UK Wealth, Editor at large, Bloomberg. Ex Ed in C @Moneyweek. Ex Columnist/Contrib Editor @FT Opinions personal. NED: THRG and Schroder https://xitter.twitterapi.xyz/t.co/ojIBNzZwBO #SharePower
Joined August 2010
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The time has come. It's a little scary out there. The AI bubble is obviously fragile, geopolitics are a mess and the financial consequences of rising rates are just getting going. You know what you need? Resilience in the form of a cockroach portfolio.. bloomberg.com/news/newslette…
This shoudl also be a reminder that the cost of living crisis is in large part government imposed. You wouldn't have one if you weren't paying so much tax to cover regulations and subsidies. See housing as below, energy, labour costs etc etc etc
Did you know government-imposed costs are responsible for more than half the price of a new build London flat?
Really important new report from @Ben_A_Hopkinson and Edward Donov👇
Making homes expensive by demanding affordable homes. Or something.
Did you know government-imposed costs are responsible for more than half the price of a new build London flat?
Really important new report from @Ben_A_Hopkinson and Edward Donov👇
Yes, you should be shocked. But on the plus side.. it means the state has the power to reduce the cost of bringing new homes to market.
Government imposed policy costs make up 57% of the clearing price of a new flat in London and 42% of a new home in the Home Counties.
Despite a big housing shortage and positive planning reforms, new home starts in England are declining from 182,000 in 2022 to under 125,000 last year.
While the macroeconomic context has worsened with build cost inflation and high interest rates, the Government is imposing more burdens on new homes, not fewer.
Taxes, levies, planning, and mandates add over £440,000 to the cost of delivering a home in London and nearly £225,000 nearby, with several of these imposed recently like the Second Staircase, Future Homes Standard, Building Safety Levy, Biodiversity Net Gain and Residential Property Developer Tax.
Individually these may be justified, but together they are making new homes unviable.
As a result, large developers are buying less land and small builders are going out of business; nearly 4,000 construction firms went bust just last year.
If we want to build more homes, we should be easing the burdens on them, not adding more.
Making housebuilding viable again is the most important issue in housing policy and my co-author, Edward Donovan, has completed excellent modelling showing how big the challenge is.
Read the full report: cps.org.uk/wp-content/upload…
And simulate what changing the policies does with Edward's modelling here: easing-the-burdens.cps.org.u…
The finished Merryn Talks Money pod will have some nice ideas on how to invest btw. Space is tech. But it isn't hostage to the AI bubble (well, maybe SpaceX is a bit hostage..).
Just been recording a podcast on defence/space (coming to you soon). Europe is clearly not winning the space race. Why? Not tech or innovation. That bit is fine! It's bureaucracy and a procurement system built for a different era. Just too slow..
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We went to watch Cockenzie coming down. I had not realised it was one of quite so many.
Major UK power stations demolished in the last ~20 years (coal + oil):
Coal:
• Cockenzie (2015)
• Kingsnorth (~2014–18)
• Tilbury B (2016–19)
• Didcot A (2014–20)
• Ironbridge B (by 2021)
• Rugeley B (by 2021)
• Longannet (by 2021)
• Ferrybridge C (by 2022)
• Eggborough (by 2022)
• Cottam (2023–25)
Oil / primarily oil:
• Inverkip (closed 2006, demolished 2010–13)
• Grain oil station (closed 2012, demolished ~2014–16)
• Richborough (towers/chimney 2012)
• Littlebrook D (closed 2015, demolished 2019)
• Fawley (closed 2013, demolished 2019–23)
Several more (West Burton, Aberthaw, Fiddler’s Ferry, Ratcliffe) are still being demolished. Part of the broader fossil-fuel phase-out
Since 2006 China has built several hundred New Coal Power Stations
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Just been recording a podcast on defence/space (coming to you soon). Europe is clearly not winning the space race. Why? Not tech or innovation. That bit is fine! It's bureaucracy and a procurement system built for a different era. Just too slow..
African financial companies? Mid caps in Uzbekistan? Miners in Brazil? Maybe they aren't that bothered by Jensen Huang's sex life? Which is nice. Listen in for more.
"We've been spoiled"
Neuberger's Juan Torres shares the opportunities he's spotted away from AI with @merrynsw
Listen at bit.ly/4iuR9nj or watch Merry Talks Money at bloomberg.com/videos
There is a world of opportunity outside AI. You just need to listen to this podcast.. and then go and find it.
"We've been spoiled"
Neuberger's Juan Torres shares the opportunities he's spotted away from AI with @merrynsw
Listen at bit.ly/4iuR9nj or watch Merry Talks Money at bloomberg.com/videos
So good. You want an anti AI portfolio? We've got an anti AI portfolio for you. Listen and listen again.
"We've been spoiled"
Neuberger's Juan Torres shares the opportunities he's spotted away from AI with @merrynsw
Listen at bit.ly/4iuR9nj or watch Merry Talks Money at bloomberg.com/videos
Great idea (to check for unintended consequences before implementing idiotic policies in the UK). Never going to happen. thetimes.com/comment/columni…
Shame. Cracking down on fraud seems like a great idea.
🔴 Healey scraps crackdown on welfare fraud
Read more ⬇️
telegraph.co.uk/politics/202…
Can't think why.. Recruitment activity weakened in October in the weeks ahead of the Budget, according to the latest KPMG-REC Report on Jobs, with permanent placements of staff falling for the first time in four months...demand for staff fell while the number of available workers rose.
We had such a long list of things that might be the pin to the AI bubble. Nvidia corporate governance coming under new scrutiny thanks to CEO having affair with Chinese spy was not on it. We must think more creatively.
Seems reasonable. Helpful for everyone.
I have introduced a bill to introduce compulsory labelling of halal and kosher meat.
Consumers have a right to know what they are eating. Yet every day people are consuming halal and kosher meat without knowing it - that’s meat where the animal has its throat slit and often is not stunned before slaughter.
At its heart, this is a straightforward proposal built on consumer choice, animal welfare and transparency. It is not about banning halal or kosher meat but about the compulsory labelling of it, which is currently only voluntary, so as to ensure consumers know what they are buying.
What began as a limited religious exemption has become an increasingly significant part of meat production.
We used to have automated car washes!
Every single car wash I have been to in the last ten years has been migrant run or migrants washing my car.
They work hard, long hours and quickly.
If they all go, who will wash cars because I do not see English people washing cars ever in London Hertfordshire, Essex, Surrey, midlands etc
Why don’t English people wash cars ?
