Accident and Emergency – a small story of a hospital that worked.

Today I am going to tell you about something that happened to me in a not very rich European country, which got me thinking about our health system. Before I start, there will be no moral to this story. There will be no “We should do this” or “We...

Till debt do us part

This may seem like a distasteful question to pose on a Sunday morning, particularly if you are sitting across the kitchen table from someone you love, but I’ll ask it anyway: do you think divorces are good for the housing market? Or, to put it another way, did...

Why technology is going to destroy middle class professions

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – Because I...

Economics of sin

  Did you know there is an acute cocaine shortage in England at the moment? The scarcity is made all the more acute due to the fact that the World Cup apparently drives up cocaine consumption dramatically. According to dealers, good weather and an evening match has...

Print and be saved?

If you only have to look at one chart this week, let it be the one on this page (chart one). It shows how Europe and Ireland have become cash economies because bank lending has collapsed. This slump in bank lending is why the European Central Bank (ECB) introduced...

Is housing too important to be left to estate agents?

It is hard to believe that we are at it again, but we are and it’s kind of surreal. I was walking past a small end-of-estate, three-bedroomed semi the other day. It is for sale, and it is going for auction – a sure sign that the mania is upon us again. The...