FTSE 100 subdued ahead of US-China trade deal meeting January 15, 2020 The FTSE 100 has opened almost flat ahead of US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese vice premier Liu He, where the pair are set to sign an initial trade deal. Britain’s blue chip index was sitting 0.08 per cent up in morning trading ahead of the signing on Wednesday. Both US and Asian markets [...]
A tip for Dominic Cummings: Don’t hire anyone who fails to grasp the power of incentives January 15, 2020 The job advert issued by Dominic Cummings for people to work in government has attracted a wide range of comments. One particular focus has been on the sorts of skills he is looking for. Computer science, forecasting, artificial intelligence, causality theory — all these topics excite his interest. Cummings advocates a small selection of scientific [...]
Time to cull the ministers who sit around the cabinet table January 15, 2020 Walter Bagehot, one of the fathers of our modern constitutional structure, believed that the cabinet was the “efficient secret” of the British state. But what if the institution is now too large to run the country efficiently? I agree with the assessment from chief Number 10 aide Dominic Cummings that the cabinet as it stands [...]
DEBATE: Is a new ‘Trump deal’ the answer to the Iran nuclear problem? January 15, 2020 Is a new “Trump deal” the answer to the Iran nuclear problem? YES, says Ben Kelly, a commentator for Reaction. Does anyone genuinely believe that Donald Trump’s objection to the Iran nuclear deal was based on detailed analysis of its contents? No. Trump rejected it as part of his obsession with dismantling Barack Obama’s legacy. [...]
Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic spaceship passes construction milestone January 8, 2020 Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic has reached a major milestone in the construction of its next passenger spaceship, it said. All major structural elements have been assembled, and the rocket is standing on its landing gear at Mojave Air and Space Port in California. Read more: Sir Richard Branson set to launch Virgin Galactic IPO [...]
Putin and Erdogan launch Turkstream oil pipeline January 8, 2020 Russian president Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Erdogan today opened the Turkstream oil pipeline in Istanbul. The 930km pipeline, which crosses the Black Sea, will carry oil to southern Europe in a move that will allow Russia to reduce its shipments via Ukraine. Read more: Russian pipeline Nordstream 2 gets final approval In [...]
Donald Trump says US will impose additional sanctions on Iran January 8, 2020 US president Donald Trump has said that the US will “immediately impose punishing additional sanctions” on Iran after the Islamic Republic fired missiles at two US bases in Iraq. The president said that no Americans were harmed in last night’s attacks, and that the US would continue to assess its options in response. Read more: [...]
Central banks running low on ammunition to fight recession, Mark Carney warns January 8, 2020 Central banks may not be able to fight off a sharp economic downturn because their monetary policy arsenals are still depleted following the global financial crisis, outgoing Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has warned. “It’s generally true that there’s much less ammunition for all the major central banks than they previously had and I’m [...]
Qassem Soleimani’s death is the UK’s first test of post-Brexit foreign policy January 8, 2020 It would be safe to say that the last thing our new government expected at the start of 2020 — flush with enthusiasm for its domestic agenda — was a foreign policy crisis, much less so one sprung upon it by the reaction of the mercurial Trump administration. But in truth, the drone strike on [...]
Elon Musk stripteases at launch of Tesla SUV at new China factory January 7, 2020 Elon Musk left his army of followers hot under the collar this morning, when he posted a video of himself seemingly beginning a striptease on stage at the launch of Tesla’s Model Y in Shanghai. The Tesla boss was at his firm’s new Gigafactory in the city, when he started dancing in front of the [...]