How on earth could you get the idea Olly Robbins was a Brexiteer? He joined the EU Fast Stream out of university, worked on EU policy teams in HM Treasury. You are mistaken.

Mad fact... 42% of Labour Prime Ministers have had to fire Peter Mandelson.

Indeed. Not clear what else he should have delivered.

Not sure that’s right. He achieved the outcome No. 10 wanted. But followed an established process around it. Every organisation needs processes. Not clear what you think should have been different here?

He’s an FT journalist, so pretty likely to be neutral in terms of parties. Bring an activist for a party seems like a hindrance to being an FT Opinion writer.

Permanent income hypothesis - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permane...

Yes, youre right, it’s not that stupid, I’ve oversimplified (though some top Rational Expectations academics can be extreme). The core correct insight from Friedman was that consumption does not react linearly to changes in wealth (eg a tax cut) unless it’s seen as permanent. This has validity.

Indeed. In Friedman’s theory, those future high earners should (sort of) be borrowing heavily to stay in a 4-star hotel… which doesn’t really happen.

So some people maybe expect from a young age they will be wealthy and act accordingly throughout. The Friedman hypothesis had a major influence on the “rational expectations” economics (vs Keynesian - smaller role for govt). That said, empirical evidence for PIH is patchy… so you might be right,

So I’ve been thinking about this too long, from and economist’s view. Milton Friedman would disagree (hear me out). One of his many major contributions was Permanent Income hypothesis, i.e., consumption are formed by expectations of future income, and consumption smoothing of income over time 1/

We once or twice got free vouchers to an airport lounge through a credit card which was - definitively - one of the top 3 highlights for our kids of our trip. (Unlimited medium quality food…)

Ah kids (mine, at least) get excited about the airport as they know they get - unusually - unlimited screen time. And they get lots of food.

One of the Chicago school economists (Stigler? I can’t find the quote) said, if I recall, it was rational to be LTTA, efficiently optimising your time. I remember thinking “this man isn’t travelling with kids…”.

He is a tour de force in Clue. Hardly his most famous role, but amazing.

I've noted this before, but Londoncentric is great reading if you have any interest in urban life, culture, crime, etc, even if you're a convinced London hater like me.

That’s Barnet FC right now in League Two. A fair bit of hope still.

Trump’s team repeatedly tried to intervene over Mandelson appointment Two people tell POLITICO that the initial response to the controversial ambassadorial appointment was deeply skeptical, despite eventual assent.

Not true. Washington apparently liked Karen Pierce, didn’t want Mandelson. It was reported at the time. www.politico.eu/article/dona...

Of course, I was just posting as some people here were saying theories that Trump’s team had wanted Mandelson. Not true.

Trump’s team repeatedly tried to intervene over Mandelson appointment Two people tell POLITICO that the initial response to the controversial ambassadorial appointment was deeply skeptical, despite eventual assent.

And the Trump team wanted Karen Pierce to continue. According to Politico at the time, McSweeney pushed for it despite the Trump team requests. www.politico.eu/article/dona...

Trump’s team repeatedly tried to intervene over Mandelson appointment Two people tell POLITICO that the initial response to the controversial ambassadorial appointment was deeply skeptical, despite eventual assent.

Seemingly, no. At the time, it was widely reported that the Trump team really wanted Karen Pierce to continue. www.politico.eu/article/dona...

I didn’t read it like that, I think that’s an overly sceptical reading of her post.

Trump’s team repeatedly tried to intervene over Mandelson appointment Two people tell POLITICO that the initial response to the controversial ambassadorial appointment was deeply skeptical, despite eventual assent.

But the Trump team wanted Karen Pierce to continue. www.politico.eu/article/dona...

Excellent thread.

Ciaran - very helpful. The UK government assessment was covered by Canadian newspapers and some U.s. ones. Shows the influence and contribution of the UK here.

Defence procurement has been a problem for decades. As a young Treasury official, it just seemed baffling. In the 2000s, MoD had a deficit of £30-40bn (!) of unfunded projects in procurement. One procurement of defence barracks (surely easy?) took over 10 years!

Led armies into battle, against other states. Fairly political, I’d say.

Interesting take. Obviously the UK had huge fuel protests in 2000 which rattled the Blair government, which had nothing to do with immigration or the current international trends. France, it’s been common.

Thanks!

Congratulations to the FT, worthy investigative reporting.

Tofu Vegan restaurant sign outlining why Tofu is so much healthier than Beef.

Went to a Tofu Vegan for the first time in London a few weeks ago. The non-meat Peking Duck was a revelation. And their aggressive “tofu is so much better than beef” signs are great.