By SIMON CONSTABLE
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Question 4 OF 10
Electric vehicles are generally heavier than gasoline-powered cars and light trucks, largely because of the weight of their batteries. That means their tires wear out faster. How much faster?
A) 10%
B) 20%
C) 30%
D) 40%
E) 50%
Find the answers here: https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/electric-vehicle-quiz-ea7247f3
By SIMON CONSTABLE
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#France: The cost of energy. The Rwanda Bill. Simon Constable, Occitanie
https://www.ft.com/content/5e7591b2-87c2-4ea3-8922-ee7a4c8c7913
By SIMON CONSTABLE
First question: Which country leads the way in EVs? Read more here.
By SIMON CONSTABLE
A record number of UK residents have dropped out of the workforce for medical reasons. How to get them back. Read more here.
By SIMON CONSTABLE
By SIMON CONSTABLE
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Photo credit: Robin Horsfall
The intro is a shortened version of a clip by Richard Wagner, EEF OAL-1, licensed via Wikimedia Commons, performed by:
Conductor: James Allen Gähres
Ensemble: Ulm Philharmonic
Location: CCU Einsteinsaal, Ulm
Opera: The Valkyrie (Die Walküre)
Movement: Prelude from Act 3
Date 3 June 2014
The horn sound is Horn of Tokyo Metro 6000 series circa 1969
SourceTrainz addons file by JIRCTRAINZ?
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
The thunderclap outro is a shortened version of a clip by Jonathan Hunt, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
By SIMON CONSTABLE
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John and I discuss the pending food shortages that will cost the poor disproportionately, as detailed in my recent column for Briefings Magazine.
That and more. Listen here.
By SIMON CONSTABLE
For much of history, a bad harvest could be the difference between life and death. Fortunately, since World War II, grain production has generally kept pace with the global population. But over the past five years, reserves of corn, wheat, and soybeans have dwindled by up to 11 percent, spurring a double-digit price increase worldwide. Two major drivers of the increase are severe weather, which has caused crop destruction, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has created interruptions in food production. All of this might sound bad, but it may only be the warm-up for something worse. Read more here.
FINANCIAL FLASHBACK
A look back at Wall Street Journal headlines from this month in history
By Simon Constable
• 30 YEARS AGO: Kidder Discloses Scam in Bonds, Fires Top Trader
In April 1994, investment bank Kidder Peabody accused its chief government-bond trader, Joseph Jett, of scamming the company. The affair added to the company’s already tarnished reputation, which had resulted from Wall Street’s insider-trading scandals less than a decade before.
Jett had allegedly created false profits of $350 million to help boost his bonus to more than $9 million. He was accused of doing so by trading in so-called Treasury strips, or zero-coupon fixed-income securities, temporarily producing phantom profits.
The storm around Jett, who was dismissed by Kidder, came after the insider-trading troubles in 1986. Then, arbitrager Ivan Boesky was accused of insider dealing or trading on nonpublic information, by joining with a Kidder investment banker. Read more here.
By SIMON CONSTABLE
Entrepreneur and company director Alan Quinn joins us today for an update on Scotland’s economic, social, and legal malaise. Notably, we touch on the new hate crime laws in Scotland, which can mean a prison stay of up to seven years in prison. Author JK Rowling has already asked the police to arrest her after she described several transgender women as men.
We also discuss the increasingly dire government-caused housing crisis in Scotland, and the contrast in efforts by Glasgow and Aberdeen’s local councils in fostering business growth.
BBC story on the Scottish hate laws and JK Rowling’s response is here or c51j64lk2l8o.
Guardian story on the likely temporary relief from rent control, and how it will almost-certainly lead to massive increases in rent costs is here or https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/feb/11/tenants-scotland-face-big-rent-rises-mass-evictions-from-april-emergency-protections-expire.
The intro is a shortened version of a clip by Richard Wagner, EEF OAL-1, licensed via Wikimedia Commons, performed by:
Conductor: James Allen Gähres
Ensemble: Ulm Philharmonic
Location: CCU Einsteinsaal, Ulm
Opera: The Valkyrie (Die Walküre)
Movement: Prelude from Act 3
Date 3 June 2014
The thunderclap outro is a shortened version of a clip by Jonathan Hunt, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
By SIMON CONSTABLE
US firms are using big pay packages to tempt British CEOs. ‘It’s not a good trend.’ Read more here.
By SIMON CONSTABLE
There’s bad news ahead for the global economy if Western powers cannot stop the Iran-backed Houthi rebels from threatening commercial shipping in the Red Sea, a recent report states.
Under a pessimistic but theoretical scenario world GDP drops by 0.4% this year, according to a paper from the Washington DC-based Institute for International Finance.
It warns of the need for the West to defeat or contain Houthi rebels who are attacking shipments heading towards the Suez Canal. Read more here.
By SIMON CONSTABLE
Pop quiz for savvy investors.
If you could go back six months and make a single trade what would you invest in?
Chip company Nvidia (NVDA) specializes in advanced artificial intelligence. It’s Wall Street’s latest craze, and the AI world is sure to grow and change the global economy.
Or Bitcoin
Or would you head to the futures exchange and purchase gobs of cocoa contracts? Cocoa is the key ingredient in chocolate. Read more here.
By SIMON CONSTABLE
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Conductor: James Allen GähresEnsemble: Ulm PhilharmonicLocation: CCU Einsteinsaal, UlmOpera: The Valkyrie (Die Walküre)Movement: Prelude from Act 3Date 3 June 2014
By SIMON CONSTABLE
Photo description: The Duke of Kent shakes hands with a BOAC pilot as he prepares to board Consolidated Liberator Mark I, AM261, of Ferry Command, for his journey from Prestwick, Scotland, to Canada. This was the first occasion on which a member of the Royal Family crossed the Atlantic by aircraft. Photo credit: Royal Air Force official photographer, Woodbine, G (Mr), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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Lee Cohen, an expert on the British royals and the UK-US relationship, makes his debut on Constable Confidential. We discuss the contrast between how Prince Edward and his wife Sophie behave versus Prince Harry and Megan. Plus, we look deeper at the anti-UK sentiment from the White House.
Read more of Cohen’s thoughts on the royals here. Plus this piece on the Netflix deal with the Sussexes here.
The intro is a shortened version of a clip by Richard Wagner, EEF OAL-1, licensed via Wikimedia Commons, performed by:
Conductor: James Allen Gähres
Ensemble: Ulm Philharmonic
Location: CCU Einsteinsaal, Ulm
Opera: The Valkyrie (Die Walküre)
Movement: Prelude from Act 3
Date 3 June 2014
The thunderclap outro is a shortened version of a clip by Jonathan Hunt, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
By SIMON CONSTABLE
Women now account for 35% of new retail CEOs in Britain. Will the percentage keep nudging upward? Read more here.
By SIMON CONSTABLE
If President Joe Biden wins another term in the White House and both houses of Congress go to the Democrats, then that would likely be the worst possible outcome for U.S. stockholders, according to a new report.
“A Democratic sweep would likely be the most negative outcome for equity markets primarily due to a higher probability of higher corporate tax rates,” the research note from Swiss-based bank UBS states. Read more here.
BY SIMON CONSTABLE
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Photo description: An accident on Savy Aerodrome during the German offensive. A powerful factor in weakening the German thrust across the old Somme battlefield was the continuous bombing by British aircraft.WWI
Photo credit: Australian War Memorial collection, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
Ian Fraser, author of "Shredded: Inside RBS, The Bank That Broke Britain," joins us for his CONSTABLE CONFIDENTIAL debut. We discuss what Fraser describes as a culture that lost its soul and never got it back, is soon to be sold back to the UK public after being bailed out by the British taxpayer. Fraser explains the bizarre logic behind this news and analyses some recent problems for the bank that has now changed its name to NatWest. We also point out that the Scottish economy shrank significantly in the last quarter of 2023, which Fraser says wasn't much covered by the Scottish press.
Photo description: An accident on Savy Aerodrome during the German offensive. A powerful factor in weakening the German thrust across the old Somme battlefield was the continuous bombing by British aircraft.WWI
Photo credit: Australian War Memorial collection, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
The intro is a shortened version of a clip by Richard Wagner, EEF OAL-1, licensed via Wikimedia Commons, performed by:
Conductor: James Allen Gähres
Ensemble: Ulm Philharmonic
Location: CCU Einsteinsaal, Ulm
Opera: The Valkyrie (Die Walküre)
Movement: Prelude from Act 3
Date 3 June 2014
The thunderclap outro is a shortened version of a clip by Jonathan Hunt, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
By SIMON CONSTABLE
Listen here.
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Distinguished Middle East analyst Ben Weinthal joins us again from Jerusalem, where he writes for Fox News Digital, the Jerusalem Post, and the Middle East Forum.
This week, we discuss the record-breaking levels of antisemitism around the world, plus the efforts of the U.S. administration to release frozen money to Iran while at the same time sending the U.S. Navy to build a temporary port on the Gaza Strip's coastline to help deliver humanitarian relief to refugees. That port will be simultaneously be close to a recent mega find of 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves at the eastern end of the Med.
Isabel Vincent's piece from the New York Post
https://nypost.com/2024/03/13/us-news/fire-princeton-professor-who-helped-irans-terror-campaign/
Ben's pieces from Fox News digital
https://www.foxnews.com/world/biden-admin-under-pressure-stop-billions-dollars-sanctions-relief-iran
The intro is a shortened version of a clip by Richard Wagner, EEF OAL-1, licensed via Wikimedia Commons, performed by:
Conductor: James Allen Gähres
Ensemble: Ulm Philharmonic
Location: CCU Einsteinsaal, Ulm
Opera: The Valkyrie (Die Walküre)
Movement: Prelude from Act 3
Date 3 June 2014
The thunderclap outro is a shortened version of a clip by Jonathan Hunt, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
By SIMON CONSTABLE
Who is considered the first hacker? When did the first denial-of-service attack occur? Test yourself on these and other questions with this quiz. Read more here.
Listen here.
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By SIMON CONSTABLE
Glasgow-based entrepreneur and businessman Alan Quinn joins us for this episode of CONSTABLE CONFIDENTIAL to discuss the latest efforts by local government to impose more living costs on already cash-strapped people. Notably, this involves ultra-high car parking charges in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, and Scotland's largest city, Glasgow.
We also get Quinn's view on where the Scottish votes will fall in the forthcoming general election.
To ensure you don't miss any episodes, I suggest you sign up for my MailChimp newsletter which contains links to the newest CC podcasts.
Listen here.
Photo description: A cropped version of express trains leaving Edinburgh for Aberdeen and Glasgow.
Photo credit: Ben Brooksbank, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Forbes.com story about the rising car parking fees in Edinburgh
The intro is a shortened version of a clip by Richard Wagner, EEF OAL-1, licensed via Wikimedia Commons, performed by:
Conductor: James Allen Gähres
Ensemble: Ulm Philharmonic
Location: CCU Einsteinsaal, Ulm
Opera: The Valkyrie (Die Walküre)
Movement: Prelude from Act 3
Date 3 June 2014
The thunderclap outro is a shortened version of a clip by Jonathan Hunt, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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