ARCHIVED ACCOUNT. I AM POSTING AT BLUESKY. Charlemagne columnist & Brussels bureau chief, The Economist. Past stints in Paris, Mumbai, London. Français.
Brussels
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Bored youth summertime vandalism at its best: flicking the switch on businesses that keep their lights on all night in the midst of an energy crisis.
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I'm afraid if I go to bed now I'm going to miss two decades of French politics before tomorrow morning.
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This is magnificent. It makes no sense until it makes perfect sense. Nobody outside Indian TV can produce this level of chaos.
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Two countries with a McDonalds now in open warfare. In 1996 Thomas Friedman had posited it shouldn't happen: if a place was rich enough to have Big Macs, its people had too much to lose from war. It was archetypal of a time when we thought the End of History was in sight.
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Marine Le Pen's party is binning its 8-page electoral tract, which features a picture of her shaking hands with Vladimir Putin. Apparently that's not a vote-winner any more! 1.2 million copies had been printed. liberation.fr/politique/elec…
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Macron's line about not humiliating Russia drives Eastern Europeans crazy. As one official from the region put it to me: "If France thinks Putin needs to save his face, it can always send him more Botox".
Deliciously catty, I thought.
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At the rate Germany is overhauling this week, Berlin will adopt baseball at its national sport by Wednesday, just before moving Oktoberfest to October.
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I would watch a sitcom about a meeting of EU officials where they discuss how to build a European aircraft carrier.
EU commissioner @ThierryBreton says at a defense conference in Brussels there will eventually be a need for a European aircraft carrier.
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If you vaccinate 100,000 people over the age of 50 today rather than tomorrow, you save 15 lives, according to a French analysis.
Germany has 1.7m AstraZeneca doses that are now not being administered.
Delay all of those by a week, you're up 1785 deaths.
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Lavrov saying he "met Putin" is like Ryanair saying they "fly to Paris" when the planes land in Beauvais.
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French diplomatic staffing 2022 is a foreigner's pronounciation nightmare--
Incoming EU minister: Laurence BOONE
Outgoing EU minister: Clément BEAUNE
Continuing diplo adviser: Emmanuel BONNE
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You would laugh quite hard a decade ago if someone told you the European Commission by 2023 would rate Greek and Spanish public finances above those of Germany or the Netherlands. (Per @business)
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If I was 50 years old in Italy, I'd start wondering who will pay my state-funded pension.
You need either economic growth, acceptance of high migration or healthy demographics. Italy has none of the three.
What will give?
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First names of the last four finance ministers—
France: Bruno, Michel, Pierre, François
Germany: Christian, Olaf, Peter, Wolfgang
Italy: Daniele, Roberto, Giovanni, Pier Carlo
Britain: Kwasi, Nadhim, Rishi, Sajid
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41% of French population is in favour of a proposal to limit everyone to 4 flights in their entire life.
59% of 18-24 year-olds agree.
2 return flights. Not per year: per life.
csa.eu/news/etude-here-les-f…
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Spotify in India will cost $1.39 per month (99 rupees), vs $9.99 in US. This acknowledges a basic reality that many others (Netflix, Ikea, Starbucks etc) are in denial about: if you apply US-level pricing in India, you are pitching to a total potential audience of fewer than 50m.
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Angela Merkel's memoirs are out next month. This week's Charlemagne revisits her legacy. She led Germany - and thus Europe - as if in a make-believe world, letting it enjoy an extended geopolitical and economic nap from which it still needs to wake up.
economist.com/europe/2024/10…
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To celebrate the anniversary of "Electricity for all by May 2017", Indian government launches "Electricity for all by March 2019" scheme
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The first time Angela Merkel featured on The Economist's cover, the inside pages featured an ad for the Nokia N70, a cutting-edge phone that even had a camera and colour screen
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It's a rainy, miserable day in Brussels, the kind of weather that makes you want to snuggle up in front of a fire and read a 400-page report on the future of European competitiveness.
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Holidays in France are so long that my Parisian building runs summer camps for house plants: leave them in the courtyard to get watered until you return in September.
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France proudly evacuating citizens from 41 countries
Britain only evacuating British citizens.
What happened to Britain? Genuinely. What the hell happened?
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Silvio Berlusconi has tested positive for coronavirus.
Thoughts and prayers for Italy's contact tracers.
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Germany's decision to close nuclear plants still strikes me as one of the weirdest calls made by a politician in recent times. It manages to undermine both the push for less carbon and weaning Germany off Russian gas. For essentially no benefit.
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European financial regulators are fuming at "incompetent" US counterparts over SVB. For 15 years they attended "long and boring meetings" where everyone promised to do exactly the opposite of what the US just did when crisis struck. ft.com/content/5e4a8dde-c053…
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The damage wrought to India's credibility by having crazed polemcists at the heart of its establishment these days is hard to overstate. Here, a board member of India's central bank retweets a former foreign secretary saying, entirely wrongly, "WSJ is owned by Soros".
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Ooof. Watch Germany's diplomats at the UN sniggering in clever disbelief as Donald Trump (correctly) points out the risks of depending on Russian energy imports. Just three years ago. The whole thing was dismissed as "outrageous" by Trump-bashers.
Trump made some outrageous claims about German energy at the UN — and the German delegation’s reaction was priceless
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The French government this week wanted to organise a big conference on working 4 days a week, but then realised Wednesday and Thursday are bank holidays and everyone is taking Friday off.
France in May: you can't even get enough people for a meeting to discuss working less
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THE STORY OF EUROPE'S CORPORATE DECLINE
20 years ago, 41 of the world's 100 most valuable companies were in Europe. Now the figure is down to 15.
What on earth happened?
We take a look at this in this week's @TheEconomist cover package.
economist.com/briefing/2021/…
A 🧵
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What most East EU countries want:
- hard line on Russia
- quick enlargement to Ukraine+, no second-tier status
- no treaty change
- not too much Franco-German EU
What Macron said Monday:
- don't humiliate Russia
- No enlargement, multi-tier EU
- change treaties
- went to Berlin
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Switzerland has vetoed an Italian request to export 96 Swiss-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine.
"Neutrality" might have had an enlightened feel before the war, but now looks hopelessly naive–as I argued earlier this year. economist.com/europe/2023/01…
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No huge Draghi interview today in any of the major European newspapers. No real media push beyond a press conference yesterday. It's almost as if the European Commission (who asked him to write it) wanted the least possible exposure for it.
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The day you inherit your political role from a parent isn't the best day to attack your opponent as "medieval".
Gandhi attacks ‘medieval’ Modi as he takes over Congress party on.ft.com/2ADJNrq
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I challenge you to walk through a midsized European city one spring afternoon, then argue something about falling behind America.
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The lifts at the EU council building: the most pointlessly complicated numbering system since tennis scoring was invented
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Who would have imagined a politician who during a time of war in Europe could not say for sure if the president of France was "friend or foe" would turn out to be a crap PM. A complete mystery.
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French government has decided to stop refunding homeopathic treatment.
It would have sent a stronger signal to refund €0.0000000000001 per tab, and explain to the homeopaths how powerful that was.
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Sunday: French nationalist party Reconquête celebrates the election of 5 MEPs for the first time
Tuesday: Eric Zemmour, Reconquête's founder, kicks out 4 of them from the party. The fifth is his former mistress turned partner.
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The boss of Citi investment bank makes an obvious but thus-far overlooked point. Working from home works fine now because we've built up lots of social capital. We knew our colleagues before. That erodes over time. ft.com/content/c2f25d22-67df…
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France obsessing with this idea of Macron legitimacy (see below).
Other countries just… don't do this.
Biden got 33.96% of the vote against vs 33.8% abstentions. Literally never mentioned. He was also massively backed by people who didn't vote for him in primaries
(^@labboudles)
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I'm so glad my local ATM, which hasn't worked once since November 8th, will now be not dispensing Rs 4500 instead of not dispensing Rs 2500.
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Elon Musk trying to stir shit in Europe, Germany is having none of it. Team 🇩🇪.
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Modi fans who praise Macron's stance on political Islam are in for a shock when they find out what the French system would do to political Hinduism.
France wants to defranchise political Islam. If it succeeds it will be a model for the world to separate religious Islam from the political one. The billion $ question is, Is that possible? France gives ultimatum to French Council of Muslim Faith m.dailyhunt.in/news/india/en…
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INDIA CHART AND DATA EXTRAVAGANZA THREAD. I collated tons of data from various sources for my India's Missing Middle Class package (links below). Not all of it was referred to or useful, some is contradictory. Here are 34 good ones.
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A new "unofficial" list of Gilet Jaunes demands here:
- cut taxes to 25% of GDP (so half current levels)
- better public services/massive hiring of civil servants
- Leave EU & NATO
- Default on public debt
- New constitution
- less immigration
- Scrap CFA Franc in W Africa (??)
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FT asks: "Can Europe’s economy ever hope to rival the US again?"
A reminder that once you strip out population and dollar strength (which doesn't impact living standards in Europe), countries in the EU are *converging* with the US, not falling behind. ft.com/content/93f88255-787b…
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What has happened to Britain?
Sunak cancels a meeting with Mitsotakis because the Greek PM repeated age-old demands over the Elgin marbles while in London.
In the midst of war on the continent and a crisis in the Middle East, this is what Sunak focuses on??
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Can someone please explain to me what every Belgian man, woman and chilld does with 67kg of citrus fruit per year?
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French students at the Sorbonne are protesting *against* elections. Utter intellectual bankruptcy in action.
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Headlines you would not have believed in 2010: Eurozone avoids recession because Italy and Spain offset sagging Germany.
JUST IN: The euro zone unexpectedly avoids a recession as firmer growth in Italy and Spain offset weakness in Germany trib.al/yQbdAES
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The FT is making a splash with what seems to be a remarkable stat: EU GDP used to be 91% of US in 2013, and is now 65%.
But this is for the same reason EU GDP went from 70% America's in 2001 to 110% in 2008 - because exchange rates moved around
Non-story then, non-story now
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No, that's wrong. The poll is explicitly on the question of limiting flights to 4 per person for life. This is in the original French (which I speak), and it says precisely what I claimed it said.
Please don't make claims about people acting in "immoral" ways without checking
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Someone needs to explain to me why a government minister is going to bat for someone who apparently doesn't benefit from government links
#LIVE -- Jay Shah carries out legitimate business. He has decided to file criminal defamation case for ₹100 crores in Ahmedabad:Piyush Goyal
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The nuclear arc of history is nuts. We develop and use it safely for half a century for all our power needs bar transport. Then we finally have the opportunity to replace hydrocarbons for cars in favour of electricity. And instead of ramping up nuclear we say nah.
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I'm not sure a tank whose design started in 1989 and was first delivered in 1999 - 20 years ago - can be described as "state of the art".
I congratulate the entire team of Larsen & Toubro for building the state-of-the-art K-9 Vajra Self Propelled Howitzer.
This is a significant contribution towards India’s defence sector and protecting the country.
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World's most famous refugee apparently not a big fan of refugees.
The Dalai Lama says 'Europe belongs to Europeans' and refugees should return to their native countries to rebuild them dailym.ai/2Of17d2
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The Dutch turning hellish car-centric streets into pleasant places truly is our age's finest art form. imgur.com/a/rffE0Oz
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France has decided AstraZeneca is safe but no jabs this morning because the regulator has to update the guidance. So we start again this afternoon, once the paperwork is filed.
It's like they live in a different, pandemic-free, universe.
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France votes today.
A lot of the focus has been on Le Pen. We've had weeks of "What if she wins?" or "Even if she loses, she's changing France!"
But the candidate who matters is the one who wins.
That's going to be Macron. And his re-election matters more than his 2017 win.🧵
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I don't think the quibble is whether Charles is wearing WWII medals. It is whether he really wants to be seen standing in front of gentlemen who genuinely risked their lives (and got a couple of medals in return) while wearing a whole metalworks without having seen active service
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If adults are going to blindly believe "your Uber is 4 minutes away" I see no harm in kids believing in Santa Claus.
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Poor Indian newspaper editors: expected tomorrow's front pages to be huge economic measures, get a reheated electrification plan instead.
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One of the main reasons vaccination rates are so low in Europe is down to supply. And one of the reasons supply is low is because EU ordered doses late. Why? It seems the issue of liability is important. A thread on how to think about the main issues at play. 🧵
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Women who used to be prostitutes pre-demonetisation pivoted to launching tech startups, lived happily ever after
Prostitution has nosedived after demonetisation, says Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad scroll.in/latest/857088/pros… via @scroll_in
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Former French PM, now paid by Russian firms, blames "the West's refusal to take into account Russia's demands about the expansion of NATO. This attitude has driven to a dangerous confrontation today that could have been avoided".
Speaks for itself, really.
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Hardly an incentive for Durex to keep up quality control.
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I'm not saying God hates Putin, but if God hated Putin, this is what January 2023 would look like.
I cannot overstate how much the Russian gas play has backfired this winter.
Record warmth is currently entrenched across Europe (+10-20C above average), with the pattern looking like it's going to hold through the next week.
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What did Portugal do to get to Soviet-election levels of vaccination? Is it down to societal factors or some smart policy? V curious.
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A bit of data to help with the China EV claims from industry.
When Germany produces 39% more cars than it registers, it is glorious "winning the global race". When China produces 14% excess cars, it is "destroying our industrial jobs" if not outright "dumping".
Go figure
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This should be criminal. Authorities dispensing unscientific "medical" advice during an epidemic is beyond irresponsible.
Advisory for #CoronaVirus
Homoeopathy for Prevention of Corona virus Infections
Unani Medicines useful in the symptomatic management of Corona Virus infection
Details here: pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.…
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Indian govt wants to ban journalists who spread "fake news". 13 ministers tweeted links to a website that purports to expose such "fake news". The site in fact attacks genuine reporting as "fake" and has clear links to firms that advise Modi. indianexpress.com/article/in…
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Goldman was once offered 50% of Alibaba for $5m. It went for a $3m investment instead. Sold out for $22m after 5 years.
That stake would be worth c$200bn now. Roughly 70% compound annual return for over 20 years. Goldman is worth $110bn.
(from previous retweet of @TonyTassell)
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Amazing stuff: @theeconomist us no longer invited to RBI policy meeting press conferences. Won't let me in. Sad day for transparency.
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Once again today I have used the phrase "I will do the needful" in an email, completely unironically, in pursuit of my lifetime goal of giving this Indian phrase the global prominence it deserves.
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@TheEconomist wrote about this place a few years back. As someone told us: go to university and you get a degree, go to Ameerpet and you get an education. economist.com/business/2017/…
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A grating Americanism that has crept into coverage of France is the idea of Le Pen "conceding" to Macron.
In a properly run system, it isn't the vanquished candidate that gets to decide who wins - there is nothing to concede. The winner is decided by those who count the votes
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It's Draghi report day. Beyond its contents, it is notable in EU circles as an important document that was seen by dozens of people but basically did not leak. Draghi has imposed a central bank's discipline on an organisation that usually leaks about as much as the Titanic.
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Fascinating. In-person tech conference tested participants before and *every day*, still got 43% covid-infected. None of the 49 participants wore masks.
The support staff who had to wear masks: no infections.
“False sense of security”—high tech gathering of 49 tech thinkers was held in 4 day “bubble” without mask mandate after arrival+daily testing. Result? ~43% (21 of 49) of tech attendees got #COVID19 soon after, including organizer @PeterDiamandis. 0% of masked support staff. 🧵
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UK govt has written to thousands of Germans living in Britain to ask them to "consider returning" to driving trucks.
Most of them never had, but were in some database of potential truckers because old German driving licenses could be used for vans. independent.co.uk/news/uk/po…
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There are 3000 Swedish-speaking Afghans in France, most of them young men. Why? Many settled in Sweden in 2015, learning the language as they sought to integrate. Then Sweden tried to send them back, arguing it was safe. Desperate, many became refugees again & landed in France
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You can be pretty sure if Le Pen makes the second round against Macron that he will have a pile of these Putin-Le Pen manifestoes on his desk during the presidential debate. Might even bring a framed copy to give to her. As a keepsake.
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A very important rule of journalism is not to write an article with the aim of impressing the 10 subject-matter experts you just spoke to, but for everyone else who knows nothing about it. This is actually harder to do than one would think.
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Global press corps this morning is having to cope with being out-interviewed by a child reporter.
🇩🇪🗳 Leader of far right AfD: youth should “learn more German folk songs, more German poems” in school.
Kid reporter: “I think we already have to memorize plenty of poems in school. What’s your favorite German poem?”
AfD leader: “I can’t think of one.”
nitter.app/farbundbeton/status/14…
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How freakin' hardcore is this Macron dude? Getting dropped from a chopper onto a sub? This is firmly in James Bond territory.
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BJP have roughly 2% more votes than Congress, but 65% more seats. Such is the brutality of first-past-the-post. It suggests the BJP is either lucky or, more likely, has a vastly better electioneering machine which understands how to allocate campaign resources efficiently.
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Macron last night breached the first rule of European politics: never stand next to the Dutch prime minister, unless you want to appear child-sized.
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This week in @TheEconomist, we take a look at the Indian middle class. Far from being the world's next major economic force, it is notable for how small it is—and how slowly it is growing. Businesses looking to India as the next China are likely to be disappointed. Links 👇
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