Where finance and media intersect with reality.

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. https://open.spotify.com/episode/3oYkkgK51nHfOk5yKSotUV 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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

When Betting goes Right, and Investing Doesn’t

It was during the market closing hours of September 28 that Jake Freeman opened his portfolio and counted his losses; his holdings in the psychedelic biotech company, Mind Medical, had just dropped by 49%. Just weeks before, his face had been plastered over financial media because of his trade on then-meme stock favourite Bed, Bath, […]

On the Public Shaming of Liz Truss

A Tweet thread I posted yesterday about Liz Truss went semi-viral, and as can be expected responses have ranged from critical (yet informed) to totally feral. Given its virality, I thought I would explain myself in longer form (since who really has the time to get into an endless tit-for-tat on the world’s least-nuanced social […]