Nigel Farage and the great anti-Brexit unbanking plot (POLITICO)
By Izabella Kaminska, Dan Bloom · Jul 5, 2023 LONDON — Like most banks these days, the Strand offices of Coutts, one of the U.K.’s most prestigious private banks known for banking British royalty, are open plan and mostly devoid of custom. Real-life engagement with its wealthy clientele, if it happens, is by appointment only. […]
Leaked Lunch with economist Guy Standing about the Blue Commons
Welcome to the third episode of Season Two of the Leaked Lunch podcast with economist and author Guy Standing. The recording, which you can listen to on RSS, Apple pods or Spotify, took place at the Italian restaurant Da Paolo just off Goodge Street in London over a spot of seafood spaghetti in March this […]
Shake on it: The utterly scientific Sintra guide to central bank governor toughness (POLITICO)
By Ben Munster · Jun 29, 2023 The ECB and other central banks famously communicate monetary policy almost entirely through covert signals and coded messaging. “More ground to cover” means rate hikes will probably continue after the summer. “Persistent” inflation means previous hikes have failed. “Data-driven approach” means the bank is just making it up […]
In the Blind Spot (Thinking like Surkov — The double budget constraint — The end of collateral)
Dear Subscribers, As noted yesterday, this weekend’s newsletter has been split in two to better cover breaking news elements this Sunday. One of those breaking news stories is what has been impolitely referred to all around the world as “What the f*** is going on in Russia?” A good place to start is this Washington […]
Processing Wagner developments
Note to readers: The send out of our weekly newsletter has been postponed so that we can update for recent events and upcoming news we know is coming on Sunday. For those who want insightful commentary on ongoing developments in Russia do head to our discord group.
EU’s trade ideals face ‘economic security’ reality check (POLITICO)
By Barbara Moens, Sarah Anne Aarup · Jun 19, 2023 The European Commission is preparing to ditch its long-held free-market ideals as geopolitics and U.S.-China competition elbow their way into the picture. On Tuesday, the EU’s executive will propose its economic security strategy, a new political paper which will be discussed by EU leaders at […]
Reader thoughts on a Substack migration for The Blind Spot?
I’ve wasted most of my precious Saturday messing about with the world’s worst content management system in an attempt to recover a failed newsletter send-out this weekend. The final insult is that the email still went out with ridiculous spacing errors, half-eaten or garbled text and suboptimal text distribution … If I have to wait […]
Non-performing banker: The mysterious swindling of the EU and the Bank of Italy (POLITICO)
By Ben Munster · Jun 16, 2023 ROME — Italian courts are nearing the end of a puzzling and long-running drama around an elusive former Bank of Italy economist who plundered hundreds of thousands of euros while advising an EU committee. From 2009 to 2012, the economist, referred to here as “G.” as his name […]
Aviation’s rebound clouded by COVID hangover (POLITICO)
By Mari Eccles · Jun 15, 2023 BRUSSELS — Airlines are falling over themselves to trumpet what a great summer they’re expecting. “The message from the top is that aviation is back,” Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr told POLITICO this week. “We’ve seen nothing like this in 100 years in terms of the turnaround. Demand is […]
Poland pays a steep price for its power (POLITICO)
By Wojciech Kość · Jun 13, 2023 WARSAW — For years Poland boasted that its vast coal reserves helped keep power prices down, but that’s no longer the case and the country now consistently has the EU’s most expensive electricity. The coal-dominated energy mix — it generates about two-thirds of Poland’s power — as well […]