Opinion

Paul Johnston: Growth to slow as countries seduced by false allure of protectionism

We now sees Beijing as a competitor, challenger and rival, as well as a partner in certain, important, areas

Firefighters try to extinguish the fire broke out on a destroyed building after a Russian shelling at night, in the center of the Pokrovsk, Ukraine. At least three civilians were injured. Picture: Getty

“I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year

“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown”

Those lines open a poem quoted by King George VI in his 1939 Christmas broadcast, to a country facing war for the second time in a generation.

The outlook today is less catastrophic. But the end of the old year brings little comfort or joy. War rages in Europe, something ...