David McVicar’s Meistersinger, produced originally at Glynebourne and shared by San Francisco and the Lyric Opera of Chicago, is a smashing presentation of this Wagner opera, often cited as one of the great works of world culture, and for good reason. In its humanity, wit, the wonderful orchestral sounds and an evocation of the longest day of the year in Nurnberg in the early 19th century, Meistersinger is glorious. Article
Inequality is rising across the post-industrial capitalist world. The problem is not caused by politics and politics will never be able to eliminate it. But simply ignoring it could generate a populist backlash. Governments must accept that today as ever, inequality and insecurity are the inevitable results of market operations. Their challenge is to find ways of shielding citizens from capitalism’s adverse consequences — even as they preserve the dynamism that produces capitalism’s vast economic and cultural benefits in the first place. Article
When India’s economy was zipping along, the borrowing did not matter so much. For a while, the national debt actually fell as a proportion of GDP, despite high budget deficits (the ratio is about 70% today). But now, with slower growth, a debt spiral is a real risk. Borrowing has taken a heavy toll. It has fuelled inflation and a balance-of-payments gap, while crowding out the private investment in factories and infrastructure that India badly needs. Article
Finance and insurance, retail trade, and utilities show the highest representation of women senior officers, Catalyst said…article
Angela Ahrendts, Burberry CEO, explains coming home in Video
The English, interestingly, have been leading the way on this. Since the financial crash, the Bank of England has consistently been the main source of argument hostile to established financial interests, and made cogent cases for reducing by fiat both the size of banks and the pay of bankers. Most recently the newly elected archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, penned an opinion piece for Bloomberg News, in which he pleaded that “financial services must serve society, and not rule it. They must be integrated into the economy, not semidetached.” And now we have a leading English novelist, and fair-minded soul, showing us the effects of the world we’ve created, or allowed to be created for us. Capital may open as a story about money, but it ends as a story of the limits of money—and with a bit of hope. In its closing line the former British investment banker has lost his job and is finally having a refreshing thought: “All he could find himself thinking was: I can change, I can change, I promise I can change change change.” Article
French president François Hollande with Greek PM Minister Antonis Samaras in Athens.
President’s visit to Athens after Angel Merkel highlights French ties and EU unity, while Antonis Samaras hails ‘historic friend’…article 
It retains its value, Mick Jagger’s girlfriend, the model turned designer, said. Article
