Thomas L Friedman :”What’s most unsettling about China to Americans is not their communism, it’s the capitalism,” he said as we chatted in his kitchen. We see in China things we used to see in ourselves: can-do, get it done, hard work, sacrifice, ‘own the future’.”

In Youngstown, the steel industry has spent years in decline, largely thanks to the cheapness of Chinese labour. Now only 10-20% of the jobs that there once were remain.

“That used to be us, and now we see it in them.”

Everywhere, entire industries are going out of business, or reduced to shadows of their former lives, by the might of Chinese labour. In China, we see the parenting that produces this work ethic, that produces this talent. In China, we see the future, the next major power in the world.

But in China, one thing is fading, and perhaps here it might return. The Chinese look more to goals, to targets than they used to. They look to the same capitalist ideal that ensures we’ll never be happy with who we are, and makes us always try to expand, to better ourselves, and never be satisfied.

And in a sense, it comes down to the reverse of the intention of this comment:

Have Britain and America fallen out ‘big time’?

The fact that one of our largest companies, BP, has covered America’s beaches and nature reserves in oil has apparently driven a rift between the two countries the size of the Atlantic Ocean.

The turmoil began on the 20^th April, when BP’s ‘Deepwater Horizon’ oil rig blew up, killing 11 crew member. The US Government are angry because the rig did not have proper measures installed, and had malfunctioning equipment that was not repaired, so  thousands of barrels per day have since leaked from the snapped pipe beneath the destroyed oil rig. What the USA are also annoyed about is the fact that the rig did not have a cut off valve on the pipe, so that when the pipe to the rig snapped, oil was free to pump out into the Gulf of Mexico, even though US law does not say that such equipment is necessary, which is the case in all European oil drilling nations. The two nations, which for the past century have been about as separable, in the immortal words of Edward Blackadder, as “a Frenchman living next to a brothel”, have fallen out hugely over the disaster. It seems that somehow, us giving America a ‘thousand barrels per day’ of black gold, is wrong! I suppose it is quite like a homeless man throwing an oil drum full of pound coins at Bill Gates!

Barack Obama, saviour of the world, has even likened the spill to 9/11. Okay America, so why don’t you invade France over their “weapons of mass destruction” , steal their oil, and then come after us when Tony Hayward, the ‘most hated man in America’ has already gone to hide in some cave in Scotland.

Having said all that, I don’t even dislike America.

Some of their ideas, such as the cheeseburger, Television dramas, and Sarah Palin are not all bad.

But still, can Obama not see that torturing BP is really not doing any good for anyone? BP, as David Cameron so valiantly praised it, is the provider of millions of British pensions. At a time when the world is only just emerging from the largest recession for 70 years, is it really a good thing to prod one of the most fragile and major economies in the world? It is very irresponsible of America. If anything, they should be to blame, for the lack of legislation in their laws that states that oil rigs must have a ‘Blowout Preventer’, as the laws of nearly every other major drilling nation says there must be. BP didn’t really do anything wrong, they did not go against US law any more than any of the US oil companies drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. A US public servant hired to look at the rest of the oil rigs in the bay said that every single other company was not prepared for if such a horrific event happened on any of their rigs. All of them had just the same faults as BP did, and any such accidents on any other rig would result in the same catastrophe as is currently happening.

Don’t get me wrong, I agree that the Gulf of Mexico spill is a horrific incident, and the company involved should have to pay, but it is the fault of not just BP, but of the US government, of all of the companies drilling oil in the Gulf of Mexico, and especially of human nature. So BP shouldn’t be the only one to pay. One thing is for certain, America should get out their buckets and scoop up the oil floating around in their bay, ‘cause BP certainly aren’t going to give them any more.

The Oil Slick

Photo by Jens Mortensen (NYTimes)

A reproduction based on designs from Horrockses Fashions, for the V&A

Oversized Tees, as made popular by Flashdance

From Esquire ; On Stanislas Nève de Mévergnies, thirty-three, corporate communications consultant: Two-button cotton seersucker jacket and vest (part of three-piece suit, $1,395), cotton shirt ($165), and silk tie ($75), Polo by Ralph Lauren; cotton trousers ($165) by Dunhill.

I was instantly attracted to that sweater when I saw it in the Times, in a section called Timeless. It not only looks beautiful, offering, as Tommy Hilfiger puts it, ‘easy elegance’, but also conjures a sense of pride, even in a non-American. The powerful colours hark back to sporting pride, and the days in which national kits were not optimised for performance but for beauty and pride. It’s a far cry from the designer clothing we see now, that seeks to push boundaries without looking at the beauty that’s already in the things we possess. Thank god then, for Ralph Lauren, who consistently sells a similar range of sweaters, and for Tommy Hilfiger who now displays the jumper prominently in his flagship store on Fifth Avenue.
IN STYLE : 40s -60s, but still worn today.

Moving on to the flowery patterned dress, which I discovered only last week at the Victoria & Albert Museum, I’m prepared to make a confession. I don’t like it. Having seen it from a distance, with my impaired eyesight, my brain removed the lines that proliferate this dress, replaced them with a beautiful blue, made the colours far more vibrant and powerful, and thought back to the classics that one could just as easily use for a tablecloth as a dress. Dresses like these have been popular since the 30s, and to me have always been truly beautiful, and thankfully have remained popular, though not without some horrific variations which I’ll leave you to discover for yourself.
IN STYLE : 40s-60s, but never out of out fashion really!

Where do we see oversized tees anymore? They seem to have departed from our stores and shops, but continue to exist in a few forms. So-called ‘boyfriend’ shirts and t-shirts are as popular as ever, if not more so, and many t-shirts or shirts have been lengthened so as to be worn as dresses, like those sold on Coco De Coeur. But to be honest none of them really come close to the style and elegance of those original tees. The new variations lack the iconic status that came with their presence in the movie Flashdance, and many of them are simply awful. It’s sad to hear that such a film only gets a rating of 5.6 on IMDb, despite being a film that was loved by a generation. If anything, it speaks volumes about the power of time to change the impact of the things we once held dear.
IN STYLE : 80s

Finally, we come to the preppie look. It used to signify being middle or upper class, and sometimes even popular, and originated in the Ivy League schools. What I find interesting about it as a style is the fusion of casual and formal. The amusing thing perhaps about preppie fashion, is that nowadays designer clothing is often so expensive that the same people who would once have been preppie are its market, despite the completely outrageous clothes that they now produce. For more information about Preppie fashion look here. As a style it represents the idea of a clean-cut, all american man, which differs only slightly from the working class perspective of an ideal man in America, as their dress would be less formal, though the rugby tops and similar which are staples would remain.
IN STYLE : 50s, 80s, 00s

From the top,  (I believe) a Skane jumper selected by Tommy Hilfiger in an article in the Times last year. Next, a Daisy and Rose dress, designed using patterns from Horrockses Fashions, currently on sale at the Victoria & Albert Museum Shop. Below, an oversized tee, as worn by  Jennifer Beals. Further below, a vintage style – preppie, with modern clothes, Stanislas Nève de Mévergnies models Ralph Lauren and Dunhill.

I’ll also shortly be adding a little sectionette on another timeless piece of clothing within the next day, so keep checking back for updates.

Comment below, and tell me what you think of the dog as my Column’s signpost!

And now for something that didn’t make it. At all. Leopard print jeans. No comment neccessary.

IN STYLE : Never.

Leopard Print trousers from Dolce & Gabbana

These words have been bandied about recently by members of parties from all sides. Labour in particular has taken up the torch, pushing truly to warn against the damage the austerity package could do. They simply refer to the looming threat of a second period in which the economy recedes.

The evidence that this is not likely to take place lies in a spread of areas: firstly, both the conservatives and liberal democrats believe that this will not be the outcome, secondly, the aftershocks of the recession, such as the bailout of a regional bank in Spain (CajaSur), are simply that, aftershocks. A third point of discussion argues that there is no likelihood of us ever defaulting, and so simply no need for the markets to go into freefall. Others might argue that as the market is a prediction device, rather than a reactor to current events these things will not affect it.

Political forces like Vince Cable, and similarly trusted politicians, may however, be able to encourage people to spend regardless and at least not to worry, though how effective this may be remains to be seen. It is difficult to evaluate the worth of this side of the argument, as the state of our economy is so precarious, and the papers do little to advocate the worth of such measures.

However the evidence for the contrary is perhaps more persuasive. It rests on a number of factors ; The recent bailout of the aforementioned Spanish bank, which comes amidst rising turbulence in the European Union, which includes Angela Merkel’s weakening support in Germany, France’s threat to leave the Euro (which would have truly catastrophic affects for everyone), and the Greek bailout. Not to mention that new worries have been extended on the subject of Spain’s economic situation by the IMF. All of these weaken their respective exchange rate, and as members of the European Union ourselves are likely to lead to bigger payments from us, and certainly a decline in investor confidence here and abroad. Combine this with escalating tensions in North Korea, as they sever ties from South Korea, which has destroyed investor confidence in both countries, as fear of a war looms.

Accompanying this, the sheer scale of debt : 893 billion pounds in Britain alone, and over 10 trillion in America, is horrifying.

Couple this with forthcoming austerity measures from George Osbourne which are likely to induce people to save money out of fear for their jobs and further cuts which may lead to them needing to say transfer their child to private school, or not go on holiday all of which remove money from the economy. He, disliked by many, will find it difficult to sell his cuts, particularly as the 6 billion only just announced have cut money from almost every budget and still found only that sum.

Unfortunately, it is exactly words like austerity that encourage people to save rather than to spend, and considering the pathetic growth rate of the United Kingdom’s economy, 0.3% in Q10, it would be only too easy to return to recession.

What do you think? Comment Below

Crystal Castles are undeniably an outstanding band! It could be argued however that Kap Bambino were the starting point of the entire New Rave mashed, mixed and generally messed up noises genre. So who is the best, CCs or Kap?

Well Castle Crystals have stormed onto the scene, but not only have they produced their own amazing music but have blown people away with their awesome remixes. the White Lies remix was absolutely astounding and they seem to have a knack for making already good songs even more amazing!  Crystal Castles came to the UK  in one big wave, having already broken America and their native Canada.  Their sucess could be down to the amazing job the Canadian government do by subsidising Canadian music, to try and disassociate Bryan Adams from their own music history. They were asked to play on Skins (Channel 4) which opened them up to a vast amount of British teens. they are a must listen!

Crystal Castles – Vanished youtube

White Lies – Death (Crystal Castles remix)

Now Kap Bambino ahve been around for a long time, based in France they have never really been huge and only relatively big new rave fans have come across them. Kap Bambino have a funkier sound which is more childlike and faster. Hugely popular in France they have little sucess elsewhere, but this has not taken away from their music, they still create incredible tunes. One of my favourite tunes by them has to be Hey! an amazing song with a funny video.

Kap Bambino – Hey! youtube

So who is the best? It’s gotta be Crystal Castles although they may have been influenced by Kap Bambino they have surpassed them with ease. Not to say Kap Bambino are bad, like Girls Aloud, but Crystal Castles are just better! Their music is so easy to dance to, and their live presence is incredible. Crystal Castles have maintained a low profile when their private lives are concerned and for that i completely respect them. Let’s just hope that up coming artists can follow their example and sell out for the money.