William Wright
@williamw1.bsky.social
Founder of think tank New Financial. Bigger & better capital markets in Europe. ‘Top City wonk’ - CityAM. Expert on the decline of ties - Daily Mail
Reposted by William Wright
I simply do not understand how the govt can simultaneously believe (1) they don’t have enough political capital to breach the manifesto on tax and (2) they have enough to political capital to pick an unwinnable fight with their own MPs on immigration.
November 17, 2025 at 11:01 AM
I simply do not understand how the govt can simultaneously believe (1) they don’t have enough political capital to breach the manifesto on tax and (2) they have enough to political capital to pick an unwinnable fight with their own MPs on immigration.
It's that time of year when every company I have ever bought something from online decides to ignore GDPR and send me a Christmas marketing email anyway...
November 17, 2025 at 11:17 AM
It's that time of year when every company I have ever bought something from online decides to ignore GDPR and send me a Christmas marketing email anyway...
I’m old enough to remember when beating Australia at rugby was a big deal
November 15, 2025 at 9:48 PM
I’m old enough to remember when beating Australia at rugby was a big deal
That emergency budget in July 2024 when the government announced that things were a lot worse than they thought, reversed half of the cuts to employee NI, and added a 1p NHS levy to income tax seems a very long time ago.
November 14, 2025 at 9:11 AM
That emergency budget in July 2024 when the government announced that things were a lot worse than they thought, reversed half of the cuts to employee NI, and added a 1p NHS levy to income tax seems a very long time ago.
Reposted by William Wright
Serious economists think that the cost of Brexit is bigger than the OBR say. 6% of £3000bn is £180bn, about £500m a DAY.
Synthetic controls with a heavy weight on the US always worry me a little, but this is a careful bit of work from Nick Bloom and co with (as I see it) two big implications
1. They put the Brexit hit to GDP at 6-8%..!
2. Their measure of the damage hasn't bottomed out yet
www.nber.org/papers/w34459
1. They put the Brexit hit to GDP at 6-8%..!
2. Their measure of the damage hasn't bottomed out yet
www.nber.org/papers/w34459
November 13, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Serious economists think that the cost of Brexit is bigger than the OBR say. 6% of £3000bn is £180bn, about £500m a DAY.
Reposted by William Wright
Cooking something that seems plausible, only to realise you haven't thought things through? My latest Recipe For Disaster is David Cameron's Porcine Pasta.
Recipes for disaster: David Cameron's porcine pasta
Politicians making a meal of it. This week: David Cameron's porcine pasta
www.politicshome.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Cooking something that seems plausible, only to realise you haven't thought things through? My latest Recipe For Disaster is David Cameron's Porcine Pasta.
Reposted by William Wright
The fact that the BBC has made serious culpable errors does not negate the point that there is a real and concerted right-wing media campaign to destroy it. Both points can be true at the same time and the campaign would not end even if the errors did.
November 10, 2025 at 1:08 PM
The fact that the BBC has made serious culpable errors does not negate the point that there is a real and concerted right-wing media campaign to destroy it. Both points can be true at the same time and the campaign would not end even if the errors did.
It’s marvellous that in his memo to the BBC board on his concerns over bias and inaccuracy, Michael Prescott appears to have accidentally been inaccurate in claiming that he ‘served as the political editor of The Sunday Times for 10 years’ when he didn’t archive.ph/mJIsB
November 10, 2025 at 7:41 PM
It’s marvellous that in his memo to the BBC board on his concerns over bias and inaccuracy, Michael Prescott appears to have accidentally been inaccurate in claiming that he ‘served as the political editor of The Sunday Times for 10 years’ when he didn’t archive.ph/mJIsB
This is appalling
Plaques commemorating Black WWII soldiers fighting against Nazi Germany have been removed from a U.S. military cemetery in the Netherlands —Newsweek
November 10, 2025 at 7:17 PM
This is appalling
Remembering my father and the father he never knew
November 9, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Remembering my father and the father he never knew
Reposted by William Wright
Wishing only continued excellent health to inspirational 94 year old artist Bridget Riley on.ft.com/43ZrQTM
Bridget Riley: ‘I want my paintings to make people feel alive’
[FREE TO READ] The 94-year-old doyenne of British abstract art on influences from Seurat to Mondrian, her wartime childhood in Cornwall — and ‘the healing power of looking’
on.ft.com
November 7, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Wishing only continued excellent health to inspirational 94 year old artist Bridget Riley on.ft.com/43ZrQTM
Reposted by William Wright
It's up! At the FT, I talk about regulators and their different philosophical approaches www.ft.com/content/b12c...
Numbers vs more judgment: the US-Europe regulatory divide widens
Cuts to the Fed’s supervisory staff reflect a particularly American approach to financial oversight
www.ft.com
November 7, 2025 at 9:20 AM
It's up! At the FT, I talk about regulators and their different philosophical approaches www.ft.com/content/b12c...
Reposted by William Wright
NEW: The End of the Line: the centrepiece of Saudi Arabia’s Neom gigaproject - a 500m tall, 170km long wall-like building intended ultimately to house 9 million people - can’t get out of the ground, say more than 20 former Neom architects, engineers and senior executives.
ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
End of The Line: how Saudi Arabia’s Neom dream unravelled
Mohammed bin Salman’s utopian city was undone by the laws of physics and finance
ig.ft.com
November 6, 2025 at 6:56 AM
NEW: The End of the Line: the centrepiece of Saudi Arabia’s Neom gigaproject - a 500m tall, 170km long wall-like building intended ultimately to house 9 million people - can’t get out of the ground, say more than 20 former Neom architects, engineers and senior executives.
ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
Late to this but I really enjoyed talking with my old colleague Richard on how Brexit and the City has contributed to the UK's productivity problem:
‘The money machine is misfiring’: City blames Brexit for UK’s £20bn productivity headache
How Brexit hit the London and UK finance exports - landing Rachel Reeves with her bigger-than-forecast budget spending gap
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
How Brexit hit the London and UK finance exports - landing Rachel Reeves with her bigger-than-forecast budget spending gap
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
‘The money machine is misfiring’: City blames Brexit for UK’s £20bn productivity headache
Poor output since the leave vote has landed Rachel Reeves with a bigger-than-forecast budget spending gap
www.theguardian.com
November 6, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Late to this but I really enjoyed talking with my old colleague Richard on how Brexit and the City has contributed to the UK's productivity problem:
Reposted by William Wright
Imagine doing ANYTHING AT ALL and constantly interrupting it every two minutes to ask everyone around you “do you like me? Is this ok? Please like me! Should I do something completely different so you like me more? I will ask you again next week shall I?”
That’s what government by focus group is.
That’s what government by focus group is.
November 5, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Imagine doing ANYTHING AT ALL and constantly interrupting it every two minutes to ask everyone around you “do you like me? Is this ok? Please like me! Should I do something completely different so you like me more? I will ask you again next week shall I?”
That’s what government by focus group is.
That’s what government by focus group is.
Reposted by William Wright
The options are: broad based tax rises and good public services; no tax rises and acceptance that the state does meaningfully less; or keep promising someone else can pay, failing, and populists winning and making everything much worse.
November 3, 2025 at 9:19 AM
The options are: broad based tax rises and good public services; no tax rises and acceptance that the state does meaningfully less; or keep promising someone else can pay, failing, and populists winning and making everything much worse.
Reposted by William Wright
Peter Gurney cleared or detonated thousands of unexploded munitions in his 40-year career. His working kit was principally medical scalpels, a ball of string, fish-hooks and garden secateurs
Against all odds, Peter Gurney loved his work
The bomb-disposal mastermind died (peacefully) on September 19th, aged 93
econ.st
November 3, 2025 at 1:00 AM
Peter Gurney cleared or detonated thousands of unexploded munitions in his 40-year career. His working kit was principally medical scalpels, a ball of string, fish-hooks and garden secateurs
Reposted by William Wright
This is the most fun thing you can read today: @jayrayner1.bsky.social on the memoirs of three very different restaurateurs. Gift link free for 300 clicks on.ft.com/4qx0yhn
It’s not about the food — the secret of a great restaurant
[FREE TO READ] Is entrepreneurship plus celebrity the recipe for success? Jay Rayner on restaurateurs’ memoirs, from The Ivy’s Jeremy King to Drew Nieporent’s venture with Robert De Niro
on.ft.com
October 29, 2025 at 10:08 AM
This is the most fun thing you can read today: @jayrayner1.bsky.social on the memoirs of three very different restaurateurs. Gift link free for 300 clicks on.ft.com/4qx0yhn
Reposted by William Wright
This is an interesting piece but I just read it going “the missing bit is the section on how the internet has fried everyone’s brains”.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Buxton: Why one small town with very little immigration turned to Reform UK
How national concerns affected a local election in the heart of the Peak District.
www.bbc.com
October 28, 2025 at 8:26 AM
This is an interesting piece but I just read it going “the missing bit is the section on how the internet has fried everyone’s brains”.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Reposted by William Wright
"hi I'm calling about the 2 bed flat in St. Albans......is there any movement on the price?" www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/1...
Check out this 2 bedroom apartment for sale on Rightmove
2 bedroom apartment for sale in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 for £44,650,000. Marketed by TK Property Group Ltd, Covering Manchester
www.rightmove.co.uk
October 27, 2025 at 7:36 PM
"hi I'm calling about the 2 bed flat in St. Albans......is there any movement on the price?" www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/1...
Reposted by William Wright
What’s that you say? You’re looking for a few thousand words on European equity market structure? Well, do I have a treat for you! www.newfinancial.org/reports/the-...
The future of European equity market structure
October 2025
www.newfinancial.org
October 27, 2025 at 4:44 PM
What’s that you say? You’re looking for a few thousand words on European equity market structure? Well, do I have a treat for you! www.newfinancial.org/reports/the-...
Watching Taskmaster and my wife said Maisie Adam looks like Ryan Gosling and now I can’t unsee it
October 25, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Watching Taskmaster and my wife said Maisie Adam looks like Ryan Gosling and now I can’t unsee it
It's almost as if a retail share offering last year of the government's remaining stake in NatWest would have been a good idea
www.ft.com/content/0a55...
www.ft.com/content/0a55...
NatWest shares hit 15-year high on profit surge
Investors buoyed by guidance upgrade and thirty per cent rise in profits
www.ft.com
October 24, 2025 at 12:01 PM
It's almost as if a retail share offering last year of the government's remaining stake in NatWest would have been a good idea
www.ft.com/content/0a55...
www.ft.com/content/0a55...