A century ago, petroleum - what we call oil - was just an obscure commodity; today it is almost as vital to… — James Buchan Copy Share Image
Suicidal violence is not the exclusive property of the Muslim world. Suicide bombings were a tactic of nationalist struggles in 19th-century Europe… — James Buchan Copy Share Image
There are signs that the age of petroleum has passed its zenith. Adjusted for inflation, a barrel of crude oil now sells… — James Buchan Copy Share Image
The use of refined petroleum as fuel, which began in the 1850s, freed hundreds of millions of people from the toil of… — James Buchan Copy Share Image
Of all the failed technologies that litter the onward march of science - steam carriages, zeppelins, armoured trains - none has been… — James Buchan Copy Share Image
To make a love story, you need a couple of young people, but to reflect on the nature of love, you're better… — James Buchan Copy Share Image
The prevailing ideology of the modern west - which is political economy - is in the doghouse. Having failed to notice atmospheric pollution, the… — James Buchan Copy Share Image
For 50 years, nuclear power stations have produced three products which only a lunatic could want: bomb-explosive plutonium, lethal radioactive waste and electricity so… — James Buchan Copy Share Image
Europe and North America, we are told, are less dependent on energy-intensive heavy industry than in the 1960s and 1970s. It seems we squeeze… — James Buchan Copy Share Image
In falling markets, there is nothing that has not happened before. The bear or pessimist sees only the past, which imprisons the wretched financial… — James Buchan Copy Share Image
The world dominion of western thought, forms of organisation, technology and military force is not God-given, nor eternal, nor greatly appreciated by the rest… — James Buchan Copy Share Image
Whatever else it was, Adolf Hitler's short-lived regime was also a colossal industrial process by which the wealth and productive power of much of… — James Buchan Copy Share Image
Ever since the destruction of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258, the Muslim world has been in slow decline relative to the west. With… — James Buchan Copy Share Image
“My wages came to me not to satisfy any need-- mine were anyway private, affectionate, atrocious-- but to make my needs universal: to incorporate… — James Buchan Copy Share Image
For all their current prestige, Osama bin Laden and the suicide bombers are still regarded in all but the most desperate districts of Gaza… — James Buchan Copy Share Image
Almost all novels are improved by cutting from the top. On their first pages, authors parade those favourite effects which disgust the impartial reader. — James Buchan Copy Share Image
Profits in business always depend on the rate of interest: the higher the interest, the higher the rate of profit required. — James Buchan Copy Share Image
