James Kanagasooriam

Coronavirus and the new world

The West’s failure to reap economic benefit from its greater levels of personal and political freedom has broken what I call the ‘Fukuyama Curve’ and its confidence. Given one parent was Sri Lankan and the other Singaporean, a commonly-cited stat in my childhood home was that both countries had similar GDPs back in the early

The margin between a Tory landslide and defeat is tiny

In next week’s election, it feels like voters would elect a Conservative president and a centre-left parliament if they had the choice. Denied those options they are muddling their way to a conclusion. But what will they decide? Firstly, it’s worth remembering that Corbynomics is popular. YouGov generically polled Labour policies and they were popular. But

Why Tories should think carefully before backing Boris

In my old job as an investment banker, there were two schools of thought about how to get the best return. Long-term funds – where money was invested over a number of years; and short-term ones – which sought quick returns wherever it could be found. The Conservative party now finds itself facing a similar dilemma: