Very much enjoyed this (in my print copy). Exactly the kind of thing we need in the UK's only magazine.

I am assuming, of course, that they don't really care about the underlying issue/moral panic itself, only instrumentalising it for their own gain and power. How cynical of me. Apols.

They may have read it already. The Streisand effect benefits those politicians. It amplifies their own messaging against the thing they are indirectly promoting. Just like when anti-immigration parties in government preside over immigration crisis and still benefit from anti-immigrant sentiment.

Companies House is the best. Many other jurisdictions make far less company registration info available for free, if any, and the info is also less useful even when you do pay for it. Someone once described the transparency of Companies House to me as "the only good thing David Cameron ever did."

Hi Alastair - love the show, easily one of my favourite podcasts. Quick question on your NordVPN ads mentioning "price discrimination". Do users avoid paying VAT/sales tax in their jurisdiction by using that service? Seems a bit questionable!

I didn't do too badly in the end. Seemed like a pretty catastrophic rush hour in general though.

Extremely sound advice as long as one doesn't need to be anywhere in particular at any particular time.

The rules:
Elizabeth line is closed.
Severe delays on Jubilee line.
Limited mobile internet due to everyone using 5G to load Google maps.
Obviously now a crowd is building on the DLR platform now.

Who will have the wits and courage to survive the ultimate challenge?

Yes that is basically it.

It looks like this growing market is about to become a bit more competitive. I wonder if any other big banks and fund managers are looking at it?

IFR subscribers can read my full story here: www.ifre.com/story/496744...

No wonder Citigroup and Apollo Global Management are itching to come off the sidelines -- as I exclusively reported last week, they are teaming up with specialist sports finance broker SRG Capital to launch an offering aimed at European football clubs.

But for those that can stomach it, it sounds like good business. People in the know tell me defaults are rare and losses unheard of. Despite this, funders can score returns in the double figures.

Of course, dealing with football clubs comes with its own complications. The leagues have a big say over who can lend money against receivables from other clubs, for one thing. And lots of people mention "reputational risk".

"It means they don’t have to wait a year or 18 months for the consideration for a player sale to come back in to invest in other players and change their standing.”

“It is a cashflow tool allowing clubs to accelerate the monies that will be due to them, which allows them to accelerate their business plans," Philip Scott, a partner at law firm Walker Morris, told me.

In order to access the funds up front, clubs can sell the future receivables to lenders at a discount – just like invoice factoring or trade receivables finance.

Football clubs regularly receive fees in the tens of millions of pounds or euros for selling players – in rarer cases even £100m/€100m or more for a top performer – but the payment is typically made in instalments over more than a year.