Matthew Lynn is a financial columnist and author of ‘Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis’ and ‘The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031’
As Nigel Farage prepares to abandon pledges of up to £90 billion in tax cuts, there will be plenty of people arguing that his Reform party is giving up on its free market, small state roots. Other critics may say this is proof that Reform is shifting further to the left and pandering to its
Hundreds of billions have been wiped off the value of the crypto currencies. A prominent Ukrainian blogger and influencer on digital coins has been found dead. And traders are bracing themselves for a rocky start to trading on Monday as markets start to tumble. We will have to see whether it develops into a full-blown
It already faced tariffs in the United States, and it has been struggling to cope with some of the highest industrial energy prices in the world. Now what remains of the British steel industry faces what could well be a terminal blow. The European Union is about to impose tariffs of 50 per cent on
It has already cancelled investments in Liverpool and Cambridge, while muttering darkly about moving its listing to New York and its headquarters to the United States. Now AstraZeneca, the UK’s largest pharmaceutical company, is threatening to stop investing in Britain completely if the country does not spend more on medicine. There may be an element
He wasn’t able to announce the £300 off household energy bills that was promised during the election campaign. Nor could he unveil any massive new solar farms or wind turbines. Still, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband did have one message to cheer the party faithful in his conference speech today: he is
There are plenty of legitimate questions to be asked about the Trump-Blair peace plan for ending the conflict with Israel. Will Hamas ever agree to it? Will any peace deal hold? Will the wider Middle East get behind it? And will Sir Tony Blair ever be able to overcome the legacy of his earlier military
Flutter, the gambling giant that owns Paddy Power, has already London, and the British chip designer ARM decided to float in New York. There have been reports that AstraZeneca may move its listing too. Now we learn that even Goldman Sachs may be giving up on the City, as it delists Petershill, the majority-owned investment
At the OECD, the IMF, and at Davos, there will probably be a few wry smiles, and a sense of Schadenfreude. Javier Milei, the chainsaw-wielding libertarian President of Argentina who promised to destroy the economic establishment by cutting taxes and dramatically reducing the size of the state, is now facing a financial crisis of his
It will at least give the cabbies something to genuinely complain about. Amid all the wheezes that Chancellor Rachel Reeves is plotting to fix the ‘black hole’ in the public finances, she is now considering a ‘taxi tax’. Ahead of November’s Budget, it has been floated that VAT may well be applied on all cab
Over the course of President Trump’s state visit, we can expect lots of investments by the giants of American industry to be unveiled. Microsoft will announce $30 billion (£22 billion) of investment in new artificial intelligence hubs and tech infrastructure. Google will pump £5 billion into AI in Britain, which presumably means getting some robots
Tesla does not look like a great investment right now. The competition from better and cheaper Chinese electric vehicles is savage and Elon Musk’s outspoken political views have tarnished the brand, at least among the eco-conscious liberals who first adopted it. And yet, Musk has just spent $1 billion (£733 million) of his own money
The pipelines would be sealed off. The supertankers would be left in the ports, and the wells would have to be capped. When Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago, it was confidently assumed that sanctions on Moscow’s oil and gas industry would be so punishing for its fragile economy that it would quickly force Vladimir
It is a worker’s cooperative. It promotes sustainability, emphasises its social responsibility, invests in its people, and, of course, has an attractive range of home accessories in every shade of beige you could possibly imagine. If the government is looking for a company that symbolises the kind of economy that Labour is trying to champion
We don’t lead the world in Artificial Intelligence. We can’t keep up with the Chinese in making electric vehicles, and as for building high speed trains it is best not to ask. Still, there was one sector of the global economy where the British were world beaters. When it came to making ridiculously expensive milky
The pound is starting to slide. Gold is punching through record highs, and long-term gilt yields are hitting levels that have not been seen in thirty years. It is not a Liz Truss style crisis, at least not yet, although it is worth noting that the price the government has to pay to borrow money
You probably won’t see Kate Moss gossiping with a Spice Girl or two by the changing rooms, but for anyone nostalgic for the 1990s, there will be at least one treat to look forward to. Topshop is back. There is just one catch. Sure, it might be able to carve out a niche for itself.
President Trump’s 50 per cent tariffs on India kicked in yesterday. The timing could not be worse: in May, India overtook Britain, Germany and Japan to become the fourth largest economy in the world. According to a report by EY only this week, it was already set to become the second largest globally by 2038,
Its debts are out of control. There is very little space left to raise taxes any further. And the political establishment can’t agree on anything apart from postponing the whole issue for another year or two. It is a description that could apply to plenty of countries, and not least the UK. But right now,
We already have Great British Energy, and of course Great British Rail. It now looks as very soon we will also have Great British Steel. The government has today stepped in to rescue another failing metal producer, Speciality Steels in South Yorkshire. It is, in effect, creating a new state-owned steel conglomerate. There is just
Perhaps its cars automatically run down people of the wrong colour? Or its batteries will only charge if you put a white hood over the socket? It is hard to know what exactly the green energy tycoon Dale Vince is thinking by comparing Tesla to the Ku Klux Klan. The comparison is so ridiculously over-the-top,