Last night we saw a play of a Dostoyevsky story called The Double, about mid-19th century identity theft. It was a brilliant and convincing variant on the psychodrama original, showing that Golyadkin was not a madman in need of the ministrations of psychologists, but the victim of a plot against civil service whistle-blowers. It all felt familiar. Under Communism, insane asylums were used to lock up dissidents. And corruption is a feature of Russian administration still.
We went with my brother- and sister-in-law who are big Fringe Theatre-goers. I learned something shattering. Because my future niece’s Italian family will be making their way to England with difficulty and as little baggage as possible during the BA strike, I am forbidden to wear my wedding hat lest it lead to invidious comparisons. This at the request of my nephew, a cop who can arrest Aunt Vivian for violating the no-hat rule.
India raised its reserve and repo rates each by 25 basis points putting the global economy into a new funk today. In emerging markets like India, the poor are the victims of inflation, so there were ample pressures on the central bank to tighten credit although it the move came unexpectedly early.
But now the fear of copycat rate rises in China has thrown the Asian markets into a tizzy. And then the Europeans can worry about Greece some more and the British think about labor disputes like the airline’s. And Americans can worry about the impact of healthcare reform on growth and inflation.
It will probably be a bad market day.
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