Vulcan-economics
We discuss the impact of the six-day closure of European airspace.
Hi folks,
No prizes for guessing what’s happening on this week’s show – even with the horrifically made-up word which heads this entry! It’s all about the Icelandic volcano, and absolute chaos that accompanied its eruption.
I don’t think any of us saw this coming. Fair enough, a great big volcano’s erupted and is spewing out a huge ash cloud over Europe … but for there to be such an effect – an effective lockdown of a continent! – was really quite something.
Obviously the economic impact was huge and that’s what we’re delving into this week. And look at our line-up of guests:
• Khawar Qureishi QC: explaining the rights of employers and employees
• Akbar Al-Baker: CEO of Qatar Airways, with his views on how the airline industry coped and was treated by European officials
• Craig Mundie: Microsoft’s chief research and strategy officer, on how businesses need to adapt in crisis
• Caroline Boin: from the International Policy Network on trade and food security
Plus, of course, reports from our correspondents on just how much impact this cloud of ash had on the entire economic community.
And one more thing… you might have noticed I haven’t used the volcano’s name once in this blog, basically because it’s not that easy to pronounce, or type for that matter!
However to help us along, Alan Adair, our head of studio operations, created this little masterpieceafter an Icelandic folk singer came on Al Jazeera English with her ode to … Eyjafjallajokull!
Long live karaoke, I say!
Don’t forget to follows us … you will find Counting the Cost on twitter by searching for @AJCountingCost.
Counting the Cost can be seen each week at the following times GMT: Friday: 1430, 2030; Saturday: 0430, 1230, 1900; Sunday: 0130, 1630; Monday: 0830; Tuesday: 0600.