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The writer is author of ‘Two Hundred Years of Muddling Through: The Surprising Story of the British Economy’ The Bank of England’s new forecasts make for exceptionally grim reading. In recent months the bank’s governor Andrew Bailey has warned that the institution is walking “a narrow path” between the risks of continuing high inflation and

The Frank Gehry-designed headquarters that Facebook moved into in 2015 was a cavernous, elongated warehouse with concrete floors and a deliberately unfinished feel. At the very centre of the 500-yard, open-plan sprawl was a nest of desks where Mark Zuckerberg and his top lieutenants could congregate. The massive scale, the bustle and the sense of

Millions of people struggling with the rising cost of living are facing growing financial pain over the coming months as higher UK inflation leads to surging bills for variable and fixed-rate mortgage borrowers. The Bank of England on Thursday raised its main interest rate by 0.5 of a percentage point to 1.75 per cent, the

UK government bond yields fell on Friday as traders shifted their expectations that the world’s largest central banks would prioritise tackling inflation ahead of economic growth. The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilt yield fell 0.02 percentage points to trade at 1.90 per cent in early trading as investors digested Thursday’s news that the UK

Joan Laporta is not one to mince his words. The president of FC Barcelona claimed in June that the club had been “clinically dead” when he took the reins in March last year, but that it had now moved to intensive care after some emergency financial surgery. His goal was to convince those in front

The US economy unexpectedly added 528,000 jobs last month, as payroll growth soared even in the face of tighter monetary policy and waning fiscal support, easing fears of a recession. The data, which showed the unemployment rate edging down to 3.5 per cent from 3.6 per cent, showed an acceleration in the pace of job

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe studies the thick menu, leafing through its pages in search of the various tastes she is craving. There’s an aubergine platter that she’s had before and wants to try again, a squid tempura, a spinach salad and the black cod with miso, which she tells me is unmissable. Although it is just the

Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has rejected claims from Conservative MPs that the UK’s central bank acted too slowly to tackle surging inflation and defended its operational independence and mandate. Asked on Friday about whether he would remain in post no matter what changes were implemented by the successor to outgoing prime minister Boris

This article is an on-site version of our Inside Politics newsletter. Sign up here to get the newsletter sent straight to your inbox every weekday. The biggest and most important story in the UK at the moment, full stop, is just how grim the economic picture is. That is true for politics, too. Some thoughts

China’s military has sent planes and warships to probe Taiwan’s defences for a second day, escalating a crisis that has prompted one of the island’s richest men to donate millions of dollars to its security. Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Friday that multiple groups of Chinese warplanes and warships had been operating in the area

Oh, poor fund managers. Why the long faces? July was great! The S&P 500 put in its best performance since late 2020, with a 9 per cent rally. It was one of the best months in the market of all time. Sure, the withdrawal of largesse by the world’s most important central banks introduces a

Ukraine has called for the deal that relaxes Russia’s blockade of its Black Sea grain exports to be extended to other products such as metals after the first successful use of the route. Taras Kachka, Ukraine’s trade negotiator and deputy economy minister, said he was hopeful the agreement between Ukraine and Russia allowing the resumption

The battle between Asia and Europe to lock in gas supplies is stepping up a gear, heightening the risks of a further surge in prices that would add fresh fuel to the cost of living crisis. Japan and South Korea, the world’s second and third-biggest importers of liquefied natural gas, are looking to secure supplies

Need to know which way any US election will go? Dave Wasserman is your man. The nerdish political analyst devotes hours to sifting through the granular data of minor races before declaring on Twitter: “I’ve seen enough”. The same can probably be said in the race between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak to be the

Ireland is contemplating levying a windfall energy tax in the 2023 budget next month given “significant profits” made by companies in the sector, prime minister Micheál Martin said. “The government will consider a range of issues and will give examination to the issue of a windfall tax,” he told reporters on Thursday, adding that companies

Liz Truss, the Tory leadership frontrunner, claimed on Thursday that she can avert a recession if she becomes prime minister, on the day the Bank of England warned that Britain was facing a protracted downturn. Truss has promised immediate tax cuts if she wins the contest, and told a Sky News leadership debate that the

The Bank of England on Thursday lived up to its promise to act “forcefully” to curb surging inflation, by announcing the biggest increase in interest rates for more than a quarter of a century. But while the rise in borrowing costs was no more than analysts had expected, the central bank’s intensely gloomy view of

It’s remarkable how easily we can slip into the assumption that what currently is, has always been so. Extended 30ºC heat in Britain. The most well-educated people voting for leftwing parties. Japan and Italy facing demographic crises due to old and ageing populations. So it may come as a surprise that in 1985, Britain was

British taxpayers have become shareholders in a gym studio for the face, a kombucha producer and a cannabis oil company as part of a scheme set up during the coronavirus pandemic to help small businesses. One of a number of government-backed initiatives, the Future Fund scheme was launched by former chancellor Rishi Sunak in May

The numbers at first seemed like a typo. Calpers, the massive California state pension fund, said its public equity and fixed-income investments had each recorded losses of nearly 15 per cent for the 12 months ending in June. Yet its private asset portfolio in private equity and real estate recorded gains north of 20 per

Liz Truss’s supporters have stepped up their attack on the Bank of England’s handling of inflation, as the foreign secretary blamed the BoE and the Treasury for failing to avert the economic crisis facing Britain. Truss says she will change the mandate of the BoE to toughen its focus on inflation, while she claims that