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England coach Gareth Southgate reflects here on his penalty kick in the 1996 semifinals against Germany in Euro Soccer at the Wembley stadium. He recall that at the time the penalty kicks were handled as more a situation of luck not skill and practice. He took the kick with little practice and he recalls some negativity in his mind, and missed. Twenty two years later at a knockout stage game in Moscow he faced the similar situation playing Columbia. This time he was manager. But this time the team had changed its attitude. Penalties were seen as being about skills, practice and effort. His focus was on the process, and let the results work themselves out. He encouraged his players to take a positive attitude and think positively during the kick. Combining skill and process worked and England won that game.  In 2021 Gareth Southgate is the coach for the English team that plays against Italy in July's final at Wembley stadium. He writes this to inspire English teenagers to take the right attitude into the game.  ...

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DJT's affection for the British royal family. Mark Landler of the NYT describes the DJT meeting with Prince William after the ceremony at Notre Dame cathedral reopening in Paris, France. DJT often invokes his mother Mary Ann Mcleod and how greatly his mother admired Queen Elizabeth. As prince Charles met DJT at Mar-a-Lago. Charles and DJT have different views on climate change. As King Charles will provide Britain with additional ways to maintain it's special relationship with the US, even as prime minister Starmer works to restore relations with the EU that were disturbed by Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage's Brexit, says Landler.  In the TV series "The Art of the Surge," DJT is shown displaying pictures of him and Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles. In “The Art of the Surge” DJT loves to display a book of photographs of him with the queen and Charles, while they are standing near the honor guard at Buckingham Palace. "The Queen was fantastic by the way. Look, Charles, so beautiful. These images, I mean, who has images like these?” ...

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There was a time during the Apartheid days in South Africa when diplomats and other visitors took great risks to help South Africans. Haigh is one of the Australians who did his best to help those who were fighting Apartheid and its segregation of black people. He was a junior diplomat at the Australian mission in Pretoria when he arrived in 1976 with riots in Soweto, outside Johannesburg. He helped Steve Woods, the journalist in "Cry Freedom," a British dissident flee the country.

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C. Raja Mohan says in The Indian Express that India needs to look at the big picture of modernization in a new world for world trade in which the US is reindustrializing, Europe is reindustrializing, and India is on the road to modernization by 2040 over the next 15 years. All three processes are happening at the same time. 

The old order of world trade destroyed the industrial base of the US and Europe, it also neglected India's modernization, happening with the unwitting cooperation and connivance of the business interests of the US and Europe. It will do little for India. India must also change it's industrial structure and modernization effort to fit into this new world and bring it's strengths to build a new world in which the US, EU and India modernize their economies, manufacturing base, and infrastructure in a win-win for all sides.

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British establishment Labour's Mandelson and Conservative's Prince Andrew -the Epstein connections in the Epstein files and the political fallout for Labour and the Conservatives. This happens as they approach local elections with the Greens, Liberals, and Reform UK already taking 50% of Labour's 2024 general election voters with disillusionment over results in the first 2 years of Labour. Labour assumed it had the immigration issue under control with some headline grabbing  stories of it taking tough action when it won in 2024. That has not deterred illegal migrant trafficking. Labour soon lost sight of the ball, and did not realize that the cultural issues around excessive tolerance of such migration itself had not been resolved such as ECHR rights which were completely misinformed when written to approve of such illegal migrants rights and ignore the citizens and women of the neighborhoods in which people had lived for generations. After decade and half of Conservative Cameron austerity Labour needed time to wrestle with the issues of levelling facing Britain's north and the Midlands. Instead Labour found itself on the backfoot and Farage was brought out of retirement after issues in towns like Epping and all across England, where migrants were put in hotels as women and locals loudly disapproved. Labour thought under Conservatives  that over 50,000 were in asylum hotels in 2023 and this has come down to 35,000 in 2025 under Labour, as a kind of improvement not realizing that the public mood questioned the whole idea of the migrants in hotels itself, of little tolerance for any illegal migrants in neighborhoods itself. It shows the political processes have great importance and a series of mediocre leaders from Blair, Brown, Cameron, Johnson, Sunak, Starmer and Farage over a period of 4 decades can change the trajectory for nations and region. A similar period for India in 1720-1760 with warring factions and regions inviting British East India Company troops to opposing sides fractured the country and led to losing its grip on itself. Gandhiji describes this for introspection in Hind Swaraj (1905) not taking the easy road most now discredited anticolonial writers after 1950 took in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Where does this leave Britain in 2026? It can only come to grips with it knowing that the quality of education, quality of leadership, honesty and introspection of the kind suggested by Teddy Roosevelt in Applied Idealism in his Autobiography, chapter 5, and in Gandhiji's Hind Swaraj are essential.  ...

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The Guardian in its Editorial on Keir Starmer on February 10, 2026, says Labour was in the political wilderness for 18 years, and yet it has taken only 14 months for the project which put it into power to implode. It is referring to the project of McSweeney from County Cork, Ireland, and others to put a centrist to replace Corbyn, and selecting Keir Starmer. This was a weakness from the start as a candidate has to emerge on his own merits not be put in place by handlers like McSweeney, as he would not be able to govern on his own thinking and make his own decisions.  McSweeney was a campaign organizer and not successful at that as portrayed as Labour could have taken more than the 34% of the vote it received after 18 years of Tory rule without the likes of McSweeney. The Guardian says "excessive power and influence" was given by Starmer to McSweeney, and that the outsourcing of Britain's direction served neither the prime minister or the country well.  This is aserious flaw. McSweeney did not have the long experience of advisers that backed up Biden in the White House. And even the long experience of Biden group of advisers failed Biden when it came to immigration policy and the Border. And yet the question remains why was there such a lack in the talent pool for good governance for Labour, as it was for the Conservatives, for 3 decades since the 1990's? Similar to the situation with Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama governance in the US, why is there not a good talent pool for effective governance in the UK and the US? The Guardian goes on to question the judgement of Starmer and the clique around him including McSweeney for their attitude towards helping the working class in support payments during a cost of living crisis- what it calls a contempt filled approach of the cliques to the normal priorities of a Labour party. The Editorial concludes that Labour has lost control of the trajectory of events- as more Mandelson emails are expected- and that it is hard to see how this trust can be won back. For Britain having 5 prime ministers over 4 years is a shocking lack of the talent, of confidence, that once prevailed in the nation that once led the world with the Industrial Revolution, and in science and technology. ...

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Goldman founder, Marcus Goldman's son, Henry Goldman, helped create the concept of valuation of companies based on their earning power at the turn of the century. Around this time public finance was in its early stages and credit was based on balance sheet assets. Goldman took public companies like Studebaker, Sears Roebuck and May Department Stores, and formed a partnership with Henry Lehman of Lehman Brothers. He maintained close contacts with Germany during that time. The book by his grand daughter June Breton Fisher is titled- When Money Was in Fashion: Henry Goldman, Goldman Sachs, and the Founding of Wall Street. It an apt title about the Goldman style and culture. When Henry Paulson, former CEO of Goldman was asked during a college reunion what languages he had learned and all about his travels by a classmate, Henry replied that he had learned the language of money and that was the only language he would need.

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Players in World Cups past, Kurt Hamrin for Sweden in 1958, Guillermo Sepulveda for Mexico in 1962, and Tarcisio Burgnich in 1970, share their memories and pictures of playing against Brazil and Pele in The Guardian. He is remembered by Kurt Hamrin as a rare talent who was humble and kind. He was Hamrin says "incredibly humble." After the first Brazilian World Cup title win in 1958 against Sweden Hamrin recalls- Pele took the Swedish flag draped around him and circled the stadium to show respect for his opponents. Who does that nowadays. Something is lost. No, a lot is lost and needs to be recovered of the way we played and lived. Asen, Marshall and Romano conducted the interviews for The Guardian.

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Greg Ip of the WSJ says a second term of former president Trump would look very different from the first. Republicans achieved their goal of tax reform in the first two years of that term. Following that trade tariffs ensued against China creating a different environment in world trade. A second term would lead to more action on trade and more tariffs. Ip says the former president could impose tariffs on all Chinese imports and this would lead to retaliatory tariffs from China and be met with EU retaliatory action in a tit for tat manner. The result would be disruption in world trade and affect the world economy. Higher inflation could also be result of such disruptions.

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As Kamala Harris offers $25,000 to home buyers to make it more affordable and sets up a $40 million Innovation fund to build more homes, sets a target of 3 million homes to be built, housing and cost of renting or owning is front and center of attention in 2024. Dougherty and Davis of NYT look at the US housing shortage and rising rents for apartments and homes. A look at Kalamazoo, Michigan, as a sort of microcosm of the US housing situation. Around the time of the 2009 financial crisis and aftermath when vacant homes on streets in many cities were being bulldozed and when there was more housing than people needed the seeds were being planted for today's shortage of homes. There was less interest from builders, there were restrictions on mortgages and higher down payments, capital was harder to get for builders, adding up to fewer homes being built. US demand was for 1.6 million units of housing, the supply was about 1.1 million over the next decade after 2009 leading to the buildup of a shortage of 5 million home supply. Covid changed some patters of housing behaviour. More people work from home with remote work. Then by 2022 mortgage rates were up making housing less affordable just when owners of apartments raised rents by 20-30 percent. In Kalamazoo up by 40%. ...

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The Hindustan Times provides this look at the construction of a new 1000 bed hospital in Bandra Kurla complex exhibition area of Mumbai  that will be used for isolation of coronavirus cases. The hospital will be ready in time to tackle an expected further surge in cases in Mumbai by the end of May. The hospital will be equipped to handle another 5000 beds says the Mumbai municipal authority, MMRDA. Several hospitals are being built such as this one to tackle the surge in cases as Mumbai has about 25% of cases in India of coronavirus.

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Biden's love of Irish poetry comes through at critical moments in his career. His efforts reading his uncle Ed Finnegan's book of W. B. Yeats poetry and trying to memorize some lines as a child to  help overcome his stutter. His quoting of Seamus Haney at critical times in his career- and after winning the 2020 election. He also quoted Haney in the Irish parliament this week using Haney's translation of the Greek playwright Sophocles- Haney's The Cure at Troy. In a way says NPR Biden found his own voice through Yeats. One can see from the speech at the Irish parliament that the words of a Yeats or a Haney has a magical effect on him- helps him come alive and become invested with a youthful energy, and a new found vigor that comes from purposeful living. He combines Haney on hope with his reference to Chinese president Xi and being asked what defines America- his answer "Possibilities." 

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Carmen Reinhart interviewed by Tom Keene. He is the author of the book - "This Time is Different." He points to a similar crisis with the banks in the 1980's.

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The difficulties faced by U.S. presidents in their second term, making the second term look different from the first, with difficulty getting talented individuals to join and stumbles in policy or actions. The stumbles by Roosevelt in cutting spending at the wrong time, in trying to stack the Supreme Court with his choices as justices, the scandals of Watergate and the the Lewinsky affair for Nixon and Clinton, the accumulating financial bubble under George W. Bush and deregulation failures, and a similar lack of progress for other presidents. A particular problem in the U.S. is the election cycle that makes the incumbent president a lame duck by the beginning or middle of the third year as the country moves on. By the third year of Truman's second term the country had moved on and the fatigue effects were felt in the country. By the time he leaves a president is quickly forgotten- president Adams quietly left town as Jefferson took over with stark differences between the two; Truman quietly left for Independence, Missouri, as Eisenhower took office; Hoover left office to go into obscurity and a sense of failed policy as Roosevelt took over. Woodrow Wilson was very sick during the last years of his second term a fact not known to the rest of the country. In most situations the world and the country has moved on, the aura of an incoming president in his first term is gone. Most of the successor policies to shape the future, organization and creating a talented core of support are taking place during the second term and lame duck period of the existing president, with a new vision of the future being shaped and new realities anticipated....

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Liz Goodwin and Riley Beggin report from Hillard Ohio where Amazon is building a large data center using land adjoining a school and a park for children. Parents are collecting signatures for a ban. About 70% of Americans are opposed to the data centers building in their local area, after an aggressive push with tax breaks and incentives provided by some states. Virginia, Georgia, Texas, and Ohio most aggressive data center builders in the US by 2026- construction jobs, and investment, as pros, electricity usage and use of farmland cons. Ohio's governor DeWine paused tax breaks after realizing that it cost the state $1 billion in lost revenue. Amazon says it has invested $70 billion in the state since 2016. Democrat politicians are not taking up the bans because of some unions supporting the data centers for jobs created in construction. Another reason is that politicians in general face attacks from the tech companies donating to campaigns against them if they call for a ban. Sherrod Brown Democrat in Ohio asks data centers to pay for their electricity but has not supported a ban-  “With data centers, we make sure the investors pay for electricity. Not the people who live in Zanesville or Coshocton or in Cambridge.” The big reason to support it from the jobs perspective is stated by the unions. Tim Burga of the AFL-CIO in Ohio says-  “These are creating good union jobs, both in the construction, but also in the keeping them secure and maintaining them."  Now you have a public frustrated particularly in quiet suburbs of America who see this as an intrusion into their lives, which means Republican and Democrat, Red State and Blue State, makes little difference. Construction workers and unions excited about the prospects for decent jobs after the Obama and Bush elites shipped 5 million jobs (Lighthizer USTR estimate) to China over 2000-2016, and transferred $20 trillion in American wealth to foreign countries by blindly accepting unfair trade with China, EU, Canada, Mexico. And see this as part of the MAGA effort to bring back the supply chains to America for all manufactured products in the interests of reliable supply, national security, and the promise of good paying jobs for the communities across America that depended on these jobs since the industrial revolution inthe US at the turn of the century in 1900. It took only 2 decades to wipe them out under what Lighthizer and Jamieson call "shortsighted leadership" of  Republican Bush and Democrat Obama and their corresponding elites. These communities were hit more than once, twice, thrice, four times in fact- in 2009 by the banker's aided and abetted financial crisis, by Bush starting and Obama continuing the Afghan Iraq wars on different pretexts (diverting trillions of dollars that otherwise go to job creation and manufacturing, new technologies), and then by Covid in 2019. This is the America in which the data center building spree is taking place- a plus if done right and with some carefully thought out plan for water/electricity usage costs and for AI guardrails, protection for farmland and areas near parks and schools, and residential suburbs.   ...

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As Eliud Kipchoge sets a record with running the marathon under 2 hours in October 2019, The Times looks at another time and another record- Roger Bannister of Britain running the mile in under 4 minutes in 1954.

The contrast- the BBC showed the Bannister run only afterwards, Kipchoge was shown on 25 television networks. Both had pacemakers, runners who set the pace for them and fell back. Weather was carefully planned for Kipchoge, Bannister took a chance on May 6, 1954 at Paddington grounds. Bannister was a medical student, Kipchoge was working at running going to sleep and back to running. Bannister had a ham salad, Kipchoge had oatmeal before the run. Both tried to break records at the Olympics and decided on this as an alternative for a personal best and setting a time record.

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As shown in other articles in the NYT Gen. Kelly is bringing some discipline and coherence to the White House. This includes bringing Jared Kushner the president's son-in-law into the chain of command, having him report to Mr. Kelly. At the same time as Kushner is seen less of in meeting with Mr. Trump, he is now more focussed on his own projects. He is also shown here to be more cautious as he realizes more now than earlier that the Mueller investigation is a thorough one, that is looking into all the details. Some insiders even say Kusher and Ivanka Trump look wistfully at going back to their lives in New York without all the chaos and tumult of the White House in 2017.

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There is more ot it than just the monopolies crushing new competition and small firms in their space. The gatekeeper role for information that Google and other tech monopolies have is a danger for democracy in a way that the Rockefeller's monopoly of the oil business by Standard Oil never was at the turn of the previous century. TR took up the role of government ensuring that fair competition exists by breaking up the monopolies in the oil business at that time. Today this is left to the courts and they take far too long and come up with decisions that do not address the main probem points brought up by the US Justice Department. Judge Mehta after 5 years did little to address the problems of tech monopolies and it is now left to other remedies and other leadership to come up with ways to break up these monopolies.

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Grove's take on what is going on in Silicon Valley, and interviews at startups and Labs like the Almaden Research Center by Steve Hamm. Grove is especially infuriated by the concept of an"exit strategy". Intel never had an exit strategy he says. It takes time to build important companies over along period and a different kind of attitude, and resilience. Steve Hamm visits all parts of the Silicon Valley to understand what is going on. Big companies won't come up with the next big development and startups aren't measuring up to the task. Yes things are happening in the area of electric vehicles, solar energy and green energy. HP sees more productive effort coming from software development than hardware advances. Overall short term thinking and risk aversion dominates, and Grove and Hamm do not see the kind of paranoid attitude and worrying nature and resilience, that got Intel to go back and develop new products and look for new opportunities after taking a beating from the Japanese, who at one time took over Intel's existing markets. ...

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It is true carrots are good for eyesight and to prevent macular degeneration. Sunglasses help prevent ultraviolet rays from affecting the eyes. Reading without taking your eyes off the page is not conducive to good eye health- take time out every 20 minutes to look outside for at least 20 seconds. It is a good idea to relax the eyes by looking at Nature, what is good for mental health is also good for the eyes. Move the eyes to the left the right and draw large imaginary visualization circles with the eyes, large squares, for 30 seconds as away to exercize the eyes. Closing the eyes and concentrating on an imaginary visualization candle is a form of meditation that is also good for resting the eyes. 

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Alexander Ward's new book Internationalists looks at how Jake Sullivan, senior adviser to president Biden, has come up with anew policy of a foreign policy that works with domestic policy both one and the same, so that a firm economic foundation can be given to American workers and their families. Years of neglect of American workers and families by foreign policy experts and keeping foreign policy distant from domestic needs and policies have led to the deindustrialization of America and hurt workers and families. Jake Sullivan presented his and Biden's vision at the Brookings Institution and delved into domestic economic policy  and foreign policy at the same time. He then presented this vision at the Council of Foreign Relations. 

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According to U.S. Senate investigators Apple recorded $26 billion, 65% of its income worldwide for 2012, in Ireland. Ireland Operations International is based in County Cork, Ireland. Ireland has about 4% of Apple's worldwide workforce. Laws in the European Union allow digital companies such as Apple and Google and other large companies to pay little in taxes through such arrangements. Apple CEO Cook says Apple is not using any tax gimmicks. Apple negotiated a low 2% tax rate with the Irish government. The Senate hearings in the U.S. and a meeting of EU leaders has raised concern about this practice being allowed at a time when much needed infrastructure investments are being shelved in the U.S. and Europe because of budget deficits. Spending cuts in education and in R&D hurt long term economic growth. Government statistics show the average Ireland tax rate on gross income of companies in 2010 was 6%. Ireland has a low corporate tax rate for companies of 12.5% which it retained after EU pressures to change the rate when the Irish bailout was provided. Ireland has 4000 Apple workers, and 600 American companies employ 100,000 Irish workers....

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Full time workers in Sweden have the right to take leave for 6 months to do something they want to do, including starting a new business. This includes taking care of a relative or study leave. Workers can come back after 6 months to resume their old job. Employers cannot say no except for special reasons.  This leave has the support of employers, unions and the government. In Sweden's unique culture which emphasizes work-life balance workers taking 6 month leave of absence can get back to their old jobs smoothly.  In Sweden it is very hard to fire an employee who is permanent. So that once an employee has permanent status there is very little incentive to leave to do something else. The 6 month leave option lets workers try out something different or start a business without incurring career risk in addition to financial risk. Workers are more comfortable venturing out when they know they can come back to their old job and are not risking their careers. This BBC report shows profiles several new business owners who took 6 month leave to start a new venture they were passionate about. The way this happens is that an employee first tries out an idea in his spare time while he works full time. When he is comfortable making the move he can take the 6 month leave to devote time to it full time. Experts say Sweden is the only country in the world to give this right to leave to start a new business. In 2017 175,000 people took this leave compared to 163,000 in 2007, according to Statistics Sweden. During this period registration of new companies shot up from 27,000 to 48,000. ...

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Le Monde asks what is the role of religion in the founding of the US from the time of Mayflower Compact 1620 by Calvinist preachers? Two books published after the failure of the Spanish Armada naval invasion of Britain under Queen Elizabeth in 1588 set the stage for an alternative colonization of America and Britain's effort to contest the Americas against the Catholic monarchs of Spain. Agnes Delahaye, Prof of American Civilization at Lumiere University Lyon 2, in France, describes this in an interview in Le Monde. Her book is Adventurers, Puritans, Pilgrims, Amerca's Founding Myths. The first book in 1583 that set the stage for English exploration in the Americas is- A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies by a Dominican missionary, Bartolome de las Casas, and says the Spanish solders tarnished and ruined their Christian duty. The second in 1584 was Discourse of Western Planting by Richard Hakluyt showed Queen Elizabeth with the true religious conviction and practice against the Spanish "black legend," of conquest, and unChristian treatment of native Americans. The Pilgrim Fathers and the migration on the Mayflower and other British ships came through this movement. The settlers around 1600 came from small Calvinist congregations under Brewster and Robinson. Mayflower Compact was the constitutional document in 1620 setting forth their aims. ...

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For a change see parts of Tokyo you normally do not see, and way down in Kyushu island see the Kagoshima region. It is part of this trip to Japan for a 4 day break suggested in The Times of London. 1) Take the Toei streetcar- take the Tokyo Sakura tram running from Minowabishi station in Arakawa, where bits of old Tokyo still exist in narrow alleyways and pubs. Take the tramcar to Waseda station in Shinjuku. An hour's ride and 30 stations with a one day ticket to hop on and off as you feel like. 2) Take in the Sumoida Hokusai museum, and see the famous works of Katsuhika Hokusai, at a museum dedicated to him. Don't miss the woodblock print Under the Wave off Kanagawa, and the series Thirty six views of Mt. Fuji.  3) On Day 2 head to Kagoshima, a 2 hour plane ride from Tokyo. There are 20 flights from Hnaeda airport in Tokyo to Kagoshima airport. You will see Mt. Fuji from the plane at 11,000 feet. In Kagoshima take the airport bus to the city centre and get on the Sakurajima Ferry, about 15 minutes running 3-4 times an hour, 24 hours a day. It goes to Kirishima-Kinkowan National Park, with active volcano Mount Sakurajima, cedar woods, sandy beaches, azalea covered mountain slopes. Try the mineral springs or onsen for a serene atmosphere. 4) For Day 3 take the Ibutama train for an hour ride from beachside town of Ibusuki for sea views, and look for "Mystery Island." During the summer months a sandbar causeway appears for some time allowing one to cross and look at the uninhabited island amidst the sound of the waves and sea air. Then back to Tokyo after a zen period of serenity and calm.   ...