There were lessons to be learned from the economic implosion of 2008. Lessons about complex financial products, about borrowing, lending and spending, about scrutiny and regulation and, ultimately, about the interconnected nature of the world’s financial systems.
Have we learned them?
Our cover story this week, penned by Guardian economics editor Larry Elliott, analyses events since the start of the year, which has seen unrelenting turmoil in global markets. Elliott takes us from the slowdown in China to collapsing crude prices. He considers the unique central bank stimulus known as quantitative easing, along with the quite exceptional strategy of negative interest rates.
Have we adapted? Are we wiser as well as older since the last banking crash? You’ll need to read our front-page piece for Elliott’s conclusions, though I fully expect you will have formed your own along the way.
Inside the paper we continue our coverage of the crisis being inflicted upon Syria. The Guardian and Observer’s Middle East experts analyse various facets of this multi-dimensional conflict, from the Kurdish surge and Turkish ire to Vladimir Putin’s political and military moves.
At the end of the day, however, a war really comes down to people, a fact chillingly reflected in a report that shows 11.5% of the Syrian population have been killed or injured since conflict erupted in March 2011. This spread of news makes for very sad reading indeed.
Our news coverage roams around the globe, as you’d expect.
In Poland, parliamentarians are legislating at odd hours under the leadership of a night owl. In France, terror fears have prompted constitutional change. In Australia, one state ponders accepting nuclear waste. And in El Salvador, the Zika crisis is compounded by sexual violence and a harsh abortion law. In the US, meanwhile, presidential campaigning swings south after delegates in the New Hampshire primary delivered a rebuke to the political establishment.
Our science coverage is strong. We report on the astonishing announcement of the discovery of gravitational waves, and flag up the ‘eternal hibernation’ of the Philae lander on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. We learn that a sigh is much more than just a sigh. And partner paper Le Monde takes us behind the scenes of the “knapped stone” discovery in Kenya, which provided deeper learnings on the use of tools and human development.
Comment reflects on India’s economic and political coming of age, the perils of a global pandemic, and the failings associated with health care in Britain.
On our letters page, you shared views on the politics of Myanmar, conflict in Yemen, and disaster among Tasmania’s ancient trees. We welcome letters for publication, which you can email to us by clicking here.
The deeper-read Weekly Review visits the chicken shops that are making Britain fat, drifts downstream on the Anacostia in Maryland with a commuter who rows, and meets members of the Laotian diaspora who hope for a royal return.
Our Culture coverage, which is now expanded to four pages, seeks to understand the geography of sound and reviews film, photography and dance. You can’t complain about a lack of variety at the back of the paper!
Our reader-contributed Notes & Queries section is seeking your answers to the question of why sneezers get blessed so often. What happens, I wonder, in other cultures. In Asia, or Latin America, or Africa, do they also get a “bless you”? Your answers will be welcome – email them to us here.
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