HS2 spent £100m on a shed for a flying mammal
Collecting money, robots for sale and Advent calendars.
Hello,
I thought it was interesting this week that on The Rest is Politics livestream of the election the only pundit to correctly judge the outcome was centrist-dad-in-chief Dominic Sandbrook of The Rest is History. I essentially wrote off history after a less-than-stellar GCSE result and my teacher’s impressive ability to make the French Revolution boring. No doubt partially an age thing (yes if I went back to uni I would do history) but also thanks to finding some good content, the amount we can learn from what’s happened before becomes increasingly clear.
Sandbrook has said that the key thing that makes history interesting is people. We love stories and that’s exactly what history should be, a collection of stories about people. It is where secondary education goes wrong, there’s far too much focus on events and dates. It’s also key to why the election went the way it did. As much as the case is presented as to why someone shouldn’t be president, if people don’t feel like they are being listened to and their lives don’t feel better, they will press the big red button when it comes to polling day. The story of an elite and someone trying to overthrow it is powerful, whether it is true or not.
Phew, managed that without saying the ‘T’ Word.
The rest is history,
Hugo
Chief Time Traveller
The Business of Stuff
P.S. Podcast idea - The Rest is Herstory, for when chortling middle-aged men gets a bit tedious. You can have that for free, Goalhanger.
The Stuff
Collecting money is growing in popularity 💸 - who doesn’t like collecting money you might ask? Well, some people (numismatics) like to collect rare banknotes and such for the sheer thrill of it. Nearly £400m worth of collectible banknotes change hands each year and that number is growing. Recently a $500 Canadian banknote from 1911 was bought for £249,000.
M&S want you to do your weekly shopping there 🛒 - getting anything more than some bits for a Saturday night there has seemed ludicrous, if not downright opulent for decades but they want to change that. Their shops have definitely got swankier in recent years but they are also getting larger in an attempt to attract “full-trolley shops”. Their loyalty programme now has 18 million members who are presumably buying more than just the odd sandwich and some Percy Pigs.
A bunch of robots are for sale 🤖 - specialist machinery from a ball bearing factory in Luton is up for sale as the site ceases operations. I’m not sure a “vibrating finishing machine” makes the best stocking filler but surely someone can put a pick-and-place robot to use to do some of the more repetitive festive chores.
Everyone’s wondering what Buffett is up to 🤔 - Berkshire Hathaway has dramatically reduced its position in Apple which has taken its cash pile to $325 billion, accounting for around a quarter of its assets. No one can work out if he’s sticking to his principles and selling high or if he’s seen clouds on the horizon and is building a war chest for a potential successor. He’ll be sharing his thoughts on the matter in his investor letter in February.
Nvidia replaces Intel on the Dow Jones 💾 - it represents a changing of the guard as one microprocessor giant takes over another. The Dow Jones is an index of thirty prominent American companies which are selected by a committee. Intel was started in 1968 and their technology really underpinned the establishment of Silicon Valley and personal computing more generally. Nvidia has seen a lot of growth over the past couple of years as AI has driven massive demand for the GPU technology they produce.
Owner of British Airways is having a great year ✈️ - International Airlines Group (IAG) is outperforming its rivals with operating profits up 15%. This has been driven by strong demand for transatlantic travel and lower fuel costs which has reduced their petrol bill by 4.2%. BA has a major overhaul of its services planned as it has suffered from criticism of the quality of its cabins. Not that I spend much time in first class but the difference between what they offer and Emirates offer is pretty staggering.
HS2 spent £100m on a bat shed 🦇 - one of the reasons getting anything built in the UK is so hard is down to the fact that we’re very concerned about wildlife. If you want to build a power station, it better not disturb any newts. HS2 has been on the receiving end of this, despite apparent evidence that bats would not be disturbed, Natural England required them to shell out a hundred big ones on a bat sanctuary. The chair of HS2 has said that getting the London to Birmingham section built has required 8,276 consents from different bodies.
Suffolk is opening its first banking hub 🏦 - it’s not going to be a competitor to Canary Wharf but Cash Access UK has led the opening of the centre which will host five banks in an attempt to provide a more sustainable high-street banking model. Banks have been pulling back from high-street outlets as they’re expensive and used a lot less than they used to be.
Advent calendars continue to get sillier 🎄 - I’m glad we’ve moved beyond the ones with rubbish chocolate but does anyone really need a Harry Potter Luxury Trunk advent calendar? Well, me clearly but there are some questions as to whether paying hundreds of pounds for a makeup-filled calendar is really the best value for money. Companies often use them to shift stock that no one actually wants.
OpenAI buys Chat.com domain name for £15m 👀 - it was bought by the CEO of HubSpot (Dharmesh Sha) for a similar amount around a year ago but he sold it on to OpenAI who paid largely in stock which is a pretty good deal for Mr Sha. Going to www,chat.com now redirects you to ChatGPT which is part of their strategy to seem a bit more friendly to everyone.
Quote of the week
I have great respect for the past. If you don't know where you've come from, you don't know where you're going. I have respect for the past, but I'm a person of the moment. I'm here, and I do my best to be completely centred at the place I'm at, then I go forward to the next place. - Mary Angelou