The Xtra Diary - Friends, Ross and Rachel era is over!

Published: 04 February 2011

Friends, Ross and Rachel era is over!

 

PAUL Mason describes himself as a “weatherman in a hurricane”. 

The Newsnight economics editor has certainly seen a few things in the past few years: the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the testimony of Alan Greenspan and rioting on the streets   of Athens.

But as he talked to a packed hall at the London School of Economics (LSE) on Monday evening it wasn’t the colourful stories observed from the front row of the financial meltdown that piqued the audience’s curiosity, rather the constant references to a once obscure economist Hyman Minsky.

Mason said no world leader, including any British politician to his knowledge, had seriously engaged with the late American economist known for his theories about private debt and the fragility of financial markets. Although “Mervyn” – King, our great Bank of England Governor – is apparently a fan.

While Mason lowered expectations about his wisdom (likening himself speaking at LSE to Woody Allen giving a clarinet concerto at Carnegie Hall), he held forth on Minsky’s theories in atomic detail. Endless graphs were produced to show what happens when the state intervenes and what Minsky would have to say about what he calls “phase three of the crisis”.

The outlook, if you believe Mason, is bleak. As he put it “the Ross and Rachel era” is over. The world will never be the same. 

He invited the audience to order some pizzas and thrash out a protectionist policy for the UK with him overnight (“it’s simple”). But on a global solution he is more opaque. And as the interviewer became the interviewee, Mason didn’t seem to like the idea that his employer the Big British Castle might think he was advocating a remedy.

Spouting wisdom about our fountains

FOUNTAINS, fountains everywhere, but not a drop to drink.
West End ward councillor Jonathan Glanz has called for disused drinking fountains to be brought back into action so tourists and Londoners can wet their whistles without having to fork out for costly and environmentally harmful plastic bottles of water.
“Taking water out of a tap is 3,000 times greener than drinking bottled water,” he told Diary. Cllr Glanz said it was “unrealistic” to expect the funds to come from City Hall but that he hoped more big developers would be steered into providing fountains for the public – as Ham Yard developers Firmdale are set to do.
“We have some wonderful, historic fountains in Westminster,” he added. “There is an old fountain in the St Anne’s churchyard that we may be able to bring back to life.”
The fountain in Mount Street Gardens, Mayfair, could also be revived, he said.