MoneyWeek

In May, annual inflation in the UK as measured by the CPI (consumer price index) rose to 2.5%. This doesn’t sound very much, and it shouldn’t be much of a shock to regular readers: we’ve been worrying about inflation for some time. But that doesn’t m

The world’s governments have crossed “the Rubicon of fiscal rectitude to a reach a new land”, says Albert Edwards of Société Générale – “one where their existing monetary profligacy can now be coupled with fiscal debauchery”. There is no “turning bac

Asia is “the epicentre” of global growth fears, says Eric Lam on Bloomberg. Long a “poster child” for pandemic management, the region’s low vaccination rates mean that the next few months will be bumpy. Seoul has imposed the strictest lockdown since

Special purpose acquisition companies (Spacs) “are falling short of their promises”, says Rana Foroohar in the Financial Times. They are billed as a “cheaper, more efficient… way to bring new companies public” than the traditional initial public offe

Boris Johnson has “lost his nerve,” says Sherelle Jacobs in The Daily Telegraph. Instead of being liberated on “Freedom Day” next Monday, Britons “will merely be out on parole”. It took just a week of rising cases – a 35% jump – and “scientific outra

Democrats agree healthcare spending: Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee have agreed to $3.5trn in spending for their healthcare and anti-poverty plan while the party controls Congress and the White House, say Andrew Duehren and Kristina Peterso

What’s happened? The race to create a viable space tourism model is hotting up – and so is the race to attract investment funds into the space sector as a whole. Last Sunday Richard Branson became the first commercial spaceflight pioneer to take a te

Not since Winston Churchill promised victory over Germany in his “blood, toil, tears and sweat” speech of May 1940 has the UK set itself a more expensive or ambitious policy goal, says Karl Williams. Official cost estimates for getting to the point w

Commodities are on fire. But for private investors, gaining access to a notoriously fickle and unpredictable asset class through a straightforward fund structure is easier said than done. The most popular route for private investors has hitherto been

A major problem during Covid-19 has been how to treat patients without having face-to-face meetings in surgeries. Enter telehealth: using technology and the internet to create online health centres. Although not discussed as much as other pandemic bo

On 7 June shares in Biogen, a US biotechnology company, soared by 64%. America’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had just approved Biogen’s Aducanumab, the first drug for Alzheimer’s disease to be admitted to the market for 18 years. The US Alzhei

Do pension savers need protecting from themselves? New proposals from the government would give trustees in charge of final-salary pension schemes the power to reject requests from members to transfer their savings elsewhere if they think the new arr

For a fintech company, Wise – which has just completed London’s blockbuster float of the year – “had a refreshingly analogue birth”, says The Economist. It all began when co-founders Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus, two Estonians living in London

This week: properties with tennis courts – from a Grade II-listed Arts & Crafts house in Winchester, Hampshire, to a Victorian house set in large grounds that include a hard tennis court with a pavilion ■

“In a crowded field of Caribbean islands to make the green watch list, Barbados is a stand-out option for a summer getaway,” says Hugh Morris in The Daily Telegraph. It has long been popular with British visitors. That will probably be more true than

At first glance the latest Aston Martin Vantage “might appear to be little more than an extreme and expensive new version of a car we already know and mostly love”, says Steve Sutcliffe in AutoExpress magazine. “But in reality, it is a sign of things

“We can have the Olympics over at our house,” sang Tom Paxton after the Soviets and Eastern bloc decided to boycott the 1984 Los Angeles games. “We could run a race or two/Then we’ll have some barbecue.” That can-do spirit seems sadly missing in Japa

“Raise your glass to the hardworking people/Let’s drink to the uncounted heads/Let’s think of the wavering millions/Who need leading, but get gamblers instead/ Spare a thought for the stay-at-home voter/Empty eyes gaze at strange beauty shows/And a p