Good news from Tokyo this week, where French President François Hollande used the occasion of a state visit to Japan to announce that the Eurozone crisis is over. So, that’s alright then. Mr Hollande developed his up-beat thesis by asserting that the recent unpleasantness will result in long-term benefits, as it has led to banking union, as well as better economic governance and better intra-government coordination. At which point less ebullient observers might be forgiven for sounding a cautionary note – that it may lead to these desirable things but hasn’t conclusively done so, at least not yet. The worst (if you take a very optimistic view) could be over, but basic disagreements … [Read more...] about Tales for Tapas: Japanese lessons
Japan
Beyond their ken?
"To a herd of rams, the ram the herdsman drives each evening into a special enclosure to feed and that becomes twice as fat as the others must seem to be a genius. And it must appear an astonishing conjunction of genius with a whole series of extraordinary chances that this ram, who instead of getting into the general fold every evening goes into a special enclosure where there are oats- that this very ram, swelling with fat, is killed for meat". - Tolstoy, ‘War & Peace’. After so many false dawns, the recent announcement by Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy that the government was revising down its 2013 economic forecast hardly caused a blink among a citizenry that is now … [Read more...] about Beyond their ken?