Society

A few weeks ago, folks were busy claiming that this financial crisis and the ensuing recession would mark the end of American hegemony. But, as the Washington Post points out in its editorial today, it is America’s enemies who look like they are going to be hardest hit by it. Those petro-states that have been buoyed up by the high-oil price, are in a far weaker position now oil is $65 a barrel. As the Post puts it: “Unless oil prices quickly recover, Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are likely to face even tougher domestic economic challenges in 2009 than the next U.S. president. According to independent estimates,

If the Deripaksa affair persuades the Tories that they need to vet everyone from whom a shadow cabinet member accepts hospitality and that the shadow cabinet should be kept as far away as possible from the soliciting of donations then some good will have come of it. The Observer reports today that the vetting process designed to stop David Cameron meeting people who could embarrass the party will now be extended to ‘other senior figures’ and that senior Tories are pressing for all donations to be left to Feldman. But there are still other potential pitfalls the Tories need to deal with. First, and most pressingly, there is the issue of

Gordon Brown’s political strategy for the recession involves claiming that it came from America, that Britain is uniquely well placed to deal with it thanks to his policy decisions and that only he has the experience to see the country through this crisis. But as the Observer points out in its editorial today—entitled “It’s your recession, Mr Brown. Deal with it”—these claims are simply not accurate:  “The implication is that recession is a foreign ailment that the UK only contracted through its exposure to global financial markets. But for a decade, the government promoted the City of London as the international centre of financial services. A financial boom poured cheap credit into