Rachel Reeves is perhaps the most qualified shadow chancellor in recent times. What she lacks in ministerial experience, she makes up for in economic and policy-making knowledge.
This has been implemented in spades as we head towards the next election.
She showed an iron will in rejecting potentially election-damaging policies, such as Ed Miliband’s desire to spend £28 billion on Labour’s green energy plan from its first year.
Reeves has also controversially ruled out a wealth tax.
The Tories have already done some of the work for her by moving large parts of the population into higher tax brackets through the freeze on benefits.
Talking about the story: Rachel Reeves is perhaps the most qualified shadow chancellor in recent times
This should have been enough.
But as part of an effort to affirm her qualifications for office and the preeminent role women play in economic theory and practice, Reeves decided to share her thoughts on “The Women Who Made Modern Economics,” published by Basic Books.
It seemed timely in the year that Claudia Goldin was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for her work on women and the labor market. Many authors use researchers to compose their work. Politicians, going back to John F Kennedy and 1956’s ‘Profiles in Courage’, have employed skilled ghost writers.
Joe Biden ran into trouble in 1987 in his early bid for the Democratic nomination when he quoted liberally from a speech by then-Labor leader Neil Kinnock in which the future president sought to embroider his working-class credentials.
In compiling her book, Reeves and her researchers extracted passages, many of them biographical, from Wikipedia.
Many writers consult Wikipedia, but one does so for guidance rather than for facts.
A few years ago, my own Wikipedia article was invaded by a Palestinian activist.
It was cleared away for me by my son, then an academic historian at UCL. On another occasion I used it as a shortcut to find out an urban grandfather’s family details when writing a hurried profile.
Unfortunately, they had confused his wife with someone with the same name. The grandee was magnanimous about the mistake.
We all make blunders. You would have hoped for a higher standard from a former Bank of England official backed by a former Governor Mark Carney. Plagiarism is not worthy of a ‘serious’ economist.
China syndrome
Under the leadership of Bill Winters, Standard Chartered provided a predictability that sometimes proved elusive in a past full of mistakes.
So it was unnerving for markets to learn that the company has recorded impairment charges for exposure to Chinese real estate and an investment in lender China Bohai.
It should also not come as a big shock to supporters of China’s real estate sector.
Over the past year, Country Garden and Evergrande’s troubles have been a dominant theme in Hong Kong.
The big surprise is that StanChart’s exposure to commercial real estate in China, at £248 million, is modest so far.
Maybe the traders who downgraded the stock know something we weren’t told. The hit StanChart has taken in real estate could provide insight into a potential need for even bigger set-asides for rival HSBC with much greater exposure to Hong Kong and China.
Of all the British banks, StanChart and HSBC best reflect global Britain. StanChart’s presence in Singapore, the Middle East and Africa gives StanChart an edge in some of the world’s fast-growing regions.
As we know from wars in Ukraine and Israel-Gaza, global spread can expose banks to additional risk. But despite StanChart’s Chinese hit, revenues are up, even if returns lag behind target.
As a bank with antecedents in Africa dating back to 1862, it would be a shame if a hiccup in China exposed it to another attack by First Abu Dhabi Bank. Better to keep Gulf players at a distance.
Superbrands
Unilever’s new boss, Hein Schumacher, is taking a cue from the Reckitt Benckiser playlist.
From now on, the company will focus on 30 key brands that represent 70 percent of sales.
That’s fine, as long as Unilever avoids the Reckitt baby food disaster.
Promising new health categories, like Smarty Pants supplements, shouldn’t be sidelined by a focus on tired, less nutritious options.