Tom Powdrill

UBS fund holds 30% exposure linked to First Brands [FREE TO READ] Switzerland’s largest bank has multiple investments tied to bankrupt auto parts maker

🔥FIRST BRANDS NIGHTMARE ON WALL STREET SPREADS TO PARADEPLATZ 🔥

A UBS fund has 30 per cent of its portfolio tied to the failed First Brands Group, leaving Switzerland’s largest bank grappling with a bankruptcy that has convulsed global finance.

Lots more scoopy detail here: on.ft.com/46VXxhD

Nigel Farage 'genuinely worried' by 'TikTok death threat' Southwark Crown Court hears how Fayaz Khan posted a video in which he makes a gun gesture with his hand before saying

I take this 100% at face value. I would not be remotely surprised if Nigel Farage genuinely fears for his own safety. Much as I dislike his politics that is not a good thing.
Unfortunately his rhetoric and that of people who support him also creates fear for many others
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I once got into a big fight with a lefty mate who hates “nudging” but also thinks auto-enrolment into pensions is very good 🤷🏻‍♂️

Ah “nudge theory”… that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time…

Think I’m the last man standing who still thinks there is something useful there. Think it was caught between Left view it was usurping regulation and more technical view it was a cop out for people too lazy to learn real economics

Four parties within a 5 point swing of first place and five parties on 12% plus.

This would be pure chaos under first past the post.

Relatedly

Bond vigilantes live rent free in our heads "Performed constraints" and financial markets

Bond market vigilantes live rent free in our heads
open.substack.com/pub/tompowdr...

Today’s quote is from The Great Transformation…

NEW: @mainstreamlabour.bsky.social endorses Lucy Powell for Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.In a special ballot, 82.2% of Mainstream members voted to endorse Lucy.Labour’s Mainstream wants the party and government to be reset in line with pluralist, democratic socialist values.

I think this is a marvellous book. Even though it doesn’t address populism (came out in about 2007 I think) it provides a good explanation for why populism might prove quite attractive. So am curious about how it is viewed by politics academics

The song remains the same

Green leader calls for BoE to end interest payments to commercial banks Zack Polanski echoes Reform UK’s push for central bank policy change

Green leader calls for BoE to end interest payments to commercial banks on.ft.com/3KzsiBq

Relatedly, it’s interesting to see how quickly the centre of gravity on arms stocks exclusions has moved. Very few people in Big P politics are going to support an ESG approach that targets defence companies, except as a niche ethical product for individuals

They will try to shift the question to “should we incur more costs to do more to combat climate change?”
In my corner of the world, if this type of argument starts having traction what does that mean for RI and stewardship activity dominated by climate change? It feels like a big vulnerability.

Think I read this v differently to most people. 20% say too much, a bunch say ‘enough’ + a lot of DKs.
I can see why Farage thinks he could make a fight out of it. It will be all about trade-offs. So attacking him as a “climate denier” = pointing guns in the wrong direction
bsky.app/profile/youg...

Manchester synagogue: Four people injured in car and stabbing attack in Crumpsall Mayor Andy Burnham says the suspect is believed to be dead. Keir Starmer says the attack happening on Yom Kippur - the holiest day in the Jewish calendar - makes it

It feels like such a grim time
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cx...

Progress taking money from a lobby group arguing for tribunal fees (and no fault dismissal & all the rest of the Beecroft report) always made me feel a bit 🤮

archive.progressivebritain.org/about-progre...

Labour considering charging workers for employment tribunal claims, sources say Exclusive: Reintroducing tribunal fees would be ‘a gift for bad bosses’, says TUC chief Paul Nowak

Tangential point - the introduction of tribunal fees the first time around was actively supported by the private equity lobby group the BVCA.
The BVCA also used to sponsor the Blairite think tank Progress.
www.theguardian.com/money/2025/o...

Ps - presume you’re familiar with Wolfgang Streek. I think he made some missteps in politics but IMHO his analysis is pretty convincing. Not really out of line with Dani Rodrik etc

I think economic sovereignty is a potentially very fertile concept for Labour & the left. It makes me wince a bit when people on the Left makes fun of those who talk about sovereignty - it’s not all about bendy bananas.
Also need to counter ‘our hands are tied because of globalisation+bond markets’

Nigel “I’d pick up a rifle” Farage who had the “burn the hotels” woman onstage at his conference can do one complaining about political language inciting violence

All it will take is another contradictory message and left-of-centre waverers go back to being grumpy with Labour and looking at LDs and Greens.
Sadly my guess is that is what will happen

There is no shareholder primacy in a foxhole

Excellent reporting from at @inthesetimes.com that draws from some of my work. The labor movement still hasn’t got its head around the way the institutions of capitalism have changed between the 1930s and today. If the workplace needed democracy then, today pooled assets do as well.

Send not to know for whom the tweet tolls, It tolls for thee…

More in Common's September MRP More in Common’s new MRP projects a Reform UK majority if a General Election were held today. Based on polling of nearly 20,000 Britons, the model estimates that Reform would take 373 seats with Labou...

It’s not going to get better

www.moreincommon.org.uk/latest-insig...