The Nazi Party came to power in 1933 in a Germany devastated by the Treaty of Versailles and Great Depression, and paralysed by a huge unemployment crisis of over 6 million. Six years later it was arguably the greatest power in Europe, tearing across the continent in relentless pursuit of ‘Lebensraum’. What happened in between might therefore be chalked up to nothing less than an economic miracle. It was not. When defining economic success on the regime’s own terms, namely au

“We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.” – Roy Amara, Stanford computer scientist. Dotcom, housing, crypto, and now, AI. The Fastest Scaling in History An asset bubble is a period where the price of an asset skyrockets beyond its intrinsic value before violently crashing. They have plagued economies for centuries. The artificial intelligence industry has experienced what is considered the fastest techn

The political centre does not have a divine right to govern; it must prove itself worthy of trust again, or face being wiped out. In March, the two main parties of UK politics found themselves trailing in the polls for the first time to insurgent populists on the left and right. There is no denying that parties that thrive on pitting the people against a perceived corrupt elite are rising and winning elections. For some time, the primary explanations of populism surging have

France held its first Africa-France summit in an anglophone African capital on 11 and 12 May, gathering more than thirty heads of state at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi. Emmanuel Macron and William Ruto co-chaired the Africa Forward Summit, which closed with the eleven-point Nairobi Declaration and €23 billion in pledged investment across energy, agriculture, artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure. Paris presented the venue and the figure

Despite not having won Best Picture or Best Director at the 2026 Oscars, I have no doubts that Ryan Coogler’s Sinners will stand the test of time as one of the greatest cinematic achievements of the 21st Century. In a media landscape saturated with franchises, reboots, and sequels, Coogler’s original genre-bending film about a black community in the Jim Crow south, who find their newly-established juke joint and promise of emancipation devoured by undead vampires, is both inc

At a news conference regarding agricultural policy on the 12th of August 1986, Ronald Reagan delivered one of his most recognisable quips satirising the organisation he had been elected to lead two years prior: “I think you all know that I've always felt the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help”. Given the enduring appeal of this line for so-called libertarians and free-marketeers, the words that followed Reagan

Scotland votes in the nationalists for a fifth straight time, but nobody seems too happy about it. A pro-independence majority, made up of the SNP and the Scottish Greens, looks increasingly like a majority of arithmetic over conviction. The SNP didn’t win this, the other parties simply failed to capture the imagination of the country. The Tories’ vote collapsed into Reform, Scottish Labour was weighed down by its incredibly unpopular Westminster government, and the Greens ho

As of the 1st July 2026, we will see a reduction in the amount of steel that can be imported before tariffs are applied, additional quotas being introduced on imported steel products that are also manufactured domestically (where they previously have not been in place), and an increase in tariff rates for those imports in-excess of quotas. These new steel trade measures, inter alia increasing the tariff rate to 50% on products that go beyond our import quota, might sound lik

The recent mainstreaming of wealth taxes as a political tendency in the UK has demonstrated an appetite for solutions to inequality. Although there have been successful debates, won with logic as much as rhetoric, a tangible wealth tax policy is still in its infancy. The Green Party, the main policy vehicle for the Wealth Tax, is seeking between 1% and 2% of tax on assets held over £10 million per annum. Yet who exactly pays, and how they pay, remain unanswered questions. W

In recent weeks, eyes and ears have been focusing on the Middle East. Starmer’s hesitancy to go in behind the Americans and Israelis with all guns blazing has gone down well with the public, and his opposition to the right of him have taken a real misstep. It is a safe bet to assume that he will see a small rise in his favourability ratings in the coming weeks. However, Starmer would be foolish to think that this uptick will steady the ship. Whilst this has all been going on

“I’m not going to start a war. I’m going to stop wars.” These were the words of Donald Trump, the self-described “President of Peace”, as he railed against America’s interventions in foreign lands instead of “fixing the roads in this country…fixing our highways, our tunnels, our bridges, our hospitals.” America First! He promised his voters, vowing to improve the lives of ordinary Americans above all else. And yet, barely a year into his second presidency, a combination of T

The slew of Epstein file releases have exposed the grim realities of the mechanics that have kept certain elite networks operating. The trafficking of young women and girls for sex has rightly dominated the world's attention. The scale of human tragedy is enormous and the ruthless opportunism and calculated exploitation is visible to anyone who reads the email correspondence between Jeffrey Epstein and various associates. But along with the exploitation of young women and gi

Student loans are in the news again. Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ decision to freeze the repayment threshold of Plan 2 student loans for 3 years after April 2027 has caused an uproar among students who will now face higher repayment costs. This only adds insult to injury for those who borrowed from the government’s Student Loans Company between 2012 and 2023. As it stands, the vast majority of students will already be unable to pay back their Plan 2 student loan before the 40-y

Climber Alex Honnold’s recent ascent of Taipei 101 raises a few questions regarding the modern monetised spectacle. On the 25 th of January 2026, Netflix livestreamed Honnold’s climb with a ten second delay. Without any safety gear, just one error would have resulted in thousands of spectators lining the tower’s base being witness to a catastrophic death. Questions would have been raised over Netflix’s ethical rights to stage and film such an event. Resignations would be in

Across Europe, a striking consensus has taken hold. Quiz a passerby on the streets of Paris, Berlin or London on the state of society and you are likely to hear all too familiar lamentations concerning the declining state of both government performance and social cohesion. The cost of living continues to rise whilst wages stagnate and public services buckle, politics is brittle and the future looks more precarious than the past. This transnational belief , one which has been

If we were to ask whether the UK Wealth Tax Movement was successful last year, an instructive litmus test might be the frequency with which the topic appeared in BBC headlines. This is undoubtedly a major feat, but only half the battle. Commentators everywhere, like coiled springs , raised their concerns about how effective and feasible the tax would be, rattling off the list of unintended consequences. The media asserted – the Wealth Tax cannot be introduced until all conce

Donald Trump’s unprecedented attack on the chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, has been met with an equally unprecedented defence composed of Ex-Fed chairs, central bank governors, and titans of global finance. Central to this alliance’s criticism of Trump is an ominous warning of disaster to come should the Fed’s independence be violated. For example, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde emphasised the role central bank independence played as a “corner

On December 9 th an inconspicuous press release by Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) and Babcock International quietly announced a huge shift in US defence procurement. For the first time the US nuclear submarine program will manufacture significant components outside the states. The announcement confirmed that complex hull assemblies for the new US navy’s (USN) Virginia block VI nuclear submarines will be produced in Babcock’s Rosyth dock in Scotland. For defence obs

From a distance it is hard to see why Vladimir Putin did not accept December’s peace plan for the Ukraine war, to prevent it entering its fourth year. The deal would have forced Ukraine to secede far more territory to Russia than the actual inroads made. Ukraine would have to hold elections, be forbidden from joining NATO, and reduce the size of its army. These were all crucial war aims for Russia before the beginning of the ‘special military operation,’ so it is mystifying

A few weeks before Christmas, I quietly wrote a piece for a student publication exploring Trump’s continuation of the 1823 Monroe Doctrine through his rampant interventions in America’s so-called backyard. In light of recent kidnappings , I suppose I should have bought a lottery ticket too. Trump had been pushing the limits in Venezuela for a while. On December 10 th , the US seized a crude oil tanker , which Trump claimed was being used to transport oil between Iran and V