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France has renewable energy potential for wind farms that is similar to Britain with its long coastline. The Saint Nazaire wind farm with 80 turbines opens on the Atlantic coast with president Macron saying it is time to go twice as fast as other countries in Europe. France gets only 7% of its energy from wind compared to 22% for the UK, 23% for Germany and 44% for Denmark.  Saint Naziare wind farm took 10 years after protests from environmentalists, fishermen and other groups. France is looking at diversifying its energy capabilities so that it is not too dependent on nuclear energy. Macron says- "Our neighbors are going twice as fast. we have to get rid of the legal disputes and the delaying tactics."

Three wind farms will come on stream in months in Normandy and Brittany. A floating wind farm is proposed for the Mediterranean. Macron wants to see more nuclear reactors. He also says the key to better energy supply is diversification.

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The CDU has the nost popularity at 34% yet Merz himself. a private equity executive with Black Rock Germany, is not personally popular with the German public. His popularity is at about 25%. Boris Pistorius, the Defene Minister in the Scholz SPD and Greens government is the most popular politician in Germany today. Elections are only 4 months away in February 2025, a short time but also a long time with all the changes going on today. In the past CDU and SPD have worked together. Past CDU approaches may not work as Germany badly needs to invest in its economy as the US has done under president Biden. The experience of Britain shows that simply making deals and counting on free trade deals doesn't work, and cuts to public services to budgets including on basic services including water and transportation, climate, do not work either. Are their good leaders and policies that fit the times is a question that will be persistent for many nations.

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Kamala Harris and Tim Walz pick up support in the swing states from Michigan and Wisconsin to Minnesota and New Hampshire, from Georgia to North Carolina, and from Arizona to Nevada in different regions of the US. This happens through directly talking to the public one on one and with the unions and workers, workers families. The media's tolerance for misinformation and for not talking seriously about issues such as climate change, on whose side Harris and Walz are - that of workers and families- on the investments in manufacturing and infrastructure, investment in rural areas, that have changed the potential of the US economy, is amazing, simply amazing not to think about its credibility with the public. And the social media's appetite for misinformation as happened this week in Britain with the riots in the north and Prime minister Starmer calling them out - "social media is not a law-free zone" - shows the extent of the challenge the Nation faces. ...

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HBO may be capitalizing on cultural portrayals of unethical world of finance for successful television shows that do little to change the culture in America. During the 2009 financial crisis decade many such shows were seen, yet after Big Pharma and Finance, a new player Tech monopolies joined the list of unethical behavior, new technologies continue to operate without government setting the rules for fair play and level playing field essential for capital and labor to function in a modern economy- rules for capital and rules for labor set by "serious" public servants not revolving door public servants who finish their careers in the same banks, pharma or tech company monopolies. Bothe houses of Congress are then captured by the Big Pharma, Finance, and Tech monopolies, resulting in "Capture Capitalism" that has existed in different forms and yet cleaned up every 50-75 years since 1750, Adam Smith's fight against the monopolies of the East India Companies of Britain, Holland and Denmark. ...

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US president DJT meets with Rutte of the Netherlands Jan 21, 2026. He says he has come up with a framework for US acquisition of Greenland, rights title, and ownership of the island for US security and world security. He called for immediate negotiations with the goal of US acquisition of the island of Greenland.  The political situation is evolving in this way. Germany is key in the developments for the US to acquire Greenland. Britain is standing it out with the Nordic countries as Starmer has shifted to the side of Sweden and Denmark with little to gain for the Labor government which is facing local elections and popularity of Reform UK Party. In this situation Italy and Germany have taken a posture of not making any statements. Germany facing Russian intervention in Ukrain on the east needs the US for joint security at a critical juncture when Russia and the US have agreed to respect each others area of influence. Italy is run by a northern Italy party leaning to the anti-immigration stance taken by DJT in the US. It makes little difference to Netherlands, Germany/Austria/Switzerland and Italy who controls Greenland and in the context of Russian advances and nuclear weapons technology would prefer US move to acquire Greenland and rapidly build up defenses in Greenland with large investments. To not disturb the alliance's northern countries (Britain and Nordics) Germany has taken a back seat to the rhetoric yet will be in the deciding role because of its stable government, support from all parts of the political spectrum for US control of Greenland except for the coalition junior partner the SPD. The SPD Defense Minister Pistorius may form parts of the SPD that see US owning the island as positive in the bolstering of its defense capabilities with th $1 trillion outlay in the budgeted investments. Starmer may have misread DJT and US support as the US president can make a very good case for US owning Greenland and getting Denmark to accept the offer of Harry Truman of $100 million made in 1947, updated for what that sum is today which is $1.5 billion. As DJT pointed out Macron has no longevity for his government in France, and cannot speak for that country. As Treasury Secretary Bessent who along with Rubio is part of the team that will work with the president says, Denmark is irrelevant to the issues US faces for US and world security. It is a small country, Denmark, with a population of 6 million most of it in the area near Copenhagen. Houston or Dallas has a much larger population. For Denmark to decide on momentous issues of US security for the entire eastern seaboard or world security, with ownership essential for the US,  when climate has made the Arctic important, is something the US does not accept.   ...

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Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, says "the integrity of the City matters to the economy of Britain," as he takes strong action to safeguard financial benchmark rates set in the City of London. Following the manipulation of LIBOR for which banks paid heavy fines this is a major issue. New legislation will make it a criminal offense, punishable with 7 years in prison. Manipulation will be determined based on the intentions of traders to place trades or share information so that their interests are served above a client's interest. Not just LIBOR, other benchmarks such as London foreign exchange benchmark rate, key gold and silver rate, ICE Brent index and Sterling Overnight Index Average (Sonia), ISADFix, are also included in this legislation.

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A young socialist leader in the Sanders campaign effort asks what it is about aging socialist leaders Jeremy Corbyn, 68 years, in the UK, and Bernie Sanders, 75 years, that makes them popular with young people. She says both leaders stood up consistently for decades on issues important to ordinary working class people, when Labor under Blair and Democrats under Clinton abandoned their base to a point when one political expert could say Democrats  were the "second most enthusiastic capitalist party" in the U.S. She says under Blair Clause IV was rewritten. That clause committed the Labor party in Britain to "common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange." Under Corbyn, with support from young people, Labor received 40% of the vote. The party was reenergized on issues important to students such as making higher education accessible to all. A similar situation happened with Sanders in the U.S., who received more of the young people's vote in 2016 primaries than Trump and Clinton combined. ...

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The Fabian Society suggests extending the freeze on income thresholds to generate 12 billion pounds. The reasoning is that it would be fair to most of the middle and lower income households- only the top 20% would pay higher. “The chancellor  (Reeves) recently she wanted to ensure that those with the ‘broadest shoulders pay their fair share of tax’. Our modelling suggests that half (49%) of the revenue raised would come from the highest-earning fifth of households. Conversely, the poorest fifth of households would bear just 4% of the cost,” he writes. “With our public services in dire need of investment, and our public finances under great pressure, there are few good options. Continuing the freeze in income tax thresholds for a further two years is surely one of the better ones." Reeves has been a poor choice for chancellor throughout this Labor administration as she lacked the ideas to go with the grassroots and the people all across Britain struggling to live beyond paycheck to paycheck including the middle class, and follow Labour's own instincts about what was right for Britain at this time in 2025. In this case 49% of the revenue would come from the highest earning fifth of the households and only 4% from the poorest fifth of households. Such choices have inevitably to be made and a lot is needed for the infrastructure and services that benefit all segments of the population and most the four fifths of the population. ...

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Hundreds of workers at power plants and oil refineries in Britain walked off the job in protest against the use of foreign labor. Generally the UK was one country that was open to immigrants.

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Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has called for an "innovative, co-operative and responsible" approach to Brexit, saying that fragmentation is in no one's interest. With the British pound weakening inflation is expected to rise ahead of growth in wages. Speaking at the Mansion House next to the Governor was Philip Hammond, Britain's finance minister, who pointed out that people did not vote for Brexit to become poorer. This report in the BBC points to Hammond's position becoming closer to Mark Carney's following the parliamentary election in June 2017.

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Criticism in the media for Justin Trudeau's carefully cultivated image and reuse of the family brand. After three years in office it slowly comes apart with revelations of poor judgement and promotion of rock star kind of image, without substance behind it. Promotion of gender equality, indigenous people, and other ideas did not have the conviction behind it that is needed, and the lack of forthrightness becomes evident. In the last two years the images of popular presidents in the media have come apart in countries from Brazil to Canada, with skepticism even in the U.S. and Britain for former presidents and prime ministers who carefully cultivated their image or simply popular in the media.

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Like the rest of the restaurant industry British pubs are affected by staffing shortages, inflation, higher energy bills, and supply chain problems. The UK lost around 3250 pubs and bars between March 2020 and September of this year. During lockdowns most were closed, as they reopen they face higher costs and are struggling to survive. New hires that earned 27,000 pounds now are offered 32,000 pounds, with few applications as people look for better work and working conditions than offered in the restaurant industry.

Fewer people are going to pubs for lunch as they work from home more. Older people are staying at home from virus related hesitancy. Pubs are passing on price increases of food of 20%. Once seen as part of Britain's cultural fabric this also is changing as people look for other sensible options.

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Prime minister Johnson of Britain blames his coronavirus on being overweight. He can now be seen playing tennis at Winfield House, the residence of the American Ambassador. He can also be seen in the Queen's Lambeth Gardens taking a run. Both have been offered to him for use after the prime minister ran into someone at St. James Park. Boris Johnson now says as  word of advice to many middle aged people "Don't be a fatty in your fifties." Take up exercize he says to a generation of men that have just become lazy when it comes to exercize. Other things to be stronger with the virus are healthy eating habits, lots of ancient grains, lentils, fruits and vegetables. Add  yoga, meditation, call it mindfulness if you like, it works, and it is never too late. 

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Equity markets in Europe and the U.S. are likely to see some of the 62 trillion yen, or $630 billion, which the Bank of Japan plans to add to holdings of banks and households in two years 2013-2014. A senior advisor to Deutsche Bank, Thomas Mayer, says equities of Germany, France and Britain are likey to see interest from Japanese investors, as are bonds and equities of the U.S. Japanese companies such as Toyota and consumer product companies such as Sony and Panasonic will now be able to better compete on price against their S. Korean, American and European competitors.

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This article in The Telegraph shows the debate in the House of Commons on Syria and comments by various MP's. It also reveals the impasse on Syria with Boris Johnson of the Conservative Party using it to score points against Jeremy Corbyn of Labor Party by calling for demonstrations by peace groups at Russian embassies, and Corbyn's response to this saying all parties embassies including the U.S. should be included. By October 2016 with about 100,000 children and 275,000 civilians trapped inside the Aleppo region in northern Syria, and Russian bombings of Aleppo, the situation is dire. With U.S. president Obama's inaction on Syria, the refugee crisis in Europe from Syrian refugees exceeding 2 million in the Middle East, the situation in Syria is at the point where lacking an effective option to setup a no fly zone at this late stage the political parties in Britain and in the U.S. trade charges against each other. German chancellor Merkel and foreign minister Steinmier visit Ethiopia and Nigeria to stem the flow of refugees from economic crisis at the source with aid and support, as Germany works on its own efforts. France's Hollande tells Putin a visit to France would have only Syria as topic for discussions and calls for Syria to be brought up as war crimes. Even the Telegraph's title is misleading as the article covers the debate in the House on Commons on Syria, but the title appeals to Telegraph readers critical of Corbyn when the debate is about Syria and what action to take about the bombings.   ...

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Efforts are being made at the current Commonwealth meeting in London to revive the organization of nations that were part of the British Empire. In earlier years India had stayed away from the organization and it was becoming outdated. Prince Charles personally carried an invitation to prime minister Modi of India asking him to attend Commonwealth meeting in London in 2018. Britain is keen on reviving the organization following plans to exit the EU and set up trade deals with countries such as India.

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Who knew that Prince William had actually slept on the streets of London in 2009 to understand homelessness and his passion to end homelessness through affordable housing. There is also the passion of the King Charles to do this another way by building aesthetic, friendly housing at lower cost so that it serves the needs of ordinary people. Around this one idea the deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and  William, Charles have found a new relationship. Charles chats freely with Angela, says the Times in this report and the two have developed shared concerns, as it is Rayner who as housing minister that has to come up with the 1.5 million new houses to be built under Labour's and PM Starmer's promise to Britain. It is agood sign for the new Britain that the royal family can come together with someone who has had her own struggles as Angela Rayner has had in her earlier years with an early pregnancy, as the three people come together to fight homelessness in our communities. ...

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A 93 year old hero of the French Resistance, Stephane Hessel, publishes a pamphlet called "Indignez-Vous!," released by a small publishing house from the publisher's home. He calls for resisting the "international dictatorship of the financial markets" and "defending the values of modern democracy." He protests France's treatment of illegal immigrants, the influence on the media by the affluent, cuts to the social safety net, French educational reforms. It was first published in October, and now has sold 1.5 million copies, all through word of mouth advertising. It has been translated into Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Greek. New editions are planned for Slovenian, Korean, Japanese, Swedish and other languages. In Britain, it was published with the title "Time for Outrage." The pamphlet is about 4000 words and only 14 pages of text. Its timing is good, as the French are debating what to do in their politics with an election approaching and Sarkozy's standing at new lows. The short length and low price are a big plus, at $4 it made a convenient Christmas gift. Britain, Spain, Portugal and Greece are going through austerity cuts. Public sentiment has been aroused by the cuts, and by the overarching influence of financial markets on the economies of these countries. Some of these countries referred derisively as piigs- Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain -countries in the financial markets. The economic impact has fallen disproportionately on the young, with high jobless rate for young people from Italy to Spain, and cuts in funding for universities and schools in the UK also fall heavily on young people. A sense that something has gone wrong in the free market system and the western world. Austerity cuts in spending in the U.S. create a similiar feeling and joblessness among young people is also high in the U.S....

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In upcoming national elections the anti-immigration narrative pushed by prime minister Viktor Orban is no longer sounding convincing to voters. One retiree in a local election is cited here as saying there is no one at the border, that he is tired of hearing that narrative. The number of people at the border from Africa and Asia has dwindled to single digits from 200,000 at one time. All parties in the country are opposed to it.  Hungary's economic growth of 3% in recent years since 2013 is helped greatly by aid from the European Union.  Large public works programs have brought unemployment down to 3.8%.  As a result Orban is likely to win about half the seats in parliament down from about two thirds majority. The other half of the seats will be divided among parties from the Greens, Socialists, Centrists and the right wing. As in Hungary the anti-immigration narrative should gradually fade in the rest of Europe including Britain. The vote for Brexit was close and the anti-immigration narrative helped boost the yeas vote margin. As a result of the change in public perception there will be questions about how much a decision that affects Britain for future generations should be made on the basis of an event that happened in 2015-2016. ...

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This report by Jia Lynn Yang in NYT covers only the Coolidge period and the JFK period ignoring the wider trend since the 1850's when immigration from Asia to the US was discouraged. The laws limiting Japanese, Chinese and Indian immigrants were put in place long before 1924 by the 1890's. Japan agreed to limit immigration to the US under an agreement with the US after 1900. China was undergoing a transition under the Boxer Rebellion and upheaval in government in the period after 1900, India was part of Britain's colonial Empire.It does not mention that Chinese laborers helped do the dangerous work to build the railroads east to west. It also ignores the immigration from Mexico which was a special case in immigration because of Mexico's relationship along the border, first with the Mexican American War that achieved Jefferson's idea of a continental nation coast to coast. Mexico was a source of labor for US agriculture in the 1930's and 1940's when Asian immigration was severely constrained. When Gen. Eisenhower won the election in 1952 immigration policy was on the agenda, in fact Truman had a commission look at it by 1950. Operation Wetback was launched by Eisenhower and returned millions of Mexican migrants back to Mexico. Fearing the lack of farm help for Mexican agriculture Mexican agricultural interests supported the return of migrants. All this is left out by Lynn Yang. For almost a century Asian immigration was discouraged till JFK with experience in Asia during the war looked at Asian immigration to US differently passing new legislation to support this in the JFK/LBJ terms as president. In this sense the operations under DJT at the Border  and in the US in 2025-2026 are similar to what happened under Operation Wetback under a popular president Eisenhower, after the surge in Mexican migration adding millions of migrants to the US population in the 1930's and 1940's. A greater glimpse of the US can only be imagined if after the early immigration and discovery of the continent by the Spanish, the French and the British by 1600, the continent had not been unified first by the war of 1756-1763 with the French and Indian Wars creating the original 13 British colonies before the War of Independence in 1776, and the expansion to Spanish/Mexican territory to the West and South including California, Texas and Florida in the Mexican American War of 1846-48. In that situation there would be five sectors in America- British, Spanish, French, Mexican and American. The US could not have advanced as an industrial power divided in this way and would not have attracted immigrants from Europe the away it did. If it was split into two Southern confederacy and Northern Union states it would also have led to a similar situation. There would be conflict. It is only divine intervention and the courage and ideas of Jefferson and Washington, the work of president Polk, the leadership of Lincoln, and the industrial revolution on a large scale of one Nation in peace for most of the 19th century, that it became a haven for immigrants from a troubled Europe, a struggling Asia and Mexico. ...

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Reading the AI summary of this simplistic editorial- taking the first 50 of the 258 comments as a sample shows about 95% of the Comments are strongly critical of social media companies, and support a ban on social media for under 16 year olds, for the safety and education of children. Most consider this Editorial as poorly written, simplistic and many say it could have been written by the social media companies.  They question the motives as Amazon founder is owner of the Washington Post. A look at the AI Summary of the Comments itself show why AI is good for routine tasks processes where no intelligent thinking is involved. On something involving risks to children, risks to society, AI is the wrong tool and can lead to disastrous decisions as it cannot understand the dangers and what is being discussed, its implications for children and education. It serves as an eye opener of why AI should only be used very carefully because of serious risks when used in an indiscriminate manner. The list of countries in Europe pursuing the bans show Canada following Australia and Britain, France, Greece and Spain, a big part of Europe imposing social media bans for under 16's. Indonesia, Brazil and China itself (by limiting its use with strict controls possible in a society like China's) are also doing the same. These countries have not arrived at this conclusion without months and years of discussion- none of this is even considered in this editorial by Washington Post Editorial Board. Another factor that is not put to the forefront is that over time the advantages of the US and Europe in education are being eroded because social media takes time out of education and study so that it handicaps US and European societies which leads to gradual decline. On the 250th Anniversary everything the founders did, and the vision of the founders for America is put at risk by not educating the next generation of Americans in the best possible way, and this means sticking to binders and books, pen and paper for schools not even using electronic means such as iPads or laptops. This is the view of one of the most carefully thought out education centers in the world. For years Sweden across all segments of society and experts in different fields studied the poor performance in reading comprehension, writing and other educational skills from the use of screens instead of pen and paper. Sweden now is implementing a program that is removing all screens in schools and replacing it with binders that have pen and paper and book lists, and hard copy books in libraries to read holding them in ones hands as has been done for centuries of western civilization. Forget about social media screens one of the smartest countries on the planet is thoughtfully getting out of screens altogether. Lyrarc.com has covered this Swedish example. Sweden is fighting back. European societies are fighting back  one by one. And the US to be great again and not to fall into decline the way it has in world trade- that was misunderstood by sticking to what economists told different administrations which turned out to be wrong- should be careful every step of the way and study diligently what other countries in Europe and Asia are doing, not to fall behind. ...

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India's Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said at an Atlantic Council event in Washington D.C. that estimates have been made of what the British took out of India over two centuries and this has come to $45 trillion in today's value. India suffered humiliation for two centuries from 1756 to 1947 with British rule. The country was "bled" and this was first documented by a member of parliament Dadabhai Naoroji in 1901 in London in his book explaining the causes of India's deep poverty in his book with the title- Poverty and Un-British Rule in India. For the first time detailed financial figures were put together on what Britain took out of India and India's Mohandas Gandhi says this was how he learned about how much India suffered economically under British rule with the neglect of agriculture, the peasants and landless laborers making up the vast population of India. Taxation was burdensome on a poor population during most of the period. Railways and mass communication only helped keep the vast region together under British rule and most of the budget went into security and policing for the Empire. Investment in industry or agriculture was neglected for most of the nineteenth century and half of the twentieth. Strangely the first Indian edition of Naoroji's book was only in 1962 with most Indians unaware of what had happened and where this was first documented. Even Cambridge educated Nehru looked at the railways and mass communication as British contributions to india when in actual fact this was of a strategic security aspect for the British in a vast region, and little was done to improve the standard of living of the people in the villages who worked in subsistence agriculture. Gandhi's task was to increase awareness at the grassroots level of the condition of the country. Something he never hesitated to do even writing to the Viceroy who was in charge directly showing how the budget in the 1920's was entirely lacking in any funds for India's development. This letter can be seen today in the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, the museum for Gandhi in his home state of Gujarat. One of the lesser known facts about the independence struggle is that Gandhi wrote a little book in 1910 with title "Hind Swaraj" on a steamship making its way back to South Africa from Britain where Gandhi led a deputation for rights of Indian coolie laborers in South Africa. I picked up this book at the original home of Gandhi and his parents in Porbandar, India, recently. In this book "Hind Swaraj" written in 1910 we find astonishingly all the details of the planned struggle for independence that were to happen over the next 20 years. In 1930 with a new edition Gandhi wrote that he had followed this unchanged for 20 years and would change nothing except one line in the book. The book in 1910 was promptly banned by the government of Bombay, yet Indian editions appeared soon afterward. It is written in question and answer format with Gandhi himself posing the questions which he answers, some challenging his view of India, Britain, Indians and the British. He did not blame the British, and called for Indians to take responsibility for letting the British rule in India happen and what was the best way out.  ...