ei Digest ™
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The ei Digest kick starts the morning for me – this little dose of wisdom hits the right spot! Lynda Gratton, Professor of Management Practice & Director, Centre for Women in Business, London Business School
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Listen to our latest eiClub discussion ‘Pre-Oscars Special: They made my book into a film’ held in association with Somerset House Trust Click here to listen.
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Comment Headlines
Stories dominating today’s comment pages…
- INTERVENTION IN SYRIA: In The Times Philip Collins believes the practical arguments against military intervention in Syria are overwhelming. But there is a lot that can be done short of marching in. In The FT Emile Nakhleh, a former director of the CIA Political Islam Strategic Analysis Programme, thinks sooner or later the number of casualties will be such that the west is compelled to act. It should do that now rather than wait. The Independent’s Adrian Hamilton says the death of three journalists in Homs is not going to get the West to intervene in Syria, however passionate the feelings it may arouse. The Daily Telegraph’s Con Coughlin thinks there comes a point in every conflict when the world suddenly wakes up to the full horror of what is taking place in some far-away war zone, and demands that effective and immediate action is taken to end the bloodshed. We have reached that point in Syria.
- FINANCIAL INEQUALITY: In The Independent Sir Victor Blank, a former chairman of Lloyds Banking Group, GUS and Trinity Mirror, a UK Business Ambassador and a philanthropist, argues that big companies and banks are not all self-serving, even if some people portray them as such, but they can do more. Giving back to society is a no-brainer and should be an intrinsic part of capitalism today. But it needs action now from the corporate sector and from Government. The Daily Mail’s Richard Littlejohn thinks piling more taxes on the ‘wealthy’ has the potential to backfire spectacularly, hitting the very lower-paid people it is supposed to be helping. The FT’s Samuel Brittan is in favour of a land tax. Just as income tax is only levied above a threshold, there would have to be similar thresholds for a tax on land. If politicians really want to think about the unthinkable, as they sometimes claim, here is a place to start.
- ABORTION: In the Daily Mail Yasmin Alibhai-Brown says countless Asian couples from Britain are flying to the sub-continent specifically to abort female foetuses which the women are carrying. I firmly believe in the right to abortion if a woman feels it is the only path she can take, but am fiercely opposed to it if it is carried out simply as a means to wipe out a child because of its gender. The Daily Telegraph’s Theodore Dalrymple says the discovery that sexually selected termination of pregnancy is available in Britain should surprise no one; and if we are surprised, it can only be because we have not been paying attention for the past 40 years.
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The Big Society is a bad name for a good idea. Fraser Nelson, Daily Telegraph
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Leader Lines
We select the most interesting leaders of the day…
- BAD CARE: The Independent says the resignation of the chief executive of the Care Quality Commission comes not a moment too soon. Indeed, we would argue that Cynthia Bower should rightly have been sacked several times already, given the litany of scandals that has beset the health and social care watchdog during her years at the helm.
- THE BUDGET: The Times thinks it is time for a radical and meaningful vision on growth. It is time for a powerful signal to business that the Government wants to champion wealth creation. And it is time to look again at how Britain taxes income rather than wealth. A tax system not only raises revenue but reflects the values of the country. Above all we need a tax system that enables and encourages endeavour.
- PRESCRIPTION CHARGES: The Daily Express thinks nobody will celebrate the rise in prescription charges in England but neither should anybody behave as if it is a violation of basic human rights. With the public sector running a deficit equal to the entire budget of the NHS the idea that even the administrative costs of dispensing drugs should be borne entirely by taxpayers is quite unrealistic.
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Comment Cornucopia
Some of the wide-ranging topics covered today…
- LEXICON OF SLAUGHTER: In The International Herald Tribune law professor David Scheffer says legislators play a dangerous game using the word “genocide.” In trying to appease millions of victims, they needlessly pit nations against one another. They should leave it to others to sift through the evidence and determine what killings occurred when and which ones amount to what crimes. Political judgments distort the search for truth and for justice.
- MADEMOISELLE: The Daily Telegraph’s Anne-Elisabeth Moutet says it may feel like a victory to all those new feminist groups who’d decided to campaign over it, but I for one shall be sorry to see my Mademoiselle disappear from official French forms. The agitators had been after it for some time, but it is a truth universally acknowledged that if you want a quick media victory, you need only ask Nicolas Sarkozy when he’s running for a difficult re-election.
- THE FALKLANDS In The Guardian actor Sean Penn argues that as an American citizen whose position (or even any right to a position) over the Falklands has been called into question by a transparently corrupt and non-diligent propaganda machine that is much of the British press, my words of 12 February as well as my follow-up on 13 February in Montevideo, Uruguay, were, despite a complete video record, regurgitated through excerpt and flagrant manipulation. The legalisation of Argentinian immigration to the Malvinas/Falkland Islands is one that it seems might have been addressed, but for the speculative discovery of booming offshore oil in the surrounding seas this past year.
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Thought for the Day
from Polly Toynbee in The Guardian
The Sun also rises this Sunday, alas. Rupert Murdoch doesn’t do remorse for long.
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ei Digest Editor: Stephen Fleming
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The Names Not Numbers 2011 global report has now been launched. Click below to download your copy.
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What the Bloggertariat is saying today
Robert Peston – RBS: ‘Two more years of pain’
View website
Harry’s Place – Foamhenge
View website
FT Alphaville – Pink Picks
View website
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Tomorrow’s comment forecast
Come rain or shine there will be comment tomorrow. What might prompt it?
- Syria
- Lloyds losses
- Child migrants
The next eiClub event
Tuesday 27th March (am)
‘Economic Rebuild – Where are we now?’
In association with Sky News, R3 – Association of Business Recovery Professionals & kindly hosted by ICAP
Chair: Ed Conway, Economics Editor, Sky News
Panel to include: Frances Coulson, President, R3; Guy Fraser-Sampson, Senior Fellow, Cass Business School; Xavier Rolet, Chief Executive, London Stock Exchange Group and Jeremy Warner, Assistant Editor & Commentator, The Daily Telegraph
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Another eiClub event
Wednesday 28th March (half day)
Comment Conference: The Manufacturing Economy
In association with BAE Systems, Coca-Cola Enterprises and the Institute for Government.
More information coming soon at www.commentconference.com.
Please note this is an ei Special Event and not part of the usual eiClub programme, top tier ‘Personal Intelligence’ club members are eligible to attend.
For more details email or call 020 7759 1850
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