In the May v May interview in City AM this morning, Theresa May’s answers to Christian May’s quickfire round were revealing:
Hayek or Keynes? “I have one theory which is you have to live within your means.”
Well that is hardly true, is it. May’s manifesto pushed back the never-ending deficit reduction horizon to 2025.
Black cabs or Uber? “Black cabs are a great institution.”
Safety first as ever from the PM. Oh for the the days of Digital Dave’s backing for forward-thinking, freedom and innovation.
Coq D’Argent or Simpson’s Tavern? “Simpson’s Tavern.” When I point out this is Nigel Farage’s favourite City haunt, the PM changes her mind.
Says it all…
“Are you rich enough to bid for a City AM internship?” sneers Roy Greenslade at Media Guardian this morning, reporting that the business freesheet is auctioning off work experience to the highest bidder. “Open to all who have plenty of capital,” sniffs the Guardian. Bravely.
It’s an odd thing to get upset about since City AM’s initiative is for charity. The money raised is being given to Maggie’s cancer centres, which offer support to cancer victims. Even odder that Greenslade would attack newspapers charging for work experience, given just last year the Guardian charged £600 for a summer work experience placement. The difference? City AM are giving the money to charity, the Guardian kept the cash for themselves…
The financial pages seem full of good news for Brexit Britain, City AM splashes with “Bounceback“, the Wall Street Journal contemplates a Brexit boom for manufacturers and the pound recovering. Over at the FT they have managed to acknowledge the possibilty that things might not be quite as terrible as they predicted with a sceptical bottom of the front page headline “busy factories fuel pro-Brexit MPs claims of Treasury scaremongering”. This is countered by a claim, based on a self-selecting voodoo poll, that “graduate recruitment has slumped”. Lionel’s Légion d’Honneur for services to European unity remains untarnished…
City AM have beaten the Standard to the first head-to-head Khan v Goldsmith debate of the short campaign – they will be facing off on April 12 in a showdown chaired by editor Christian May, who readers will remember for giving the LTDA a schooling on Newsnight. Tickets here. The following week the Standard have the second debate on April 21, chaired by Kirsty Wark. Will we get a repeat of Sadiq’s Alan Partridge moment?
Better known to co-conspirators as “the farting commie“, Richard Burgon is a bit of a joke. His antipathy to his brief is now front page news and his ignorance of finance is laughable:
Shadow City Minister @RichardBurgon MP in Portcullis House reading a book called "Where does Money Come From?" (Clue: not trees.)
— Eye Spy MP (@eyespymp) December 8, 2015
He owes his appointment to being one of the few hardcore Corbynista MPs in parliament. McDonnell and Corbyn clearly thought it amusing to appoint him to oversee the crucible of capitalism. It only serves to underline that their credibility is a joke…
City AM is the first major publication in the UK to block ad blockers. Adblockers kill the revenue stream of free-to-air advertising supported publishers. If ad blockers become mainstream, publications will either have to put up subscription paywalls or go out of business. If you don’t like advertising you basically don’t like capitalism…
Kudos to Christian May at City AM for leading the way on this issue. Content is king, ad blocking is regicide….