What we learned this week

I came back from two weeks of holiday to find my garden looking notably parched and dessicated. While I was doing my best to ignore the news, it turns out that 50% of Europe slipped into drought.

While it won’t raise a huge amount of revenue, Canada’s new tax on expensive cars, boats and private planes sends a clear signal about the social value of such things.

Also on cars, Ford has announced the biggest purchase of renewable energy in US history. It brings forward the company’s aims fo...