If anyone could go one better in fiction after the Harry Potter books, it ought to have been JK Rowling herself. Sadly, The Casual Vacancy has to go down as her worst book, and I haven’t checked if she’s written any since. My father bought The Casual Vacancy – that too, a hardback – a… Continue reading Sleazy Potboiler After Potter
As we come to the end of the second pandemic year, we are being forced to confront the same old ugly reality: rising inequality. Come to think of it, we have had to live with this for the past couple of decades and more. And despite two massive crises of a global nature – the… Continue reading Coming Soon: The Revolt of the 90%
The last time I wrote about Europe’s economy, it was in the context of global economic recovery, jobs and employment and how many people who had been furloughed were back to full-time work. Now that we know that the European economy has grown healthily in the second quarter of 2021, we must remember that it… Continue reading Europe’s Economic Recovery Could Be Hit by Own Goal
Boris Johnson has “got Brexit done” and it was hard to miss the photograph of him cheerfully grinning with a thumbs-up sign in newspapers even in India. Phew! What a relief, is what most Britons must be thinking. Surely, they are not feeling terribly ecstatic over Brexit. Especially not when the country is also grappling… Continue reading What next for Britain and Europe after Brexit?
At the start of the Covid pandemic, we all faced shortages at grocery supermarkets and while some of it was due to panic buying, the main culprit was supply shortages due to lockdowns imposed. It has been widely reported that due to lockdowns as well as economic and job uncertainty, many consumers were forced to… Continue reading Open to the World, Covid or Not
Right now, with Covid-19 wreaking havoc across the world, launching a new brand or embarking on a new future would be the last thing on people’s minds. Yet, think about the new future that awaits Britain at the end of this year. It will be a whole new world of business, living and working that… Continue reading Corporate Brands and the Idea of Renewal
Like most countries around the world, Britain too has been caught in the grip of the coronavirus pandemic for the past many months. However, now that the country has reopened on the 4th of July, it will have to finally tackle the other challenge facing it: Brexit. And while nobody knows how long Covid-19 will… Continue reading Till Brexit Do Them Part
Never was there a parliamentary election in the UK more consequential and important than the one that just concluded a fortnight ago. It was supposed to be about Britain searching for her identity, her place in the world. Instead, it was just another referendum on Brexit, as was expected. After all the political theatre around… Continue reading Why Britain Might Be Leaving Its Future Behind in 2019 Election
It’s around three and a half years since Britons voted in a referendum to leave the European Union by a narrow margin of 52 to 48. That alone should have told UK’s lawmakers how divided opinion is on the issue of whether to leave the 40-year old union with the European Union. After all these… Continue reading Businesses Brace for Brexit Doldrums
When we look at the state of the global economy, the US-China trade war, the Brexit drama as it unfolds in parliament which has been prorogued, the immigration debate or indeed, the economic slowdown in India, it becomes quite apparent that what we are witnessing is not greater turbulence, but less leadership. And less of… Continue reading Leadership in Today’s World
Peripatetic Perch 