The writer is an FT contributing editor The most important word in politics, Margaret Thatcher’s advertising guru once told me, is “moderate”. There is a lesson here for today’s Conservatives as Rishi Sunak’s government reflects on its latest electoral setback. Parties that want to win elections must lay claim to other attributes, but the mantle
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When I first moved to Spain last summer, I felt strangely disorientated. I could hardly blame culture shock — I’d been visiting the country for years before I moved to Madrid. I speak Spanish. I have Spanish family. But I’d never lived here, and something was out of place. Then a chance comment from a
Russian forces launched a barrage of air strikes on Kyiv ahead of an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive, in what the city’s mayor said was the largest drone attack on the capital since Moscow’s full-scale invasion last year. Ukrainian forces said they had shot down 30 “kamikaze” drones in the Kyiv area in the early hours of
The diplomats who craft western foreign policies are preoccupied by Russia and China. But the international question that most worries their political masters is immigration. As one close aide to President Joe Biden puts if: “If we lose the next election, it’ll be over the southern border not Ukraine.” The political pressure generated by migration
The head of PwC in Australia has resigned as chief executive three days after admitting that he had received emails regarding confidential government information on changes to tax avoidance laws to win new business. Tom Seymour, chief executive of PwC Australia since March 2020, has stood down with immediate effect following a discussion with the
The G7-led price cap on Russian oil exports has forced the Kremlin to raise the tax burden on producers, dealing a fresh blow to an energy sector already struggling with western sanctions, according to officials from the western coalition. An analysis of the tax change by a member of the G7-led coalition, which was shared
A two-year rally in US oil and gas stocks is coming to a halt as falling crude prices and fears of a slowdown in the world’s biggest economy threaten producers’ ability to maintain bumper shareholder payouts. The S&P 500’s energy sector — consisting of oil and gas groups — was the market’s best performer in
ExxonMobil’s top executives went into the company’s yearly shareholder’s meeting in May 2021 confident it was set to win a proxy fight with activist investors over its approach to climate change. Then the votes started rolling in and it soon became clear that Exxon had a full-blown revolt on its hands. Engine No 1’s campaign
It started, as so many disputes between neighbours do, with a shared driveway. To reach Peter Nygard’s six-acre property in the Bahamas, with its smoking volcanoes, Mayan temple and pools where a glass barrier once reputedly separated swimmers from sharks, guests needed to take a road owned by the man next door, the billionaire hedge
His ears are smaller. And there is no crown. But on Wall Street, at least, Jamie Dimon is America’s answer to King Charles III — adulated by some, resented by others, but incontrovertibly powerful. Days before the British monarch’s coronation, Dimon cemented his royal status in finance with another landmark deal for JPMorgan Chase, the
Last week, I quoted a recent speech by US national security adviser Jake Sullivan, in which he asked, “How does trade fit into our international economic policy, and what problems is it seeking to solve?” As I’ll argue here, we should start by seeking to solve the problem of concentration and competition. Leaving aside the question
The UK’s failure to attract investments from electric vehicle start-ups or large battery makers was “concerning”, the chief executive of luxury-car maker Bentley has warned. The government needs to deal with energy costs to spur investment and compete with other countries whose incentives are “an order of magnitude more attractive than the UK”, Adrian Hallmark
Former Bank of England deputy governor Paul Tucker has called for a radical overhaul of how banks are funded so they could withstand a 100 per cent deposit run without following Silicon Valley Bank, Credit Suisse, Signature Bank and First Republic into finance’s graveyard. The recent spate of bank collapses alarmed regulators by showing how
Brussels has proposed sanctions on Chinese companies for supporting Russia’s war machine for the first time since the war in Ukraine began, a development that is likely to increase tensions with Beijing. Seven Chinese businesses accused of selling equipment that could be used in weapons have been listed in a new package of sanctions to
The chief executives of five leading EU tech groups have called for Brussels to amend proposed data-sharing legislation, saying the new rules would force them to give up trade secrets and hand a competitive advantage to China. The intervention by the heads of SAP, Brainlab, Datev, Siemens and Siemens Healthineers — a separate company —
A Labour government would increase the stamp duty paid by foreign buyers of UK property while also restricting the sale of new-build properties to overseas investors under plans being drawn up for the party’s general election manifesto. Keir Starmer, Labour leader, wants to tackle Britain’s property affordability crisis, which has made it increasingly difficult for
US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen has warned of a “constitutional crisis” that risks economic and financial catastrophe if Congress does not raise the federal debt limit, with the government in danger of running out of cash in the absence of new borrowing capacity. The White House and Republican lawmakers are in a stalemate over lifting
The ancient ceremonials and military marches that attended the coronation of King Charles III on Saturday have given way to parties and events across Britain, as the UK enjoys a special Bank Holiday weekend. King Charles and his wife Queen Camilla were crowned at Westminster Abbey and later greeted a large crowd from the balcony
Powerful artificial intelligence systems can be of enormous benefit to society and help us tackle some of the world’s biggest problems. Machine learning models are already playing a significant role in diagnosing diseases, accelerating scientific research, boosting economic productivity and cutting energy usage by optimising electricity flows on power grids, for example. It would be
UK human rights groups have accused police of attacking civil liberties after officers arrested dozens of people to prevent disruption during the coronation of King Charles III. The Metropolitan Police said it had made 52 arrests on the day Charles was crowned King, including for “affray, public order offences, breach of the peace and conspiracy
Russia has started evacuating hundreds of civilians from occupied areas in south-eastern Ukraine, including families with children from a town housing workers at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, raising fresh concerns about its safety. The evacuations that started over the weekend come as Russian officials accuse Ukraine of stepping up drone strikes on its territory