As a child, my favourite fairytale was Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’. Upon reflection, I suspect this was because it chimed with reality where nonsense can persist indefinitely if individuals are afraid to look potentially foolish by challenging accepted orthodoxy. I was reminded of Andersen’s tale by the sight of numerous art experts…
We live in strange times. Never, in the furthest reaches of my imagination did I ever expect to see the words ‘Pussy Riot’ on the front pages of both the Daily Telegraph and Financial Times and yet, it came to pass. We also live in an age where people are assumed to be increasingly gullible.…
There was an old Soviet joke. The telephone rings at Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s house and is answered by his daughter. She explains that her father is currently orbiting the earth but is due back at 7.00 pm. Her mother is also out but as she has gone shopping for groceries, it’s impossible to say when…
The advert for Barclays’ tracker rate mortgages urges borrowers to ‘take one small step’. Although hardly on a par with Neil Armstrong’s efforts, Bob Diamond did exactly that in the wake of the bank’s £290m fine for attempting to rig LIBOR. It is, without doubt, a sorry tale. A potent cocktail of power, laced with…
Warren Buffett observed that investors should look for companies that are so bulletproof, an idiot could run them because one day, that is probably what will happen. If he is correct, we conclude that if capitalism is likely to let the odd wally hop into the driving seat, then it’s a cast iron certainty that…
Sometimes it’s difficult to put exact numbers to things you know are vital. Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor, tells us “valuing a business is part art, part science”. He means that the art part of the equation is a bit woolly because it relates to matters such as quality of management or brand value, which…
Last December, the ratings agency, Standard & Poors (S & P), placed the debt of all 17 Eurozone nations on ‘negative watch’. This may sound sophisticated but in a nutshell, it is saying that the debt of these countries is not as solid as many (including S & P) thought originally. Even Germany was caught…
It was Robert Louis Stevenson (among others) who noted it was better to travel than arrive. Having flown with Ryanair, I would beg to differ. However, the disappointments of budget airline travel, the Pringles costing more than the ticket and the embarkation scrum resembling a scene from ‘Zulu’, pale into insignificance when considering the journey…
On numerous occasions we have referred to how the precarious state of the global economy is, in no small part, the result of ‘experts’ having a bit less expertise than either they thought or indeed, others attributed to them. A single currency for wildly differing economies? Check. Levels of sovereign debt that, realistically, can never…
It is comforting to know that high street financial institutions just want to hold our hands and guide us through life’s trials and tribulations. NatWest delivers ‘helpful banking’ and Lloyds is with us ‘for the journey’. Santander and its customers are ‘together’ while Halifax offers ‘a little extra help’. The warm fuzziness tends to disappear…