Thank Fathom it's Friday Archives

Innovation with Chinese characteristics

Erik Britton22 May 2026|Tags: Innovation, China|

In Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, frustrated with the inability of the airmen under his charge to execute a perfect 90-degree turn on parade, Lieutenant Scheisskopf gives serious consideration to having nickel-alloy swivels surgically inserted into their thighs. Likewise, all governments probably sometimes wish the individuals and private firms in their jurisdiction would line up perfectly in the service of the needs of the state, forgetting that, in open societies, the state exists primarily to serve them, not the other way around.

Get over it already: Brexit, a ten-year audit

Erik Britton15 May 2026|Tags: BREXIT, UK politics, Politics|

A late family friend named Martin, whom I once asked what he thought of a mutual acquaintance said: “I don’t know; I haven’t formed an opinion yet.” How long had he known this person? Twenty years. Well, almost ten years after the UK voted to leave the EU, I find I still haven’t really formed a strong opinion about the impact that Brexit has had. It’s not that I haven’t thought about it. It’s that a couple of other things

Is UK politics broken?

Jenny Booth8 May 2026|Tags: first-past-the-post, UK politics, Politics, Elections|

I was stuffing an election leaflet through a letterbox in my council ward this week when a burly man stopped to chat. He told me he was a Reform voter, and pointed out his house down the street, decorated with Union Jack bunting. He complained that Reform was painted as a racist party, and said that as his adopted brother was Black he could not be a racist. We agreed it was important to listen to other people’s viewpoints. As

Just not feeling it? The vibecession explained: it’s the jobs, stupid

Erik Britton1 May 2026|Tags: Economic sentiment, Vibecession, Labour market, Covid|

Do you know anyone who has suffered, or is suffering, from long COVID? I do, and it can be a very serious matter. In a broader, economic sense, though, we all are. Since COVID, economic sentiment across most of the developed world has been consistently in mild recessionary territory: the first time we have seen that pattern since we started collecting the data in the early noughties. This protracted ‘vibecession’ is not about growth, which is fairly strong in the

A passion for supply chains

Erik Britton24 April 2026|Tags: Supply chains, cobalt|

Many years ago, when I still worked at the Bank of England, I was chatting to a former Bank employee at an evening function in the Court Room (a grand, chandeliered, Turkish-carpeted ballroom). She had recently left the Bank to join a major global management consultancy, so I asked her what her role was. She said she was analysing supply chains. “Gosh, that sounds interesting,” I said, in what was intended to be a dry, ironic tone. She said that

Champagne-o-nomics

Brian Davidson17 April 2026|

These days, apparently, if you care about the environment and like Champagne you are a ‘Champagne Socialist’. At least that’s the theory of some people who did not join me for three days of sipping delicious cuvées and vintages in the elegant surroundings of Épernay. If that is the charge, I must plead guilty. Here is my defence. It’s hard to think of a word that comes with more baggage than Champagne. To some, it symbolises class, quality, aspiration and

One person’s trash is another’s treasure

George Archer10 April 2026|

‘One person’s trash is another person’s treasure: the proverb could not be more true than in today’s context, when global consumption, and consequently waste, are reaching new highs. For example, reflect on all the old electronic products you have disposed of: mobile phones, PCs, speakers, hard drives, washing machines and more. Then map that to a global or even national total… it must be pretty substantial. But amid this heap of e-waste lies a goldmine. Electronic products generally rely on

Cracking the cost of Easter eggs

Ellen Ó Fríl2 April 2026|

Eighty million chocolate eggs are estimated to be sold at Easter in the UK. According to Cadbury, the market is worth roughly £700 million. Not bad for something that’s hollow and won’t survive the Easter Weekend. But if you’ve been out hunting for the perfect egg in the supermarket this year, you’ve probably noticed two things. First, chocolate prices have increased, largely due to poor cocoa harvests in West Africa. These poor harvests resulted from extreme weather and the spread

What’s the best form of defence?

Erik Britton27 March 2026|Tags: war, Sudan, Ukraine, Defence spending, Iran|

With armed conflicts under way in Ukraine, Iran and Sudan, to name just three, it’s hard not to find one’s thoughts turning dark. I regularly try to remind myself of the fact that right now is the best time to be alive as a human being, in the history of the species; and this is your regular reminder too. And, even dwelling on the conflict risk, one good thing could come out of the proximity of war. It’s time Europe

False springs

Dimos Andronoudis20 March 2026|

A few sunny days in March are enough to do strange things to people. Coats come off, garden chairs reappear, convertible roofs go down, and someone, somewhere, confidently declares that winter is over. In Britain this is normally followed, within days, by a sharp reminder that it is not. The temperature drops, the heating goes back on, and everyone goes back to behaving as if they had never trusted the weather in the first place. Markets have much the same