Monthly Archives: March 2005

Financial quacks

Whenever I rail against journalistic innumeracy, which is often, I tend to point out that journalists are normally creative arts-graduate types, who frequently have very little grasp of numbers. In turn, this means that they’re at risk of being taken … Continue reading

Posted in Finance | 9 Comments

Wolfowitz

I’ve recently written an article about Wolfowitz at the World Bank for publication, so I was going to avoid the topic here. But then I found myself today reading Thursday’s WSJ editorial on the subject, and it incensed me so … Continue reading

Posted in Politics | 14 Comments

Freakonomics

Last year, I said some nice things about Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, or at least about an article they wrote in the New York Times Magazine: The best piece of all in the magazine, however, doesn’t look big, it … Continue reading

Posted in Finance | 27 Comments

Calipari and rendition

The Bush administration, I think it’s fair to say, never tells the truth when it would be better served by a lie. We saw this when it came to WMDs, of course, but we’ve also seen it time and time … Continue reading

Posted in Politics | 3 Comments

Jolly

I have just been on a most spectacular jolly down a fjord on (in? at?) South Georgia. Drygalski Fjord. Spectacular. Even those who had seen rock in the last year were staring with gaping jaws. And grinning like pigs, if … Continue reading

Posted in Rhian in Antarctica | 3 Comments

A broken market

Imagine it’s still 2000: during the bubble, before Spitzer. The market’s white-hot, and IPOs from hyped young companies are hugely in demand. The broker-dealers deliberately underprice the IPOs they get, guaranteeing mark-to-market profits for their favoured customers – the ones … Continue reading

Posted in Culture | 10 Comments

The Birth of Icebergs

I’m not sure why I’m destined to love one of the most remote and inaccessible places in the world. Perhaps it is just one of those quirks of character that define who you are and which, try as you might, … Continue reading

Posted in Rhian in Antarctica | 7 Comments