It’s time to take back control – of our data February 14, 2019 Cambridge Analytica. Mark Zuckerberg in front of the US Congress. The first data breach of 2019 occurring less than 24 hours into New Year’s Day. The use and abuse of data is no longer something that we can afford to ignore. Consumers are coming to understand that their data is an economic asset for media companies, [...]
Elementary, my dear: Predicting Brexit in the style of Sherlock Holmes February 14, 2019 Sherlock Holmes said that when you’ve eliminated the impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. So how can we apply this principle to Brexit between now and the deadline of 29 March? Here are the six things that we know for sure. One, there is no majority in the House of Commons [...]
Brexit requires Westminster to demonstrate clarity, compromise and collaboration February 14, 2019 Fewer than 50 days separate us from 29 March, the date that Britain is formally due to leave the European Union. It has been 22 months since Article 50 was triggered, and Brexit strategising and negotiations with Brussels have taken the nation on a journey that few could have predicted. Politically, Britain is currently locked [...]
US President Donald Trump’s trade war with China is following a familiar path February 13, 2019 It has been nearly a year since Donald Trump infamously tweeted that “trade wars are good, and easy to win,” adding, for extra emphasis, “it’s easy!” How things change. America’s most enthusiastically protectionist modern-day President isn’t finding talks with China so simple after all. This week he rowed back on a supposedly-hard deadline that was [...]
Theresa May set for another showdown with Brexiter Tories in Commons vote February 13, 2019 Theresa May is set for another showdown with the pro-Brexit wing of her party on Thursday in a vote on the government’s negotiating strategy. The Prime Minister will ask MPs to vote in favour of a motion supporting the plan for reopening talks with Brussels, agreed to by parliament last month. While that involves backing the so-called [...]
‘We want a ladder to climb down’; MPs who voted down May’s deal are getting nervous February 13, 2019 Politicians arriving for work in Parliament these days are confronted with a less than perfect view of the Palace of Westminster. The iconic Elizabeth Tower, home of Big Ben, is sheathed in scaffolding as renovation work is carried out. Workers scurry up and down ladders, being careful not to get themselves trapped in positions from [...]
Revealed: Final cost of ‘botched’ Garden Bridge project comes to £53.5m February 13, 2019 Backers of the failed Garden Bridge project are under fire after the "galling" costs of the scheme were revealed to have spiralled north of £50m. The Garden Bridge Trust, which managed the project since November 2015, was accused of “squandering public money” on the ill-fated venture, after Transport for London admitted that the project racked [...]
Sadiq Khan to warn that leaving the single market will damage London ‘for decades to come’ February 13, 2019 London mayor Sadiq Khan will today warn that leaving the single market will damage London and the UK “for decades to come” as the exit date for leaving the bloc draws ever closer. Khan, a staunch Remainer, will say that leaving the single market and customs union would lead to a “lost decade” in which 87,000 [...]
Brexit minister denies that delaying Article 50 is government’s strategy February 13, 2019 Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay has pushed back against claims that the UK faces a choice between Theresa May's withdrawal agreement or a delay to Brexit. Last night, ITV reported that the Prime Minister’s chief negotiator, Olly Robbins, said MPs would be forced into a last-minute choice between May’s deal or a delay to Article 50, in [...]
Don’t hold your breath for an easy fix to the US-China trade spat February 13, 2019 Towards the end of last year, my investment manager sent out a note predicting that the US-China trade spat would be resolved and that markets would rise as a result. I responded by saying that it was unlikely to happen, and that I personally preferred an investment portfolio that was very underweight in companies whose [...]