economist

Jul 07 09:51

Fair Trading

By: Ciarán Tags:

There's a good interview with John Fingleton in today's Times. I think Fingleton lectured me when I was an economics undergrad, before he moved on to the Competition Authority. He always seemed like a very nice guy. Anyway, he's now chief executive of the UK's Office of Fair Trading and is doing an excellent job to my mind.

The best line in the interview has him reflecting on his relative anonymity, where most people seem to think that the OFT has something to do with coffee:

'It was the same when I was in Ireland at the Competition Authority,' he says. 'We had schools writing in asking what competitions we were organising.'

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Jan 19 09:09

Blair's Gonzo Journalism

By: Ciarán Tags:

This video is well worth the ten minutes: Bill Emmott, ex-editor of Silvio Berlusconi's favourite Communist gazette, the Economist, on editorial decisions over the war and on Blair. I like his line on Blair's case for war. Blair, Emmott argues, was attemping to represent truths about his beliefs on Iraq through the medium of evocative fictions. In other words, Blair is a Gonzo journalist. As Emmott points out, this is somewhat more forgiveable in an actual journalist than in a politician.

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