The IMF recently downgraded its growth forecast for the UK following the escalation of conflict between the US/Israel and Iran. All major economies saw downgrades, but the UK’s was the largest. Even so, the IMF still expects the UK to be among the better-performing advanced economies. That didn’t make the headlines. Instead, we got the … Read more
One of the daftest things I read on line is the assertion that “you can’t rewrite history” This, of course, is nonsense, history is rewritten all the time, that is how history works. Each generation writes it’s own history, attitudes change, new facts emerge, documents are found in the archives, things are dug up from … Read more
After the Gorton by-election, a number of stories circulated about so-called “family voting” — Muslim families voting together, with the husband supposedly directing how others should vote. This narrative was quickly seized on as an explanation for Reform’s failure to win the seat and for the collapse of the Conservative vote. The Conservatives, in particular, … Read more
Brexit has damaged the UK’s exports. I know this from first-hand experience. Before the vote, we exported to Ireland, Spain and Japan. After the vote, nothing. Japan might seem an odd market to lose. But like many small exporters, we sold through a distributor that bundled together drinks products for Asian markets. Mixing UK and … Read more
The myth of British military power ended at Suez. The myth of American military power may be ending at the Strait of Hormuz. Trump’s war against Iran has no clearly defined strategic objectives, no endgame, and no obvious way of judging success or failure. It is, above all, an exercise in image-building: projecting American strength, … Read more
Changpeng Zhao, founder of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has been pardoned by President Donald Trump. Zhao—known as “CZ”—was sentenced to four months in prison in 2024 after pleading guilty to breaching US money laundering laws. Binance itself was fined $4.3bn after investigators found it had helped users bypass sanctions. That would be a … Read more
