Economists, and this author is one, regularly score well below average on surveys of public opinion in relation to their trustworthiness – below both lawyers and pollsters in one recent survey in the UK, for example. This is humbling, and causes us to consider how we can do our jobs better. And it reflects, I think, a view of economists that all we care about is money. As the saying goes, we know the price of everything but the value
Here’s a bit of Friday afternoon trivia for you: ATLANTA FALCONS: 2017 SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS #Fakenews news headline from an Atlanta-based news organisation or slogan emblazoned on the T-shirt of an African villager? It’s the African villager, of course. The Atlanta Falcons are not the 2017 NFL Champions – they lost to the New England Patriots 34-28 in the final earlier this year, despite leading that match by 28 points to 3 at one point. One cruel reminder of their
We Brits love to make fun of the French. It's close to a national pastime. Back in 2008, inspired by news that a trader at Société Générale, Jérôme Kerviel, was suspected of running up losses totalling $7 billion in unauthorised deals, the Daily Mash published a brilliant piece of satire: 'French trader was forced to work 30 hours a week'. It encapsulates, neatly, everything that we in this country find irritating about our neighbours to the south. Miraculously, not all
Last Saturday saw 2017's Pride in London parade, uniting over a million people to celebrate the LGBT+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and others) community and make a stand against discrimination. This year marks the fiftieth anniversary since the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in the UK and the third since same-sex marriage was legalised. But other places around the world haven't made as much progress. The results of a recent Gallup poll show that in only 25% of nations did a
In the film-within-a-film ‘Strike’ (from The Comic Strip Presents…), the UK miners’ strike of 1984 is given the Hollywood treatment, with Al Pacino (or, rather, a brilliant Peter Richardson playing Al Pacino) as Arthur Scargill, and Meryl Streep (played by an equally brilliant Jennifer Saunders) as his wife. Scargill is interpreted as brooding and sentimental, with dark undertones of violence, emphasised by his penchant for endlessly cleaning and loading his revolver. His wife is neurotic and icily distant, and prone
Listening to recent central bank speeches, one can't help but get a sense of summer cheer. Risks to the global economy, which had been skewed to the downside, now appear broadly balanced. The shift in the macroeconomic outlook has been so great that policy normalisation is on the horizon, not just in the US but elsewhere. That's a good thing, right? Judging from the reaction in equity markets, maybe not. If the punchbowl is taken away, what appears on the
June has been a busy month for politics in Europe. Fresh from his victory in May's presidential elections, Emmanuel Macron won a landslide majority in parliament for his La République En Marche! (REM - an interesting acronym for a political party: that's them in the spotlight, winning their election...). On this side of the Channel, Theresa May lost twelve seats, failing to secure a majority for her party. At the time of writing, the Conservative Party is scrambling to reach
In the great 1957 film "Twelve angry men" (from the play of the same name written by Reginald Rose), Henry Fonda stars as the lone hold-out in a jury of twelve, unpersuaded by the evidence against the defendant in the murder case they are hearing. For the remainder of the film, he gradually cajoles and persuades the other eleven jurors to agree with him and acquit the defendant. The other jurors are keen to get back to their normal lives,
The second team at a village cricket club recently reached a score of 201/2 after 28 overs in a 45 over match – a commanding position, looking to push on to 350 or even 400 from there. They finally reached 206 all out, and lost the match. This club, unfortunately, has experienced collapses like that many times. They are part of the club’s folklore. Conservative Party folklore revolves around a self-perception as a disciplined, highly efficient election-winning machine. It has
I'm only happy when it rains I'm only happy when it's complicated And though I know you can't appreciate it I'm only happy when it rains You know I love it when the news is bad And when it feels so good to feel so sad I'm only happy when it rains Garbage, Only Happy When It Rains Fathom's annual summer party is approaching. This is a function aimed at clients, friends and family. Our hope and expectation is that