Ignore Francafrique at your own peril
The French enjoy speaking about their country’s supposed decline. Complaints about the impoverished areas of Saint-Denis, poor job prospects, or the calamitous state of the RER metro line are typical. But France’s decline is most visible a few thousand kilometers to the south – in the slow downfall of Francafrique. The Sahel has been rocked […]
In the Blind Spot (Robotaxis, Amazon, BoE)
Techno Hubris: Driverless cars may be “the hardest technical problem of our time”, says Doug Field, who left Apple Car to become Ford’s technology head in the FT, as Ford admits self-driving cars are proving impossible to scale at a profit. In 2015, when everyone in the car industry was predicting that driverless autonomy would […]
ALTIF Transcripts: Northern Rock, Part 2
In the second part of our series on Northern Rock, Neil and Jonathan pick over the lessons from the 2007 collapse of the world’s most famous ex-building society with former chancellor of the exchequer Alistair Darling, Stanford finance professor Anat Admati, and bank expert Dan Davies. As interest rates rise, and tremors course through financial markets, […]
Leaked Lunch Show Notes: Diana Choyleva
Here are the show notes for the Leaked Lunch podcast with head of Enodo Economics, Diana Choyleva, recorded at La Famiglia restaurant in Chelsea on September 16. Show Notes: 2:00 – How Choyleva became founder at Enodo economics, going into how she came to study Economics in the West. 4:00 – Studying Economics in the […]
Leaked Lunch with Diana Choyleva
In the latest Leaked Lunch podcast, I am joined by Diana Choyleva, the founder of Enodo Economics — a research house specialising in China coverage. We discuss the headwinds facing the Chinese economy, the difference between being taught economics under a communist regime versus in the West, plus, the importance of independent financial analysis. Diana […]
The Malian Prime Minister Has Accused France of Arming Terrorists – And He’s Not (Entirely) Wrong
On September 30, a coup rocked Burkina Faso for the second time this year. 34-year-old Captain Ibrahim Traore took the reins of the country, stating the former military leader Paul-Henri Damiba was unable to cope with a surge of armed uprisings across the West African country. This followed Damiba’s own coup on January 24 against then-PM […]
ALTIF Transcripts: The Fall of Northern Rock, Part 1
For a few weeks in 2007, a small ex-building society in Newcastle became the world’s most famous bank as TV news cameras showed customers queuing at branches for their cash. Initially seen as a Victorian throwback, it later became clear that the collapse was a warning of much wider problems to come. As worrying tremors again […]
Spot Markets Live Transcript: 24/10/22
Comments addressing audience statements are in bold. Today’s session is with Dario Garcia Giner. Izabella Kaminska 11:58 .. Hello and welcome to this special edition of Spot Markets Live. It’s special because it’s the half term which means I’m currently trying to type while being stalked by a rabid four-year-old who refuses to turn off […]
In the Blind Spot (Germany, Finanzagentur, Andrew Bailey)
Business, Finance, Markets etc: German parliament approves giant fund to tackle energy crisis. If the UK bears a “moron premium” consider the degree to which Germany [exposed to the same degree of inflationary and stagnation risk] potentially carries an “obfuscation discount”. If I were an investor I would be more focused on what has not […]
Are the UK Upper Middle Classes Thinking Rationally?
I try to stay away from writing about Brexit as much as possible. People in the UK simply can’t think about the topic dispassionately or without going tribal. My general position on the whole thing is that both sides make good and bad points, but that the bigger issue is a failure to communicate with […]