‘Who says a reality television show can’t convey an important message?’ asked my friend Elly Steinberg, who is a documentary film-maker. She was referring to The Great British Benefits Handout on Channel 5, where three unemployed families who live on benefits were each given £26,000. Some of them managed to get a business off the ground, invest in education and become self-sufficient. The important message … Continue reading Money Observer: What Piketty has in common with reality TV

I have never heard a laugh as loud as the one let out by my local cobbler when I brought him my old trainers. ‘We don’t re-heel trainers, nobody does,’ he said when he stopped laughing. Given how mundane and popular trainers and sneakers are, it seems surprising there is no easy way to repair them. Clever start-ups have come up with a taxi service … Continue reading Money Observer: How about making trainers more sustainable

As we know, inflation is upon us, and it’s on an upward trend. Once a month, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) determines the price of a basket – think of a shopping basket – of goods and services typically bought by UK households. This is used to calculate the consumer prices index measure of inflation. I wanted to peek inside that basket of goods … Continue reading Money Observer: Here’s what Brexit is doing to our diet

Many UK-listed companies reported profits this year, but certain businesses did not: notably travel and leisure sector firms such as Easyjet. After six consecutive years, Easyjet’s growth success story has stalled, because it has been unable to reduce its costs in the face of lower revenues. Brexit is part of the story of course. With the pound weakening, more Brits are opting for ‘staycations’. The … Continue reading Money Observer: What the travel industry tells us about the state of globalisation

It’s often said that politicians are so detached they don’t even know the price of a pint of milk or a loaf of bread. In 1992, then-president of the United States George H W Bush was forced to admit he did not know how much a gallon of milk cost during a debate with Bill Clinton, whose rural background earned him the admiration of the … Continue reading Money Observer: Why our politicians should be able to price a potato