgage debt, Myron Scholes, new economy, Nixon triggered the end of the Bretton Woods system, North Sea oil, Northern Rock, oil shock, Paul Samuelson, Philip Mirowski, Phillips curve, price stability, quantitative easing, Ralph Nader, rent control, road to serfdom, Robert Bork, Robert Shiller, Ronald Coase, Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan: Tear down this wall, scientific management, shareholder value, short selling, Silicon Valley, Simon Kuznets, tail risk, Tax Reform Act of 1986, technology bubble, Telecommunications Act of 1996, The Chicago School, The Great Moderation, too big to fail, union organizing, V2 rocket, value at risk, Vanguard fund, War on Poverty, Washington Consensus, Y2K, Yom Kippur War

“It must have been 1979. I wanted to use the money for a philanthropic purpose. I wanted to set up a sort of Brookings Institution in England. So I went to Brookings and they said, ‘Why do it [with someone] there, why not do it with us?’ So I [financed] a Brookings study of Britain’s future with the North Sea oil discoveries. We had the conference at Ditchley. It was the most expensive weekend of my life and the most unproductive. It was methodology running rampant. They used all this analysis and didn’t have anything to say. But I got to know the British Treasury and the bank loan officials. Then Margaret Thatcher raised interest rates and their Treasury bonds fell in price tremendously.


pages: 716 words: 192,143

The Enlightened Capitalists by James O'Toole

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", "World Economic Forum" Davos, Abraham Maslow, activist fund / activist shareholder / activist investor, anti-communist, Ayatollah Khomeini, benefit corporation, Bernie Madoff, Bletchley Park, book value, British Empire, business cycle, business logic, business process, California gold rush, carbon footprint, City Beautiful movement, collective bargaining, company town, compensation consultant, Cornelius Vanderbilt, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, Credit Default Swap, crowdsourcing, cryptocurrency, desegregation, do well by doing good, Donald Trump, double entry bookkeeping, end world poverty, equal pay for equal work, Frederick Winslow Taylor, full employment, garden city movement, germ theory of disease, glass ceiling, God and Mammon, greed is good, high-speed rail, hiring and firing, income inequality, indoor plumbing, inventory management, invisible hand, James Hargreaves, job satisfaction, joint-stock company, Kickstarter, knowledge worker, Lao Tzu, Larry Ellison, longitudinal study, Louis Pasteur, Lyft, Marc Benioff, means of production, Menlo Park, North Sea oil, passive investing, Ponzi scheme, profit maximization, profit motive, Ralph Waldo Emerson, rolodex, Ronald Reagan, Salesforce, scientific management, shareholder value, Silicon Valley, Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits, Socratic dialogue, sovereign wealth fund, spinning jenny, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, stock buybacks, stocks for the long run, stocks for the long term, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Tim Cook: Apple, traveling salesman, Uber and Lyft, uber lyft, union organizing, Vanguard fund, white flight, women in the workforce, young professional

Hence, coal companies can be included if they have good governance and treat their employees well.27 And the highly activist Norwegian national sovereignty fund, which does not invest in coal, is now considering divesting its holdings in oil and gas companies—a rather controversial subject, given that the source of the fund’s $1 trillion in assets is North Sea oil and gas!28 It is clear why managers of ESG funds are in need of guidelines when choosing which corporate stocks to buy and which to divest: Is clean-car-maker Tesla a virtuous company even though it has a terrible employee-safety record? Are the baddies the makers of cigarettes, whiskey, and firearms?


Energy and Civilization: A History by Vaclav Smil

8-hour work day, additive manufacturing, agricultural Revolution, animal electricity, Apollo 11, Boeing 747, business cycle, carbon-based life, centre right, Charles Babbage, decarbonisation, dematerialisation, Deng Xiaoping, Easter island, en.wikipedia.org, energy security, energy transition, epigenetics, Exxon Valdez, Fairchild Semiconductor, Ford Model T, Frederick Winslow Taylor, Great Leap Forward, high-speed rail, hydraulic fracturing, income inequality, Indoor air pollution, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), invention of gunpowder, James Watt: steam engine, Jevons paradox, John Harrison: Longitude, Joseph-Marie Jacquard, Just-in-time delivery, Kaizen: continuous improvement, Kibera, knowledge economy, land tenure, language acquisition, Lewis Mumford, lone genius, Louis Blériot, mass immigration, megacity, megaproject, Menlo Park, mutually assured destruction, North Sea oil, ocean acidification, oil shale / tar sands, peak oil, phenotype, precision agriculture, purchasing power parity, QWERTY keyboard, Richard Feynman, scientific management, Silicon Valley, Suez canal 1869, Toyota Production System, transcontinental railway, uranium enrichment, Yom Kippur War

British output reached a peak of 292 Mt in 1913, and coal energized not only Britain’s industries but also the nineteenth-century expansion of its colonial empire and, through its dominance of naval forces and commercial shipping, also the functioning of its trade empire. In 1947, at the time the Labour government nationalized the industry and created the National Coal Board, it was still almost 200 Mt (Smil 2010a). The postwar peak came in 1952 (and again in1957) at 228 Mt, but then the rising imports of crude oil and, after 1970, the availability of the North Sea oil and natural gas halved the country’s coal dependence by 1980. Figure 5.13 British coal production, 1700–2015. Plotted from data in Nef (1932) and Department of Energy & Climate Change (2015). During a long coal miners’ strike of 1984 the total output fell to 51 Mt, and then recovered only brief before resuming its fall which continued after re-privatization in 1994 (Smil 2010a).


pages: 1,510 words: 218,417

Lonely Planet Norway (Travel Guide) by Lonely Planet, Donna Wheeler

car-free, carbon credits, carbon footprint, centre right, company town, energy security, high-speed rail, illegal immigration, low cost airline, mass immigration, Mikhail Gorbachev, North Sea oil, place-making, Skype, sustainable-tourism, trade route, urban renewal

Sogn og Fjordane KystmuseetMUSEUM (%57 74 22 33; kyst.museum.no; Brendøyvegen; adult/child Nkr60/30; h11am-6pm Mon-Fri, noon-4pm Sat & Sun Jun-Aug, 10am-3pm Mon-Fri, noon-3pm Sat & Sun Sep-May) The first museum building is dedicated to fishing, including a model 1900 fishing family's home and exhibits on the foundation of the island as a small herring trading post barely 150 years ago. A second houses a collection of typical coastal boats. The Snorreankeret display – in a building that has the shape of the original oil platform that first pumped the country's oil – illustrates the exploration and exploitation of the North Sea oil and gas fields. 2Activities Boating Florø Rorbu ( GOOGLE MAP ; %57 74 81 00; www.florbu.com; Krokane Kai) hires motor boats (Nkr200 to Nkr400 per day) and sea kayaks (Nkr200 per day), while Krokane Camping (%57 75 22 50; www.krocamp.no) rents out rowing boats (Nkr100 per day) and motor boats (from Nkr200/300 per three hours/day).


Scandinavia by Andy Symington

call centre, carbon footprint, centre right, clean water, connected car, edge city, Eyjafjallajökull, full employment, glass ceiling, Kickstarter, low cost airline, mass immigration, New Urbanism, North Sea oil, out of africa, period drama, retail therapy, Skype, the built environment, three-masted sailing ship, trade route, urban sprawl, walkable city, work culture , young professional

From Hjørring you can take a DSB train to Aalborg (Dkr81, 45 minutes, once or twice hourly) or Frederikshavn (Dkr54, 30 minutes, once or twice hourly). Esbjerg POP 71,500 As with many industrial ports, most visitors to Esbjerg rush through as quickly as possible. That said, there are attractive parts to this interesting town, as well as one or two excellent attractions. Esbjerg is the centre of Denmark’s extensive North Sea oil activities and in recent years the export of wind turbines has replaced the fishing industry as a major source of income. Although Esbjerg has its fair share of early 20th-century buildings, if period charm is what you’re after then head straight to nearby Ribe. Sights & Activities Esbjerg Kunstmuseum MUSEUM (Havnegade 20; adult/child Dkr50/free; 10am-4pm) The single most worthwhile place to visit in town is the Esbjerg Kunstmuseum, an impressive gallery with an important collection of Danish modern art, including work by Asger Jorn.


pages: 1,205 words: 308,891

Bourgeois Dignity: Why Economics Can't Explain the Modern World by Deirdre N. McCloskey

"Friedman doctrine" OR "shareholder theory", Airbnb, Akira Okazaki, antiwork, behavioural economics, big-box store, Black Swan, book scanning, British Empire, business cycle, buy low sell high, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, classic study, clean water, Columbian Exchange, conceptual framework, correlation does not imply causation, Costa Concordia, creative destruction, critique of consumerism, crony capitalism, dark matter, Dava Sobel, David Graeber, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, deindustrialization, demographic transition, Deng Xiaoping, do well by doing good, Donald Trump, double entry bookkeeping, electricity market, en.wikipedia.org, epigenetics, Erik Brynjolfsson, experimental economics, Ferguson, Missouri, food desert, Ford Model T, fundamental attribution error, Garrett Hardin, Georg Cantor, George Akerlof, George Gilder, germ theory of disease, Gini coefficient, God and Mammon, Great Leap Forward, greed is good, Gunnar Myrdal, Hans Rosling, Henry Ford's grandson gave labor union leader Walter Reuther a tour of the company’s new, automated factory…, Hernando de Soto, immigration reform, income inequality, interchangeable parts, invention of agriculture, invention of writing, invisible hand, Isaac Newton, Islamic Golden Age, James Watt: steam engine, Jane Jacobs, John Harrison: Longitude, John Maynard Keynes: technological unemployment, Joseph Schumpeter, Kenneth Arrow, knowledge economy, labor-force participation, lake wobegon effect, land reform, liberation theology, lone genius, Lyft, Mahatma Gandhi, Mark Zuckerberg, market fundamentalism, means of production, middle-income trap, military-industrial complex, Naomi Klein, new economy, Nick Bostrom, North Sea oil, Occupy movement, open economy, out of africa, Pareto efficiency, Paul Samuelson, Pax Mongolica, Peace of Westphalia, peak oil, Peter Singer: altruism, Philip Mirowski, Pier Paolo Pasolini, pink-collar, plutocrats, positional goods, profit maximization, profit motive, public intellectual, purchasing power parity, race to the bottom, refrigerator car, rent control, rent-seeking, Republic of Letters, road to serfdom, Robert Gordon, Robert Shiller, Ronald Coase, Scientific racism, Scramble for Africa, Second Machine Age, secular stagnation, seminal paper, Simon Kuznets, Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits, spinning jenny, stakhanovite, Steve Jobs, tacit knowledge, TED Talk, the Cathedral and the Bazaar, The Chicago School, The Market for Lemons, the rule of 72, The Spirit Level, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, Thorstein Veblen, total factor productivity, Toyota Production System, Tragedy of the Commons, transaction costs, transatlantic slave trade, Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen: Great Stagnation, uber lyft, union organizing, very high income, wage slave, Washington Consensus, working poor, Yogi Berra

In 2013 Nigeria still ranked 144th out of 177 countries in perceived honesty.2 Channeling more money toward such a government is probably not going to improve public health and private welfare, any more than channeling money to a government dominated by people rich by inheritance from their violent ancestors or rich by the exercise of state-enforced monopolies, or for that matter channeling money to Mafia thieves. Before liberalism, almost all governments were thieves. The news to my gentle social-democratic friends is that most of them still are. Honest governments are rare. The Norwegian government gets a good deal of its income from North Sea oil but is honest and therefore not subject to the resource curse in the style of Nigeria. But the state of Alaska benefits from oil, too, and is among the most corrupt of American states. Ireland has benefited greatly from subsidies delivered by the Common Market, but its governance is a little honest, and therefore the government has not become arrogantly corrupt from its subsidies.


pages: 1,335 words: 336,772

The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance by Ron Chernow

Alan Greenspan, always be closing, bank run, banking crisis, Bear Stearns, Big bang: deregulation of the City of London, Black Monday: stock market crash in 1987, Bolshevik threat, book value, Boycotts of Israel, Bretton Woods, British Empire, buy and hold, California gold rush, capital controls, Carl Icahn, Charles Lindbergh, collective bargaining, Cornelius Vanderbilt, corporate raider, death from overwork, Dutch auction, Etonian, financial deregulation, financial engineering, fixed income, German hyperinflation, Glass-Steagall Act, index arbitrage, interest rate swap, junk bonds, low interest rates, margin call, Michael Milken, military-industrial complex, money market fund, Monroe Doctrine, North Sea oil, oil shale / tar sands, old-boy network, paper trading, plutocrats, Robert Gordon, Ronald Reagan, short selling, stock buybacks, strikebreaker, Suez canal 1869, Suez crisis 1956, the market place, the payments system, too big to fail, transcontinental railway, undersea cable, Yom Kippur War, young professional

This dwarfed America’s top asset manager among wholesale firms, Morgan Stanley, with its meager $11 billion. At 23 Great Winchester, pension money for San Francisco, the state of California, Fort Worth, and the Rockefeller Foundation was handled. It was also distinguished in trade and project financing. Morgan Grenfell had led in financing North Sea oil and chalked up several energy triumphs, including the record $1.6-billion financing for Woodside Petroleum’s natural gas project in Australia, the biggest such loan ever to hit the Euromarkets. It was also active in financing projects in the Soviet Union. And when other banks wrote off Africa in the 1970s as poor and hopelessly indebted, Morgan Grenfell established a business advising black African states.


pages: 1,336 words: 415,037

The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder

affirmative action, Alan Greenspan, Albert Einstein, anti-communist, AOL-Time Warner, Ayatollah Khomeini, barriers to entry, Bear Stearns, Black Monday: stock market crash in 1987, Bob Noyce, Bonfire of the Vanities, book value, Brownian motion, capital asset pricing model, card file, centralized clearinghouse, Charles Lindbergh, collateralized debt obligation, computerized trading, Cornelius Vanderbilt, corporate governance, corporate raider, Credit Default Swap, credit default swaps / collateralized debt obligations, desegregation, do what you love, Donald Trump, Eugene Fama: efficient market hypothesis, Everybody Ought to Be Rich, Fairchild Semiconductor, Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, financial engineering, Ford Model T, Garrett Hardin, Glass-Steagall Act, global village, Golden Gate Park, Greenspan put, Haight Ashbury, haute cuisine, Honoré de Balzac, If something cannot go on forever, it will stop - Herbert Stein's Law, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, index fund, indoor plumbing, intangible asset, interest rate swap, invisible hand, Isaac Newton, it's over 9,000, Jeff Bezos, John Bogle, John Meriwether, joint-stock company, joint-stock limited liability company, junk bonds, Larry Ellison, Long Term Capital Management, Louis Bachelier, low interest rates, margin call, market bubble, Marshall McLuhan, medical malpractice, merger arbitrage, Michael Milken, Mikhail Gorbachev, military-industrial complex, money market fund, moral hazard, NetJets, new economy, New Journalism, North Sea oil, paper trading, passive investing, Paul Samuelson, pets.com, Plato's cave, plutocrats, Ponzi scheme, proprietary trading, Ralph Nader, random walk, Ronald Reagan, Salesforce, Scientific racism, shareholder value, short selling, side project, Silicon Valley, Steve Ballmer, Steve Jobs, supply-chain management, telemarketer, The Predators' Ball, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, tontine, too big to fail, Tragedy of the Commons, transcontinental railway, two and twenty, Upton Sinclair, War on Poverty, Works Progress Administration, Y2K, yellow journalism, zero-coupon bond

It bought farm-equipment maker CTB Industries and teamed with investment bank Lehman Brothers to lend $1.3 billion to struggling Reliant Energy. Ajit Jain quickly moved into the terrorism-insurance business, filling a sudden vacuum by insuring airlines, Rockefeller Center, the Chrysler Building, a South American oil refinery, a North Sea oil platform, and the Sears Tower in Chicago. Berkshire was paid to unburden the Olympics of the dubious risk that either the Games would be canceled or the U.S. would not show up at least twice before 2012. It insured the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City against a terrorist attack. It insured the FIFA World Cup soccer championship against terrorism.23 Buffett was handicapping.


pages: 1,060 words: 265,296

Wealth and Poverty of Nations by David S. Landes

Admiral Zheng, affirmative action, agricultural Revolution, Atahualpa, Ayatollah Khomeini, Bartolomé de las Casas, book value, British Empire, business cycle, Cape to Cairo, classic study, clean water, colonial rule, Columbian Exchange, computer age, David Ricardo: comparative advantage, deindustrialization, deskilling, European colonialism, Fellow of the Royal Society, financial intermediation, Francisco Pizarro, germ theory of disease, glass ceiling, high-speed rail, illegal immigration, income inequality, Index librorum prohibitorum, interchangeable parts, invention of agriculture, invention of movable type, invisible hand, Isaac Newton, it's over 9,000, James Watt: steam engine, John Harrison: Longitude, joint-stock company, Just-in-time delivery, Kenneth Arrow, land tenure, lateral thinking, Lewis Mumford, mass immigration, Mexican peso crisis / tequila crisis, MITM: man-in-the-middle, Monroe Doctrine, Murano, Venice glass, new economy, New Urbanism, North Sea oil, out of africa, passive investing, Paul Erdős, Paul Samuelson, Philip Mirowski, rent-seeking, Right to Buy, Robert Solow, Savings and loan crisis, Scramble for Africa, Simon Kuznets, South China Sea, spice trade, spinning jenny, Suez canal 1869, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, trade route, transaction costs, transatlantic slave trade, Vilfredo Pareto, zero-sum game

O f course, no country can maintain a gain of 8 percent per year over a century, what with linked constraints, accidental reverses, cyclical downers, changes in government, compe­ tition, and the soothing corruption o f success. Even Japan has had its setbacks in real estate and banking; while the increase in the exchange value of the yen chilled demand for Japanese manufactures. In contrast British industry, buoyed by North Sea oil, hospitality to foreign enter­ prise, and Margaret Thatcher's showdown with tool-dragging labor chiefs, has done better since the 1980s.* A final word about the United States o f America. At the end o f World War II, with just about all industrial rivals in ruins, America ac­ counted for the greater part of world industrial product.


Europe: A History by Norman Davies

agricultural Revolution, Albert Einstein, anti-communist, Berlin Wall, bread and circuses, Bretton Woods, British Empire, business climate, centre right, charter city, classic study, clean water, Columbian Exchange, conceptual framework, continuation of politics by other means, Corn Laws, cuban missile crisis, Defenestration of Prague, discovery of DNA, disinformation, double entry bookkeeping, Dr. Strangelove, Edmond Halley, Edward Lloyd's coffeehouse, equal pay for equal work, Eratosthenes, Etonian, European colonialism, experimental economics, financial independence, finite state, Francis Fukuyama: the end of history, Francisco Pizarro, full employment, gentleman farmer, global village, Gregor Mendel, Honoré de Balzac, Index librorum prohibitorum, interchangeable parts, invention of agriculture, invention of movable type, Isaac Newton, James Hargreaves, James Watt: steam engine, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johannes Kepler, John Harrison: Longitude, joint-stock company, Joseph-Marie Jacquard, Korean Air Lines Flight 007, land reform, liberation theology, long peace, Louis Blériot, Louis Daguerre, Mahatma Gandhi, mass immigration, Mikhail Gorbachev, military-industrial complex, Monroe Doctrine, Murano, Venice glass, music of the spheres, New Urbanism, North Sea oil, offshore financial centre, Peace of Westphalia, Plato's cave, popular capitalism, Potemkin village, purchasing power parity, Ralph Waldo Emerson, road to serfdom, sceptred isle, Scramble for Africa, spinning jenny, Suez canal 1869, Suez crisis 1956, Thales of Miletus, the scientific method, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, trade route, transatlantic slave trade, Transnistria, urban planning, urban sprawl, W. E. B. Du Bois

From the 1960s, Western Europe was embarrassed by colossal surpluses—the notorious ‘butter mountains’, ‘wine lakes’, and gargantuan ‘grain hills’ of the CAP. Power generation moved steadily away from the traditional coal to oil, natural gas, hydroelectricity, and nuclear fuels. France, in particular, made vast investments in hydroelectricity and nuclear power stations. The discovery of North Sea oil and gas off Scotland and Norway in the 1970s reduced dependence on foreign imports. The infrastructure of transport was expanded beyond all recognition. State railway networks were electrified and rationalized. In the case of the SNCF’s Train de Grande Vitesse (TGV), introduced in 1981, France moved into the era of supertrains equalled only in Japan.


Great Britain by David Else, Fionn Davenport

active transport: walking or cycling, Albert Einstein, Beeching cuts, Boris Johnson, British Empire, call centre, car-free, carbon footprint, clean water, colonial rule, Columbine, congestion charging, country house hotel, credit crunch, Crossrail, David Attenborough, Etonian, food miles, gentrification, glass ceiling, global village, haute cuisine, high-speed rail, illegal immigration, Isaac Newton, James Watt: steam engine, Kickstarter, land reform, Livingstone, I presume, Mahatma Gandhi, mass immigration, mega-rich, negative equity, new economy, North Ronaldsay sheep, North Sea oil, Northern Rock, offshore financial centre, period drama, place-making, retail therapy, Skype, Sloane Ranger, South of Market, San Francisco, Stephen Hawking, the market place, three-masted sailing ship, trade route, transatlantic slave trade, upwardly mobile, urban planning, urban renewal, urban sprawl, Winter of Discontent

The rest of the region boosts Scottish stereotypes with castles (bleak Dunnottar or boutique Balmoral), whisky, with dozens of distilleries in and around Dufftown, and epic hills, at their best around Braemar. Return to beginning of chapter ABERDEEN pop 184,788 Scotland’s third city was a place in seemingly inevitable decline, with industry changing and fishing going belly-up, when a ‘there she blows’ from offshore signalled not a whale, but the discovery of North Sea oil in the early 1960s. Aberdeen’s large harbour made it the perfect base for the industry, and it’s now a thriving city, whose economy is driven by the oil and gas reserves. Its nickname ‘The Granite City’ may conjure up images of a dour sort of town, but not so; the soft Aberdonian tones mingle here with the accents of transient multinational oilworkers and a large student population from around the country, ensuring that the inviting pubs, roaring clubs and decent restaurants are always busy.