Tomorrow's Business Today
End of the world, delayed
The New Statesman is an admirable magazine in many ways. I prefer The Spectator because it is funnier and much more annoying.
But the prestigious mag, founded in 1913 by good folk including George Bernard Shaw, doesn’t tend to offer much by way of hope.
Things are bad. They are getting worse. We are all going to die (that last one is definitely true, but may not need pointing out too often).
A few recent headlines: If you don’t feel despair, you’re not opening your eyes. Welcome to the inferno. Why an end to economic growth is inevitable. Why Joe Biden failed. How the Kremlin is weaponising children for its propaganda.
Let’s read these pieces and gather to tell sad stories before we kill ourselves.
And yet I find myself on page 61 of the latest edition for a column called State of the Nation, highlights, it says, from the NS online data hub.
These highlights include: UK GDP growth for 2022 is expected to be higher than for any other “big” country than Canada, China and Spain. America and Germany get smashed. By us.
Our unemployment rate at 3.8% is lower than anywhere apart from Japan and the US.
Our financial and military aid for Ukraine tops everyone, by miles, apart from the US.
You can hate the present government, what is left of it, and worry about the economy and climate change.
And still conclude this: We’re really not so bad, you know.
The offerings from the PR industry that speak to this idea tend to the twee.
Tell us why we are happier and healthier than we used to be. Other people, I mean, not me.
Press release of the day
99% of retailers are worried about staff talent shortages says this from Fourth.
Some people are making career changes out of retail and some have salary expectations that are too high.
Presumably a recession that leads to a crash in sales would alleviate the situation.
Stories that will keep rolling
1) What is Charlie Nunn going to do about the Lloyd’s share price?
2) Are online shopping cutbacks hitting packaging company Smurfit Kappa?
3) Will Wizz Air make profits earlier than easyJet?
4) What’s the pound doing ahead of the Fed Reserve decision later?
