1 UK manufacturing slows (BBC) Sterling has fallen
sharply against the US dollar after growth in the UK manufacturing sector
slowed markedly in April. Financial data company Markit said its monthly
Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for manufacturing fell to 51.9 in April from
54 in March.
Although a figure above 50 still indicates expansion, the fall was
the biggest since February 2013.
The pound was down more than 2 cents, or 1.4%, to
$1.5139. Sterling also fell against the euro to €1.352. Companies said the
strength of the pound against the euro was affecting competitiveness in the
eurozone. The Markit survey follows the release of official figures that showed
the UK's economic growth rate halved to 0.3% in the first quarter of the year.
The survey found that new export orders fell at the
fastest rate since January 2013, job creation was "modest", and
manufacturers cut prices at their fastest rate in almost six years.
2 The austerity delusion (Paul Krugman in The
Guardian) In May 2010, as Britain headed into its last general election, elites
all across the western world were gripped by austerity fever, a strange malady
that combined extravagant fear with blithe optimism. Every country running
significant budget deficits was deemed at imminent risk of becoming another
Greece unless it immediately began cutting spending and raising taxes.
But that was five years ago, and the fever has long
since broken. Greece is now seen as it should have been seen from the beginning
– as a unique case, with few lessons for the rest of us. It is impossible for
countries such as the US and the UK, which borrow in their own currencies, to
experience Greek-style crises, because they cannot run out of money – they can
always print more.
Since the global turn to austerity in 2010, every
country that introduced significant austerity has seen its economy suffer, with
the depth of the suffering closely related to the harshness of the austerity. Meanwhile,
all of the economic research that allegedly supported the austerity push has
been discredited. Widely touted statistical results were, it turned out, based
on highly dubious assumptions and procedures – plus a few outright mistakes –
and evaporated under closer scrutiny.
It is rare, in the history of economic thought, for
debates to get resolved this decisively. The austerian ideology that dominated
elite discourse five years ago has collapsed, to the point where hardly anyone
still believes it. Hardly anyone, that is, except the coalition that still
rules Britain – and most of the British media.
Is there some good reason why deficit obsession
should still rule in Britain, even as it fades away everywhere else? No. This
country is not different. The economics of austerity are the same – and the
intellectual case as bankrupt – in Britain as everywhere else.
3 Learning from the elderly (Asha Iyer Kumar in
Khaleej Times) It is impossible to foresee what plight might befall us in old
age, but my recent encounters with a bevy of wound-down, grey-haired souls
exposed a malaise more agonizing than those afflicting their limbs and body.
Loneliness and its handmaiden - geriatric depression.
Loneliness at that age of failing faculties does not
essentially mean physical isolation. It is entirely possible to be in the midst
of a crowd or community and yet feel the wrench of being alone and deserted. A
quick deliverance from it is all they eagerly await, for in the words of a
veteran that I know, old age is the greatest misfortune that a human being
comes to endure. That it is a misery that has to be borne alone emotionally
makes it unutterably tough.
Given the engaging nature of modern life, and the
quirky aspects of old age that sets difficult demands, spending quality time
with the elderly is becoming a hard task for families. Yes, the elderly ponder
endlessly and express themselves repeatedly, and they can be tedious, but they
are brimming with things to say. They have narratives gleaned from their past
to share, experiences that shed light on their times, and events that bring a
hazy glint in their eyes every time they recount them. They have a repertoire
of life lessons to impart.
The daily news might not be of much personal
interest to them, but they feverishly discuss current affairs as if their
opinion has some bearing on the rest. It makes them feel connected with life,
even if arbitrarily. They need listeners too to their ‘senile prattle’, just as
you and I need to our ‘sensible talk’. But then, isn’t it a while since we lost
that fine ability to listen and understand voices other than our own?
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