James Buchan
Articles by James Buchan
Results 1 to 10 of 25
Asia
Ayatollah Khomeini's funeral
- 12 March 2009
- 13 comments
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
Economy
An inevitable crisis
- 18 December 2008
- 4 comments
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
Economy
The fire next time
- 13 November 2008
- 14 comments
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
Economy
When Keynes went to America
- 06 November 2008
- 3 comments
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
Business
The great crash of 2008
- 25 September 2008
- 42 comments
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
Books
Too much oil, too few options
- 11 September 2008
- 2 comments
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?
Ideas
. . . and a prosperous New Year?
- 13 December 2007
- 3 comments
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?
Environment
Oil: We're addicted
- 17 July 2006
- 1 comment
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.
