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  • A tribute to Charles G Wootton: an American at the OECD, and beyond

    I was clearing out my desk and rummaging through old files when I came across this: a letter I had kept from the widow of a former OECD Deputy Secretary-General, who had passed away in 2014. The letter had arrived in the secretary-general’s cabinet, and was then kicked down to me.

    (590 mots)
  • Google loses its Waze?

    I see Google has landed out another cool billion, this time for a fairly unknown map app called Waze. The FT article on this barely balks (though you might if you hit their paywall), seeing the business side, rather than the maps, which leave room to be desired. When Google took YouTube for the same amount, it took the market leader (Daily Motion has since proven it is as good, but far smaller).

    (207 mots)
  • Brian Lenihan, RIP

    00048b51-640.jpgEx-finance minister Brian Lenihan's death (52) is tragic in a Shakespearian way. Cancer, but also stress, were causes, but more than that, he paid a heavy price for his position. For Brian became the mob's scapegoat for the Irish financial crisis, yet he had little to do with the years of bank lending that got the country into its current mess.

    (349 mots)
  • Thought for the day

    The night before I was first interviewed on this programme I didn't sleep a wink. I arrived here with hours to kill and wasted time nervously drinking coffee with the tramps in Shepherd's Bush. I could almost feel my heart pumping through my rib-cage.

    (487 mots)
  • Courtesy of Wings of Desire

    An encounter

    Last night I met an angel. Truly I did. This is not a miracle, quite the opposite. Angels are everywhere, on the streets, walking here and there. They often emerge in situations that, if you think about it right, become testing, of your character, your priorities, your sense of goodness.

    (439 mots)
  • Light and life

    Hey, it must be time to buy another lottery ticket! Fat chance of winning though, eh? Think about it, a friend once said. We were in a soccer stadium in London watching a game. See all these people? He asked, gesturing towards the sea of faces around us. Well, multiply that crowd by 10s or 100s. Just one of those people might win.

    (683 mots)
  • A fine figure

     

    (462 mots)
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