Juncker tells German newspaper all the EU wants from Britain is ‘clarity’, as meaningful vote on Brexit deal looms next month December 30, 2018 Jean-Claude Juncker has said the European Union is not trying to stop Brexit, and wishes to kickstart discussions of future relations between the two as soon as parliament approves the deal. “It is being insinuated that our aim is to keep the United Kingdom in the EU by all possible means. That is not our [...]
Trump claims China trade deal on the cards after ‘long and very good’ phone call with Xi December 30, 2018 Donald Trump has stoked fresh hopes the United States’ trade war with China is nearing its end, following a conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The United States President tweeted: “Just had a long and very good call with President Xi of China. Deal is moving along very well.” He added the trade deal would [...]
Trump rages in face of government shutdown, threatens to close US southern border unless he gets $5bn funding for Mexico border wall December 28, 2018 Donald Trump has threatened to close the United States’ southern border if Congress refuses to give $5bn in taxpayer funds for his Mexican border wall. Much of the federal government is currently shut down for lack of funding as the dispute over the proposed wall continues to rage, while Congress has been adjourned until next [...]
US government is partially shutdown in border wall standoff December 22, 2018 The US government was partially shutdown at midnight on Friday with President Donald Trump's demands for billions of dollars in funding for a border wall not met. Trump insisted on Friday that if the Senate could not reach a deal with the House regarding the wall then a "very long shutdown" would commence. It began going into [...]
Here are all the predictions I got wrong in 2018 December 21, 2018 I should have given up making predictions in June 2017. Three months earlier, I had spoken at a conference on Brexit and suggested that the best way forward for Theresa May would be to call a snap election and strengthen her negotiating hand. I don’t know how the Prime Minister got word of my advice, [...]
Sweat at the Donmar Warehouse review: This Pulitzer winning play is a comprehensive dissection of de-industrialised American heartlands December 20, 2018 Following the US Presidential election in 2016, a slew of reporters were hastily dispatched to the backwaters of de-industrialised America to discover why large sections of the working class population there thought Donald Trump was the answer to their problems. They needn’t have made the trip. This play by Lynn Nottage, first performed in 2015, [...]
The Ghost of Christmas Past could tell us where the negotiations all went wrong December 19, 2018 In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Scrooge finds being haunted by the Ghost of Christmas Past unbearable. He begs it to stop. The Ghost replies: “These are the shadows of things that have been. That they are what they are, do not blame me.” It might almost be the Prime Minister speaking about the whole [...]
From tech to Trump – here’s what prompted the big market moves of 2018 December 18, 2018 From Brexit to trade wars, nothing has been plain-sailing about 2018. It’s been a year of peaks and troughs across all major markets, so let’s have a look at the big moves of the past 12 months. Tech in turmoil This was the year when the tech giants raced to become the first ever $1 [...]
Trump attacks Federal Reserve again in row over interest rates hike December 17, 2018 President Donald Trump has continued his spat with America’s central bank, the Federal Reserve, ahead of its interest rates announcement this week. The Fed is expected to raise interest rates for the fourth time this year on Wednesday, a decision Trump today called “incredible” on Twitter. “It is incredible that with a very strong dollar [...]
Michael Cohen claims Donald Trump directed him to make hush money payments December 15, 2018 Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen claims the US president ordered him to make hush money payments. Cohen, who has been sentenced to three years in prison, claims he followed "a bad path" in being loyal to Trump but would "not be the villain" in the story, in an interview with US broadcaster ABC. "He [...]