MoneyWeek

As regular readers will know, we’re long-time fans of gold here at MoneyWeek. But there’s no doubt that it can be a frustrating asset. As Dominic says in this week’s cover story (see page 18), the idea of owning gold as “portfolio insurance” can some

When does “transitory” inflation “become persistent?” asks The Wall Street Journal. The US Federal Reserve has spent the year insisting that soaring prices are a “transitory” effect caused by reopening. Yet US consumer prices rose by 5.4% in July com

“Will the fall of Kabul now bury belief in a world led by the US as its sole superpower?”, asks Louis-Vincent Gave of Gavekal Research. Can “US military prestige survive a defeat at the hands of untrained farmers driving Toyota pickups?” The US has b

Malaysia’s stockmarket is “sliding down a slippery slope, seemingly unable to break its fall”, says a note from PublicInvest Research. An explosion of Covid-19 cases, strict lockdowns and political gridlock have made this a difficult year. On Monday

The debacle that Joe Biden “has unleased in Afghanistan… is the most shameful thing I have witnessed in three decades”, says Marc Thiessen in The Washington Post. The US president claims that scenes of desperate Afghans clinging to the fuselage of an

Trudeau calls snap election: Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau is “gambling his political future” on his swift Covid-19 response despite experts warning that a fourth wave has begun, says Charlie Mitchell in The Times. He has just called a snap

While much of the global economy is bouncing back strongly from the pandemic and government-mandated shutdowns, Australia is a worrying exception. Covid-19 cases are rising sharply, its most populous states (accounting for over half of GDP) are back

Britain has a growing shortage of affordable housing. The number of new houses registered in the UK’s affordable and build-to-rent sector last year was 42,084, according to the National House Building Council – up just 20% since 2008. Part of the pro

thecritic.co.uk “Rewilding is all the rage and it is coming to a hillside near you,” says Matt Ridley. More efficient farming methods mean that less land is needed to grow food. Britain’s answer to what should be done with the spared land has been

“Put 10% of your portfolio in gold and hope it doesn’t go up,” says a Wall Street adage. Never has the advice seemed more apt than during the past 12 months. Stocks have been almost unstoppable. America’s benchmark S&P 500 index is about 40% higher t

The post-lockdown recovery has been a relief to struggling small businesses, but many now face a new problem. They are being asked to repay funding provided by the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and Bounce Back loans, the gover

Back in 2007, when Nigel Rudd had just sold off two of the companies he chaired, Boots and Pilkington, to foreign bidders, he was dubbed Britain’s “corporate super-salesperson”. Subsequent efforts secured instead the nickname “Sir Sell-out” and, over

The Kornati archipelago, off Croatia’s northern Dalmatian coast, is a “strange bleached world of scattered islets and reefs… considered Europe’s last wilderness”, says Timothy O’Grady in Condé Nast Traveller. “I set out to glide around them on the Sa

The Old Rectory, Foulsham, Norfolk. A period property with a Georgian centre flanked by Victorian extensions and a large, unconverted barn and Victorian-style glass house in the gardens. It has sash windows with shutters and open fireplaces. 8 beds,

It has been said of Australian pop star Kylie Minogue, who first burst onto our screens in 1986, that she has made a very small amount of talent go an awfully long way. Paris Hilton has gone one better: “she has monetised a life of elegant uselessnes

The $1trn US infrastructure bill and the $3.5trn “human infrastructure” budget has moved along in Congress… and stocks hit new record highs following what was reported as a “blowout” jobs report. That is to say, we are making progress. The delusions