Pope Francis’ recent statement that providing weapons to Ukraine can be a moral decision puts him at odds with his own pronouncements on war over the years and with a large chunk of the population of the Global South, now the population center for the Catholic Church.
Friday, January 2, 2026
Yanis Varoufakis: Time to Blow Up the Electricity Markets
How the EU’s neoliberal Rube Goldberg electricity market has made the energy shortage problem much worse than it needed to be.
KLG: What Naked Capitalism Means to Me
To the barricades, um, Tip Jar! Naked Capitalism deserves your support.
Why Black Wednesday Still Matters – It Was the Start of Markets Telling Politicians What to Do
Alexis Stenfors assesses the importance of Black Wednesday as a juncture in the history of central banks. By showing they could beat the Bank of England, traders changed the entire power relationship.
Truss’s Plan to Hike Defence Funding and Ignore the Climate Is a Disaster
How Liz Truss’ defense budget math does not work…or does really well if the point is to roll social support back to Victorian workhouses.
Announcing the 2022 Harry Shearer and Friends “Double Your Donation” Challenge!
Harry Shearer and two anonymous donors are making a big reader challenge! Will you take them up on it?
Tories Create a Hostile Environment for Gypsies and Travellers
Tory policy and legislation on Gypsies and Travellers deprives them of a place to live and targets them with criminal penalties.
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA): A Brief Assessment
The Inflation Reduction Act does almost nothing to address inflation and will have only modest effects on energy transition in the USA.
Thanks! Met Our Sixth Goal, On to Our Seventh: More Original Reporting
Help fund what we most like to do, but find hardest to get to: original reporting.
Why It’s Time to Declassify the Documents From Trump’s Basement
It’s time for “Show me the documents” in the fight over records Trump had at Mar a Lago and the Feds took back, alleging serious misconduct
‘Culture Has Lost the Ability to Grasp the Present’
An extract from Mark Fisher’s ‘Ghosts of My Life’ discusses how culture has hit the pause button.
Mark Ames: Why Finance Is Too Important to Leave to Larry Summers
Mark Ames’ biting classic is a reminder that Larry Summers, like so many prominent economists, has become too big to fail.
