Mark Purchase 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

He’s an absolute clown

I’m ashamed to share the same nationality

He won’t be remembered for anything positive

Being an English newspaper they probably think that a party getting 30% of the vote in an election means they have won with a massive majority

He’s currently planning to play rock, paper, scissors with Nicolas Forissier next week

Winner gets bragging rights

Actually, an enduring problem for all commodity markets is the fact that the vast majority of the trades are no longer based on supply of or demand for the commodity itself, just punts on price movements. This undermines the fundamental operations of the markets and leaves them very vulnerable.

Yes, and that goes for the financial markets too

Futures, options and derivatives started to become more important in the late 90’s and were setting the price for the cash markets to follow rather than the other way around

We’ve already seen the huge risks this poses, but continue to ignore them

Exclusive: U.S. dismissed Ukraine deal for anti-Iran drone tech last year Snubbing Ukraine's offer ranks as one of the U.S.'s biggest tactical miscalculations before the war, officials say.

🚨🚨Major story of today: Nearly seven months ago, #Ukraine tried to sell the US their battle-proven technology for downing Iranian-made attack drones but #Trump admin dismissed the Ukrainians, only to reverse course last week because of heavy drone strikes from #Iran.🧵
www.axios.com/2026/03/10/u...

El error Von der leyen La presidenta de la Comisión Europea comete un error garrafal con esa renuncia al orden global, la razón de ser de la UE

Spain's newspaper of record: "The EU president is making a big mistake by giving up on the world order, the very reason the EU exists"
elpais.com/internaciona...

unwind the ESP side of the trade, the maximum market amount was only $5m and as the rest of the market knew your position getting decent prices was impossible

I usually hedged the position with loads of trades in ITL, PTE, DKK, NLG or whatever else I could find

It was always a nightmare

Pretty silly….they were a corporate customer of the Bank where I worked in the 90’s, (Bank of NY) and every few months wanted a 3 or 6 month DEM/ESP swap in 300 million marks

They would ask 7 or 8 other banks and if you were the unfortunate sucker to get the trade you would spend weeks trying to

I refuse to buy anything from Repsol

My grudge is at least 35 years old and will never go away

Exceedingly. It’s just one more of the now too-numerous-to-mention examples of the UK still refusing to accept that Brexit is now an accomplished fact.

Juvenile pantomime politics, as always with British politicians talking about Europe, it’s all about winning or losing

Until we can start behaving like grown ups, we are doomed to remain on the outside looking in

Why an over-inflated UK opinion of itself in Brussels matters - because Ministers think a meeting or two is sufficient when actually there has to be a continuous public and private effort to seek even a small amount of influence.

Every time I read what a UK minister says about the EU it almost feels like they're assuming we have the same power as members. We're not negotiating, we're making representations. Only EU institutions are negotiating their rules.

Yes, Keir Starmer must do better and go faster in bringing Britain closer to Europe. Here’s how to reset his reset | Naomi Smith MPs warn the plan so far lacks direction and drive, but there are four clear ways to really move on from our disastrous Brexit, says Naomi Smith of Best for Britain

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

2010 could (should) have been an opportunity to actually shake up the electoral system and become a normal democracy, instead we ended with Cameron and Clegg, two terribly unserious politicians and from then on we’ve just become less and less serious

Up North

I claim to be the first to spot that Cowley was an absolute bell end. I saw the light when I heard him say on a podcast that British was an identity shared by every one on these islands. He really said that

In my work as Mayor of London and in my life, I’m surrounded by women who make our city and our world better every day.

To the women leading, creating, caring and keeping our city thriving: thank you.

Happy International Women’s Day.

Not during this lifetime

Despite the £millions UKG has spent to keep the plant in 🇬🇧

It’s not everyday you get absolutely slaughtered yet still score 40 points

Having a lunchtime drink in a former gents toilet in Newcastle

Lovely blue sky but it’s bloody freezing

Assuming things rather than actually trying to do a little research first is a defining characteristic of Brexitism

Yes, I think the individuals concerned probably understand the reality and are far more in favour of approaching Europe without the ridiculous red lines than they are allowed to be as spokespeople for B4B, and hopefully in time that will come to the forefront

Yes, given that Brexit has failed, the attachment to the May-Johnson redlines seems perverse.

Best for Britain does just what it says on the tin: dreams up proposals which would be ‘best’ for the UK but are obviously unacceptable to the EU, and which are therefore just a waste of time. They are also often surprisingly ill informed about basic things like the purpose of TCA Art 776 review.

Proposals not being in the EU‘s interest is one thing, but HMG obviously still thinks it can afford its red lines. It doesn’t seem that desperate for improved trade itself.

It still thinks it can unlock rights without obligations.

I don't think that they have any intention of going beyond the scope of the reset. The reset is their pitch to pro-EU voters. Making brexit slightly less bad is the limit of their ambition.