On Wednesday, we welcomed Martin Cox from the John Locke Institute in Oxford to give two short lectures to 32 Fettesians. The first lecture was on the subject of ‘Game theory’, which was essentially a study of the mathematical and psychological models of conflict and cooperation between intelligent rational decision-makers. Using the rivalry between America and USSR during the cold war as an example, Mr Cox explained the reasons behind some of the decisions made on both sides and the considerations for these decisions from multiple different aspects. An example being that during the Cold War, America wanted Russia to be as strong as America militarily, so Russia is less likely to pull the trigger of war, as they feel less threat from America and an equilibrium is reached. He concluded by saying that the Game Theory can be applied to other aspects in life, such as economics and different branches of sciences. The second part of lecture was an analysis over the morality of capita...

On the 2nd of October tears rolled down my face as I watched the BBC morning news showing images of riot police beating up old ladies for voting; I watched and wondered what on earth had happened to the world; Spain, a western democracy, was using force to stop people from voting. The referendum may have been illegal but in a Western Democracy we simply do not use force against our own people because they tried to vote. But politics aside, let’s talk economics. We do not know what is going to happen to Catalonia, but if independence is the outcome, what are the economic implications? Spain are Catalonia’s biggest trading partners consuming 35.5% of Catalan exports; indicating quite clearly that a break from Spain could have significant implications for Catalan exports, especially if trade barriers are implemented which may be the case. An independent Catalonia would not immediately qualify for EU membership and the EU market accounts for 65.8% of Catalan exports therefore, sugge...