TrendingWorldWhy desalination remains expensive despite decades of falling costs
6 November 2026
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TrendingEconomicsWhy firms are hoarding labour through downturns instead of cutting jobs
3 November 2026
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TechnologyOpen-source software is fragmenting into walled gardens
The commons that built the internet is splintering. As open-source code becomes critical infrastructure, volunteer labour and corporate adoption no longer sustain collaboration. The result: incompatible, commercially controlled variants that keep the licensing rhetoric but abandon the practice.
PoliticsWhy parliaments are losing power to bureaucracies they cannot sack
Democracies have transferred enormous decision-making power to unelected regulators, central banks, and administrative agencies that cannot be dismissed by voters or their representatives. This arrangement was meant to depoliticise technical decisions, but it has created a mismatch between democratic legitimacy and actual authority.
TrendingWorldWhy desalination remains expensive despite decades of falling costs
Desalination technology has improved dramatically, yet water from the sea remains costly at scale because the real constraint is not membranes or energy efficiency but the infrastructure required to distribute desalinated water inland and dispose of brine waste.
TrendingEconomicsWhy firms are hoarding labour through downturns instead of cutting jobs
Companies in developed economies are keeping workers through slowdowns despite higher unit costs, a reversal of decades of cyclical employment practice. The shift reflects demographic constraints and recruitment scars from the pandemic, but it creates a productivity problem that wage growth alone cannot solve.
OpinionWhy corporate tax havens are moving onshore and governments are building them
The traditional offshore tax haven is being replaced by domestic special economic zones and targeted incentive regimes. Governments now compete for capital not by turning a blind eye from abroad but by carving out privileged enclaves at home, undermining the tax base whilst claiming sovereignty.
TrendingBusinessFamily firms outperform public companies yet trade at a persistent discount
Family-controlled businesses generate stronger returns across economic cycles, yet institutional investors systematically undervalue them. The valuation gap exposes a fundamental conflict between two theories of what corporations are for.
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All Opinion →OpinionWhy corporate tax havens are moving onshore and governments are building them
The traditional offshore tax haven is being replaced by domestic special economic zones and targeted incentive regimes. Governments now compete for capital not by turning a blind eye from abroad but by carving out privileged enclaves at home, undermining the tax base whilst claiming sovereignty.
OpinionWhy pension funds are buying farmland—and what it means for food security
Institutional investors are treating farmland as an inflation hedge, transforming agricultural land into a store of value rather than a productive asset. The shift changes tenant arrangements and long-term food resilience in ways public debate has yet to reckon with.
TrendingBusinessFamily firms outperform public companies yet trade at a persistent discount
Family-controlled businesses generate stronger returns across economic cycles, yet institutional investors systematically undervalue them. The valuation gap exposes a fundamental conflict between two theories of what corporations are for.
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