The rented Lancia Y10 flew down the darkened motorway. Reginald and Margaret Green had come from Bodega Bay, California, for an Italian road trip with their seven-year-old son, Nicholas, and four-year-old daughter, Eleanor. From Rome, the family headed south to visit the ancient Greek temples of Paestum and were driving down the toe of the
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The writer is a finance professor at Peking University and a senior associate at the Carnegie China Center While much of the debate about limiting US government debt assumes that rising debt is a consequence of profligacy on the part of Washington policymakers, the problem is in fact structural. Americans are forced to choose between
The centrist dads are back in town. The British granddaddy of so-called centrism, Tony Blair, all but formally anointed prime-minister-in-waiting Keir Starmer as his political successor during a love-in at the Future of Britain summit last week. Elsewhere, his erstwhile spin-doctor Alastair Campbell has been busy — along with former Tory Rory Stewart — taking
Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell had a message for global markets on Wednesday after the US central bank raised interest rates again: no one should doubt its resolve to snuff out stubbornly-high inflation in the world’s biggest economy. That could mean more rate rises this year, Powell insisted in the press conference after the Fed’s
Stocks in Asia were broadly higher on Thursday in the wake of a muted reaction from Wall Street to the US Federal Reserve raising its benchmark interest rate to the highest level in 22 years. Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng index led the region higher with a rise of 1.3 per cent, while the CSI
Sinead O’Connor performs at the 49th Montreux Jazz Festival, in Switzerland, in 2015 © Jean-Christophe Bott/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Sinéad O’Connor, one of Ireland’s best known singers, has died, her family announced. O’Connor, who shot to fame with the hit “Nothing Compares 2 U” in 1990, was 56. The cause of her death was not immediately known. “It
For decades Joe Lewis traded everything from currencies and real estate to football clubs and art, amassing the fortune that has allowed him to travel the world on private jets and his 98-metre yacht Aviva. But on Wednesday the octogenarian Bahamas-based billionaire surrendered to US authorities in New York after prosecutors charged him on allegations
The ousting of NatWest chief executive Dame Alison Rose was sealed after midnight on a hastily-arranged board conference call following a personal intervention from the prime minister. The departure followed a month of turbulence for Rose, who had become the target of a vendetta waged by Nigel Farage over the closure of his bank account
The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday to the highest level in 22 years, as it wrestles with how much more to squeeze the US economy to bring inflation under control. The Federal Open Market Committee lifted the federal funds rate to a new target
There is a certain irony to the fact that Coutts, known as bankers to the elite, worried about the reputational risk of keeping Nigel Farage as a customer. Its decision to drop the outspoken Brexiter has resulted in far bigger damage to the reputation of the bank and its parent, NatWest. It is a cautionary
The long-term rise in refinancing costs threatens to trigger a surge in sales of buy-to-let properties as the financial and regulatory burden mounts on UK landlords, putting further downward pressure on house prices. Higher mortgage costs have hit leveraged property investors hard this year and many landlords, especially the smaller ones, are struggling with their
The UK’s top banks on Wednesday agreed to overhaul their handling of account closures and committed to upholding their clients’ “freedom of expression”, as the backlash over NatWest’s treatment of Nigel Farage continued. Senior executives from Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest, Santander and Nationwide, were summoned to a meeting with City minister Andrew Griffith after former
Receive free Chinese politics & policy updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Chinese politics & policy news every morning. China has insisted its diplomatic affairs are in an “orderly” state despite the month-long disappearance and sudden removal from office this week of foreign minister and favourite of President
NatWest shareholders have ramped up pressure on chair Sir Howard Davies to step down for mishandling the fallout from the closure of Nigel Farage’s bank account. “He’s clearly not in charge,” said a top-20 investor on Tuesday. “Banking is about trust and confidence. That’s sacrosanct and starts with the tone from the top.” NatWest chief
Dame Alison Rose’s decision to step down as chief executive of NatWest after admitting that she had leaked confidential information about former Ukip leader Nigel Farage would be stunning in itself. But the news is particularly striking given her reputation as a ‘sure touch’ banker who has received plaudits and honours from the government. After
It is very rare for a business leader in a developed democracy to be ousted by the state. Dame Alison Rose, who has stepped down as chief executive of NatWest, joins a select group that includes Tony Hayward of BP, Barclays’ Bob Diamond and Stephen Hester of Royal Bank of Scotland. The office of UK
The torch has been dropped by a new generation. A decade after David Cameron told his party to “get rid of all the green crap”, Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives are again ready to water down their environmentalism. Following a by-election win in Uxbridge attributed to a backlash against the Ulez tax, imposed by London’s Labour mayor
At a recent health check-up I had a heart-stopping moment. An African-American nurse told me she would probably vote for Donald Trump next year because she felt much better off when he was president. What about the future of US democracy? “I don’t have much time to think about that,” she replied. And Joe Biden’s
Matt Moulding’s online retailer THG is in talks to buy London-based business newspaper City AM through a prepack administration. City AM was put up for sale this month by its owners, who were seeking either an investment or a disposal after calling time on their involvement with the 17-year-old news group. However, the most likely
Good morning. Staving off a complete summer lull in news, our team has unearthed an important scoop about the future direction of green policies under the Conservatives. But I don’t have all that much to add on that, other than “this is an important scoop”. Fortunately, I have recently read The Case for the Centre
European stocks fell on Wednesday as investors responded to weakness in the luxury sector and awaited the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision later in the day. Europe’s region-wide Stoxx 600 fell 0.4 per cent in early trade, reversing gains from the previous session, with France’s Cac 40 the biggest faller, down 1.1 per cent