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"When the Legends Played in the Leagues" is the Wisden Book of the Year. The Guardian shows Gary Sobers, the West Indies cricketer from the sixties and the seventies who is one of the most famous cricketers of all time. It shows English cricket in the English Leagues for 1950- 2000. Included here are West Indies cricketers Lance Gibbs, Wesley Hall and Rohan Kanhai. What Ken Rosewall and Rod Laver were to tennis Sobers and Kanhai were to cricket in that era.

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Exxon is looking for a big oil dealer in the shale patch in the US. It is considering the acquisition of shale company Pioneer Natural Resources with a market cap of $49 billion. Exxon wants to make use of its windfall profits of the last year to good use. An acquisition of Dallas based Pioneer would give Exxon a dominant position in the West Permian basin of Texas and New Mexico. Exxon made windfall profits of $56 billion in 2022 after the jump in oil prices following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Based in Irving, Texas, it is heavily invested in fossil fuel assets and its thinking is that fossil fuels are here for a long time as it has not made a significant shift to renewable energy. During the cutoff of Russian oil supplies Europe has depended on LNG supplies from the US and Qatar, and on Norway for increased oil and gas supplies. President Biden included drilling concessions in some of the legislation passed in Congress and Conoco plans to drill in Alaska. The transitional period has gained support in places like the US and Norway following the need to support the European Union and Germany in the crisis. This gives oil companies some time to sort out their future plans for renewable investments. ...

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At a time of online retailing one retailer, Irish retailer Primark in Europe, has stuck to analog and retailing with bargain clothing in stores. It has avoided the online trend since its founding in 1969. It has about $10 billion in sales in Europe and plans to open 26 stores in the US.  Clothing for men and women and children that costs $10-$20 can be found in these stores. It is useful at a time when Europe and the US are facing a cost of living crisis. And when Bangladesh clothing factories are suffering from a one third drop in sales bringing the country's foreign exchange dollar reserves crisis levels of $26 billion.

It is Dublin based and owned by ABF Foods a British company, that is in turn owned by a Weston Canada family. Like Inditex based in Galicia it is based in a smaller European location. It has one third the sales of Inditex's Zara and half of Sweden's H&M. 

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Another danger for Labour comes from Rachel Reeves being exactly the wrong attitude person for this time giving too much deference and authority to Office of Budget Responsibility, which was set up for austerity rules under John Osborne. It is not set up to give Britain the public investment in infrastructure that it needs today and its members thinking ios from that era. Labour Good Growth Foundation, Common Wealth and Labour group Progress are advising Labour party to change before it is too late. Langleben of Progress says-“The OBR was created for an era defined by austerity, and while it can clearly count the upfront cost of investment, it too often misses the long-term value, whether that’s a healthier workforce, better housing or modern transport." It now appears that Rachel Reeves is really the wrong person for the job of Finance minister and that Keir Starmer had another problem in addition to McSweeney, where he was stuck with 5 billion pounds cuts to welfare spending losing some of the Labour base to Greens, as seen in byelections and in polls showing a mere 18% approval rate for Starmer. It now appears that Yvette Cooper at Home Ministry stuck on the old asylum rules, Rachel Reeves stuck on the austerity period OBR assessments and making cuts in payments for Labour's base, and McSweeney with his lack of honest conviction to help Labour's base, Mandelson, were all the wrong people appointed to the wrong positions that risk's losing the base of Labour by fracturing it and sending it to Reform UK on immigration, on budget cuts to the Greens, and on a sense of lack of true conviction and sincerity to the Liberal party. ...

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Washington DC National Guard deployment ruling by District Judge Jia Cobb ruling it unlawful gives time to December 11 for federal government to appeal her ruling. Small crimes committed by delinquent migrant youth on cycles had affected safety in the Nation's capital leading to the federal government sending in the National Guard when DC authorites failed to correct the situation. 

“Since September, cleanup teams have collected more than 500 tons of debris across the District—visible proof of a unified commitment to restoring public trust, improving quality of life, and ensuring that the capital reflects the pride and dignity worthy of representing the American people,” says the Army website in November 2025.

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The Nixon Mao meeting of 1972 now seems a very long time ago. Little is mentioned here in this WSJ report on what was happening inside China in 1972. The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution had severely divided the Communist Party. This was followed by the Lin Piao episode in which the defense minister clashed with Mao leading to a complete loss of confidence in the stability of the leadership. China sought the meeting and Chou-en-lai, premier and Mao's minister for foreign relations, was eager to seek a new relationship with the US. The period 1960-1970 had pushed China back 10-20 years in its effort to develop an industrial economy.  The event is presented as one in which the two countries were meeting at the same level after the Korean War, which was not the case. This report says it was the $3 trillion in US and foreign investment that helped an economy the size of India in 1972 to emerge into what it is today, much larger than India. This report goes on to cite Foreign Affairs and other authors who write that Mr. Kissinger and Mr Nixon saw this as a self-promotional event in contrast to the situation Chou-en-lai, the Chinese premier faced during that difficult time in China's history. ...

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About half of foreign investment in poor developing countries is sent through tax havens resulting in tax revenues lost to poor countries. Here Max Bearak of the Washington Post points to a offshore to offshore transaction when Vodafone bought a company Hutchison Essar in India- Vodafone based in Netherlands and Hutchison in the Cayman and British Virgin Islands both tax havens- the result being a loss of $2.2 billion in tax revenues to India. This is about what it costs to provide subsidized meals to schoolchildren in India, says Bearak. The Tax Justice Network says the figure of Angel Gurria of the OECD that 3 times the foreign aid is lost through such tax evasion is a bit low, its estimate is as high as ten times foreign aid lost through tax evasion of this type.

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It may come as a surprise that changing retirement age in France faced huge opposition yet was enacted into law for moving it from 62 years to 64  years in 2023,  but was never acted upon in China where it is 60 years. China raises its retirement age for men to 63 years from 60, to be done incrementally a few months at a time till 2040. For women it goes from 50 to 58 years, 55 years for blue collar workers. Why the hesitation. It appears that there is much age related discrimination in China so that many workers feared they would be laid off in their fifties and not get pensions till 60-64 years. This could have created much unrest as it did even in France where there is more discrimination for age than other parts of the EU.  When countries have aging populations do they have an alternative? How could they support pensions at 60 or 62 years as in France and in China? In China the social safety net is weak which leads to more resistance and caution by the government fearing unrest. Yet it is not the best time to tackle this problem as the economy slows, resources are constrained, and there is higher unemployment. ...

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Mediators Pakistan, Turkey sought to separate Iranian nuclear issue to a second stage with a vague Iranian commitment to discuss the issue and future dragging of feet by Iran. The US DJT administration has made this the only issue that must be settled first before a settlement can be reached, and not by a repeat of the half hearted effort by the Obama administration that led to reconstituting Iran's nuclear effort a second time with US financial assistance. For a day on Saturday it appeared that mediators Pakistan and Turkey had accomplished for Iran just that, to the alarm of Republicans in general and in particular senior Senator Graham. Many sections of the media including the WSJ and the business community, see this as a repetition of the mistakes made by Obama and his administration. Not only did Obama not act to work with Republicans on a border policy- simply protecting himself from Republican attack by deportation policies. Obama continued the war in Afghanistan/Iraq for the same reason to protect his chances for reelection. He also used immigration policy to get the Hispanic vote in the closing months of the reelection year. Obama's other foreign policy failure was in believing Iran had been persuaded to give up nuclear weapons, and gave Iran the financial backing that could easily be shifted from economic to military uses and rebuild the nuclear program,  which he has handed to a future Republican adminstration. Obama also ignored how this would affect the economic wellbeing of the Iranian people with the kind of protests and suppression that has happened in 2026. Democrats and the media, some Republicans, are simply ignoring these errors and have never really faced up to the problems in the Middle East and asked the question why there are 5 decades of wars in the Middle East, and coups, strife, wars for the entire period since 1950. In this situation the US, China, India, EU, Brazil and other nations can learn from this experience and act to secure alternative sources of energy, speed up renewable energy transition, and rapidly end all dependence/intervention on a perpetually strife ridden Middle East, which much of the US and international media in a baffling way ignores or does not say outright. ...

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Thucydides, Greek historian on the Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens 431 BC, cited by Xi Jinping of China during DJT visit to China, May 2026. “Can China and the United States transcend the so-called ‘Thucydides Trap’ and forge a new paradigm for major-power relations?” "Thucydides Trap," is about one established power being threatened by another rising power, as Sparta felt threatened by a rising Athens in the Greek world around 431 BC, leading to a long over 30 years war.  “The Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations,” Xi said, of Taiwan, an island near China's coast where ChiangKaishek set up his government after the fall of his government in Beijing in 1949 to Communist People's Army of Mao Zedong. “If mishandled, the two nations could collide or even come into conflict, pushing the entire China-US relationship into a highly perilous situation."  What China sees is a future of strong economic growth based on China having built its industrial strength and world trade to exceed 1.2 trillion dollars of trade surplus in 2026. Yet this is only the beginning. US and European Union, and India+Japan are three economic regions compared to the situation in Greek history. The combined three economic regions potential for scientific and industrial advances in the future till 2045 in a synergistic fashion one building on top of the other's advances, far exceed the potential of the Chinese economy and industry by itself. This is why any such conflict may over time fizzle away as three economic regions of EU, US and India advance, particularly the 1.4 billion people of India, which will see growth rates of 20% annually for 10 years to 2035 in Eastern Indian region of the size of the EU. That region extends from Lucknow and Patna to Vizag and Chennai. Another aspect of this concerns China itself which sees slowing growth of 5% in 2026. Growth could slow further as US, European Union and India/Japan push back on Chinese exports during a period of reindustrialization in US, EU, Japan and rapid industrial development in India to 2040. China's development is only midway in terms of per capita GNP which lags most of Europe and the US, Japan. Thus the main concern in China is that China will not be able top go beyond middle income country as its demographics and aging population look more like Japan's over the period 2026-2040. China needs the US EU trade and markets for it to meet the needs and aspirations of its 1.4 billon people as the other engines of development such as housing construction, infrastructure building, have lost momentum. ...

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This NHK video report says the epidemics of previous periods in history were no different than today. It points to the Nara period (710-794) when smallpox killed 20 to 30% of the population. This was a period of international exchange and large roads were built bringing people from all parts of Japan to Nara and increasing the risk of infection. In fact the Great Buddha at Nara was built by the Emperor at the time to entrust the peace of Japan to the Buddha.

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A Liberal Democrat, Lord Alderdice, praises the courage of Prince Philip when he stood alongside Queen Elizabeth as she shook hands with Martin McGuiness- the handshake that ended the war in Northern Ireland. Martin McGuiness led the IRA at the time when Lord Mountbatten, a father figure for Prince Philip and his mentor, was killed in the conflict of Northern Ireland.

The Duke of Cambridge describes his grandfather as "an extraordinary man and part of an extraordinary generation."

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Ruben Gallego is Democrat elected to the US Senate from Arizona defeating Republican Kari Lake 50% to 47.8%. Ruben Gallego, Latino activist, took a different approach to immigration enforcement criticizing the Biden administration for not forcefully tackling the surge at the Border in 2022. By 2023 he supported bipartisan legislation that was negotiated by Feb 2024, which by that time failed to get full support. The return of migrants to their home countries was not properly addressed in the legislation.

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Kirsty Lang talks about the government failures in not investing in the British Council. Her husband Misha Glenny, 63 years, the writer and producer of the BBC 4 series How to Invent a Country, took a British Council scholarship to study in Prague at the age of 21. The neglect of British Council is happening at the same time that Germany is rejuvenating the Goethe Institut with new leadership and making it an instrument of cultural and educational exchange with Africa, Asia, and Latin America. This needs to happen with the British Council. People in these countries look for cultural and educational exchange with Europe and America through these institutions of culture and education. The libraries of these institutions perform an invaluable role. Long forgotten is the role these institutions including the US Information Service played in Asia, Africa and Latin America in the period after World War II, long before Misha Glenny's time. There is eagerness, even a hunger to learn about other countries in the young minds of Asia, Africa and Latin America, and this makes for a two way exchange that helps Europe and America learn about these countries- the way the Goethe Insitut is now setting as a new model for the future.      ...

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Indian Finance Minister Sitharaman gives the following remarks in parliament on the White Paper presented to the 18th Lok Sabha in January 2024, describing the dire condition of the Indian economy by 2013 with mismanagement and "big ticket" corruption. India's Finance Minister Sitharaman describes the situation in three key areas by 2013 that left the economy of India in a fragile state, with projects stalled, development delayed, and capital investment not taking place. She gives as 3 main points of focus- the state of affairs at Defense Ministry, at the Environment Ministry, and for Energy supplies. At the outset she says PM Modi had suggested the need for such White Paper by 2015 so that future generations would know what had happened in India that failed the country at a time when China had already joined the community of developed nations. The issues go back to the coal scandal when coal auctions had to be cancelled by the Supreme Court for irregularities, the misuse of state owned banks leading to a large increase in non performing loans, and the mismanaged Commonwealth Games under government before 2014.  Sitharaman told parliament this had the effect of national security being compromised, Environment as a Ministry becoming a bottleneck, and the leadership failing the country. In the military there was a critical shortage of ammunition and equipment. She cites the Defense Minister at the time having the attitude that independent India has had a policy for many years not to develop the border areas, as an undeveloped border was better than a developed border. She also says Ministry stated that 92% of the Defense Budget was used up and major acquisitions have to wait for the military. Following this Sitharaman cited the scandals of that period and leakages of funds that weakend the country and failed its people. She compared capital expenditures today of 6.22 lakh crores in 2024 thre times the number in 2013 of 2.53 crores. HAL now makes Tejas jets and helicopters in Made in India production. At the Environment Ministry the delays that were 86 days reached a high of 316 days by 2013 for approval of development projects, with 355 projects pending, the nation brought to a standstill with the effects of the coal supplies to thermal power plants being wholly inadequate and Coal India in poor shape. The root of this was said Sitharaman- what everyone in Indian business knew, the term "genteel facts," as the cost of business going up. She cites the changes since then of aiming for Balance and Development- Transparency, Online Green Clearance, Standardized Environment Impact Studies, A new Department of Climate change, International Solar Alliance 2015, Mission Life 2022, Green Hydrogen, Namami Gange, Rooftop Solar. India set ambitious goals at the last Climate change Conference.    ...

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President Trump tells Mexico to either slow the increasing flow of migrants from Guatemala or face higher tariffs on Mexico's exports to the U.S. For the first time in recent decades Trump uses tariffs as a tool of diplomacy to reverse policies of countries with which it is in an unfavorable position. For the first time Trump uses negotiations to convey America's position that when it comes to some issues such as migration or trade because of the slippage in America's middle class incomes the U.S. should be considered as the same as a developing country. So that no preference should be given to other countries to the detriment of people in the U.S. when it comes to jobs, incomes, and funding for social services. Mexico a developing country could no longer insist that Guatemalans should not find a home in Mexico just because it was a developing country, if its policies supported the flow of migrants from Guatemala to the U.S. as in the case of Mexican president Lopez Obrador.   ...

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Mark Branson is a 44 year old citizen of Britain, who is head of the division in charge of supervising banks at the Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority, Finma. He headed the UBS bank operations in Japan at the time when traders there were engaging in manipulating the LIBOR rate. This has raised questions in the Swiss parliament about the integrity of the Swiss regulator.

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Paul Krugman, Nobel prize winning economist points out an astonishing fact about the 2016 U.S. presidential election- U.S. television networks nightly news devoted only 32 minutes in 2016 to all policy issues combined. And these networks devoted 100 minutes to Clinton emails. He calls this "disgraceful."  For weeks at a time in September and October the main television networks lacked the integrity and courage to ask questions and persist on the major questions facing the country of the economy, correcting income distribution that has been skewed away from the middle and working class, infrastructure rebuilding, education and healthcare, and what the policy proposals of each candidate would do for the country. Krugman does not mention this but the media devoted hardly any time to the economic plan devised by Trump that respected economists and economic analysis showed would increase the deficit by $5.3 trillion, and lead to a short term temporary increase in growth followed by a sharp decline. The worst thing that could happen to middle and working class families struggling to recover from the blow to their finances from the last recession.  The cyber hacking of a U.S. presidential election by a foreign power never received the unanimous rejection that it deserved from the television networks, not just Fox News as Krugman points out, but by all the networks. The future landscape of the media needs assessment to bring in new ideas and new entrants to bring constructive improvements, and for older media organizations to rebuild after the loss of confidence among young people. Only about a quarter of young people in the U.S. have confidence in the large media organizations news coverage according to surveys done recently. There are other pressures coming from the tech world that make it imperative to do this. Many experts point to the destructive effect of social media in spreading rumors or information disguised as facts, which are spread instantly by Twitter and Facebook, without any obligation to check the facts. This is also dangerous with a public that is now divided between better educated and less educated along political lines, older more settled in their views people, and younger people quicker in looking for the facts and checking things out before believing them. ...

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The WSJ provides an excellent guide to working at home, how to overcome the struggles and get some of the benefits from working at home. A large part of the struggles in working from home is not being able to unplug, and working like you are in an office. Working from office is different because of meetings and office distractions, and one gets less done, maybe 4 hours of decent work in a workday. So that in solo work one would say work 5 hours and accomplish what one would have done in 8 hours at the office.  At home consistently working 5 or 6 hours at a stretch can get a person exhausted and isolated.  Don't look at the clock for it to say 5 pm. Take breaks early, if one reaches ones limit or gets restless it is time to take an extended break or get outside for a walk, or do some stretches, yoga, or something else. Loneliness is another part of the struggles. Important to setup some video calls to make sure you get human interaction. Get some chance to refresh and talk to humans, get some interaction.  Leave stuff such as clearing inbox and less brainy tasks for the evening. Set top 3 priorities for the day or week so you have an idea of progress in a larger task. Time theming is a way to set aside certain days or time periods to get specific things done. Staying physically fit and mentally rejuvenated is the big challenge.  Exercize routines, stretches, yoga, meditation early morning, help keep ones mental and physical health. They are most important. They form the basis for the whole day and lay the foundation for getting things done. This is where the process sets the tone and helps get the best results. Once this is established one can let the ebbs and flow of work motivation and feeling ready to work happen, seeing them as natural, without concern that one won't get done what needs to be done to be effective. ...

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A 1 month study of 2 modified Pfizer vaccines, one targeted specifically for new Omicron variants, and the other targeted at earlier coronavirus and current Omicron variants show increases in anitbodies much higher than what current vaccines do. For Omicron specifically at 13 to 19 times more than what current vaccines increase antibodies, and for earlier variants and Omicron at 9 to 11 times more.

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Roger Cohen in the NYT says Macron has missed the public mood in France, the cost of living crisis and the social and economic problems left by the pandemic. FR24 says about two thirds of the French people think this is the wrong time to tackle the pensions issue. The change in the pensions is not an immediate solution as it will be phased in over a period of time stretching to 2030. Many solutions could have been put in place to tackle age discrimination and other problems to make it possible to work productively for longer. Macron needed to address these problems and come up with ways to lessen the burden of the cost of living crisis first before tackling longer term issues. This is a major misstep by Macron, and comes from his lack of experience as one of the youngest persons to become president of France at the age of 39. He was reelected but only with the help of voters who had supported  a socialist candidate Mr. Melenchon. Macron said after that election that he would listen carefully to the voting public that had elected him, even with reservations after the yellow vest protests about his lack of sensitivity for people struggling to make a living. ...

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A CNN story on Senate investigators looking into a meeting between Anthony Scaramucci, a member of Trump's transition team, and an executive of a Russian investment fund, is retracted. Three CNN employees resigned, including Harris its investigations editor, as the story could not be reliably verified. The errors in reporting are a result of intense pressure to come up with new breaking news stories, as CNN competes with other news providers such as the Washington Post and the New York Times. Paul Farhi cites other errors at CNN. CNN.com shows the work of the CNN investigative team of about 30 thirty journalists. It has come up with other stories on Russia and the U.S. election of 2016 which have been verified. Farhi points out that the stories have led to record ratings and profits for CNN. On of the journalists who resigned was Eric Lichtblau, a veteran reporter who worked earlier for the New York Times.

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The growing city of Monterey, Mexico, near the American state of Texas, is facing severe shortages of water as shown in this report in the NYT. Seven years of drought except for 2018 have left the Cerro Prieto and other dams nearby mostly dry. Water is sent in by truck from outside the region. This is an arid region and the lack of rainfall comes at a time when the population is growing in this part of the country, which is the largest industrial state in Mexico.

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Annalena Baerbock is emerging as one of Germany's most popular leaders, winning overwhelming praise from all quarters in Germany including opposition CDU conservatives, says DW.com. She wins praise for her clarity and steadiness in a time of upheaval. After Olaf Scholz she is easily the most popular leader in Germany. As co-leader of the Greens with Habeck, she is Foreign Minister. Olaf Scholz also commended Baerbock for her work during the crisis in helping Germany rethink old policies under Merkel, in his speech to the German parliament.

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The Colombian women's soccer team's win 2-1 over Germany in World Cup 2023 shows how much has changed in women's soccer worldwide. WIth only about 30% of the possession the Colombian team dominated the game. The winning goal came in the 89th minute of the game from a stunning header by Manela Vanegas. Colombia led for most of the game. Linda Calcedo scored first for Colombia. The last time Germany lost a game in global games was in 1995 against Sweden.