Andreas Whittam Smith

Profile: Full name: Andreas Whittam Smith Area of interest: Politics; Current affairs: covering Society, Economics, Media, International affairs Journals/Organisation: The Independent Email: a.whittamsmith@independent.co.uk Personal website: Website: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/andreas-whittam-smith Blog: Representation: Networks:

Biography: About: Education: Birkenhead School; Keble College, Oxford Career: Financial journalist until 1985 (including editor of the Stock Exchange Gazette, Investors Chronicle (1970/1977, city editor of The Guardian, city editor of The Daily Telegraph); In 1985, led the team that founded The Independent, editor of The Independent, 1986/1994; President, British Board of Film Classification, 1998/2002; Chairman of the Financial Ombudsmen Service, 1999/2003; The Children's Trust: Booard member, 1998 and then chairman 2006-; Commissioner of First Church Estates (responsible for the CoE's investments), 2002- BBC News: Whittam Smith: From cinema to church, (quote: "My greatest desire has always been to be cosmopolitan") 31st July, 2002 Current position/role: columnist also writes/has written for: Other roles/Main role: Other activities: Church of England's First Church Estates Commissioner; Chairman of the Children's Mutual (savings trust for children) God’s work is an expensive enterprise - The Times, 19th June 2007 Disclosures: Viewpoints/Insight: Broadcast media: Video: Controversy/Criticism: Awards/Honours: Made a CBE in the New Year's honours list, 2002 Scoops: Other:

Books & Debate: Latest work: Speaking/Appearances: Ebor Lectures: Business as Usual? The Global Economy Crisis and the Future of Capitalism, York Minster, 14th October 2009 Debate:

The Independent: Column name: Remit/Info: Politics, Current affairs, Media, Society, Economics, International affairs Section: Role: Commentator Pen-name: Email: a.whittamsmith@independent.co.uk Website: Independent.co / Andreas Whittam Smith Commissioning editor: Day published: Friday (formerly Monday) Regularity: Weekly Column format: Average length:

Articles: 2012 What happens if Greece exits? That's what we must ask now - The risks and the pain could be mitigated. Banks have already cut their exposure - 17th May The shareholder revolution is at last under way - Why did shareholders let so many years pass by without trying to halt the rise in the remuneration of directors? - 10th May DSK, Murdoch and the trouble with inquiries - The magistrates interrogating the former IMF chief are engaged in a hopeless task - 3rd May Forget what sounds clever. Just run the country - Cameron said what people wanted to hear when he announced the abolition of quangos. Doing it is harder - 26th April An election that trades on people's deepest fears - What is this world of finance to which Mr Hollande refers? It is France's numerous creditor - 19th April Osborne doesn't think much about the have-nots - The reductions in welfare are not over yet. The Chancellor needs further savings - £10bn by 2016 - 22nd March Not just greedy banking, but morally worthless - I have developed a rule. If you have money, there will always be somebody trying to take it off you - 15th March Britain could do with a dose of US democracy - Candidates use attack ads to try and destroy their opponents. Nothing on this scale has happened before - 8th March The buck stops with Rupert Murdoch himself - The successes have been his alone, so have the failures. The scandals that tumble out daily are his doing - 1st March Denigrate civil servants and a nasty price is paid - Many ministers in charge of huge departments lack the qualities appropriate to their responsibilities - 23rd February The Greeks have spoken and the eurozone's fate is sealed - Creditor countries have begun to see that the solutions would be impossible to implement - 16th February Sweetheart tax deals aren't for the little people - Harry Redknapp's problem was that he was a private individual and not a large company - 9th February Honours are odious and harmful, and it's time they went - At a time when the gap between the haves and have-nots is widening, titles exacerbate divisions - 2nd February Buy a share, cast a vote, solve the problem - Dr Cable's proposals would immediately bring shareholders back into the game by giving them a veto - 26th January Sarkozy could be toppled by the downgrade - The credit downgrade is widely seen as an adverse judgement on Sarkozy's record in office - 19th January The candidate who can elicit hope is the winner - In the 1980 presidential election, voters who didn't agree with Reagan still wanted to vote for him - 12th January

Articles: 2011 Blaming Fred the Shred alone is too easy - The real explanation for the fall of RBS was the incompetence of the ruling and managerial classes - 15th December Buying time won't save the single currency - Funding and democratic crises lie ahead. The euro could perhaps survive one, but not both - 8th December I don't believe the eurozone can be made to work - Poland's alarm is a true measure of the crisis. It is more vivid than the warning by the Chancellor - 1st December The jobless are our own fault, not anyone else's - A high proportion of businesses say that job-seekers lack basic literacy and numeracy - 17th November It's not just the borders agency that is unfit for purpose - Our politicians don't lack brainpower or ability. But what they do lack are knowledge and training - 11th November Capitalism does not have to be this greedy - The two important control mechanisms are active shareholders and perceptive regulators - 3rd November Bankers are to blame for this mess. And they still don't get it - Two entities are more powerful than any individual government in the West - 27th October Western nations are now ripe for revolution - If there is going to be a revolutionary outburst, you do not get much warning - 20th October Death by drone is swift and efficient – it's also murder - We need to start worrying about drone proliferation - 6th October Failed by the very people who are there to protect us -Of course there should be an independent review of policing - 29th September What's cheap, cheers you up – and could be killing you? - Trans fats have disappeared from the New York restaurant table - 23rd September Germany has shifted and default is now inevitable - A Greek debt default is close. It could come next week, or very soon anyway - 15th September A compelling truth revealed in the pages of a French thriller - In Dans L’Ombre, the intimate workings of politics are explained - 27th July Murdoch's unique way of doing business won't change - The 'don't ask, don't tell' culture permeates his operations. When things get tougher, the Murdoch technique is to try denial, or throw the police off the scent - 21st July Bullies and cowards who have killed a newspaper – for nothing - I believe that Rebekah Brooks, James Murdoch and even Rupert Murdoch himself will find themselves in court - 9th July If we don't act now, worse will follow - There are similarities with the Italian mafia. Unchecked, News International's illegal practices would grow - 7th July What's really troubling about Murdoch is being overlooked - Owning more than 25 per cent of the newspaper market is a bigger issue than the bid for BSkyB. But there has never been apublic inquiry into it - 30th June The Greeks can't pay and won't pay, so let them default - It would crash out of the eurozone, re-establish its own currency and suffer a devaluation. Greece would be in a mess, but at least it would be its own mess - 23rd June Stand back – there's a ticking time bomb that threatens us all - The spark running towards a Greek default is dangerous - 9th June Who's in control? Not just governments, that's for sure - We have seen two big powers in action this week. They are not countries - 26th May This fight is about power and money, not principles - Celebrity and media, MPs and judges - 24th May A more 'democratic' Lords can only damage the Commons - If we believe we have a legitimate system of government - and the evidence is that we do - then there is no case for major constitutional change - 19th May Television is not how to witness the passing of a life - Death has been institutionalised - 12th May Our aversion to risk turns civilian heroes into cowards - The first paramedic who turned up on 7/7 said he could not treat the two injured people, because he had to assess what resources were needed - 5th May Politicians deserve public disdain – they have earned it - We see them as bluffers whose luck holds for a period - 14th April Can the reputation of the Met survive such a high-level duel? - We'll have to see how Yates responds to the cuts and thrusts of Keir Starmer - 7th April Is it wise to criminalise respectable protest groups? - UK Uncut stirs up storms. Now it finds itself at the centre of one - 31st March Not even the humanitarian urge can be a basis for war - What if there had been no UN resolution on Libya and no airborne attacks? - 24th March Eliminating waste can be as simple as answering phones - It is one thing to have a good idea and quite another to put it into practice - 17th March Wholesale privatisation is not what people voted for - White Paper that disguises a development of huge significance is due - 3rd March Protests that can't just be dismissed as 'student politics' - During street demonstrations, the police have taken to confining people - 24th February 2011 We need closure, not compromise over banks - Their speculative, wild binge cost us £140bn in a single year - 10th February Social networks are now the tyrant's weapon of choice, too - We've seen the incredible potential for technology to empower citizens - 3rd February Cameron is guilty of moral blindness - How far does the writ run of appeasing News International? If it runs at all, we can confidently say that it starts from No. 10 - 25th January Protest movements don't need a spearhead to be successful - They can remain as a protest group, or mutate from protest into power - 20th January Arrogant, patronising and rude. Remind you of anyone? - The French get off to an excellent start so far as manners is concerned - 13th January

Articles: 2010 The age of information has changed terrorism forever - If computer hackers have a system at all, it could be called 'organised chaos' - 16th December GPs will have to sprout angel wings to handle this madness - So the path to enhanced localism goes via the Kremlin. It is a weird way to go - 9th December A nearby country of which we know shamefully little - Feeling of victimhood is useful in assessing Germany's attitude to the euro crisis - 2nd December Restore trust now, or Irish people won't buy the pain - The Irish Government has lost the trust of its people - 25th November Reasons to be cheerful about the renewal of our Parliament - I am even more interested in the political process than I am in politics - 18th November A revolt against the ruling elite - The American electorate has voted consistently against the party in power - 4th November French-style segregation... - ... coming to a town near you - 28th October Transparency could be the spur that drives this movement to improve - Can the Whitehall machine, no matter how reform minded it is now, possibly deliver 'better for less?' - 21st October CPS: a criminal injustice - The Crown Prosecution Service has been getting embarrassing headlines - 14th October And still a few cronies get to decide - The faults on display in the Government's announcement of the withdrawal of child benefit - 7th October This idea is beyond left and right - Because its meaning is so elusive, David Cameron's notion of a 'Big Society' is attracting a lot of attention - 30th September Pay up, pay up and play the game - Reckless banking and tax avoidance have characteristics in common. Both depend upon finding ways round rules - 23rd September The French fear of 'the other' - Barres said Jews and Protestants were incarnations of cosmopolitanism and therefore rootless parasites - 16th September What the Coalition have got right so far - There may be one big thing wrong with plans to slash government spending - 19th August A case of contempt of Parliament - When the Academies Bill reached the Commons, the Government announced it would not allow it to be amended - 30th July Lessons from a high financier - Siegmund Warburg was a man who created what might be termed a 'post-crash' business - 22nd July The myth of patient choice - White Paper heralds big improvement in sensitivity of NHS to patients' needs - 15th July Rules for bankers to remember - Should business executives have their own Hippocratic Oath? - 8th July Governance according to Blair - The former PM came to the Institute for Government on Monday to give 10 lessons from his decade in office - 1st July The dealing room had it coming - Some banking activities are more suitable for gamblers than for sober citizens - 18th June Don't knock consultation. Give it a go - The trigger for discussion is the availability of information on the Web - 11th June BP's success is a national concern - BP and the Pru: Two old British companies that have each made the right strategic decisions - 4th June The lessons May 1940 has for today - Why was France, a superpower with well-equipped armed forces, defeated within a matter of weeks? - 28th May Be prepared for the biggest political shake-up since the Great Reform Act - There remains the issue of how constitutional change, welcome though it may be, should be brought about - 22nd May Sofas out, proper debate in - Praise be. The new coalition government could turn out to be more effective than its recent predecessors - 14th May Back the person, not the party - The electorate feels angry, but these hostile emotions are nothing to be ashamed about; they are the correct response to twenty years of duplicitous and ineffective government - 6th May Power to the people: The leaders of Britain's political parties underestimate us at their peril - Our nation's recent history shows what can happen when popular discontent finds its voice - 29th April The triumph of political mendacity - There is no distinction between Mr Darling and the rest of the political class - 26th March To understand modern France, you really must see La Rafle - Chirac accepted the French state had supported the persecution of Jews - 19th March Nothing as stupid as targets - I would like ministers to be seconded to run small businesses for six months - 12th March Tales of bullying from the frontline of the NHS - The Inquiry into Mid Staffs made me think of Abu Ghraib in Baghdad - 5th March Self-regulation of press works - This is poacher and gamekeeper territory and stray passers-by have little to contribute - 26th February Juries show society at its fairest - Racism in Britain, while deeply unpleasant, is superficial - 19th February How to make government work - Labour produced a new offence for every day ministers have been in office - 12th February Change the voting system - What animates British politics is the fear of losing a general election - 5th February Obama's Wall Street reforms aren't nearly radical enough - When is a bank too big to fail? - 29th January Don't be surprised if a protest movement flowers in Britain - British voters feel hostile towards the political class for a variety of reasons - 22nd January Here's one way to reconnect voters - The meeting came up with some surprising conclusions on reform - 15th January Our economy needs firm government - How could we handle a hung Parliament so investors retain confidence in Britain? - 8th January

Articles: 2009 Prince Charles and the looming constitutional crisis - My doubts stem from the bombardment of letters to which he subjects ministers - 18th December Separate 'good' and 'bad' bonuses to clean up City - The moral case for levying a special tax on bankers' bonuses is strong - 10th December Nobody is going to resign at RBS – nor should they - Bonuses would be acceptable if they rewarded genuine 'value added' only - 4th December The Commons has lost all power - If MPs want more influence they must stop whining and raise their game - 30th November Reforming the banks won't be easy – but it can still be done - Though part of an arduous process, a Financial Service Bill could be useful - 20th November Brown is plunging down the same abyss as Major - Harrassment can begin when a PM's personal qualities are lacking - 13th November Kelly's report cannot be the end of the matter - The public's view is that MPs have been stealing from the public purse - 6th November The first rule of any regulation – bankers cannot be trusted - They will seek to avoid any control up to the limits of ending up in court - 23rd October How the theatre has taught me about the financial crisis - 'Enron' and 'The Power of Yes' tell you all you need to know - 16th October The fine of art of scapegoating - Sharon Shoesmith had no chance to comment on the report into child protection in Haringey - 9th October We cannot safely say that the Great Crash has passed - Financial markets are akin to living systems, driven by animal spirits - 2nd October A simple way to greater efficiency - Call centres are just factories modelled on the car plants established by Ford - 25th September The banking story may yet have a happy ending - The next chapter is how governments introduced much tougher regulation - 18th September Cameron is as obsessed with winning headlines as Blair - Rule number one in political marketing is 'think in headlines' - 11th September In no other business would Trevor Phillips survive - Only in our politics could it happen - 24th July Seven ways we could reform our broken political system - Mr Brown thinks up a vote-winning headline he'd like to see, then conjures up a policy - 17th July Forget regulation – the banks are back to business as usual - It was supposed to be "never glad confident morning again" for capitalism - 10th July Lying has become a way of life for our politicians - In their hearts, I believe, they are contemptuous of ordinary people - 3rd July I often wonder why swearing on TV should bother us - The British attitude to censorship is an example of our exceptionalism - 26th June It is not only Brown who is losing all authority - Never before have Chancellor and Bank Governor disagreed like this - 19th June Cabinet reshuffles are no help to good government - If Marks & Spencer changed half its board every year we'd be incredulous - 5th June Why I mourn the loss - I regret that another batch of old building society names will shortly vanish from high streets - 29th May A reality check bursts the bubble of optimism - Reducing debt could well become a virility test in the election - 22nd May We need to tear up the rules of our Afghan engagement - Rather than killing the enemy, it is better to disable him - 15th May Score: 1-1 in the war on terror - States of consent don't need to win, they simply need not to lose - 11th May They didn't make history, but that's no bad thing - When Gordon Brown came to the podium at 4pm yesterday to summarise the results of the G20 meeting, politics came first. For he began with a list of agreements that, although fine in themselves, will not accelerate economic recovery, will not create a single new job - 3rd April At last, an escape route for the banks... - ... But will they take it? - 27th March The revolution starts here – by text - National politics is discredited. The wrong people are in power. The whole system is broken. But through technology we can all fight back - 14th March The PM has more urgent tasks than bank regulation - He promoted a 'light touch', so the bankers got away with it - 6th March Darling should have known about Goodwin's pension - Ministerial incompetence has been present since this crisis began - 27th February The financial storm will now subside... - ... We've hit rock bottom - 20th February The blindness of a Pope led by his bureaucrats - It is hard to believe that Pope Benedict knew nothing of 'Bishop' Williamson - 6th February Behind the scandals is the shadowy figure of the lobbyist - To exert influence, dupes are needed - 30th January We are angry. So tell us what went wrong at the banks - Was this a case of incompetence or dishonesty? An inquiry would tell us - 23rd January This is not the Great Depression - We don't face anything like the intensity of the crisis that confronted Roosevelt - 16th January Amid the gloom and doom, I've a small piece of advice to offer - Inflation dropping like a stone? Buy government bonds - 9th January

Articles: 2008 Keep the Church and State link - ‘Establishment’ helps explain high attendances on Christmas Day - 26th December 2008 The real enemy now is deflation - It has a doomsday machine quality to it, a downward spiral difficult to stop - 19th December 2008 Life, liberty and lesson of Milton - We can all learn from the sheer majesty of his depth of learning and sublety in debate - 12th December 2008 This recession will run and run - The Banks remain terrified, albeit that they set the thing off in the first place - 5th December 2008 Has the time finally come for us to join the euro? - The question is whether Britain's situation isn't similar to Iceland's - 24th November 2008 Putin's energy threat - We could have a single European gas market tomorrow - 17th November 2008 Reject this merger - The Lloyds-HBOS deal is against public interest – it will reduce competititon - 10th November 2008 Are the rednecks losing their power? - Alcohol, Jesus and over-eating are the three preferred avenues of escape - 10th November 2008 We could be on the brink of a Great Depression - It has been fashionable to say that this can never happen again - 13th October 2008 Let's put some bankers in the dock - Over here there has not been a peep from the law enforcement agencies - 6th October 2008 Building societies should never have gone public - Selling mortgages to homebuyers is not an acitivity that requires whizz kids - 29th September 2008 A crash that has changed the world? Far from it - The new conventional thinking conjured up straight after the Wall Street crash last week is that life will never be the same again. But hang on - 22nd September 2008 The banks must clean up the mess they've created - Lehman Brothers' CEO assumed that the credit crunch would be damaging, but not fatal - 15th September 2008 The flaw at the top that's causing businesses to fail - Fingers are pointed at the FSA. But I believe we should turn our attention elsewhere - 14th July 2008 Buy when stocks are down? Let's explode that myth - As managers at Bear Stearns appear in court, obvious lessons can be learnt - 23rd June 2008 Irish voters have stated the truth for all of us - The countries outside the eurozone have done better than those inside - 16th June 2008 Life in the long shadow of the First World War - Doris Lessing's new book is one of the most remarkable she has ever written - 12th May 2008 This Austrian shame is compounded by history - They thought of themselves as Hitler's first victims, but then came the Waldheim affair - 5th May 2008 Thriftiness just adds to recessionary forces - Consumers are already behaving as if times were hard - 28th April 2008 When modesty masks a sense of failure - As he listened to the PM, Deedes murmured to himself: “A sinking ship is my spiritual home” - 21st April 2008 These verdicts underline the dishonesty of politics - I can never get used to the fact that governments habitually break the law - 14th April 2008 The credit crunch will be with us for years to come - The crisis will be over when house prices in the US and Britain stop declining - 7th April 2008 Yet another reason to condemn Blair over Iraq - There was no analysis of British interest in joining the invasion. Now I understand why - 31st March 2008 It's not only the public who don't respect a uniform - 10th March 2008 The financial crisis is moving into its final phase - Everybody wanted to get out, including the depositors of Northern Rock - 3rd March 2008 Media studies is no preparation for journalism - Is it just prejudice that media studies at school and university are widely regarded as a soft option - 25th February 2008 Beethoven, Barenboim, and a moment of magic - 18th February 2008 If the Afghans don't want us, why should we stay? - The issue is whether the lot of us can achieve anything worthwhile - 4th February 2008 Banks invite trouble if they try to reinvent the wheel - History records no case where the economic bubble deflated gracefully - 28th January 2008 We have had a boom. And now, thanks to the greed of banks, we are experiencing a bust - 21st January 2008 Frankly, I don't believe a word Peter Hain says - Can anyone think that the Progressive Party Forum is anything but a front organisation? - 14th January 2008 Government isn't working. Here's how it can - Blockage at the top, and a miasma of mistrust, are damaging the quality of policy and legislation - 7th January 2008

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Links: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Whittam_Smith Wikipedia