Economists, Like Royal Children, Are Not Punished

Is There Any Purpose To Translating Poetry? A Poem Does Not Contain Information Of Importance, Like A Signpost Or A Warning Notice.

A Century Ago, Petroleum - What We Call Oil - Was Just An Obscure Commodity; Today It Is Almost As Vital To Human Existence As Water.

There Are Signs That The Age Of Petroleum Has Passed Its Zenith. Adjusted For Inflation, A Barrel Of Crude Oil Now Sells For Three Times Its Long-run Average. The Large Western Oil Companies, Which Cartellised The Industry For Much Of The 20th Century, Are Now Selling More Oil Than They Find, And Are Thus In The Throes Of Liquidation.

The Rise To Prominence Of The Saudi Novel In Arabic Is The Great Man-bites-dog Of Recent World Literature. Saudi Arabia Is A Country Without A Free Press, Where European Styles And Forms Are Distrusted And Where The Female Half Of The Population Became Literate Only In This Generation.

To Give Money To A Woman - And Here I Must Speak As A Man - Is To Deny Her Special Quality, Her Irreplaceability, And Reduce Her Unique Amiability To A Commodity. Money Takes Away Her Name, While Transforming Her Lover Into A Nameless Customer Of A Market Of Appetites.