international analysis and commentary

London’s housing fiasco

London Mayor Boris Johnson puts it bluntly, “For the last 30 years we have probably built about half of the homes London needs. The problem is now a crisis.” Soaring home prices in the British capital are raising fears that the boom cannot…

A question of British identity

Britain is an odd kingdom, small and overcast and improbably powerful. When European countries conquered the world, the British amassed an empire and daubed the world pinkish-red, the traditional color of its colonies on maps (and, some…