Life Without Oil, In Fact, Would Be

Of All The Failed Technologies That Litter The Onward March Of Science - Steam Carriages, Zeppelins, Armoured Trains - None Has Been So Catastrophic To Prosperity As The Last Century's Attempt To Generate Electricity From Nuclear Fission.

Even Before He Came To Power In 1997, Gordon Brown Promised To Change The Accounts To Parliament From Simple Litanies Of Cash In And Cash Out, To A More Commercial System That Took Notice Of The Public Property The Departments Were Using. This System Is Known As Resource Accounting.

What Holds An Arab Leader In Power Is A Mixture Of Violence And Prestige. Both President Assad And King Hussein Were Felt To Have Defended Arab Interests Against The World. That, In The End, Is More Important Than What They Wear On Their Head.

One Of The Admirable Features Of British Novelists Is That They Have No Scruple About Setting Their Stories In Foreign Settings With Wholly Foreign Personnel.

Life Without Oil, In Fact, Would Be So Different That It Is Frightening To Contemplate. We Are Addicted, And It Is No Comfortable Addiction.