The Economist - 4 comments

According to the Economist's Pocket World in Figures (2006 Edition) that came through the post today, no fewer than 179% of eligible children in the United Kingdom are enrolled in secondary education (it is a mere 100% in the primary sector). That's an achievement of which we can all be proud.

Perhaps I'd better cross-check other facts with the Wikipedia in future.

Anyway, the book was free, and my new subscription to The Economist gets me the next 12 copies for just £12, which is pretty sweet. How did I swing this incredible deal? I followed one of the Google Ads on this very site, just to prove they're not entirely ridiculous and irrelevant. The licence to carry out humanist weddings may also come in handy - you never know.

There does seem to be a suspicion of economists on our side of the political fence - large parts of it, anyway - but characterising what is, after all, a social science, as something that legitimises greed, promotes privatisation, challenges benevolent governments, is tied to capitalism or Anglo-Saxon values, is insensitive to other cultures, and which is more concerned with calculation rather than human interaction, does the subject a huge disservice.

Ignorance of economics plays into the hands of the Right - it blinds us to liberal, egalitarian policies we could be promoting, to the limits of Government, and to the abuse of the subject by - to name just one group - political enemies who are most concerned with entrenching their own power.