Working at the ecb the night euros first came out of atms was a proud moment. It now looks likely different notes will eventually be coming out of greek banks. This may be what the greek government has envisaged for some time given the way it has managed the situation: reversing reforms and wearing brinkmanship and obtusity as badges of pride, perhaps afraid to openly make the (not-unjustifiable) case that they may be best off out the euro now and so letting events prevail. There may have been little choice given a public that wants the euro but clearly favours the expansionist platform on which syriza was elected but which is in stark contrast to the binding terms greece signed…

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As the eurozone faces its very sternest test and the british death toll in tunisia rises by the hour, I go back to how these things come about and one inescapable but true cliche, that there is little not helped, or even solved, by education. I made a small contribution today, speaking at a hungarian weekend school that has sprung up in manchester. Critical to it, as all schools, is the quality of teachers. It is too bad that rigorous performance management comes late to many school systems, although also understandable given that performance in this context is hellishly difficult to measure. Some kids of course, not least through socio-demographics, should be expected to do better. Teacher value-add comes most…

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Once the immediate horror of the charleston shootings moved to consideration, the next thought was torn between the fork of race or guns. The latter won a moment later, when the news reported that the murderer received a gun for his 21st birthday present. Typically, jonathan freedland managed both. He points to the excellent jon stewart commentary. Somehow america, such a leading global light in so many ways, is unable to wrestle with its twin race and gun pathologies. This time, it's not different. Last year there were 283 mass shootings in america. 283. Here’s another much-commented on string of thought: 525 people have been shot in america by police so far this year, probably more by the time you…

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There’s a beautiful stamp to commemorate today, 800 years since magna carta. I saw it at the post office as I sent several sets of stamps, the first wave, perhaps, of a mass sell-off. I collected stamps avidly as a boy, both me and my sister (she was given a coin collection) were pleasantly encouraged by my father, under whose guidance I built up a decent contemporary collection, bolstered by a family gift of older stock. It was in and out of albums until my early teens, since when it has ossified, albeit added to occasionally by me and, I now recall, my mother. I have tried to get my two sons into the habit, to no effect. I am…

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Having just watched the eurovision (11 may 2014, the morning after) with my youngest – little more than a blatant attempt to stay awake after bedtime - I was struck, again, by how pervasive, in song and commentary, english was. Across the continent it’s no longer a question of what language europe would adopt it had a lingua franca, but rather whether or not to officially adopt english. This is somewhat ironic, given that those who speak three languages are trilingual, those who speak two are bilingual and those who speak just one are english. Some 38% of europeans now speak english, well ahead of german (12%) and french (11%). The reasons for this are of course less olde england…

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Born of reaping the grim fate of being on the tory-led “establishment” side of the scottish referendum, the otherwise-excellent tristram hunt (aspiring shadow chancellor) has been talking about the eu referendum, following the emerging labour line in favour of staying in, but oppositiontunistically decrying cameron for failing in his much-vaunted reform negotiations. This does rather seem to be backing themselves into the corner of saying cameron failed and got nothing, but vote yes anyway to the same old eu. The main event is of course the prime minister getting out of his own corner, as he doesn’t want to leave, but is leading a referendum where the country may very well vote to do that. There are worse things, as…

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Tony blair was right, warning his successor as labour party leader, ed miliband, some months ago not to make the election a rerun of those before him “in which a traditional left-wing party competes with a traditional right-wing party, with the traditional result” of a conservative win. We took the kids to vote after work, and they were suitably interested in the morning to discover I now have a conservative mp for the first time in my life. Within hours, miliband was gone, as was his other half, justine, who I spent a very pleasant if obscure week with in kazakstan and krygystan in the 1990s. Clegg resigned too, as the final hope of reward for their noble narrative…

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I remain in mixed feelings mode about my adopted quasi-homeland of hungary. On the one hand my honorary consul role firmly co-opts me into supporting trade, investment and the large local hungarian community, with events such as a recent one in cheshire I anchored. Of course though the support is seen as wider, and indeed a couple of weeks ago I was a special guest at the house of lords where hungary took over the chairmanship of the international holocaust remembrance alliance from the uk. To hungary’s credit there were many survivors, who pulled no punches, and a contrite and sensible minister who was ruthlessly frank about both the past and the present. Taking into account the extensive programme,…

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Other half and kids in budapest; I’m back from china. An experience. Once through hong kong, spent time first in schenzen and then in chengdu – cities that no-one in europe has heard of, with populations of some 15 and 10 million. The first is probably the more remarkable, as while chengdu has a rich history of 3000 years, schenzen, a fishing village of 30 families in the 1980s, is a growth “unprecedented in human history" poster (only) child of various global “special economic zone” aspirations. I was privileged enough to stand in the city’s nasa-style integrated command and control centre, and see a massive bustling metropolis of finance, industry and all means and manner of commerce, plus skyscrapers…

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