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The elevated military tensions between the Iran, Israel, and the USA of spring 2026 may have eased in their intensity, but more than half a year on, the impact upon energy markets remains very apparent with crude oil prices sitting at around $100/barrel (b), progressively feeding into supply chains and household budgets alike. From a… Continue reading What if energy prices remain higher for longer?

For some years it has being increasingly evident that the UK was food insecure, its absolute and relative position deteriorating year-on-year. That situation reflects a quite mindboggling policy failure by successive British Governments and, of course, the network of advisors, civil servants, and regulators that make up the political system. The same could, of course,… Continue reading Harvesting what we sow…

Against the backdrop of a chaotic 2025 from a domestic political perspective in the UK, no more so epitomised by Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, marching the British up the hill of rising income tax in November only to dysfunctionally bring them back down again before her damaging car crash of a Budget, the outlook for the… Continue reading The fog of war

There’s a big new kid on the block, well it has actually been around for years, that is machine learning, but it is going through the gears, backed up by trillions of dollars of cumulative current investment, especially so in the USA and China. Key players creating the current and next generations of AI are,… Continue reading What to think about AI?

Rachel Reeves et al did their utmost to depress the British shopper to excellent effect through 2024 and 2025, manifested in low ongoing consumer confidence, which fed its way into rather subdued domestic consumer markets. The Treasury’s wholesale incompetence  was not the whole story, however, when it came to the what turned out to be… Continue reading Diet ‘suppressance’ has arrived in Britain…?

It is quite hard not despair at the mismanagement of the UK, the foregone economic opportunities as a result of a UK Government under Sir Kier Starmer’s leadership that it is totally and utterly illiterate when it comes to the economy, and its most important components, entrepreneurs and firms, which make up markets. It is… Continue reading The paralysis of leadership failure.

Grandma, Granny, Nan, Nanny, terms of endearment for, more often than not, wonderful people, who very frequently turn out to be the surrogate guardian of their children’s children, Are people of very responsible positions. And so it is unfortunate that ‘nanny’ is used as a rather pejorative term for when the State decides that most… Continue reading What would nanny really think?

Imagine a world, where the British Government was held in high regard by the UK’s food system. Such a thought seems more unachievable and fantastic than thinking there is no heaven above or hell below, above us only sky. It seems an age ago when amongst the true heroes of the United Kingdom were the… Continue reading Imagine.

As one ages it is hard not to think that the two hands of the clock whirl quicker and quicker. And so, with the arrival of September, meteorological autumn, British business braces itself for the next iteration of Labour’s economic policy. On the one hand, it seems that 2025 is passing in a flash, on… Continue reading Hope for the best…

Rachel Reeves, the much-lampooned British Chancellor of the Exchequer, delivered a highly political spending review, which is rightly subject to scrutiny. Indeed, the post-match analysis has been more Roy Keane than Alan Shearer, with some of the most ardent critics of the Tories, such as Paul Johnson at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, basically eviscerating… Continue reading Reeves, the conjurer, may be about to drop her balls

Sir Kier Starmer has built up quite a few air miles in 2025, his position on the international stage looking more comfortable than it is at home not least as he seeks to manage the battle between Red Ange and Rachel from accounts, the latter now learning that bond and currency markets are quite important.… Continue reading Starmer’s trading places

When was the last time Britain fully self-sufficient in food production? This was actually over 200 years ago, around the turn of the 18th century. You could say these were the  ‘good old days’ but actually it was far from that.   Most working-class families struggled to afford a diet beyond bread, potatoes, and a bit… Continue reading The UK Food Security Scorecard – by Professor Christopher Elliott