Franzen's "Freedom" holds the key to what I think is wrong with Morozov's cyber-pessimism: it underestimates the problem of common knowledge and the web's contribution to its creation. That is why Wikileaks, Facebook and the blogosphere have been important to events in North Africa
VAT is not progressive, as claimed by UK Chancellor George Osborne in his defence of the tax rise. But it is a tax on something we should be doing less of. So shouldn't we welcome it?
Denis Dutton, founder and editor of Arts and Letters Daily, has died. His daily selection of reading material was a remarkable work in itself and has much to teach web and media watchers about where true value is created online
A wide-ranging conversation recorded in Cambridge, England, on November 29th 2010. Ha-Joon Chang discusses students, strikes, economic ideologies, what to do with finance, with power, nations, global governance and more
The FT's Philip Stephens brings the good news that the Treasury has a few heads above sand-level:
A confidential paper circulating in Downing Street suggests the government
The UK Department of Work and Pension's workfare proposals are wrong. The current system is not perfect, but works in a pragmatic way. It could be made better by decentralising the administration of benefits
