1. The Guardian view on Grenfell Tower: Theresa May’s Hurricane
Katrina
The
2005 hurricane that devastated New Orleans exposed failings in leadership and a
terrible disdain for the lives of the poor. The London fire is doing the same
Leadership
requires courage, imagination and empathy. In the two long days since the first
flames licked up the newly fixed cladding on Grenfell Tower in west London, the prime minister has
failed to show any of these qualities. On Wednesday, the first day, she said
nothing at all until 6.30 that evening. On Thursday morning she ventured out to
the scene of the disaster, where she rightly congratulated the emergency
services on their inexhaustible efforts. But she made no contact with the
shattered survivors, nor the faith workers and volunteers who have poured in to
the area with such compassion. Less than an hour later Jeremy Corbyn arrived.
He listened to people, he hugged them, he promised to find out the truth and
told them he would speak for them. Theresa May could have said and done all of
those things, but she did not.
The
inferno at Grenfell Tower in which 17 people are now known to have died
begins to look like Britain’s Hurricane Katrina. Mrs. May is President George W Bush, off the
pace, inarticulate, seemingly uncomprehending – a leader failing the great
ordeal by disaster that is the ultimate test.
And,
like Katrina, Grenfell Tower is proving more than a test of leadership. It is
exposing, like Katrina, a terrible series of
ill-judged and sometimes catastrophic human interventions that have been made
over the past six or seven years by a government that every day seems more
distant from the lives of ordinary people: the way the constant anxieties of the
residents’ action group were ignored, the deliberate decisions by ministers to
delay upgrading fire regulations, the plans that have emerged to opt out of EU building standards as a Brexit bonus.
Worst of all, and closest in parallel to the warnings of inadequate flood
defences in Katrina, the coroner’s recommendations after the inquest
into the deaths of six residents of Lakanal
House in south London in 2009. Reading these, it is very hard to
understand why they were not immediately enforced around the country – in
particular the advice to retrofit fire suppressant systems in older blocks.
This vital recommendation was merely repeated by the then communities
secretary, Eric Pickles, to local councils as advice. Not surprisingly,
without the funding to make it viable, councils adopted a minimalist approach,
enhancing fire protection only in the highest-risk housing.
By
lunchtime on Thursday the government machine began to show signs of life.
Bogged in the convenient marshes of parliamentary propriety, a Commons
statement was ruled impossible, but a “briefing” for MPs was arranged in a
committee room, which, when permission was given for the cameras to be turned
on at about the midway point in proceedings, revealed two middle-ranking
ministers, Nick Hurd from the Home Office and housing minister Alok Sharma, fielding questions
from, among others, the omnipresent Mr Corbyn. Very significant concessions
were made: all homeless residents will be rehoused in the area, and children
will be able to continue at their schools. One of the catastrophes of Katrina
was a great diaspora, and the irrecoverable disruption of children’s education.
An inquiry under the 2005 act is pledged, with
the powers to send for people and papers. Those are very important moves. Their
implementation must be closely monitored. In particular, ministers must not use
the powers they have over the inquiry to do anything that compromises its
impartiality. There is another imperative: the families of victims and
survivors must have legal aid so that they are on a level playing field at both
the inquests and the inquiry. That must be guaranteed at once, so that they
have the space to begin the process of grieving.
This
is only the start of what is necessary for the survivors of Grenfell Tower. But
it is too little and maybe too late for a prime minister whose approval ratings
have crashed, whose government is in crisis, and whose authority seems to be
draining away.
2.
A Magic Wand for France?
The Project Syndicate JUN 14, 2017
WASHINGTON,
DC – Last month, Emmanuel Macron pulled the proverbial rabbit from the
electoral hat. Against the odds, the independent centrist won the French
presidency by a decisive margin, beating the far-right populist Marine Le Pen –
and vanquishing the old guard of the French establishment along the way. Now,
for his latest trick, Macron looks set to secure a huge majority in the French
National Assembly.
But
whether Macron, a political newcomer, is more than an electoral wizard will
depend on the success, or failure, of the economic program that his government
enacts.
Friends
of France, and of a united Europe, were no doubt relieved by Macron’s victory.
And in the early days of his presidency, the French public is behind him, too;
recent polling puts his approval
rating at 62%. Yet goodwill can dissipate quickly, which is why Macron
must move to capitalize on his early mandate by implementing reforms of fiscal
policy, taxation, the labor market, and education, to name but a few areas
where change is long overdue.
France’s
most immediate problems are anemic growth and inadequate job creation. For the
last 12 years, France’s GDP has increased by barely 1% a
year, less than the mediocre uptick in the European Union as a whole,
while unemployment currently hovers
just above 10%. Only five EU countries – Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Spain, and
Greece – have higher unemployment rates.
During
Macron’s first five-year term, therefore, he should focus on raising France’s
GDP growth to an average of at least 2% a year, and reducing unemployment to
below 6%. The easiest way to achieve both goals would be to focus on where
France is underperforming relative to other EU countries.
Part
of the unemployment challenge is tied to hidden costs. France has some of the
highest labor costs for hourly
employees in the EU, and a natural consequence is tepid hiring. With inequality
also growing, many French are rightly upset that labor is taxed much more than
capital gains. Indeed, France’s payroll taxes amount to 19% of
GDP – far exceeding the EU average of 13%. This is a particularly pernicious
tax, because only employers are affected by it. It should therefore be the
first tax Macron moves to cut.
Likewise,
government spending, at 57% of GDP – is the highest in the EU, where the
average is 47%. This burden is excessive, and significantly hinders economic
growth. The government should work to reduce these expenditures (its
bloated social-protection
programs in particular) by at least one percentage point a year.
Corporate
taxes are another area ripe for reform. With its rate of 33%, France has one of
the highest profit
taxes on corporations in Europe. But its revenues from
these taxes, 2.6% of GDP, are in line with the EU average. France could
afford to reduce its profit tax rate to 25%, as Macron has
proposed, without losing significant tax revenues.
On
nearly every fiscal metric, France is an outlier (along with Finland and
Belgium, which have also underperformed in recent years). And given that
France, it now seems clear, has not benefited from loose policy, Macron should
be able to forge a consensus on cutting taxes and expenditures. Indeed,
reducing the fiscal burden on the economy will be the key to turning things
around.
But
France also needs more complex structural reforms, the most urgent one being
liberalization and simplification of the country’s complex labor code, which
makes it too difficult to hire and lay off workers. The most vulnerable are
often those who are the least integrated into the economy, especially the young
and immigrants. Most European countries suffer from this problem, but
France’s youth
unemployment rate, at 26%, is significantly higher than the EU average of
19.6%. The simplification of the labor code should be negotiated with social
partners to mitigate or even avoid strikes and protests.
Finally,
France’s education system needs major attention. The OECD rates French high school
students as just about average among the world’s developed economies. France,
like many other European countries, has much room for improvement in preparing
its young people for the job market.
The
situation appears even worse for French universities. According to the Times
Higher Education Supplement, which ranks universities worldwide, France’s
top university, the École Normale Supérieure, ranks just 66th in the
world. Without reform of higher education, France cannot be remotely
competitive with British and American institutions.
The
French government can carry out all of these reforms unilaterally, without the
EU. But the EU could help France’s economy by promoting various markets.
3. Gulf plunged into diplomatic crisis as countries cut ties
with Qatar
Qatari
diplomats ejected and land, air and sea traffic routes cut off in row over
terror and regional stability
The Guardian 5 June
2017
The
Gulf has been hit by its biggest diplomatic crisis in years after Arab nations
including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt
and Bahrain cut ties with Qatar, accusing it of destabilising the region with
its support for Islamist groups.
The
countries said they would halt all land, air and sea traffic with Qatar, eject its diplomats and
order Qatari citizens to leave the Gulf states within 14 days. Shoppers in the
Qatari capital, Doha, meanwhile packed supermarkets amid fears the country,
which relies on imports from its neighbours, would face food shortages after
Saudi Arabia closed its sole land border.
Social
media reports from Doha showed supermarket shelves empty as nervous consumers
began to worry that stocks of food and water would run out. As much as 40% of
Qatar’s food comes over the Saudi border.
The
small but very wealthy nation, the richest in the world per capita, was also
expelled from a Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen.
The
coordinated move dramatically escalates a dispute over Qatar’s support of
Islamist movements, including the Muslim Brotherhood, and its perceived
tolerance of Saudi Arabia’s arch-rival, Iran. The dispute is the worst to hit
the Gulf since the formation of the Gulf Co-operation Council in 1981.
Qatar’s
foreign affairs ministry said the measures were unjustified and based on false
claims and assumptions. As the Qatari stock market tumbled and oil prices rose,
it accused its fellow Gulf states of violating its sovereignty.
“The
state of Qatar has been subjected to a campaign of lies that have reached the
point of complete fabrication,” a statement said. “It reveals a hidden plan to
undermine the state of Qatar.”
Saudi
Arabia said it took the decision to cut diplomatic ties owing to Qatar’s
“embrace of various terrorist and sectarian groups aimed at destabilising the
region”, including the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaida, Islamic State and groups
supported by Iran in Saudi Arabia’s restive eastern province of Qatif.
Egypt’s
foreign ministry accused Qatar of taking an “antagonist approach” towards the
country and said “all attempts to stop it from supporting terrorist groups
failed”. It gave the Qatari ambassador 48 hours to leave Egypt, and ordered its own
chargé d’affaires in Qatar to return to Cairo within 48 hours.
The
tiny island nation of Bahrain blamed its decision on Qatar’s “media
incitement, support for armed terrorist activities, and funding linked to
Iranian groups to carry out sabotage and spreading chaos in Bahrain”.
In
a sign of Qatar’s growing isolation, Yemen’s internationally backed government
– which no longer holds its capital and large portions of the country – joined
the move to break relations, as did the Maldives and the government based in
eastern Libya
There
effect on air travel in the region was immediate. Qatar Airways, one of the region’s
major long-haul carriers, said it was suspending all flights to Saudi Arabia.
Etihad, the Abu Dhabi-based carrier, said it would suspend flights to Qatar
“until further notice”. Emirates, the Dubai-based carrier, announced it would
suspend Qatar flights starting on Tuesday, and Dubai-based budget carrier
flydubai said it would suspend flights to and from Doha from Tuesday.
Egypt
announced its airspace will be closed to all Qatari airplanes from Tuesday.
Monday’s
diplomatic moves came two weeks after four Arab countries blocked Qatar-based media over the appearance
of comments attributed to the Qatari emir that praised Iran. Qatar said hackers
had taken over the website of its state-run news agency and faked the comments.
沒有留言:
張貼留言