Lord John Taylor of Warwick, Endeavour Magazine, oil prices

Will it be Oilright?

Government ministers are experts at saying dumb things. On 20 January, in a House of Commons debate about the oil industry, David Mundell MP stated boldly: “We can deal with the volatility of oil prices and continue to provide the stable regime that is so important to the industry”. Just 48 hours later the death of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia provoked an immediate rise in oil prices and sent the …

Economy, Lord Taylor of Warwick

Economy

Someone once said, “Greed is good”. That was the dreadfully misguided mantra of Gordon Gekko. He was the mercenary financial trader, a character played by Michael Douglas in the Oscar-winning Hollywood film “Wall Street” in 1988. The film ended with Gekko in ruins when his greed backfired, but Oliver Stone, the film’s director, was dismayed to see that Gekko became …