Been thinking a lot about one of the best books I've read in recent years - @edconway.bsky.social's Material World. Raw materials, the science behind their use, supply chain bottlenecks, and related challenges past and current.
Just discovered it's on audiobook on Spotify, and well worth a look.
📽️THE TANKER
There's an extraordinary race underway on the high seas as nations vie to secure increasingly scarce shipments of fuel.
In our latest on the economics of this conflict we track one such ship & ask: why is Britain so exposed?
The answer's not v reassuring.
Watch👇 youtu.be/zUH1yNb3UFM?...
Don't forget to sign up to our #webinar tomorrow! ⏰1-2pm
#Trade, #Tariffs and the Price of #Protectionism
A panel discussion with Silvana Tenreyro (LSE & @cepr.org),
@lindayueh.bsky.social (Oxford Uni & LBS), and Janet Henry (HSBC), chaired by @edconway.bsky.social⬇️
niesr.ac.uk/event/trade-...
📽️ WHY are diesel prices rising so fast?
Well, partly because this is the worst oil supply shock in modern history.
And partly because of an obscure decision taken by politicians decades ago.
My latest mega primer on the economic consequences of war in the Gulf👇 youtu.be/q1AOuUsXd70?...
In Material World, @edconway.bsky.social showed just how dependent we are on key raw materials with delicate supply lines.
In such circumstances, only a fool would start a war.
I think people need to read your book @edconway.bsky.social , Material World. The world's supply chain is a few weeks away from implosion for a few key materials. Material World: The Six Raw Materials That Shape Modern Civilization by Ed Conway | Goodreads share.google/adzxnDaDTZZe...
🎥WHO PLACED THE BET?
Someone just made a killing with an extraordinarily well-timed bet on financial markets, minutes before Donald Trump's announcement of war talks yesterday.
Was it luck, or inside information?
Either way... someone just got rich.
Four min primer👇 youtu.be/cNcEQGrEva0?...
👀 That's an extraordinary chart
📽️ There have been many scary, unnerving days in this latest Gulf war.
But the past 24 hours was particularly bad.
Why? Because both sides are now causing lasting damage to the world economy's life support system.
Our latest primer on the econ consequences of this war👇 youtu.be/_NZ_9Ov4PXE?...
📽️Globalisation as we know it is dead. That's what Rachel Reeves said earlier this week.
But was today the day Britain hammered the final nail into the coffin? My film from Port Talbot on how the UK just raised tariffs at the fastest rate in a generation www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlNO...
🚨Clearly there's loads of news today so there's a chance this gets ignored but... it is a BIG deal.
Britain, the country that invented free trade as we know it, is raising steel tariffs to 50%.
Biggest tariffs since Brexit. A massively symbolic moment. news.sky.com/story/waters...
📽️From Donald Trump to Britain's wind power trade body, there's a growing coalition calling for more drilling in the North Sea.
Raising the question: if we DID encourage more exploration, how much oil & gas could we actually get?
Our MEGA primer on the North Sea👇 youtu.be/eDr0Z19x3p0?...
War, oil and salt & vinegar crisps.
My column for the @NewStatesman www.newstatesman.com/internationa...
🎥
The rich world just made the biggest intervention in oil markets in modern history.
So why did crude prices barely budge?
Here's my 10m primer on the plumbing of the global economy and the surprisingly simple mathematics underlying the energy shock of 2026👇 youtu.be/0Rl51kNQ1Og?...
🎥IRAN WAR PRIMER
Six days on from the start of this war, what have we learnt about the economic consequences?
Here's our latest primer. 10 mins. Longer than usual. But a lot to cover in this one 👇 youtu.be/Mv7n3gqOWyI?...
🎥Today was supposed to be all about the latest UK govt economic forecasts... and then the wholesale gas price jumped at the fastest rate EVER.
Now Europe faces the spectre of another energy crisis...
Our latest data dive, day 2 on the economic consequences of the Iran War👇 youtu.be/ENy5sS_uoqM?...
🎥The Economic Consequences of War in Iran.
My first data dive on the extraordinary events in the Gulf.
On chokepoints, oil/gas giants and the reason a drone strike on a plant most people have never heard of thousands of miles away could plunge Europe back into energy crisis
youtu.be/KRaNainwk5k?...
📽️EXCLUSIVE
For the first time ever, @skynews has been into the @bankofengland's gold vaults to see the world's second biggest trove of physical gold. An extraordinary place. An extraordinary sight.
Have a watch of our film👇 youtu.be/dDlY4AFqV7o?...
Glad you enjoyed it. That's the UK edition. The US edition has a slightly different cover and sub-title. Should be available somewhere!🤞
🚨Our film is up
We spent months making this👇
About how Britain shut down many of the factories we need to feed us and defend us.
Will have more to say on it in due course but in the meantime - pls watch, share and let me know what you think youtu.be/PQ3hT8tqZgo?...
Van Eyck, if you buy Hockney’s thesis, leveraged technology to enable him to depict the world in a novel way. Much as C15th artists embraced new creative tools, C21st technology threatens to disrupt art and creativity.
(£) www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
By @edconway.bsky.social
✍️Why on earth is the Government forking out £120m of taxpayer money to save a Scottish chemicals plant?
The answer comes back to one of the most important, and least well-known, pipelines in the country.
The backstory of today's Grangemouth bail-out👇 news.sky.com/story/christ...
📽️Donald Trump wants you to know he's targeting Venezuela because of illegal drugs.
But what if this were really about something else altogether...?
Dig into the murky world of crude oil refining and you find another, even more intriguing explanation...
Full primer 👇 youtu.be/Pgwny1BiCYk?...
If you're interested in how global supply chains work and how this year's US tariffs hit the world's economy, watch this amazing report by @edconway.bsky.social on @skynewsrss.bsky.social. Ed is the frontier of journalism on the global economy, tariffs and sanctions.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=woT0...
This is excellent.
📽️ Been working on this film, on & off, for the best part of a year.
It's about the REALITY (not just the theory) of tariffs.
It's the tip of the iceberg of the biggest econ story of our day.
It'll air on Sky News on Fri 9pm but you can watch the whole thing here NOW👇
youtu.be/woT0FX5Ztas?...
📽️What on earth is "fiscal drag"?
Why will it form the centrepiece of @RachelReevesMP's efforts to raise money this week?
Why are Budgets getting ever more complex?
And could this one backfire like @George_Osborne's omnishambles?
All this and more in my 11m(!) primer👇 youtu.be/idnW0Wu3BzQ?...
It's a great book! 👏
📽️Did the Treasury just pull off an audacious trick to reduce the "black hole" by billions - without actually having to do anything about it?
Or is the market rollercoaster yet more evidence of incompetence?
Watch my 10m primer and decide for yourself...
youtu.be/KG1uW-9XKuo?...
Thanks Soumaya glad you're enjoying it!