In 2013 the top 2,000 firms spending money on Research & Development included:
118 from the UK; 668 for the USA; & 119 from China....
a decade later: in the top 2,000;
63 from the UK (just above half); 681 from the USA (a small increase); and 524 from China (over four times as many).
From which we might conclude that part of the UK's economic doldrums stem from a declining interest in R&D, perhaps because UK managers are too busy feathering their own nests?
[#]productivity #investment
h/t FT
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I can see as Labour are worried about the sentiment of Gilt market traders, now every announcement of a policy will be presented as pro-growth...
So, the new 'digital wallet' that will allow driving licenses & other (newly) digital state data to be carried on a smartphone is being promoted as pro-growth.... I'll leave you to figure how that works!
[#]technology
h/t FT
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So, the Govt. has forced out the head of the Competition & Markets Authority for under-performance;
but, that's not under-performance in tackling the major oligopoly problem across so many of the UK's market sectors; no its for being insufficiently attentive to growth, and not being attentive enough to business need.
FFS, its UK's competition regulator, its not supposed to be attentive to business interests!
So, more M&A fees for Rachels friends, then & more oligopolies!
[#]economics
h/t FT
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That was a little (but not much) quicker than I thought:
Trump said in his inaugural speech that:
'Under my leadership, we will restore fair, equal & impartial justice under the constitutional rule of law'....
I thought that would be falsified before long... but it now seems on the same day one of the Executive Orders he signed is intended to reverse the 14th amendment that gives automatic citizenship to anyone born on US soil;
So much for the 'constitutional rule of law'...
[#]Trump
h/t FT
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Q. is the Tangerine Tyrant's flurry of Executive Orders everything it seems to be?
@davidallengreen warns this may be more like declaratory politics (my term, not his); as so often in contemporary politics we should wait for the sound & light of loud declarations to pass, before assessing what has actually been done!
While the EOs are generating a lot of quick commentary (I don't absolve myself from this), we might better wait to watch politics on the ground.
[#]USPol
https://emptycity.substack.com/p/looking-critically-at-trumps-flurry
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This week I've been mainly reading, no. 205.
Peter Gay's Art & Act: On Causes in History – Manet, Gropius, Mondrian (1976) explore a pluralistic approach to history (combining, psychology, craft & culture) and then apples it to the creative work of three men. Its an interesting approach, if now a lot less novel than it was in the 1970s. As a historical staging post for the social history of art it has some interest, but now (sadly) not as vital a read as it was.
[#]art #culture
@bookstodon
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For those of you with as sado-monetarists inflationary pressures bingo card, the news that wage rises edged up in the three months to last November, will be another mark on the card contributing to Andrew Bailey's continued 'regret' that they cannot continue for now any programme of cutting interest rates....
and meanwhile, as the UK continues in its economic doldrums, commentators will be doing the work to distract from the obvious key cause... BoE policy!
[#]inflation
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jan/21/uk-pay-growth-rises-interest-rates-earnings?utm_term=678f5760ed93c6c614f019125b33acd2&utm_campaign=BusinessToday&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=bustoday_email
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ProfDJ's killer cuts for your streaming shuffle, No.21
The Gladiators. Soul Rebel
Like all good covers, The Gladiators' Soul Rebel brings something of their own to this Bob Marley cover, not least a semi-dub arrangement that offers a great spacey rhythm production. Close harmonies & great lead vocals add substance to make this a little gem that still sounds great today fifty years after it was recorded.
[#]music #reggae #KillerCuts
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The only picture you need to see to understand the inauguration of the Tangerine Tyrant....
[#]USPol
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Mixed messages ahoy:
So despite some claims the increase in Gilt yields points to an existential crisis for the UK, elsewhere a survey for the WEF suggests that the UK is second only to the USA as an 'attractive country' for investment.
Of course, in both cases what we have is an over-reading of passing economic & survey data, but perhaps this should be a lesson to Reeves & Starmer to do what benefits the UK's population & worry about media commentary less?
[#]economics
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jan/20/uk-second-most-attractive-country-for-investment-survey-finds
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Meanwhile in the gig economy, workers are finding their pay being docked for no apparent reason & are excluded from bookings/work by the ap... and there is little recourse from an automated system that few understand how it works.
I've said it before, the gig economy's innovation is not technological it is a system to remove workers' rights, and exploit them, to enhance profits... this is just Victorian working practice for the new millennium!
[#]workers #GigEconomy
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jan/21/its-a-nightmare-couriers-mystified-by-the-algorithms-that-control-their-jobs
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As we know day one in the Court of the Tangerine Tyrant involved a large number of executive orders.... here's the Guardian's guide to some of the one we know about, from leaving the World Health Organisation to making civil servants easier to fire.
Welcome to the new America....
[#]USPol
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/20/tump-executive-orders-list
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Just in case you were wondering about who got to sit in the best seats at the Court of the Tangerine Tyrant.... his inauguration was attended by five of the world’s ten richest people.
But, its not quite such a simple sign of how this might play out for the ultra-rich... were they there to pledge their support, or because now to be outside the Court could be dangerous for their wealth?
(or both)
[#]POTUS47 #USpol
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Trying to improve the UK's productivity includes a central dilemma for Labour (or any Govt.):
The quick fix is to invest in London & the SE where relatively high productivity which can be (relatively) easily enhanced;
But, in the long-term radical/extensive investment in the rest of the country might offer great gains (from a low base) but would take years to come good.
The former consolidates inequality, while the latter won't have effect before an election.
[#]productivity #politics
h/t FT
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Just in case you thought Labour might stick to some form of green transition, they now seem to be favourably disposed towards expansion across three London-serving airports - Gatwick, Heathrow & Luton - all of which are looking for permission to expand their operations (in different ways).
We know the impact of flying on climate change, so saying its about supporting 'growth' by expanding passenger numbers seems misguided, at best.
Airports' lobbying seems to have succeeded!
[#]climate
h/t FT
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As the Supreme Court prepares to hear the miss-charging of car finance commissions case, Rachel Reeves has sought to intervene to shield car manufacturers from the consequences of having (potentially) broken the law.
She fears it may be costly for the sector, but while claiming not to be taking sides, she wants to protect manufacturers & (the Treasury claims) dismiss notions of variable regulation...
No, if they broke the law they should compensate these they stole from!
[#]RachelReeves
h/t FT
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Rachel Reeves will slacken off regulations on mortgage eligibility to 'boost home ownership' & this now seems to include relaxing 'stress testing for affordability' of mortgages.
As the housing crisis has been partly caused by the inflation in housing driven by slackening of mortgage limits in the past, the idea that further relaxation will raise home ownership seems nuts... its more likely to increase sub-prime lending & we have a v.g. recent example of where that leads....
[#]housing
h/t FT
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If Stuart Rose thinks people who are working at home are not really working, that may tell us more about how trustworthy he is (as an employee, even at the top level) than about staff who have been working from home and remained productive & effective....
What he really doesn't like is them being out of his sight - and if you don't trust your workforce to work away from your surveillance, then perhaps you need to look at your management relations?
[#]management #WFH
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jan/20/working-from-home-not-doing-proper-work-stuart-rose
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POTUS47, the Tangerine Tyrant has said a lot of things today, but perhaps the most likely to immediately be demonstrated to wrong will be this:
'Under my leadership, we will restore fair, equal & impartial justice under the constitutional rule of law'....
Not only does this seem unlikely, if the constitutional rule of law is maintained (or perhaps rebuilt?) it will be likely be in spite of Trump not because of him.
But time will tell....
[#]USPol
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As corridor nursing is normalised, perhaps training for it will become the thing....
[#]Health #NHS
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