MoneyWeek

“Go big or go home.” When it comes to transport, we have gone huge, but still can’t get home. HS2, originally supposed to cost £30bn, has become a farce setting us back around £100bn (see page 14) and the line is unlikely ever to reach the north of E

Are interest rates heading for a “Table Mountain” scenario? asks John Authers on Bloomberg. The analogy, offered by the Bank of England’s Huw Pill, is that interest rates will need to stay high and flat for some time in order to bring inflation under

“Getting carbon...out of the electricity generation system requires more than wind and solar farms,” says Lex in the Financial Times. Nations worldwide are turning back to nuclear to provide “baseload” power come rain or shine. The natural gas price

Shares in embattled property giant China Evergrande Group plunged by 22% on Monday in Hong Kong, says Donny Kwok on Reuters. Evergrande said at the weekend it would not be able to issue new debt because of an ongoing investigation into one of its Chi

Rupert Murdoch’s announcement that he is stepping down as chairman of Fox and News Corp and handing the reins to his oldest son Lachlan (see page 34) ends a 70-year career during which the billionaire has held a “singular influence over media and pol

Lego bottles it on bricks: “Toy giant Lego has scrapped plans to make its bricks from recycled bottles, in a blow to its efforts to cut carbon emissions,” says Noor Nanji on BBC News. In 2021, the Danish company said it had developed prototype toy br

Rishi Sunak unveiled a range of changes last week to his government’s plan for hitting the UK’s legally enshrined target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Sunak still wants the UK to hit that deadline, he emphasised. But he wishes to delay some o

newstatesman.com You’re a young and brilliant maths student and are thinking about how you can do the most good in the world. Perhaps you could become a doctor in a poor country, where you might perform life-saving surgery ten times a week? A better

It’s now clear the UK economy is doing relatively well compared with Europe, rather than falling behind, as was previously thought. However, in stockmarket terms, Europe remains the leader. Over the past five years, the UK’s FTSE All Share index has

Few investors elect to receive a paper copy of the annual report of a trust and even fewer keep them from year to year. But I recently found a pile of annual reports from investment trusts I used to manage, some of which continue to prosper. Their co

They say that you begin to feel old the moment the people in charge start to be younger than you. I’m not quite as old as prime minister Rishi Sunak (born in 1980), but I and other older millennials aren’t that far off that moment. New Zealand and Fi

I once narrated a documentary about cockroaches. Never mind the repulsion we may feel towards them – they really are the most amazing creatures. In fact, that repulsion may work in their favour because nobody wants anything to do with them, which imp

Insurance market research group Consumer Intelligence estimates that the average car-insurance premium increased by nearly 50% in the year to June. While this has led to accusations of profiteering by insurers, in fact the opposite is true. Even thou

A few years ago the London Stock Exchange launched a dedicated platform for bonds aimed at retail investors. Called the order book for retail bonds (ORB), it was supposed to mimic the success of similar markets in Europe by helping investors dip thei

More than 2,000 members of the pension scheme at failed high-street retailer Wilko look likely to be dependent on the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) for their retirement benefits. The PPF, the state-backed lifeboat scheme for occupational pensions, is

“From the beginning, Rupert Murdoch ran his media empire like a king who planned to die on the throne,” says Vanity Fair. Hence the consternation that initially greeted his “retirement” announcement aged 92. Various reasons have been advanced for the

Northern Ireland is a land of giants, ghosts and dragons. On the north Antrim coast, you will find the Giant’s Causeway, a rocky outcrop of 40,000 hexagonal basalt columns reaching into the Irish Sea. Joan, our guide from the National Trust, explaine

“The Audi A8 is the traditional flagship of the Audi line-up, but if you love fast cars, the RS7 is the real crown jewel that represents the four-ring brand… at [its] best,” says Matthew Chudzinski for Motortrend. That’s been true ever since the firs

Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell has said he is “close to done” raising interest rates, says Bloomberg. Meanwhile, his colleagues muttered that borrowing costs “must remain higher for longer”. After a series of rate hikes over the past 18 month

Most declarers made Four Hearts on this week’s deal from a recent tournament. Should they have? Dealer North Both sides vulnerable West led a Spade (best) and declarer won dummy’s Queen to lead the ten of Trumps. East played low, so the ten scored. D