Tomorrow's Business Today
Lexit Larry, stage left
A fond farewell to Larry Elliott, standing down as The Guardian economics editor after 28 years.
Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey paid rightful tribute to the scribe last week, thanking him for his contribution to economics journalism.
For those of us who liked to dabble in economics, reading Elliott was a) vital b) reason to write about something else.
He’d already said it, but better.
In person, Elliott is quiet, respectful, but barely hiding a mischievous streak that definitely extended to new colleagues.
His favourite stunt to test out new reporters who said they liked football was to ask them to name who the substitutes were when England won the World Cup Final against West Germany in 1966.
It was a trick question. There were no subs.
Elliott was an outlier even at The Guardian, since he often declined to take the company view.
He was a vocal supporter of Brexit and got occasional space in the paper to explain why.
This mystified readers (and editors) who assumed only quasi-racists would side with Nigel Farage on this issue.
Elliott is a Lexiteer, he’s coming at it from the point of view that the EU is just bad news for most people.
He now plans to spend more time watching Sussex play cricket and Tottenham play football, we assume.
Maybe he should do another book.
The Gods That Failed about how blind faith in markets is a dire mistake, written with friend Dan Atkinson, is superb.
Again, please.
In today’s paper he offers the seven lessons he has learned as economics editor.
It is better that you read it yourself, but as a description of where we are, and his own paper’s partial role in getting there, it can’t be bettered.
On Brexit, he is unmoved.
“As The Guardian’s resident Eurosceptic, I have to say I have never seen anything especially attractive in the EU’s economic model. Nor can the project of ever-closer union remotely be called a success. The EU is sclerotic and seething with voter rage at the inability of its governments to raise living standards or control immigration.”
On the wider woes of the left, try this: “Trump’s victory last week shows what happens when the left first abandons its natural supporters and then tells them what to think and behave…Those at the sharp end of economic failure looked to parties of the left for answers to their concerns: low pay, job insecurity, run-down public services, a fear of crime, the consequences of mass immigration. What they got instead were lectures about the need to eat better, smoke and drink less, and to stop being such bigots.“
The good news is that Larry will still have a regular column.
And that the excellent Heather Stewart is replacing him as economics editor.
Still, across town, a big hole is opening up in the way UK economics is covered.
Please send candidates for press release of the day to: Simon.english@roxhillmedia.com
Press release of the day
A good run down of the woes facing Asda from industry veteran Clive Black of Shore Capital.
He says the company needs to go back to basics.
Black writes: “John Major’s infamous phrase always requires some consideration of what is usually a chaotic context. And so, it is the case with Asda where, frankly, the challenges of the firm and its market outmatched the entrepreneurial drive and skill of Moshin Issa, leading to a material deterioration in operational and so financial performance.”
Stories that will keep rolling
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