New Statesman -

Crude World: the Violent Twilight of Oil

James Buchan — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:51:49 GMT

Ayatollah Khomeini's funeral

James Buchan — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 09:28:44 GMT

The funeral of Ayatollah Khomeini was not a tragedy, writes James Buchan, but a gruesome farce: idolatrous, makeshift, deadly and utterly lacking in self-control

An inevitable crisis

James Buchan — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 09:44:59 GMT

Viewed from a distance, the events of 2008 will be seen as a particularly dramatic example of the age-old cycle of famine and feast. James Buchan reflects on a financial crisis of unprecedented size and complexity

The fire next time

James Buchan — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 09:32:47 GMT

Every attempt to make banks more responsible has made them more reckless. Unless the sector is radically reformed, future meltdowns will make the current crisis look routine

When Keynes went to America

James Buchan — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 09:18:10 GMT

The first Bretton Woods meeting was intended to establish a postwar money regime and secure funds for rebuilding Europe. It nearly killed the British mastermind behind it

The great crash of 2008

James Buchan — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:22:58 GMT

The world's financial institutions are gripped by fear, yet policymakers can do nothing. They are ignorant of how banks now work and have to take poacher-turned-gamekeeper Henry Paulson at his word

Too much oil, too few options

James Buchan — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:52:02 GMT

Saudi Arabia may seem rigid, autocratic and antiquated, but it is slowly changing. Under King Abdullah there has been some liberalisation and an attempt to build an economy not based on oil. But is this too little, too late?

. . . and a prosperous New Year?

James Buchan — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 12:00:00 GMT

Is the accumulation of wealth for its own sake disgusting, as Keynes believed - or is it simply human nature to pursue not happiness, but luxury?

Oil: We're addicted

James Buchan — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 12:00:00 GMT

James Buchan has been writing about oil since the 1970s. Here, at a moment when steepling prices, political tension and encroaching climate change seem to point to the terminal crisis, he offers his prognosis for the commodity that made the modern world.

Out there - East Anglia

James Buchan — Mon, 25 Apr 2005 12:00:00 GMT

James Buchan rates the politicians of Norfolk