Summer reading list
* Our summer reading list offers an eclectic mix of six articles to browse by the poolside.
* All are available free and online. You can save them on your iPad's reading list by opening the links on Safari and tapping on the share arrow next to the address bar. If you choose to print these articles, please use the print icons on the webpages to ensure you print the entire article.
* Tiger Woods and Roger Federer, two titans of their sport, honed their skills in very different ways. Tiger Woods started practising golf almost as soon as he could hold a club. Federer played many sports before choosing to pursue tennis. This article from The Guardian looks at the case for specialisation, and whether we have too much of it. The implications stretch beyond sports into the arts, business, finance and even medicine. This might interest parents, those pondering a career change or even those trying to prevent another financial crisis.
theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jul/12/generalise-dont-specialise-why-focusing-too-narrowly-is-bad-for-us
* For decades, thousands have flocked to the bright city lights in search of a better life. However the population of New York, for the first time in four decades outside of a recession, shrunk in 2018. The difficulty in raising a family is a key factor – people leave or are not born at all. The effects, in areas such as social attitudes, public finances and political power are diverse. This article from The Atlantic magazine looks at how, as cities change, the effects ripple right across the US.
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/where-have-all-the-children-gone/594133/
* The fact checking business is booming in a world of fake news. The proliferation of fake news in recent years has led to the rapid growth of an industry dedicated to filtering the news flow for incorrect facts. This Wired note shows how the UK firm Full Fact is having to automate to keep up with the pace of dissemination, and asks whether it really matters if you can prove something to be false.
wired.co.uk/article/fake-news-full-fact-fact-checking-news
* This thought-provoking article by the historian Adam Tooze argues that central banks need to deal with climate change with the same energy and vigour that they devoted to fighting the global financial crisis.
foreignpolicy.com/2019/07/20/why-central-banks-need-to-step-up-on-global-warming/
* This New York Times piece explores the race to rule streaming television, which has driven an uptick in content volume and opened up creative opportunities in the pacing and format of entertainment. The streaming platforms are using their unprecedented amount of data on viewership to determine what shows to invest in and shifting away from licensing content towards relying on proprietary material. The disruption of the broadcast industry is an example of how incumbents are being challenged by new business models.
nytimes.com/2019/07/10/magazine/streaming-race-netflix-hbo-hulu-amazon.html
* Children with unusually high levels of intelligence are often looked upon by others with envy. This piece from the 1843 magazines explores the difficulties that come with an unusually high IQ, and poses the question “why are so many brilliant children miserable misfits?” The author argues that intellectual prowess is often to the detriment of social capacity. The article touches on the wider question of how society and employers value both academic and emotional intelligence.
1843magazine.com/features/the-curse-of-genius
PS: A reader last week pointed out that wealth inequality has risen since the introduction of the UK’s National Minimum Wage (NMW). The NMW successfully countered income inequality, but wealth inequality has quite different causes. Profits' share of GDP has risen over recent decades while a long period of loose monetary policy has boosted asset prices. Both factors have tended to increase wealth inequality. Rising wealth inequality is a global phenomenon and the increase seen in the UK is less pronounced than in many other countries. In the UK the top one percent’s share of total personal wealth rose from 15.2% in 1988 to 19.9% in 2012.
OUR REVIEW OF LAST WEEK’S NEWS
The UK FTSE 100 equity index ended the week up 0.5% at 7,549.
Economics and business
* The IMF cut its forecast for global growth this year to 3.2% from 3.5% at the start of the year, which would be the weakest since the financial crisis
* The US grew at an annual rate of 2.1% in the second quarter, faster than expected but slower than in the first quarter
* A US budget deal was agreed, raising the debt ceiling and removing the risk of a default until 2021
* Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party won the Japanese election but he failed to achieve the super-majority needed to revise Japan’s pacifist constitution
* German manufacturing activity declined sharply this month. Separately the Ifo survey showed that business sentiment in the sector is at its most pessimistic in nine years
* European Central Bank president Mario Draghi signalled that the bank would loosen policy at its September meeting
* The Turkish central bank cut interest rates by 4.25 percentage points. The previous governor of the central bank was removed by president Erdogan for refusing to cut rates
* Nissan announced 12,500 job cuts globally in a sign of the difficulty facing the auto sector
* The UK National Institute of Economic and Social Research warned there is a one-in-four chance the UK is already in recession
* The UK has sold ten-year bonds at close to record low yields of 0.79% as investors seek safe assets and expect falling interest rates
* The US Department of Justice announced a new antitrust investigation of online platforms in social media, search and retail
* The EU is planning a Digital Services Act which will compel tech companies to remove illegal content or face penalties
* The world cup of the popular video game Fortnite took place with a total prize pool of $30 million. The top prize of $3 million exceeds that of the Wimbledon singles finals
Brexit and European politics
* Boris Johnson won the Conservative Party leadership contest to become UK prime minister. He promised to leave the EU on 31st October “no ifs or buts”
* Mr Johnson called for the removal of the backstop relating to the Irish border. The EU deemed this “unacceptable”
* Mr Johnson appointed former home secretary Sajid Javid as chancellor, Priti Patel as home secretary and Dominic Raab as foreign secretary
* Mr Johnson’s appointments were broadly all supporters of the leave campaign in 2016 with former cabinet members strongly opposed to a no-deal Brexit resigning or being sacked. Many former ministers pledged to continue their opposition to no-deal from the back benches, highlighting the challenge facing the new prime minister
* Jo Swinson was elected as leader of the pro-remain Liberal Democrats
* The IMF warned that a disorderly Brexit posed a threat to global growth
And finally… a 33-year-old man wanted by the police for not attending court was not overly enamoured with the custody mugshot of him posted by the Lincolnshire Reporter in an appeal as to his whereabouts. He therefore sent in his preferred picture which he said would give people a better chance of finding him – smooth criminal