ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – Which of the major central bankers would come out on top in a bar brawl is a heavily under-discussed topic amongst investors. The top contender – by my humble estimation at least – used to be burly…

Recent analyses, notably from the World Bank, show that while levels of inequality at a global scale have gone down, the average person lives now in a more unequal country than in the late 1980s… … inequality does not only…

We mentioned on Tuesday how the last thing the eurozone needed right now was a Cold War between the US and China. Germany is the economic engine of the eurozone, fuelled by exports to the US and China. When those…

Germans joining Italians in recession (and soon to join the French in the streets)… The Spanish youth nearly as woefully unemployed as young Greeks… and Belgium almost as indebted as the Republic of Ireland. I’m not sure this was the…

The European Spring is coming to Germany. But before we get to that, I’ve an announcement to make. My colleague Nick Hubble has just returned from a trip to the heart of the EU, where he delivered a message so…

It’s finally ready… I spent most of last week getting a high-level security pass – submitting my passport to the authorities, getting an endorsement from senior political figures and even passing through airport style security. It was the culmination of…

“When the streets of Paris are running with blood, I buy”, claimed a Rothschild banker in the 19th century. Buy assets cheaply during conflict, and sell them at a profit at conflict resolution; a cold-hearted strategy certainly, but a profitable…

There’s a large Metro Bank branch not far from my flat. Whenever I pass it, my eyes are drawn to a large, unusual device it has inside. It’s a circular hole in the wall with the words “The magic money…

“They can paper over the cracks,” he said. “The political will is there.” “So it’s empire or bust?” I asked. “Yes.” It was nearly midnight. We were in the smoking lounge of a grand private club in Whitehall, not far…

I got up early this morning and headed on to the roof, hoping for a peek at the eclipse. I was met instead by birdsong and a sky draped in red clouds. Oh well. Hopefully you were luckier than I…

Is there anything Mr. Hubble isn’t right about? For nearly the whole of 2018, he predicted chaos in Europe, and here we are: Protestors setting the French central bank on fire, then turning up to protest at The Hague in…

Let’s do the maths. The total value of non-performing loans in the European Union is valued around €900 billion. Banks have made provisions, meaning set aside money, for about half of that. Leaving about €450 billion in questionable loans. The…

Continuing our highlight reel for the year, here’s the letter in which Nick Hubble correctly predicted how the Italian elections would ignite financial markets. This went out on 16 February; the Italian bond market exploded in May, so Nick wasn’t…

I’m currently back home for the holidays in Aberdeen (enjoying the weather of course), so over the break you won’t have to put up with my scribblings and can sample some of our best editorial instead. To begin the week,…

… like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel, Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel… – “Windmills of Your Mind”, Alan and Marilyn Bergman (1968) Our old friend the doom loop is back…

“I can definitely say that DB is a safe bank.” – Stuart Lewis, chief risk officer at Deutsche Bank in August The Last Day of Pompeii – Karl Brullov I’d like to believe that all is fine and dandy over…

The forecasts are out and the headlines are in. Brexit will be an economic catastrophe – worse than the recession we didn’t have after the referendum. It’s encouraging to see the newspapers talking about the economic cost of government policy….

Have you ever wondered what our office looks like? Today’s Capital & Conflict comes to you from our newly complete recording studio. It was recorded on the day stockmarkets surged on the news Italy would back down in its budget…