Alex Singleton

Why is it that nearly sixty years after publication people still rave about The Fountainhead? Ayn Rand’s novel has provides encouragement for anyone engaged in any form of difficult individual endeavour. It is set in the first half of the 20th Century and features an architect, Howard Roark, who ignores the sneering and jealousy against […]

A new Gallup Poll to be published on Wednesday suggests that the effectiveness of Muslim integration in the UK is very significantly higher than is often portrayed in the lowbrow end of the British press, who point to extreme elements who do not represent the silent majority of British Muslims. According to the Manchester Evening […]

This week has been a bad week for World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz. According to Reuters: “World Bank staff and global development organisations called for Wolfowitz to step down as anger increased even after a public apology on Thursday in which he said he erred in the handling of the 2005 promotion of [his girlfriend] […]

In my 2005 paper Trade Justice or Free Trade? I put a case against “managed trade”, the attempt to warp trade in favour of certain producers. Some campaigners argue that trade rules should not involve a level playing field but give special favours to the poorest countries. We see this thinking put into practice with […]

A new study by Dr Giovanni Peri, an economist at the University of California and at Public Policy Institute of California, looks at the effects of immigrants on wages in California. The Wall Street Journal summarises the report thus:

Using Census data, Mr. Peri analyzed the effects of immigrant labor on California, home to some 30% […]

Brian Micklethwait has a very interesting piece on the CNE Competition Blog about frontrunner in the French elections Nicolas Sarkozy - and the strategy being followed. Brian writes:
while Mr Sarkozy is making as much public noise as he can about how very critical he is of free trade and the EU, in which he is […]

The European Union last year was the worst offender in terms of bringing “anti-dumping” cases against on low-price imports to the World Trade Organization. A new report, covered by Alan Beattie in Monday’s Financial Times, shows it started 35 new cases, more than any other country. However, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson seems to be […]

One of the arguments made by opponents of immigration is that it causes a “brain drain” for developing countries, stealing their brightest and best. Johan Norberg, author of In Defence of Global Capitalism, says this on his blog:
I have always disliked the concept of “brain drain” as a criticism of migration. Somehow it signals that […]

The economic malaise in France is a cause for much concern and is a central issue in the current French Presidential elections. The BBC has an interview with a French winemaker who complains that:

…doing business in France is getting harder every year, amid a tangle of bureaucracy, red tape and high taxes.
Baptiste Grangeon believes the […]

This year marks fifty years since the launch of Helvetica, a typeface designed in Switzerland by graphic designer Max Miedinger. It the 60s and 70s, it stormed the world of typography and can be seen all over the place. It’s used in the logos of global companies like 3M, AGFA, Panasonic, Lufthansa and American Airlines. […]