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Who cares?
30 January 2017The annual ‘winter crisis’ in the NHS, has once again highlighted an underlying problem – the nation’s age demographics.
Sea power or ‘C’ power?
23 January 2017Last year, PM Theresa May gave the go ahead to the construction of the new Hinkley C nuclear power station. Now, plans for a £1.3bn tidal lagoon in Swansea Bay are to be backed in a government-commissioned review
Take it to the piggy bank
16 January 2017Those savers of a nervous disposition may need to buy a safe, larger mattress or perhaps start using a piggy bank!
Feeling a little bloated?
9 January 2017Britain is quite adventurous when it comes to eating and drinking, at least according to Waitrose. In its food trend predictions for 2017, Waitrose expects us to be drinking more ‘alternative’ waters based on demand last year for birch, bamboo and cactus water.
It’s a new dawn a new day
6 January 2017We have pleasure in providing you with our investment insights for 2017.
What a goal
19 December 2016China has a strategy to become a ‘world football superpower’ by 2050 with plans to get 50 million adults playing the game by 2020.
Food for thought
12 December 2016It’s getting towards that time of the year with many households beginning to panic over the most important meal of the year, the Christmas meal. An estimated 10 million turkeys will be eaten in the UK this Christmas.
In a bit of a squeeze?
5 December 2016Accident Exchange, which loans courtesy cars estimates that there has been a 35% rise in parking accidents since 2014. It estimates that the number of crashes and scratches incurred while parking is now costing UK insurers about £1.4bn a year. Parking-related incidents now account for 30% of all traffic accidents.
JAM tomorrow
28 November 2016When Theresa May became Prime Minister in July she pledged to do more to help families who are ‘Just About Managing’ (JAM). ‘If you’re from an ordinary working- class family, life is much harder than many people in Westminster realise’. ‘The government I lead will be driven not by the interests of the privileged few, but by yours’.
Alpha Bites Special – Episode IV – A New Hope
25 November 2016The most highly anticipated message from our ‘new’ administration has come and gone. Was it a statement or a budget? Did it reassure or confuse? Are you feeling over or underwhelmed?
The pound in your pocket
21 November 2016Forty-nine years ago, almost to the day, in 1967, Britain was in the grips of a financial crisis. On 18th November, the British government devalued the pound from $2.80 to $2.40.
Hold on tight – it’s going to be a ‘Trumpy’ ride!
14 November 2016Contrary to initial fears, equities initially reacted positively to Trump. Bond holders however, have taken some pain where extreme yield levels, give little margin for error
US Election Special
14 November 2016How have the markets reacted to President Trump?
Wasn’t Halloween last week?
7 November 2016US voters are facing an election day ‘trick or treat’. Nobody has known a US election campaign like this.
A dividend Bonanza?
4 November 2016Brexit – more twists and turns than a soap opera.
The Battle of Heathrow
31 October 2016As an island nation, the United Kingdom remains highly dependent on the free movement of goods. The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous military campaign of World War II. The Axis powers sought to gain a strategic advantage by strangling Britain’s supplies. Over seventy years after the end of the War, air travel has transformed the ‘free’ movement of goods or cargo.
A tax by any other name
24 October 2016Rates are a tax on businesses. Broadly they are based on the rentable value of the commercial property in question, then adjusted by the ’multiplier’. In England, some 1.85m properties are affected by the current review.
Staring into the abyss
17 October 2016The Cretaceous period extinction event caused by an asteroid strike, in what is now the Gulf of Mexico some 65 million years ago, wiped out most of the dinosaurs. This is perhaps the most well- known mass extinction event but there are believed to have been five mass extinction events in earth’s history.
Hacked off?
10 October 2016Yahoo recently confirmed that user details for half a billion people, including names, passwords, email addresses, phone numbers and security questions were taken from the company’s network in 2014.
Trouble with wind?
3 October 2016One of the reasons for the UK Government’s decision to push ahead with the Hinkley Point nuclear plant was no doubt due to the need to address long term international carbon emission standards. Green campaigners have been pushing for greater investment instead in wind power, although onshore planning issues or ‘not in my back yard’ (Nimby) have possibly restricted expansion. Instead the UK is therefore seeing sizeable investment in offshore wind production.
Trouble brewing?
26 September 2016North Korea is an enigma and continues to make the headlines, for all the wrong reasons.
On a more positive note, North Korea recently opened its doors to its first ever beer festival. Tourists from the West sat on the banks of the Taedong river drinking Taedonggang beer, named after the river. There were seven beers on tap: Beer 1, Beer 2, Beer 3, Beer 4, Beer 5, Beer 6, and — you guessed it — Beer 7. Why should this interest us here in the UK?
Heading North or South?
19 September 2016According to press reports, George Osborne remains committed to the ‘northern powerhouse’ dream and will chair a new body imaginatively titled, the Northern Powerhouse Partnership. A lot has been written of the apparent North / South divide in the UK post the EU referendum, are there any themes emerging?
An unhealthy outlook?
12 September 2016One of the greatest achievements from the last century has been the introduction of antibiotics. However, England’s Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies has re-iterated globally expressed concerns over the catastrophic threat posed from antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to antibiotics.
A lack of interest
5 September 2016
An increasing feature arising from global stimulus measures by central banks has been negative interest rates and negative bond yields. Indeed, it is estimated that there is now over $13 trillion of Government bonds globally offering a negative return to redemption.
Should’ve
30 August 2016One of my favourite TV adverts is for Specsavers. This shows a vet working on what he thinks is a cat but is in fact a furry hat which prompts the strapline ‘Should’ve gone to Specsavers’. The US space shuttle crew landing at Luton airport by accident is another of my favourite ‘Should’ve gone to Specsavers’ adverts.
Great Britain
22 August 2016Wow! Congratulations to Great Britain’s Olympians, who have delivered in spectacular fashion in Rio 2016.
Size matters
15 August 2016Some of us may be a little bleary eyed this morning. As we write, ‘Team GB’ is second in the overall Olympic medal table. An inspiration to us all!
Read all about it!
8 August 2016Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be. Last year to mark its centenary, Ladybird Books released a series for ‘Grown-Ups’ using the original Ladybird style artwork alongside tongue-in-cheek text.
On the go
1 August 2016It’s the story of Summer 2016 – no, not Brexit but Pokémon Go.
A crowded house
25 July 2016According to the United Nations the World’s population is expected to grow by about 83 million a year to 8 billion by 2024 and 9 billion by 2050.
Open for business and up for sale
19 July 2016UK Technology Company and FTSE constituent ARM Holdings is being taken over in a record breaking £24bn deal.
Happy as Larry
18 July 2016After one of the most ruthless Cabinet ‘reshuffles’ ever witnessed, one member of 10 Downing Street was at least breathing sigh of relief last week. Chief Mouser to the Cabinet, Larry the cat is to remain at number 10.
The Darling Buds of May
11 July 2016If a week is a long time in politics I would suggest that the last 24 hours must have felt like an eternity for Andrea Leadsom.
Food for thought
11 July 2016Eton mess is a traditional English dessert that typically consists of strawberries, pieces of meringue and cream.
An emotional week
5 July 2016However you voted, just over one week on, how do you feel?
United Kingdom?
27 June 2016UK voters have chosen to leave the EU by 52% to 48%. However, there are clear fault lines across the UK between remain in and leave.
Tossing a coin
20 June 2016No, not the means of deciding whether the UK remains in or leaves the EU, but what is on the reverse side of Britain’s coins.
Tunnel Vision
13 June 2016Euro 2016 has ‘kicked off’ in France and the EU referendum debate continues to rage. In the meantime, other parts of Europe are getting closer.
Are we having a mid-life crisis?
6 June 2016Age is just a number, or so the saying goes. Some say life begins at 40, others are in denial. However there’s no denying that when you hit 40 these days, retirement is now getting further away than ever.
Goldfinger
31 May 2016Goldfinger, the seventh novel in Ian Fleming’s James Bond series. Originally titled The Richest Man in the World it sees gold obsessed Auric Goldfinger planning to contaminate the US Bullion Depository at Fort Knox. Compared to the US government, which stores its gold bullion on a fortified army base, the UK’s gold is stored in […]
Car-maggedon
23 May 2016As many Bristolians will testify, Bristol’s traffic and particularly its traffic light system can drive you ‘up the wall’.
University Challenge
16 May 2016For decades the US had the highest proportion of students attending university and reflecting this, among 55 to 64 year olds, almost a third of all graduates in the world’s major economies are US citizens.
‘Douze points’ or ‘Doze points’?
9 May 2016Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson could both be up in arms again, with yet another example of the Eurozone’s porous border ahead of the EU referendum on 23rd June. So, what is the latest scandal?
Long live the king
3 May 2016Congratulations to Leicester City and fans. Leicester City are now set for a potential £150m boost for winning the Premier League title according to some sport data and marketing agencies
Water, water, everywhere
25 April 2016Water is unlike any other commodity on earth. It covers 71% of the planet and without it life on earth couldn’t have started.
A lot of hot air!
18 April 2016No, not the current EU referendum debate but a massive natural gas leak which happened last year near Los Angeles.
Loo roll out
18 April 2016Contrary to popular belief, Victorian plumber Thomas Crapper did not invent the flush toilet, but he did much to increase its use
UNhelpful?
4 April 2016It is some 34 years since the Falklands War. The UK has maintained a military presence in the Falkland Islands although due to Russian naval activity closer to home and engine problems with the Type 45 destroyer, the Royal Navy has not despatched a warship to the South Atlantic in 2016.
Basket Case
29 March 2016Given that everything from rail fares to pensions are linked to inflation, it is always useful to keep an eye on just what the Office of National Statistics (ONS) includes in its basket for measuring inflation.
Can we still afford to be open all hours?
21 March 2016Napoleon Bonaparte is believed to have described Britain as a nation of shopkeepers. Will this still be true by 2025?
You’re no spring chicken
14 March 2016Medical advances and greater health awareness mean that Britons are tending to live longer. With over 85’s expected to double by 2032, it is the fastest growing age group, as a result the UK is going to have to devote more resources to the care of the elderly.
Reading the signs
7 March 2016In the final quarter of 2015 there appeared a distinct divergence in central bank interest rate policy. In December, the US Federal Reserve announced its first rate rise in seven years and flagged a progressive gradual tightening of monetary policy through 2016.
The EU Debate – Doing the hokey cokey?
1 March 2016The current in/out debate, reminds us of the old song ‘doing the Hokey Cokey’.
In, out, in, out, you shake it all about….
United We Stand
29 February 2016The House Divided Speech was a defining address given by Abraham Lincoln before he became president in 1858 and just three years ahead of the start of the American Civil War. The best known passage of the speech includes the line ’A house divided against itself cannot stand’
A Euro vision?
22 February 2016Possibly the most important vote since 1975? No, not the EU referendum but changes to the way voting will be undertaken in the 61st Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm, Sweden in May 2016.
In it for the long haul
15 February 2016Driving on Britain’s roads it’s difficult to escape the number of lorries, especially when you are in a traffic jam behind one. Subconsciously I tend to track brands I see.
Storm Clouds
15 February 2016‘Acknowledging the risks but mindful of the opportunities’
Put that light out!
8 February 2016The recent release of the new Dad’s Army film got us thinking about the original BBC series. ‘Put that light out!’ is a classic episode from Dad’s Army but also became the catch phrase, during the ‘black out’, of Captain Mainwaring’s nemesis, air raid warden Hodges, played by the late Bill Pertwee.
Mind the gap!
1 February 2016Those of you visiting London and using the underground will no doubt have heard the warning ‘Mind the gap!’ when alighting the tube train at the Bank or other underground stations. Which got us thinking.
No pain, no gain!
25 January 2016Yes it’s that time of the year again where many of us change our diet, join a gym or take up running to get fitter. As many personal trainers and sports coaches say ‘there is no gain without pain’.
The terrible twos!
18 January 2016No not North Korea and Iran, nor Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump, nor Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini but very young children!
It’s a jungle out there!
11 January 2016The Amazon rainforest covers some 7 million square kilometres and includes territory belonging to nine nations. Amazon.com, Inc. the electronic commerce and cloud computing company is the largest internet based retailer in the USA. Both Amazons have one thing in common, they are massive!
Gold plated?
14 December 2015Lord Alan Sugar has one: AMS 1. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge drove away from their wedding with one that read JU5T WED and broadcaster Chris Evans has several. Personalised number plates are big business these days with the UK market worth an estimated £2.3bn a year.
A burning issue
7 December 2015Some 147 world leaders are currently attending the COP21 UN conference in Paris to agree a new global approach to climate change. Fossil fuels and coal in particular are seen as the biggest culprit for global warming.
A less than healthy outlook?
30 November 2015‘You are what you eat’ is the old saying. Healthy eating, or to be correct unhealthy eating presents a challenge to healthcare budgets, particularly in western developed economies. However, in the future, eating unhealthily may start to cost you more.
The enemy of my enemy
23 November 2015‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend’ is an ancient proverb that pretty well sums up the global political situation following the Paris terror attack. What short memories some politicians appear to have.
Black Friday or Bleak Friday?
16 November 2015A bleak Friday indeed for democracy with the shocking terror attack on Paris although, in a sign of solidarity and that life goes on, #Parisisaboutlife, is already widely circulating on social media.
Can a robot do my job?
9 November 2015The BBC recently presented a week long feature on artificial intelligence and whether people’s jobs were at risk of being replaced by a robot. Which got us thinking. Could our jobs at Alpha be at risk from robots?
No energy?
2 November 2015What is going on with the weather? The weekend saw record temperatures across parts of Britain. Usually November sees the onset of much colder mornings which, I find, tends to make it even more difficult to get out of bed. Am I feeling SAD?
We have much to be thankful for
30 October 2015A review of the last six months and the prospects and outlook for the remainder of 2015
I feel a disturbance….
26 October 2015‘I feel a disturbance in the force’. Yes, it’s approaching faster than the Millennium Falcon. A trailer for the new Star Wars movie ‘The Force Awakens’ has just been shown two months before the film release. An analyst in the USA has estimated that new consumer products tied to the film franchise could bring in revenue of $5bn in the first year.
Sound nuts to you?
19 October 2015We recently learned of a £37,000 project to make music from the sound of beech mast falling from a giant 100 year old beech tree in Bristol. The project has been funded by a grant from Bristol City Council from its 2015 European Green Capital fund.
Hard or soft landing?
12 October 2015Its more than 50 years since Yuri Gagarin became the first human to venture into ‘outer space’. Throughout the five decades of subsequent space flight, just over 550 individuals have made the journey into space.
Taking the long term view
5 October 2015Good news! The ONS has recently announced we are living longer. A new born baby boy could expect to live to over 79 years and a new born baby girl almost 83 years.
Storm brewing?
28 September 2015Members of the public are to be given the opportunity to name wind storms affecting the UK and Ireland. It is hoped that naming storms will help raise awareness of severe weather conditions and ensure people protect themselves and their property before it strikes.
Flagging danger signals
21 September 2015With the Rugby World Cup underway many fund managers will no doubt be out the office at various matches. Talk of rugby and thoughts turn to the favourites, the New Zealand All Blacks.
Reading the tea leaves
14 September 2015As a nation, we are well known for turning to a nice cup of tea in a crisis. Which got us thinking. With all the recent financial turmoil arising from China, investors should have been drinking more tea, but apparently not so.
Dismaland
7 September 2015Bristol street artist Banksy has recently opened the Dismaland Bemusement Park in the derelict former Tropicana lido in Weston-Super-Mare. The exhibition, which is a dark take on theme parks includes a dilapidated fairy castle and a boat pond where all the boats are filled with models of migrants.
The Great Fall of China
1 September 2015The Great Wall of China actually comprises many different walls built over successive periods by the Chinese to control the migration of marauding hordes of invaders. Which got us thinking.
Game of drones
25 August 2015Last year the CMA issued a record number of licenses to fly small drones in the UK, which was up a staggering 80% on the previous year. However, this could well be exceeded in 2015 as a drone is apparently the must have Christmas gift this year. This could well create challenges in itself from privacy infringement to aircraft safety.
Some like it hot
17 August 2015Unfortunately not the classic comedy film starring Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis but office air conditioning! Our office is, no doubt, like many others in that there is usually a lively debate about the temperature.
Oh NO…2
10 August 2015A recent ruling by the UK Supreme Court has set a deadline of the end of the year for plans to improve air quality in the UK and tackle dangerously high levels of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2). Currently diesel cars produce less CO2 but emit much more NO2 and it is estimated that diesel road traffic is responsible for 40% of London’s NO2 emmissions.
Who has got the hump?
3 August 2015To mark Bristol’s green capital status, a sculpture of two life sized whales has been made from Somerset willow and 70,000 old plastic bottles. The blue whale and humpback whale weigh a whopping six tonnes. The bottles were collected from the Bath half marathon and Bristol 10K race. The sculpture highlights the threat of plastic pollution to the world’s oceans, particularly from plastic bags.
It never rains but it pours
27 July 2015In the musical ‘My Fair Lady’, Professor Higgins (Rex Harrison) drills Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) with speech exercises such as ‘The rain in Spain, stays mainly in the plain’ to help drop her ‘mockney’ accent.
Gone with the wind
20 July 2015Walking into work recently, past a tall building, I was almost blown off my feet by a sudden gust of wind. Apparently accelerated winds near skyscrapers is caused by the ‘downdraught effect’. This is where air hits a building and with nowhere else to go is pushed up and down and around the sides. The air forced downwards increases wind speed at street level.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
13 July 2015No, not the Alpha Team, although some of you may have spotted a familiar looking Mexican moustache! However, spaghetti westerns got us thinking about ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’. In this case, perhaps the USA, Greece and China?
Time to get out?
6 July 2015With all the negative financial news headlines on Greece, the glorious weather makes us look forward to the weekend and enjoying the great British countryside.
Lost in translation
29 June 2015We keep hearing of the term ‘global market place’. At a time when the fabric of the EU is being tested by the prospect of a Greek debt default, it is perhaps worth remembering the ability to trade freely in a ‘common market’ was one of the original pillars of the European Union. Globalisation is changing the way business is being done. The EU is the largest economy in the world, along with being the biggest exporter and importer.
Finding the safest port in a storm
22 June 2015The old sea-faring expression is ‘any port in a storm’. Which got us thinking. We suspect for financial markets, it is actually not a case of finding ‘any port’ but more importantly the ‘safest port in a storm’. This is because, we are currently sailing in unchartered waters.
Stuffed Turkey?
15 June 2015Last week, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) failed to win a majority in the parliamentary election. This in turn led to considerable volatility in the Turkish stock market.
The struggle for power
8 June 2015China has an insatiable appetite for natural resources to meet its long term economic growth ambitions and as a result appears to be putting its footprint down from the South China Sea to the Antarctic. The former sea has a number of countries contesting ownership of the potentially natural resource rich waters including China, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan.
Things that go bump in the night
1 June 2015It’s a curious thing. Why do some people like the feeling of being scared while others don’t? One only needs to consider the growing hype surrounding Halloween to see the commercial value we put on being scared.
A lack of liquidity
26 May 2015According to the US National Atmospheric Administration, global carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations have reached a new monthly average record of 400 parts per million. As a result, global levels of carbon dioxide are estimated to be at the highest level for over 2 million years!
Are they nuts?
18 May 2015No, not politicians, nor Greece but pistachio nuts! We have been keeping an eye on developments in the Middle East, but had assumed that, when sanctions are lifted on Iran, it could lead to oil flooding onto the global market. Instead, it is likely to be pistachio nuts, as Iran is the world’s leading producer alongside the USA.
Between a Spock and a hard place
11 May 2015Who’d have thought it? Now that the dust is beginning to settle, the post- election recriminations and investigations have begun. One thing for sure is that the new Parliament will have a very different look to the last.
Some assembly required
5 May 2015With just a few days to go until the UK General Election the polls are suggesting a hung parliament with the likelihood that the Conservatives will just about win the most votes and seats, but not enough to form a majority on their own. In addition, the SNP continues to look the most significant minority party with possibly over 50 seats.
At face value – something to take note of?
27 April 2015Some of the World’s leading global economies are being challenged to consider putting a famous woman on their banknotes. American bills have portraits of the country’s founding fathers and former presidents, Chinese notes have Mao Zedong and India have Mahatma Gandi, but none of them feature any women.
Survival of the fittest?
20 April 2015We recently read that a rare first edition of Charles Darwin’s Insectivorous Plants book was returned to the Camden Library in Sydney, Australia, after 122 years! The late fees were thought to be in the region of £22,800, but the book was astutely returned during the library’s ‘fine amnesty month’, although one senses that the library was just over the moon to get the first edition back.
Would you ‘Adam and Eve’ it?
13 April 2015A new global code of conduct is being introduced in the foreign exchange market by the world’s major central banks. This is designed to stop traders and dealers sharing information and is part of efforts to head off abuses after two years of scandal over currency manipulation.
A storm brewing?
7 April 2015We recently read that a keen eyed shopper had noticed that Unilever has reduced the amount of tea in its PG Tips tea bags, as a pack of 80 regular tea bags now weighs 232g, down from 250g previously.
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