A medical emergency left my keyboard out of reach yesterday. I was unable to write to you on one of the most interesting days in British politics for many months. After six attempts to take a blood sample by nurses…

On the very same day Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, the art market was booming in ways nobody had seen before. Damien Hirst had bypassed his art dealer and his gallery, and listed a large collection of his work directly…

The “reach for yield” – where investors take on more risk to scrape ever smaller returns – continues, despite the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England raising rates. It’ll take many more rate hikes without something breaking before we…

If you were a government looking to default on some debts and didn’t want to ruffle many feathers, who would you decide to default on? Which lender would be the most politically palatable victim? And which would damage your credit…

The financial news looks like my Netflix account after watching the wrong movie. The recommended viewing section has been invaded by zombies, bombs and vigilantes. The Bank of International Settlements is warning about “The rise of zombie firms”, which are…

Before we get to the Labour Party’s attempt to ruin Britain, overnight news confirmed yesterday’s Capital & Conflict. But in an interesting way. Finance Minister Giovanni Tria didn’t just bow to Lega and Five Star demands. He bowed out of…

It’s Giovanni Tria’s 70th birthday tomorrow. His political career might not last that long though. The Italian government budget proposal is due by midnight tonight. Sort of. The finance minister must submit finance and growth targets. As the Bank of…

On Monday we looked at the future of the UK and EU. Yesterday, my thoughts turned into front page news. Prime Minister Theresa May threatened the EU with its worst fear. Turning the UK into a low-tax and business-friendly environment…

Here’s your big idea for today, and indeed for the rest of 2018: is Donald Trump about to put a bullet in the tech bull market and trigger an all-out war for free speech at the same time? There are…

If the government set the price of coffee or coal, you’d know what to expect. A mess. There’d be shortages and surpluses, quality problems, questionable business practices in the industry, and suspicious links between politicians and big business. But even…