DiEM25 UK
Discussing the Great Sausage War, Foreign Aid, Lockdowns & Taking the Knee on BBC-TV’s Question Time – 10 JUNE 2021
, 11/06/2021
Fiona Bruce presents an hour of topical debate with a virtual audience from around the UK. On the panel: Gillian Keegan MP, minister for apprenticeships and skills, Conservative; Lucy Powell MP, shadow secretary of state for housing, Labour; Yanis Varoufakis, economist, author, former finance minister of Greece, member of the Greek parliament and founder of […]
Debating the EU with Douglas Murray on UNHERD – video
, 16/05/2021
“The EU has had a difficult pandemic. A slow procurement of vaccines, followed by a botched rollout, and blame-shifting by its leaders has drawn together critics from all politics stripes. Two of unlikely bedfellows from very different political traditions, Douglas Murray and Yanis Varoufakis, joined Freddie Sayers for a discussion about the bloc at an […]
In support of Ken Loach in the face of absurd accusations of antisemitism
, 16/02/2021
So, it’s come to that: Ken Loach is now the target of a character assassination campaign waged by those who will stop at nothing to shield the Apartheid policies of Israel. Their message to people of good conscience is simple: Unless you too want to be tainted as an antisemite, keep quiet about the crimes […]
“The EU after Brexit” Keynote followed by a conversation with Norman Lamont – 27th January 2021
, 20/01/2021
In this keynote, organised by the Economics Research Council, I shall discuss, and re-assess, the deeper forces leading to Brexit. Moving beyond the myth of it as the manifestation of some British idiosyncrasy, I shall trace its causes in a fundamental incompatibility between British and Continental capitalism which the financial crisis of 2008 brought to […]
Launching the Project for Peace and Justice: Jeremy Corbyn, Zarah Sultana, Ronnie Kasrils, Yanis Varoufakis, Scarlett Westbrook | Sunday 17/1 at 15.00 GMT
, 16/01/2021
To register and be part of this launch, click here.
A free Central Bank account for all would be a good start for a revamped monetary system – WIRED
, 27/11/2020
Imagine that the Bank of England were to create a free bank account for everyone. Overnight, it would be far better placed to regulate the money supply in the public interest. Moreover, to stay in business, commercial banks would have to seriously raise their game. In times of trouble, such as the current pandemic, the […]
Brian Eno’s take on the US Presidential Election result
, 10/11/2020
Once again, Brian and I are singing from the same hymn sheet – just as we did on the day after the Brexit referendum, the last UK General Election etc. Having just received an email containing his gut feeling about the next four years in the US, I thought I should share it with you. […]
Owen Jones & Yanis Varoufakis to discuss Labour’s 2019 electoral defeat in the context of Owen’s recent book – 7 NOV 2020
, 18/10/2020
The global crisis of COVID-19 presents an opportunity for a radical rethink of Britain as we know it. Join two icons of the Left as they imagine a future for progressive politics. Whether exposing Britain’s powerful elites in The Establishment or defending the white working class in Chavs, fighting for equality and social justice as a Guardian columnist and broadcaster, […]
Diary entries on Brexit, defending refugees & writing postcapitalist fiction – THE NEWSTATESMAN
, 28/09/2020
Reading the newspapers last Monday, I was reminded that negotiations with Brussels are always an occasion for second-rate theatre. Ultimatums are usually issued by EU negotiators facing UK governments that talk enthusiastically of red lines and sovereignty. But now, if the Telegraph is to be believed, it is Boris Johnson who has given the EU […]
Covid-19 has “turbocharged” the EU’s failures – Interviewed by the NEW STATESMAN’s George Eaton
, 12/05/2020
For Yanis Varoufakis, lockdown has not been a time of contemplation. “I have more work now than I ever did. As you know, everything has shifted to Zoom meetings, which means zero separation between the private and the public,” he explained when we spoke recently, during one such video call. The 59-year-old economist, former Greek […]
How deep will the Depression occasioned by Covid-19 be? Debate on BBC World Service’s THE REAL STORY
, 20/03/2020
Coronavirus: The economic crisis – Just how bad will the downturn be and can anything be done to soften the blow? Contributors Stephanie Flanders – head of Bloomberg Economics Yanis Varoufakis – Greek economist, politician, secretary-general of DiEM25 who also served as Greek finance minister during 2015Linda Yueh – economist and author of the book: ‘The Great Economists’ […]
Brexit: A rational choice for the wrong reasons? – Financial News & Project Syndicate
, 11/03/2020
The motives and thinking behind Brexit were even less worthy than those behind US President Richard Nixon’s move in 1971 to ditch the Bretton Woods system. But, as with the “Nixon shock,” there is a singular underlying historical factor that explains Brexit. ATHENS – At pivotal historical moments, rational political ruptures often are brought about […]
“We are here so that unarmed truth has the final word” – speech at Julian Assange London rally 22-2-2020
, 23/02/2020
Leaking the Guilty Secrets of Power is not a Phrase, it is a Sentence. And no one is facing a longer one today than JA. Julian has GAINED the right to quote another past prisoner, another enemy of Empire, Mahatma Ghandi. Like Ghandi Julian could say: “You can chain me, you can torture me, you […]
This Saturday we demonstrate in London against Julian’s deportation and in support of your right to know
, 20/02/2020
Where: Australia House, London | When: This Saturday at 11.30 | Why: Marching to Parliament Square to defend your right to know by protesting Julian Assange’s extradition to the United States Parliament Square Speakers (13:30 15:30) Roger Waters Yanis Varoufakis Chrissie Hynde Brian Eno M.I.A. Lowkey Kristinn Hrafnsson – editor in chief of WikiLeaks Vivienne […]
Brian Eno’s message on Brexit day – and a reply
, 02/02/2020
To my European Friends: I just wanted to tell you that, although my country has made the insane, childish and probably suicidal decision to leave Europe, I remain proud to be a European, and proud of the great social experiment that the EU represents. In my mind, I’m still in Europe, and that is where […]
Dear Britons – my message on Brexit day
, 31/01/2020
By leaving us, you are making us sadder, poorer and more prone to the errors that made so many of you vote for Brexit. The only solace I take from your departure is the thought that Brexit will convince you that a European Union should be invented even if it did not exist. And that […]
Paul Laverty’s & Ken Loach’s haunting & elegiac film: Why Labour must win this Thursday
, 10/12/2019
There is a fork in the road. A mighty choice is coming. We can have a plan. An imperfect plan maybe. But one for the planet, not the corporations. For the many, not the few. A plan for the ‘we’, not the ‘I’.
EVERYTHING’S ON THE UP WITH THE TORIES – Brian Eno’s new song for this Thursday’s general election
, 09/12/2019
Everything’s on the UP with the Tories the gap between the richies and the poories the porky pies and fabricated storiesYes – everything’s on the up with the Tories Everything’s up the creek with the Blue Boys They’re selling off the NHS to cowboys They’re cutting back on nurses (but investing it in hearses) the nitwits […]
Labour’s Manifesto is fit for purpose. So, why are the middle classes so hostile to it? THE NEW STATESMAN
, 08/12/2019
What are we to make of a political class that proclaims its ethical commitments but that cannot bring itself to endorse the only concrete actions that would honour them? This general election is unique in ways that transcend Brexit. Over the decades that I have been observing British politics, never before have I witnessed a […]
Labour’s 2019 Manifesto: My assessment on BBC Radio 5, 21 NOV 2019
, 22/11/2019
As an economist, Labour’s 2019 Manifesto strikes me as a sensible, moderate and well-targeted program in view of Britain’s needs and capacities. Independently of what one thinks of Corbyn and McDonnell (Nb. my friendship and comradeship with both is well known), most people agree that: Exceptional investment in the green transition and technologies, possibly of a […]
Why is economics not a force for good and what must we do to make it so? Cambridge 8th NOV 2019
, 22/11/2019
On 8th November, at the invitation of Professor Antara Haldar of Cambridge University, I presented this talk in the context of a fascinating group of academics who gathered in the Cambridge Union’s upstairs seminar room to revive Keynes’ original idea of the Cambridge Circus – a radical circle of economists seeking the kind of economics that […]