December 2024
‘Abomination’: Aussie schooner at centre of UK pint row
Do you prefer your beer by the pint or another measure? A House of Lords debate on a seemingly innocuous technical bill has reignited an age-old dispute.
September 2024
‘Do you miss me yet?’ Britain’s zany ex-PMs back on centre stage
Boris Johnson and Liz Truss return to the limelight, as Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s travails leave Tories daring to dream of a swift resurrection.
September 2024
AUKUS was part of plan to punish Macron, says Boris Johnson
Writing in his upcoming memoirs, the former UK prime minister accused the French president of being a “positive nuisance” during talks to leave the EU.
New French PM under pressure to suspend immigration
Michel Barnier is being propped up by Marine Le Pen of the hard Right, who said she supported the three- to five-year moratorium he proposed in 2021.
July 2024
Von der Leyen and Starmer plan meeting to drive UK-EU ‘reset’
Britain’s new PM is seeking better trade terms with the EU, while chancellor Rachel Reeves has suggested the UK could align with EU regulations in some areas.
The fight for the UK right has begun
Surrendering to the Faragist path rather than taking it on and defeating it would herald the end of the centre right and a capitulation to unserious politics.
Why Starmer should now play prosecutor on Brexit
Labour and the Tories have avoided the topic, but a full audit of the impact of leaving the EU would deliver political and economic benefits to incoming ministers.
Boris Johnson in surprise late move to avert Tory wipeout
Making his first public appearance of the campaign, the former prime minister said Labour would “destroy so much of what we have achieved”.
Why angry Britain will this week finally dump the Tories
Five PMs, five elections and a three-ring circus: over 14 years, the Conservative government sowed the seeds of its own downfall – and leaves a mixed legacy.
Feckless liberals are to blame for Biden’s downfall
The left worldwide ignores problems on its own side, and recent history has turned on that failure.
June 2024
Why billionaires support Trump
Business people struggle to understand fanaticism. In commercial life, all actors are negotiable, even if their price is high. They also tend to overrate contrarianism.
Even Rishi Sunak could lose his seat, according to some polls
Seat-by-seat analysis by Savanta and Electoral Calculus found the Tories are on track to win just 53 seats in next month’s vote, an all-time low for the party.
Farage vows ‘radical’ tax cuts to fix ‘Broken Britain’
The perennial populist outsider, who hopes to reshape the Conservative Party, has combined traditionalist social policies with a radical economic agenda.
Starmer will be centrism’s last chance
Voters need to see normal politics working for them again. Keir Starmer not only carries the dreams of a country demanding change but the hope of all who fear what follows if he fails.
Trio of big Tory donors drop campaign funding
A private poll by the donors showed Labour was on track for a “Tony Blair-style landslide”, according to two people familiar with its results.
May 2024
Why Australia’s housing crisis has gone global
Households are going backwards in 13 developed economies, including Australia, as record immigration runs into a housing crisis.
‘Twenty-five times salary’: Goldman scraps bonus cap for bankers
Goldman will allow star traders and deal makers to earn up to 25 times their salary. The bank is trying to make London more attractive to top bankers after Brexit.
April 2024
How long before the yen is again a safe-haven bet?
If inflation remains positive and interest rates continue to rise, the yen is likely to eventually strengthen.
December 2023
Why Boris Johnson thinks a Trump win would be good for the world
Former British PM talks about his biggest regret, political ghosts and a host of other topics at The Australian Financial Review Business Person of the Year event.
Brussels’ rule-setting for AI isn’t pretty, but someone’s got to do it
The potential for AI to change economies and societies is unknown. Someone needs to be thinking methodically about how its power can be channelled for good.