Michael Steen
@michaelsteen.bsky.social
Enough social networks already. (Own views etc etc)
Reposted by Michael Steen
Americans have "Trump Always Chickens Out", in Britain we have "Farage Isn't Being Serious" - FIBS.
F.I.B.S. | Robert Hutton | The Critic Magazine
“In your case, fine.” It was Wednesday, and Nigel Farage was backing away from his Monday announcement, explaining to a caller on LBC that when he’d said people like her should be deported…
thecritic.co.uk
September 24, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Americans have "Trump Always Chickens Out", in Britain we have "Farage Isn't Being Serious" - FIBS.
Reposted by Michael Steen
We cannot make the headlines blunter people www.theverge.com/policy/77979...
September 17, 2025 at 11:30 PM
We cannot make the headlines blunter people www.theverge.com/policy/77979...
Reposted by Michael Steen
Et tu, Scott Bessent? www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Bessent, Like Fed Governor, Made Contradictory Mortgage Pledges
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent once agreed to occupy two different houses as his “principal residence” at the same time, mortgage documents show — the same kind of contradictory pledges that Pres...
www.bloomberg.com
September 17, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Et tu, Scott Bessent? www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Reposted by Michael Steen
Ah but @tobyn.bsky.social Bailey *knew* a high-spending, tax-cutting budget was coming and *that's* why he deliberately queered the pitch with his totally unnecessary QT announcement because he was a Big Lefty Keynsian out to get Liz!
Liz explains the coup www.ft.com/content/30e5...
Liz explains the coup www.ft.com/content/30e5...
Liz explains the coup
An Odd Lot
www.ft.com
September 1, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Ah but @tobyn.bsky.social Bailey *knew* a high-spending, tax-cutting budget was coming and *that's* why he deliberately queered the pitch with his totally unnecessary QT announcement because he was a Big Lefty Keynsian out to get Liz!
Liz explains the coup www.ft.com/content/30e5...
Liz explains the coup www.ft.com/content/30e5...
Reposted by Michael Steen
Good piece by @rafaelbehr.bsky.social -- someone needs to keep saying it. I've grown tired, moved on to Trumpworld, but good if the debate is coming back.
Farage’s “probity and judgment were sold as the product called Brexit. It turned out to be a piece of shit.”
And, unbelievably, this Labour govt finds itself trapped because it has refused to call this out.
What a profound - and now dangerous - political failure.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
And, unbelievably, this Labour govt finds itself trapped because it has refused to call this out.
What a profound - and now dangerous - political failure.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
There’s an obvious way to challenge Nigel Farage. But Keir Starmer won’t do it | Rafael Behr
Labour’s reluctance to name Brexit as the cause of so many problems hasn’t stopped Reform’s rise. It’s time to try the truth, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
www.theguardian.com
August 27, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Good piece by @rafaelbehr.bsky.social -- someone needs to keep saying it. I've grown tired, moved on to Trumpworld, but good if the debate is coming back.
Reposted by Michael Steen
What’s going to happen to the unsolved riddle from the sculpture in the CIA’s garden when the only person who knows the answer dies? Great long form journalism here - worth buying the FT in hard copy so you can read the magazine for this
on.ft.com/3JbOOjh
on.ft.com/3JbOOjh
Jim Sanborn has a secret
The sculptor of the CIA’s ‘Kryptos’ has spent decades guarding its last secret code. What happens when he’s gone?
on.ft.com
August 16, 2025 at 6:09 PM
What’s going to happen to the unsolved riddle from the sculpture in the CIA’s garden when the only person who knows the answer dies? Great long form journalism here - worth buying the FT in hard copy so you can read the magazine for this
on.ft.com/3JbOOjh
on.ft.com/3JbOOjh
Reposted by Michael Steen
I spent the day with Curtis Yarvin and the "dissident right" at a garden party in Surrey and wrote quite a few words about it.
My cover story for today’s FT Magazine
on.ft.com/4ooXS4t [GIFT LINK! 🎁]
My cover story for today’s FT Magazine
on.ft.com/4ooXS4t [GIFT LINK! 🎁]
Sunday at the garden party for Curtis Yarvin and the new, new right
[FREE TO READ] What you learn at a gathering of neoreactionaries, Very Online rightwingers and the formerly cancelled
on.ft.com
August 9, 2025 at 8:26 AM
I spent the day with Curtis Yarvin and the "dissident right" at a garden party in Surrey and wrote quite a few words about it.
My cover story for today’s FT Magazine
on.ft.com/4ooXS4t [GIFT LINK! 🎁]
My cover story for today’s FT Magazine
on.ft.com/4ooXS4t [GIFT LINK! 🎁]
Reposted by Michael Steen
98%
That's the decrease in the annual number of single-use plastic bags in the UK since a 5p charge started 10 years ago (it's now 10p)
Not all environmental problems are that easy to tackle, but change is possible
Resharing the Mail's 2015 splash, which has aged well
www.gov.uk/government/p...
That's the decrease in the annual number of single-use plastic bags in the UK since a 5p charge started 10 years ago (it's now 10p)
Not all environmental problems are that easy to tackle, but change is possible
Resharing the Mail's 2015 splash, which has aged well
www.gov.uk/government/p...
July 31, 2025 at 8:58 AM
98%
That's the decrease in the annual number of single-use plastic bags in the UK since a 5p charge started 10 years ago (it's now 10p)
Not all environmental problems are that easy to tackle, but change is possible
Resharing the Mail's 2015 splash, which has aged well
www.gov.uk/government/p...
That's the decrease in the annual number of single-use plastic bags in the UK since a 5p charge started 10 years ago (it's now 10p)
Not all environmental problems are that easy to tackle, but change is possible
Resharing the Mail's 2015 splash, which has aged well
www.gov.uk/government/p...
Reposted by Michael Steen
Trains from London to Frankfurt or Geneva are not impossible to do, but they are hard (and I am also perplexed - why Geneva and not Basel, as Basel looks easier)
Anyway, preliminary conclusions from my #CrossChannelRail project here: crossborderrail.trainsforeurope.eu/preliminary-...
Anyway, preliminary conclusions from my #CrossChannelRail project here: crossborderrail.trainsforeurope.eu/preliminary-...
Preliminary conclusions from my #CrossChannelRail project - #CrossBorderRail
OK, I have to face it: I bit off more than I could chew. When I conducted the research for my #CrossChannelRail Project in March and April this year I thought I would be done with the report from the ...
crossborderrail.trainsforeurope.eu
June 10, 2025 at 6:35 AM
Trains from London to Frankfurt or Geneva are not impossible to do, but they are hard (and I am also perplexed - why Geneva and not Basel, as Basel looks easier)
Anyway, preliminary conclusions from my #CrossChannelRail project here: crossborderrail.trainsforeurope.eu/preliminary-...
Anyway, preliminary conclusions from my #CrossChannelRail project here: crossborderrail.trainsforeurope.eu/preliminary-...
Old enough to remember last time this was promised (in 2010). Weird that doesn’t seem to be mentioned much.
June 10, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Old enough to remember last time this was promised (in 2010). Weird that doesn’t seem to be mentioned much.
Reposted by Michael Steen
This is a very good Trichet anecdote and surprises strongly on the upside
This reminds me of my favourite Chatham House rule story 🧵
Way back in the pre-crash boom period, Gordon Brown as Chancellor hosted one of his big global investment conferences at the QEII in London.
Muggins here, a junior Treasury official, had a cheap seat as one of the organisers…1/
Way back in the pre-crash boom period, Gordon Brown as Chancellor hosted one of his big global investment conferences at the QEII in London.
Muggins here, a junior Treasury official, had a cheap seat as one of the organisers…1/
THAT ISN'T THE CHATHAM HOUSE RULE
May 20, 2025 at 10:48 AM
This is a very good Trichet anecdote and surprises strongly on the upside
Brilliant.
Confused over who's in the running to become the next pope?
But you do have some knowledge of financial-crisis era central bankers?
This is the thread for you!
But you do have some knowledge of financial-crisis era central bankers?
This is the thread for you!
April 22, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Brilliant.
Reposted by Michael Steen
Confused over who's in the running to become the next pope?
But you do have some knowledge of financial-crisis era central bankers?
This is the thread for you!
But you do have some knowledge of financial-crisis era central bankers?
This is the thread for you!
April 22, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Confused over who's in the running to become the next pope?
But you do have some knowledge of financial-crisis era central bankers?
This is the thread for you!
But you do have some knowledge of financial-crisis era central bankers?
This is the thread for you!
Reposted by Michael Steen
It seems the potential economic effects could be particularly severe for the Netherlands
The BBC (News at Ten) has eliminated the Netherlands! It is now part of the North Sea! I am currently rowing towards Belgium, which has not (yet?) been flooded… (screenshot from LinkedIn)
April 13, 2025 at 9:35 AM
It seems the potential economic effects could be particularly severe for the Netherlands
Reposted by Michael Steen
Head for Disneyland and landup in shackles. Seems Trump nativists locking up tourists as well as would-be migrants.
www.ft.com/content/2197...
www.ft.com/content/2197...
‘I still have nightmares’: the tourists shackled and jailed for weeks at US borders
Visitors suffer hostile treatment since Donald Trump’s return to the White House
www.ft.com
March 30, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Head for Disneyland and landup in shackles. Seems Trump nativists locking up tourists as well as would-be migrants.
www.ft.com/content/2197...
www.ft.com/content/2197...
Reposted by Michael Steen
"The US has provided a steady supply of dollars to meet the liquidity needs of an expanding world economy without supplying so many as to erode confidence in their value. But if this has been true until now, US fiscal and financial woes could...push the dollar over the edge"
on.ft.com/4kM0cAz
on.ft.com/4kM0cAz
Can the dollar remain king of currencies?
The greenback’s global dominance was forged on trade, alliances and institutions — now that era is at risk of drawing to a close
on.ft.com
March 22, 2025 at 8:02 AM
"The US has provided a steady supply of dollars to meet the liquidity needs of an expanding world economy without supplying so many as to erode confidence in their value. But if this has been true until now, US fiscal and financial woes could...push the dollar over the edge"
on.ft.com/4kM0cAz
on.ft.com/4kM0cAz
Reposted by Michael Steen
Bundesbank enlists AI to prove ECB’s dovish bias
https://www.ft.com/content/bd9392a2-f7a9-4fa8-bf8d-175a48e3c6fc
https://www.ft.com/content/bd9392a2-f7a9-4fa8-bf8d-175a48e3c6fc
Bundesbank enlists AI to prove ECB’s dovish bias
Germany’s central bank compares Eurozone bank policies and rhetoric in study powered by artificial intelligence
www.ft.com
March 19, 2025 at 5:06 AM
Bundesbank enlists AI to prove ECB’s dovish bias
https://www.ft.com/content/bd9392a2-f7a9-4fa8-bf8d-175a48e3c6fc
https://www.ft.com/content/bd9392a2-f7a9-4fa8-bf8d-175a48e3c6fc
Reposted by Michael Steen
It must be really boring to be an MPC member. People only interview you about monetary policy, no one ever asks about your favourite album or if you have any holidays planned
Out overnight: Reuters' exclusive interview with Bank of England Chief Economist Huw Pill.
Top line: he's cautious about further rate cuts (which isn't a no - but means a slowish pace) due to weaknesses in the supply side of the economy and it's ability to match demand.
Other key lines here:
Top line: he's cautious about further rate cuts (which isn't a no - but means a slowish pace) due to weaknesses in the supply side of the economy and it's ability to match demand.
Other key lines here:
February 13, 2025 at 8:04 AM
It must be really boring to be an MPC member. People only interview you about monetary policy, no one ever asks about your favourite album or if you have any holidays planned
Reposted by Michael Steen
Thrilling, baffling yet energising - What fresh economic opportunities might Genghis Khan's monumental million-skull structure portend for Merv?
February 3, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Thrilling, baffling yet energising - What fresh economic opportunities might Genghis Khan's monumental million-skull structure portend for Merv?
Reposted by Michael Steen
Sorry to disturb your timeline but I've just stumbled on the one and only billion-dollar AI use case.
I'd pay for something that reads all the school emails and newsletters, logs onto the app and summarises pending homework, then puts alerts in my Google calendar about deadlines, trips and bake sales. I imagine a lot of people would, mostly women. Haven't seen a techbro pitch that idea though.
January 23, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Sorry to disturb your timeline but I've just stumbled on the one and only billion-dollar AI use case.
Reposted by Michael Steen
This is true.
At times like this a copy of a codified constitution is no more use than the instruction manual for a washing machine now strapped to a rocket and thrown into a cement mixer.
At times like this a copy of a codified constitution is no more use than the instruction manual for a washing machine now strapped to a rocket and thrown into a cement mixer.
A lot of people are explaining what Trump can and cannot do, based on the law and Constitution. The reality of the situation is that we're about to find out what legal walls and safeguards will hold and which will crumble. Right now, we don't fucking know.
January 20, 2025 at 7:23 PM
This is true.
At times like this a copy of a codified constitution is no more use than the instruction manual for a washing machine now strapped to a rocket and thrown into a cement mixer.
At times like this a copy of a codified constitution is no more use than the instruction manual for a washing machine now strapped to a rocket and thrown into a cement mixer.
This is very sad news. I spent a few years sitting on that newsdesk across from Andy. Friendly, funny and fiercely intelligent, though even typing that I sense he would not want me to say it. Also had the FT superpower of speaking very quietly. Rest in peace.
Andrew Slade, FT journalist, 1963-2025
Talented but unassuming news editor who was universally admired in the FT newsroom
www.ft.com
January 10, 2025 at 5:29 PM
This is very sad news. I spent a few years sitting on that newsdesk across from Andy. Friendly, funny and fiercely intelligent, though even typing that I sense he would not want me to say it. Also had the FT superpower of speaking very quietly. Rest in peace.
Reposted by Michael Steen
As interest in the AfD outside Germany has surged, but information seems to come from dubious sources, here are two pointers /1
January 10, 2025 at 7:00 AM
As interest in the AfD outside Germany has surged, but information seems to come from dubious sources, here are two pointers /1