The Burnham Identity

A Blairite, Brownite and a Corbynite walk into a bar; “What you having Andy?”. So runs the old joke. But in the early hours of Friday 19th June, a man born in Aintree, Merseyside, who grew up in Warrington, has governed Manchester and supports Everton Football Club will have to pick a side.   Or will he? The …

The Two Weeks That Will Be (31st May 2026)

1. The UKThe Burnham Supremacy approaches. Once Andy wins in Makerfield he will be carried aloft as The Great Farage Conqueror all the way into Number 10. His neighbour at No11 is likely to be Ed Miliband or Yvette Cooper, even as newspapers talk breathlessly of the role being awarded to former Transport secretary Louise Haigh and …

The Two Weeks That Will Be (17th May 2026)

1. NvidiaWith stock markets ever more disconnected from the oncoming stagflationary tsunami, the latest earnings from MAG7 and geopolitical bellwether Nvidia on Wednesday will bear even more weight than usual. Not only is it an indication of momentum for the apparently unstoppable AI train but it is also a litmus test for US/China relations, given Air Force …

The Road to Resignation: A study of British Prime Ministers

Our intern Emily Major considered the question: When and why do British Prime Ministers step down? An analysis of the past 50 years.  The Road to resignation  Fifty years ago, Harold Wilson closed the door of Number 10 Downing Street behind him for the final time – an abrupt departure that would come to define …

The Two Weeks That Will Be (19th April 2026)

1. EarningsA market scarred by last year’s post-Liberation Day whiplash doesn’t need much to reactivate its “Don’t Get Caught Short” mantra. It doesn’t matter if ceasefires don’t hold, if the logistics of moving 800 stranded ships are too complex to be immediately cleared, or if inflationary pressures from shortages are already in the supply chain …

From Barrels to Bonds to Breakdown

++ The physical fiscal cascade has begun. We are in a supply shortage that no protagonist can solve and that the belligerents are incentivised to maintain, if not exacerbate. Stimulative monetary and fiscal intervention is not only useless but counterproductive in such a stagflationary shock, even as electorates will demand action. Bond markets and voters …