Rachael McKelvey

• Interest rates, 15^th times the charm
• Flick your cigarette butts into the “economic bin-fire”
• The Murdoch Empire: The one where Kendal Roy gets the company
• Airlines are just banks now
• FTX was keeping it in the family

Interest rates, 15^th times the charm
On Thursday the Bank of England finally decided to stick rather than twist on interest rates and held the rate at 5.25% but only after a knife-edge vote that saw the Governor himself, Andrew Bailey, stepping in to cast the deciding vote with the Monetary Policy Committee split 5 to 4 in favour of leaving the rate unchanged.

The rationale behind the decision indicate they want to leave the interest rate at 5.25% for some time to help reduce inflation, a decision heavily influenced by the better-than-expected inflation data from August that looks like the economy might be ready to turn a corner.

With rates now staying higher for longer, it means that you and I will need to start pricing that rate into the decisions of our daily lives without the expectation that it will fall.

Flick your cigarette butts into the “economic bin-fire”
A source close to the Government has said that Rishi Sunak is considering banning cigarettes for the next generation in a similar move to that adopted in New Zealand last year that would in effect ban the sale to the next generation by gradually increasing the smoking age.

A government spokesperson said “We want to encourage more people to quit and meet our ambition to be smoke-free by 2030, which is why we have already taken steps to reduce smoking rates. This includes providing 1 million smokers in England with free vape kits via our world-first ‘swap to stop’ scheme, launching a voucher scheme to incentivise pregnant women to quit, and consulting on mandatory cigarette pack inserts.”

This was all part of the plans unveiled under the tag line “long term decisions for a brighter future” that somehow involves rolling back on net zero targets, scrapping HS2, charging £10 for missing GP and hospital appointments and sweeping cuts to the welfare system. Stoking the “economic bin-fire” is certainly one way to make things brighter I guess.

The Murdoch Empire: The one where Kendal Roy did get the company
At the ripe old age of 92, Rupert Murdoch has finally announced he is stepping down as chair of Fox and New Corp in November, meaning Lachlan Murdoch, will become the sole chairman of News Corporation and Fox Corporation. In Murdochs memo to all staff he announced that “the time is right for me to take on different roles” along with the sinister line that “I will be watching with a critical eye and reaching out to you with thoughts, ideas and advice”. Good luck to all remaining employees that think this might be the turning of the tide.

While famously not Succession, his split from Jerry Hall was allegedly caused by his relentless asking if she was leaking stories to the writers and given the history behind the appointment of Lachlan you can understand why…His daughters don’t get a look in because they’re girls and despite James being primed for the role and being the face of the Phone Hacking scandal, that cost the group millions, he stepped away shortly after because he did not like the right wing stance of the papers.

Despite owning both the Sun and The Times, it’s the latter is the most valuable but Lachlan has no interest in the British Press, so let’s see what happens to our political and journalist landscape.

Airlines are just banks now
There was an interesting article by Ganesh Sitaraman in the Atlantic this week about how Airlines are just banks now in that they really do make more money from their frequent-flier mileage schemes than they do from actually flying planes and it’s an interesting notion.

The origin of frequent-flier incentives seems so far removed from the current reality, originally aimed at created equity amongst passages whether you booked in advance or at the last minute they are now all exclusively based on the value of money spent rather than the number of miles travelled.

Propped up by the introduction of fare classes and partnering with major banks to facilitate, which in the moment may incentivise you spend more because in the long run I could save more, but the airlines are effectively creating a point, of zero value and selling to you in exchange for actual money. The article definitely served its purpose, I have added Sitaraman’s book Why Flying Is Miserable – And How to Fix It to be my TBR list when it comes out in November.

FTX was keeping it in the family
The new management of collapsed crypto exchange FTX are suing Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents over ‘misappropriated funds’…apparently siphoning off funds to their charitable causes. Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried are both tenured professors at Stanford Law School allegedly also lavished gifts on family and friends and made a donation in the millions to the a super Pac co-founded by Fried to help the Democrats win office in 2020.

Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested last December and at the time claimed his parents were not involved in the business at all and while not being charged with a crime FTX are looking to recoup funds from those involved in the entity’s downfall. The couple have issued a joint statement with their lawyer stating “This is a dangerous attempt to intimidate Joe and Barbara and undermine the jury process just days before their child’s trial begins’ claiming the allocations as “completely false”. I cannot wait to see how this turns out.

Current watch: The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart – One usually to go for the book before the series, but in this case I couldn’t wait, this series is absolutely beautiful. The subject matter is brutal, from start to finish, there is no let up in the impact of male violence against women, of all ages. It isn’t always comfortable watching but Sigourney Weaver is superb prickly matriarch and the aesthetic just wraps it up beautifully. No spoilers here.

Current read: Humans: A Brief History of How We F*cked It All Up by Tom Phillips – Sometimes you just need to remember how daft it all is and how daft we all are, and this book is perfect for that! Think you messed something up, this book will politely remind you that several thousand years of humanity across the world that someone has already held that beer. I learnt things, I laughed, and I cringed because why do we never learn! I’m not a keen history fan unless the learning is presented with some light humour, this book felt like the funny side to Sapiens.

Most Impactful Listen: Trendy – Liz Truss returns and why young people want lower taxes – Trendy is a new offering from Tortoise Media, who do news slightly different, a little slower and more considered and this podcast is no exception. The dynamic between Sir John Curtice, one of the best pollsters in Britain and Rachel Wolf a former Downing Street adviser is a great on so many levels. They both tackle the issues from both a progressive and critical perspective. While the issues in this episode might not be your thing, I definitely found the take refreshing and will be listening again.