Economy
Is Scott Bessent America’s most important diplomat?
The most important American in the world right now might not be Donald Trump. It could be Scott Bessent, the…
The global ramifications of China’s economic crisis
Whilst Britain’s Labour government continues its war on the price mechanism, Communist China wrestles with the ill effects of an…
The truth about Kate Garraway and me
Since Victorian times, sandwich-board men proclaiming doom have been part of our urban street life, particularly in London. I’ve felt…
The two faces of modern Japan
The principal cities still appear youthful and vigorous, but the interior is near to collapse after decades of neglect and economic stagnation
Trumponomics is working
Remember the old quip about economists? “That’s all very in practice,” they say, “but how does it work out in…
The Boring Twenties: good British fun is being strangled
A century ago, Britain had reason to despair. A generation had been lost to war, influenza was killing those who…
Who’s up to the challenge of restoring Britain’s prosperity?
In 1956, Malta held a referendum on joining the United Kingdom. Since the islands were economically reliant on the Royal…
Santa Trump’s Christmas economy cheer
I hate to be the bearer of good news, but the US economy is doing quite well. A delayed government…
Labour’s plan to unite the left
It is easy to criticise the Budget. The process was a chaotic mess. For many on the right, Rachel Reeves’s…
What’s Trump got to do with the price of turkey?
During last week’s excruciating Oval Office make-nice between an insultingly buddy-buddy American President and a fraudulently obsequious New York City…
Reeves’s fiscal play-off
In a week where political attention was on espionage and anti-Semitism, the cri de coeur from one Treasury official was…
The AI crash is coming
Who knows what Rachel Reeves reads in bed. Perhaps she dips into her own debut book, The Women Who Made…
Letters: Why shouldn’t we eat swan?
Zero chance Sir: In Tim Shipman’s wide-ranging article on Kemi Badenoch (‘I have a lot of self-belief’, 4 October), she…
The Pret plunge isn’t quite what it seems
Gold goes on up: having risen by an unprecedented 40 per cent in a year to pass $3,600 (or £2,675)…
Letters: I’ve earned my final salary pension
Waning interest Sir: Michael Simmons correctly points out that the Treasury’s large-scale issuance of inflation-linked debt is adding heavily to…
America’s obsession with British decline
As Sigmund Freud pointed out way back in 1905, everyone feels a bit schizo about Mum. On the one hand,…
Is Angela Rayner pushing up house prices?
By George There is a popular movement to fly St George’s flags from lampposts. The St George Cross was used…
My plan for a wealth tax – with a difference
Reading Careless People, an exposé of life within Facebook written by a Kiwi, it occurred to me that one potential…
Was the car finance judgment fair?
I must modestly doubt that the Supreme Court justices took account of my 12 July column in their ruling on…
Britain is hooked on car finance
It’s unnerving to think how close Britain came to financial disaster last Friday, ahead of a Supreme Court ruling on…
Is Len McCluskey a Manchurian candidate for the Tory party?
At Stansted on Monday, a currency kiosk offered me €270 for £300. ‘Wrong way round,’ I said, having swiftly figured…
A new water regime must still reward private investors
The weekend’s torrential Yorkshire rain amid a hosepipe ban offered a handy metaphor for the chaos that has befallen the…
What’s the score on ‘score’?
The courtship rituals of the Treasury and the Office for Budget Responsibility last ten weeks. The consummation is a fiscal…
Broke Britain: how the Bank of England wrecked the economy
In February 2020, a few weeks before Britain was thrown into lockdown, Sajid Javid resigned as chancellor of the exchequer…
Mark Carney, the mischief-making pin-up
Well, would you look at Mark Carney. Just three months ago I described the incoming prime minister of Canada and…
