Martin Wolf, chief economist of the “Financial Times”, proposes radical reform for the financial system, speaks out against German austerity politics and the biggest mistake of all: the Euro.

The high towers of London’s City look small from the 33rd floor of the newest skyscraper, the Shard. Everything is relative – even the size of the financial district in the British capital. Martin Wolf, columnist of the “Financial Times”, meets profil for a Lunch with the FT in the Chinese Restaurant Hutong high up over the river Themse. The pope of English speaking economic journalism just published his new book “The shifts and the shocks”. He calls for radical reforms of the financial system, which so far has not been adjusted to the consequences of the financial crisis and to the 21st century.

Perfect gift: Brand's Revolution

British It-Boy Russell Brand has a new mission: Revolution.

Long, black curls, a dark beard and a missionary sparkle in his brown eyes: Russell Brand could be Jesus Christ. Or Che Guevara. Or both: Messiah and Revolutionary.

http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2014/11/15/book-review-media-framing-of-the-muslim-world-conflicts-crises-and-contexts-by-halim-rane-jacqui-ewart-and-john-martinkus/

Since al-Qaeda’s attacks on the World Trade Center in New York in 2001, Islam and the Muslim world have been the focus of countless media reports, many of them uninformed. In this new publication, three Australian academics and journalists bring their experiences together in a readable account of how the Western media has dealt with the Muslim world in the past 15 years, writes Tessa Szyszkowitz.

 Masha Alyokhina and Nadia Tolokonnikova

The Russian feminists “PussyRiot” think the situation in Putin’s Empire has become too serious for funny songs.

Security expert Andrei Soldatov talks about the psychology of the Russians, Vladimir Putin`s motivation and the weaknesses of his security services. 

Andrei Soldatov, 39, is a Russian expert for security services and co-author of the international bestseller “The New Nobility: the Restoration of Russia’s Security State and the enduring Legacy of the KGB” (2010). Whistle blower Edward Snowdon calls Soldatov “the most prominent critic of the Russian police state”.

Martin Kušej in the Royal Opera in Covent Garden

With his Royal Opera House debut in Covent Garden, Austria’s star director Martin Kušej shows a new interpretation of Mozart’s opera “Idomeneo”: It is not the Gods, but the people, who decide the fate of Crete.

 Anselm Kiefer's Ash flowers

This year it was not the Frieze itself which kept art lovers busy. But the excellent exhibitions which opened in London’s museums and galleries at the same time. Here are my Top 5 to go see in the next weeks:

Bestselling author Thomas Piketty about inequality which damages democracy, how China tries to control the concentration of wealth by jailing oligarchs, about Austria’s banking secrecy and about business class tickets.

Hans Weigand in front of his Majakovski installation

Vienna’s Jewish Museum cooperated with the Russian NGO Memorial in an art project about memory in Moscow.

An idyllic image, a view from a window. But a closer look reveals barbed wire on the fence. The embroidery was created by a Gulag inmate who probably did not survive. The art work landed in the collection of the Russian human rights organization Memorial which deals with the memory of the Gulag. Russian-Austrian artist Ekaterina Shapiro-Obermayr picked this artefact to inspire her work for the exhibition „Tales of 2 cities“ which opened last week in Moscow.

Hey Kilts, revenge is on its way!

Two lessons for David Cameron, the beaming winner of the Scottish referendum.

In the night of the Scottish referendum the skies opened over London at 2 am in the morning: Thunder, lightning and a downpour of rain came as a result of the unseasonal late summer heat the city had experienced the day before. But because of the bizarre timing it almost seemed as if the capital breathed a huge sigh of relief because of the news that arrived at the same time. The results of the first districts in Scotland indicated a clear and loud No! to Scottish independence.