Could we be heading for a second Covid recession?
The political story for the moment is the cost of living crisis. But by the end of the year could…
Will Britain’s new energy strategy keep the lights on?
Today’s Energy Security Strategy puts energy security at the heart of the debate over energy and environmental policy, where it…
Ed Sheeran is right about British courts
As they say in the music business, where there’s a hit, there’s a writ. It is something that no one…
The war on workers
It is been a familiar story in recent years: a Budget that sounded reasonably good when delivered, but that unravels…
Are sanctions working?
When allied military operations go well or badly, we very quickly hear about them. But what about sanctions? It is…
Zelensky has saved Boris
Labour will try all it can to bring up the subject at every opportunity; as will a few backbench MPs.…
The rouble’s astonishing recovery
The tank columns are stalled; one or two towns captured from the Ukrainians have been retaken. Russia’s war effort has…
Was Biden’s chemical weapons threat a gaffe?
Did Joe Biden mean to threaten Russia with a chemical weapons attack? That seemed to be what he implied at…
Can we trust economic models?
Rishi Sunak shared a delightful moment of honesty on the Today programme on Thursday. Mishal Husain asked him how households…
Welcome to the new era of high inflation
There was a time when a chancellor would have bitten off the hand of a national statistician who offered him…
Should we prepare for an oil price crash?
I almost felt a sense of perverse celebration as the meter clocked round to £100 – the first time I…
Will the Russian Stock Exchange ever reopen?
It is one thing for western companies, funds, investment trusts and others to promise to divest from Russian assets. But…
The problem with the UK’s Russian clamp down
I’m no apologist for oligarchs, whether they be from Russia or anywhere else. I have been writing for years about…
Will the West boycott Russian oil?
The price of Brent crude exceeded $112 a barrel this morning. There is, as yet, no interruption in supply from…
Will the West shut Russia out of Swift?
You may never have heard of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications — or at least not by its…
The Ukraine invasion is good news for Wall Street
Don’t be fooled by the pictures that will shortly start to emerge of traders apparently tearing their hair out against…
It’s too late to break Europe’s gas reliance on Russia
So, Nord Stream 2 will not be plugged into Germany’s gas grid. A little surprisingly, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been…
Storm Eunice has nothing to do with climate change
I sat tight and braced myself for the worst this morning — not high winds but for the Today programme…
Should we vaccinate children against Covid?
Is there any point in vaccinating five to 11-year-olds against Covid? For months the policy across the UK was not…
Are ethnic minorities still more likely to get Covid?
Is there a genetic element to the risk of being infected with Covid — and are some disadvantaged ethnic groups…
How high could interest rates go?
The last time that US inflation hit 7.5 per cent, Ronald Reagan was a recently-elected president. And he, older readers…
Is scrapping self-isolation safe?
Is now the right time to lift all Covid restrictions, as the Prime Minister suggested he might do from 24…
A windfall tax on oil giants would harm – not help – pensioners
Look up this year’s performance of the shares and bonds which make up your pension fund and you will see…
Make capitalism real again
The emergence of Covid provoked a worldwide economic crash. That lasted a mere four weeks. By the time western countries…
The Bank of England’s interest rate hike isn’t enough
There would have been times when the news ‘Bank of England doubles interest rates’ would have been met with a…
