Can populists survive in public office? Ask Geert Wilders… June 9, 2025 Right-wing firebrand Geert Wilders has withdrawn from government in the Netherlands after discovering that governing is harder than criticising from the fringes. It’s a lesson Nigel Farage may learn too, say Eliot Wilson Last week, greeted by more weary fatalism than surprise, the government of the Netherlands collapsed. On Tuesday, radical nationalist Geert Wilders withdrew [...]
Donald Trump and Elon Musk urged to end feud June 7, 2025 Republicans fearful about potential consequences of a prolonged feud between US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are urging the pair to call a truce. At a minimum, the explosion of animosity between the two powerful men could complicate the path forward for Republicans’ massive tax and border spending legislation that has been promoted by [...]
In Musk v Trump, the markets will win June 6, 2025 City AM columnist Rainer Zitelmann has been predicting a rift between Musk and Trump ever since the two started working together. Now that this has happened, the French daily newspaper L’Express has spoken to him again. The interview was conducted by Thomas Mahler. “I never believed that the alliance between Elon Musk and Donald Trump would last,” [...]
Trump and Musk: Explosive row engulfs Washington June 5, 2025 The relationship between US President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk has descended into threats, abuse and accusations. A disagreement over the merits of Trump’s tax and spending legislation has turned into a dramatic feud, with Trump saying he was “surprised” at Musk’s criticism of his “big, beautiful” bill. “Elon and I had a great [...]
Musk Trump rift: Why did the Tesla chief walk away from the White House? June 2, 2025 Elon Musk has confirmed his departure from Donald Trump’s administration, formally stepping down from his high profile role leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) – a controversial experiment in federal downsizing that, true to its meme-inspired acronym, has dominated headlines and ignited deep political debate in Washington. The billionaire tech entrepreneur, who last year [...]
US court won’t lift judge’s block on Trump’s government overhaul May 31, 2025 A US appeals court on Friday refused to allow President Donald Trump’s administration to carry out mass layoffs of federal workers and a restructuring of agencies, leaving a lower court order in place that blocked the sweeping government overhaul. The decision by the San Francisco-based US Circuit Court of Appeals means that, for now, the Trump administration [...]
Tesla shares jump as Musk teases June robotaxi launch May 29, 2025 Tesla shares climbed two per cent in after-hours trading on Wednesday after reports emerged that the EV giant is preparing to launch its long-anticipated robotaxi service as early as 12th June. The bounce helped reverse earlier losses driven by disappointing new vehicle registration figures across Europe. The sudden shift in investor sentiment followed chief executive [...]
How capitalism will conquer space May 29, 2025 The world’s first trillionaire will be the head of a space-based business, predicts Rainer Zitelmann Space is the most undervalued industry in the world. It is particularly unappreciated in Europe, which has now fallen hopelessly behind the United States and China. The US carried out 153 launches last year, China 68 and Europe three. The [...]
Elon Musk: Judge rules billionaire’s DOGE role is permanent May 28, 2025 A federal judge in Washington, DC has ruled that Elon Musk holds a “continuing and permanent” role within the federal government and DOGE, rejecting the White House’s claim that the billionaire entrepreneur was merely serving in an advisory capacity. The decision allows a high-profile lawsuit brought by 14 US states to move forward against Musk, [...]
X down as thousands report issues with social media platform May 24, 2025 The social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, experienced an outage on Saturday as users reported issues with the site. According to service monitoring site Downdetector, thousands of users in the UK experienced problems accessing the app and website. The site, which tracks user experiences and outages across different websites, showed that the issue [...]