Simon Wilson

1 month ago | moneyweek.com | Simon Wilson

Just 12 short months ago, the then-US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen made a trip to Beijing to deliver the message that the world’s biggest economy had no wish to decouple from the world’s second, its biggest trading partner. “Our two economies are deeply integrated, and a wholesale separation would be disastrous for both,” Yellen assured her hosts. Fast forward a year, and Donald Trump has imposed a 145% tariff on Chinese imports.

1 month ago | moneyweek.com | Simon Wilson

Has British Steel been nationalised? Not quite. Earlier this month, the government passed an emergency law to take operational control of the company, but it doesn’t actually own it. That’s an uneasy, temporary solution to a chronic problem, and it’s not yet clear whether the state will find a willing buyer – or at least someone who’ll pay a nominal sum to take on the bulk of British Steel’s debt pile and operating losses – or whether full state ownership beckons.

1 month ago | moneyweek.com | Simon Wilson

What’s going on in Birmingham? The rubbish continues to pile up in the streets – to the disgust of residents and the delight of the local rat population – as the city’s binmen last week rejected the latest pay offer from the municipal authorities. It’s an intractable row, with no immediate resolution in sight. But what’s getting lost in all the media coverage, says Ross Clark in The Spectator, is a clear-eyed view of what caused the stand-off.

1 month ago | moneyweek.com | Simon Wilson

Is it possible to colonise Mars? In 1964, Nasa’s uncrewed Mariner 4 spacecraft made its first successful fly-by of Mars. Then, in July 1976, a craft (Viking 1) made the first successful landing on its surface. In the half-century since, many similar missions have been accomplished, and some have failed. But as yet, no crewed mission has been attempted. Various visionaries have long wanted to change that. The late Stephen Hawking is one. SpaceX’s Elon Musk famously has Mars in his sights.

1 month ago | moneyweek.com | Simon Wilson

Is UK energy really dearer? It is. Last week saw an “awful April” jump in the price cap on domestic energy bills. That’s bad enough. But the deeper fear is that the UK’s continuing high energy costs are crippling whole sectors of the economy – notably manufacturing – and posing a clear threat to future national prosperity. In the US in 2023 (the last full year for which reliable figures are available), one kilowatt hour of industrial electricity cost about 6.5p. For Sweden, the figure was 8p.