business

Last year, I stood in front of a black-clad skinhead as he shook a fist full of rings thick enough to double as a knuckle-duster. Flecks of spit flew into my face as he railed against the green agenda of the last German government. Until recently, it would have felt bizarre to talk to protesters … Read more

Sweden is often associated with a large and efficient bureaucratic apparatus. It is also often associated with minimalist interiors furnished by simple pale woods such as birch and pine. It was therefore fitting that, after two years of preparation, the Swedish cultural canon committee presented – in an anatomical theatre from the 17th century – … Read more

Donald Trump’s first reaction to the disconcerting spectacle of China’s Xi Jinping, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un marching side-by-side at a huge military parade in Beijing was, predictably, all about him. This show of solidarity and strength, he complained, was nothing less than an attempt to “conspire” against the United States. Trump … Read more

Last summer, Spain’s Balearic Islands launched one of Europe’s toughest crackdowns on alcohol-fuelled party tourism. In popular resorts such as Magaluf in Mallorca and Sant Antoni in Ibiza, tourists spilled out of bars at dawn, clutched cheap bottles from late-night shops, and treated entire neighbourhoods as giant open-air nightclubs. Local people were fed up. Noise … Read more

As someone who has always been against austerity, I find France, with a national debt at 114% of GDP and a budget deficit of 5.8% of GDP, a conundrum. Despite years of denunciation from his left and far-right opponents that Macron has engaged in “ultraneoliberalism”, there hasn’t been any. Not on a macro level, anyway, … Read more

Donald Trump’s imperial tendencies see the US president wield tariffs and sanctions in the expectation that America will receive tributes. Yet his latest move – punishing India with 50% tariffs for Russian oil purchases once encouraged by the US – has produced not submission but spectacle. It has sent India’s Narendra Modi to China for … Read more

Severe storms linked to a deep upper air trough, formed from the ex-hurricane Erin, lashed parts of western and southern Europe last week. Italy was hit by a deluge of severe rain on Thursday that caused flooding in the Lombardy region. The commune of Busto Arsizio was badly affected, with more than 100mm of rain … Read more

Hundreds of people from 44 countries are sailing to Gaza in the Global Sumud Flotilla this week. I am among them. We aim to non-violently break Israel’s illegal siege by delivering much-needed supplies. I joined the mission because, as an Irish person, I have watched my government meet what our taoiseach acknowledges to be a … Read more