John Stepek
@John_Stepek
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I have a new rival in the newsletter business. @MerrynSW is launching her own, with the first issue out tomorrow. You should all sign up for it right now as it will definitely be the second-best financial newsletter in the world bloomberg.com/account/newsle…
The fiction departments of publishing houses are run by people who shudder at the thought of “big business” just as big businesses are run by people who regard novels as effete nonsense. bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…
This is a bad idea. Here's why Rachel Reeves should resist the siren song of Mr Burgon bloomberg.com/news/newslette…
🚨BREAKING: Over 80,000 people have now backed my petition calling for the Government to introduce a wealth tax. I'll be handing this in to 10 Downing Street this Tuesday. Add your name below and join the call for the super-rich to pay their fair share. chng.it/2pq56bHC9t
Here are just some of the reasons why Rachel Reeves should resist the temptation of a UK wealth tax (h/t @DanNeidle ) bloomberg.com/news/newslette…
Always a great show for wit and insight and rarely has analysis been more urgent. This will sell out before the dates so do book early!
Not long to go to our @edfringe show @AdamSmithHouse. We sell out every year.. but there are still tickets now for August 22/23/24. I have booked some genuinely brilliant guests. You are going to LOVE it. edfringe.com/tickets/whats-…
Dan's point here about fragility is so poorly understood, and it applies more widely to the UK tax base in general. We need to widen the tax base rather than pretending there's always someone else with broader shoulders to act as a magic money tree.
A UK wealth tax sounds simple: "tax the super‑rich, fund public services" But it's not. Our 16,000 word deep‑dive shows revenues are fragile, it puts growth, investment and jobs at risk, and there's no revenue before 2029. Here’s the evidence:
Come and see @MerrynSW ‘s show I’m doing the Saturday edfringe.com/tickets/whats-…
I have now read this new Covenant with Civil Society from ennd to end. It is, as you'd expect, shot through with DEI stuff and happy-clappy linked-in language about sharing, partnership, collaboration and co-operation. Which is where most of us switch off - this would be a…
The latest Rightmove data points to another flat year for UK house prices, which is no bad thing. At this rate, property might even be affordable again (at some point). bloomberg.com/news/newslette…
One problem with refusing to touch the triple lock is that future pensioners may end up paying in the form of a higher state pension age instead. Just trying to figure out which is more politically toxic
Even if housing stock vs population stays the same (a rare if) then any scheme to make it easier to finance the buying of a house, whether lower interest rates, larger loan ratios or diversion of funds from pensions,will see the extra finance simply push up prices to the previous…
This article is nearly a month old now (came out about a week before Zarah Sultana tried to co-found a new party with Corbyn, much to the latter's surprise) but a cluster of bots appears to be retweeting it, so I thought I'd join in
If you want to understand what's going on in UK politics right now, it helps to realise that we have a coalition government. And that the current configuration is about as market-friendly as it gets. And that it's heading for a split. bloomberg.com/news/newslette…
Pretty sensible of the Chancellor to rule this out for three reasons. The most important (agnostic of what you think of the wisdom of extending wealth taxation in the UK) is there is zero chance of the UK data being available anytime soon to do a comprehensive levy on net assets.…
The Times: Reeves set to defy left over call for wealth tax #TomorrowsPapersToday
1. Wind and solar both keep me up at night, but for opposite reasons. Solar works and is winning the global race, Britain simply sits too far north to benefit. Britain is betting on wind instead, yet wind lacks the very traits that makes solar work.
Of course you hate gilts. The UK is a mess. But don't forget that when it comes to interest rates at least, bad news is good news. Maybe it is time to buy .. bloomberg.com/news/newslette…
This feels like a worryingly plausible route to the paperclip maximising machine
Everythingism strikes again... The UK's most powerful ever supercomputer will be used for.... Bringing down NHS waiting lists.
Going on holiday this summer? @merrynsw and I run through some top tips on how to cut the cost of your travel money, in this week's Merryn Talks Your Money. bloomberg.com/news/audio/202…
What if inflation just... doesn't go away? bloomberg.com/news/newslette…
Now That's What I Call A Patriotic Millionaire
Hey.. wealth tax people.. you can do this too: The Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt have just bought £586m of UK debt to cancel it. Tiny debt made in our £3trn debt pile.
Not long to go to our @edfringe show @AdamSmithHouse. We sell out every year.. but there are still tickets now for August 22/23/24. I have booked some genuinely brilliant guests. You are going to LOVE it. edfringe.com/tickets/whats-…
Mission Impossible 9, in which Tom Cruise braves his Spam folder
All those Bond/Bourne/Hunt films about stolen lists of spies on encrypted hard drives should be about someone in HR accidentally sending a plain-text Reply-All message to everyone in the MI6 email address book with a file called "All_Our_Spies_24_final_final.xlsx" attached to it.