Originally published May 2021. “Vino treba slugu, a ne gospodara” (A vineyard needs a servant, not a master). This old Croatian saying, which has been handed down by winemaking families for centuries entails the single most important truth about wine making: it’s darn hard work handling a vineyard year-round in order to arrive at a […]
Global
Energy and coal
Achieving net zero emissions has a long way to go. Some of the historical events accentuating the recent decade is the threat of pandemics and the urgency towards embracing common environment policies. Both points have either shaped or affected in various ways our current and future economic outlook. The expectation that the coronavirus rampage is […]
A suddenly older man scans life’s romance
Musings from one of America’s foremost commentators. I turned 79 a week ago and I’m quite satisfied with the promotion. I celebrated with lunch with five friends at an outdoor restaurant under a canopy on a perfect summer afternoon and in memory of my frugal parents, I ordered the most expensive wines and the Lord, […]
Not all inflationistas wear flares
Investors have divided into two camps. Those who believe inflation will subside and the rise in prices will prove temporary, and others who fear we are entering a period of high sustained inflation reminiscent of the 1970s. We consider both scenarios unlikely. Overlay the bottom chart on the top and you would be forgiven for […]
On COP: COP on
On Wednesday, I travelled hopefully to COP26 – looking forward to the delights of the LNER high speed, low carbon, full fat English breakfast. My best laid plans went awry as LNER cancelled and the much-delayed trip left most of us standing for four hours sustained by a bag of crisps and a recycled plastic […]
We can’t afford to just build greener
We must build less. As the built environment takes centre stage at COP26, the scale and urgency of the climate crisis and of the industry’s responsibility to address it comes into focus. A recent report from the UN’s Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction shows that the buildings and construction sector is responsible for 38% of global CO2 emissions. Increasing […]
Should you pay the ransom?
Originally published September 2021. Without cyber insurance your business is vulnerable. An IT department received an email from their marketing team stating that they couldn’t access their files mounted on the file-share server. All file extensions on that drive had been renamed and encrypted with the Phobos ransomware. What came next could only be described by […]
A truth about language
Words embody more than just letters. I have, until recently, been committing a thoroughly modern crime: putting full stops at the end of texts. My children alerted me to the transgression. A full stop is, apparently, ‘aggressive’, because it is ‘conclusive and therefore shuts down the conversation’. Texts should end ‘like this xx’ not ‘like this. […]
Property investment: is it still worth it?
An understanding of people is the answer to this question. It’s funny how the past two years have changed our perception of life. Although this article is about the pricing of rents and capital values of property assets, first I’m going to talk about the everyday things that we have all experienced during the past […]
An open letter to a candidate for political office
Ms Shrina Kurani, On 30 October I received from you a blast email requesting that I contribute to your political campaign. For reasons explained below, I’ll not do so. (The one and only time that I contributed money to a candidate for political office was 25 years ago and that was to a friend who ran […]