16 Mar 2026
Szu Ping Chan
Economics Editor
Good morning,
The price of oil rose over Sunday night as Donald Trump put further pressure on European allies to protect ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
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In today’s edition
How Britain became permanently poorer
Net zero zealots are putting Gen Z off building planes
Oil prices jump after Kharg Island attack
The US carried out ‘large-scale’ strikes on Kharg Island, which is home to an oil terminal that ships 90pc of Iran’s oil exports Credit: AFP
Oil prices surged as high as $106 per barrel on Sunday night after US strikes hammered the “crown jewel” of Iran’s energy industry.
The price of Brent crude, which had closed on Friday at $103 per barrel, jumped as much as 2.9pc as energy traders responded to US attacks on Kharg Island, which brought fresh fears for global supplies.
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A note from the economics editor
How did a relic of medieval feudalism end up becoming a political headache? Ground rents – fees paid by leaseholders to freeholders for the right to occupy land – aren’t exactly a doorstep issue.
But for many in the City, Sir Keir Starmer’s meddling is nothing short of economic vandalism.
Their problem isn’t with the Prime Minister’s move to introduce a £250 limit on charges. It’s his decision to apply the cap retrospectively, effectively ripping up contracts long after the ink has dried.
“It’s a blatant renege on contract law,” says one enraged money man in the Square Mile.
Others can barely contain their vitriol. Dozens of submissions to MPs on the housing select committee illustrate the strength of feeling. Even the National Trust has issued a warning.
Remember, these are the same investors Rachel Reeves is asking to pour more of Britons’ hard-earned cash back into the UK economy.
But why bother if those investments are neither safe nor guaranteed?
Diary
Global Conquest
Even before Lord Mandelson’s downfall, his advisory firm Global Counsel had never been one to shy away from controversy. Having previously scouted business from state-backed companies in Russia and China, an appetite for autocracies recently led it to the Middle East.
A now-redundant business plan reveals Global Counsel’s leaders planned to open an office in Dubai by 2026, appealing to clients such as Barclays and Netflix after branding the Gulf an area for growth.
“A growing number of clients and targets are entering or expanding into the UAE and Saudi markets,” the company crowed, insisting that these companies needed an “on-the-ground presence” in the region.
Yet given what’s happened in the Middle East over the last few weeks, perhaps it’s just as well those plans never saw the light of day.
Whipcracker
The Australian mining magnate, Andrew ‘I’m just a jackaroo’ Forrest, was seen on Tuesday night cracking a bull whip outside the George Pub in Fitzrovia, London.
In town to celebrate the opening of a new R.M. Williams store, the Australian bootmaker, the charismatic billionaire was sure not to miss his moment in the spotlight.
After initially struggling to get his whip to crack, Forrest’s efforts finally came good, much to the delight of all the young TikTokers who’d been ushered out onto the pavement to watch. “This”, he told the crowd, “is the Sydney flash”.
Daft Punk
It’s been a miserable few weeks for James Watt, the self-styled “punk” whose BrewDog empire was frittered away. Yet, his fall from grace has not stopped there.
It is understood that the House of Unicorn, Watt’s Dragon’s Den-style reality TV show with a £2m jackpot, which was promised to hit our screens last year, has been canned after failing to attract any interest from commissioners.
Maybe, in light of misconduct claims once levelled against Watt, promises to reveal the “unfiltered truth of what it takes to build a unicorn” were not as appealing to TV execs as once thought.
The Great Escape
With just weeks left in the job, outgoing BBC director general Tim Davie recently delivered his swansong speech to a crowd of TV luvvies in central London.
A nostalgic Davie offered heartfelt thanks to an audience that included Celebrity Traitors contestant David Olusoga and Ibiza DJ stalwart Pete Tong.
But a special mention was reserved for Davie’s more surprising allies: the neighbours who enabled the under-fire BBC boss to escape the paparazzi camped outside his front door by slipping out through their gardens.
Gathering dust
Rare sports memorabilia, expensive artwork, and lavish parties – tales of Paresh Raja’s life of largesse abound now that his buy-to-let mortgage empire is crumbling.
Spotted outside offices belonging to Market Financial Solutions in Westminster are two abandoned black luxury sedans that Raja and his wife, Tiba, are said to have treated as “run-arounds”.
The cars may soon be gathering dust, and not just because the pair have been accused in court of having fled to Dubai.
The keys to these expensive machines are now in the hands of administrators tasked with working out how the company was left with a £1.3bn black hole on its balance sheet.
Chairman’s lunch
After a series of sexism scandals in the last decade, Google sought to clean up its act by positioning itself as one of the world’s most welcoming workplaces, promising to promote more women and embrace diversity.
But old habits die hard for tech bros.
A recent employment tribunal hearing revealed how the US tech giant ran an exclusively male “chairman’s lunch” with the head of various advertising agencies.
After the annual festive shindig came up in an internal culture review, advertising bosses said they had scrapped it.
How Britain became permanently poorer
Tim Wallace
Deputy Economics Editor
The UK’s economy has been left reeling by 17 years of stagnant pay, and Britons’ living standards are now trailing those of our G7 counterparts. Is Britain becoming permanently poorer? Tim Wallace explores the data behind this long economic slump.
Today’s Headlines
Iran war to push 100,000 Britons out of work within months
Royal Mail’s debt-fuelled foreign takeover is failing to deliver
Nvidia on hook for British data centre owner’s £650m bill
Britain must join European missile shield, says defence company boss
chart of the day
Net zero zealots are putting Gen Z off building planes
Record airliner orders will require plane makers and their suppliers to lift production by a fifth in the next few years, creating well-paid jobs for thousands of workers.
Yet a UK aerospace industry that produced the jet engine, the Harrier jump jet and Concorde is being hampered by a growing recruitment crisis.
Years of demonisation by green campaigners such as Greta Thunberg for its inability to wean itself off fossil fuels are beginning to take their toll as young people turn away from careers in industry.
Opinion
Andrew Orlowski
Honour Adam Smith by making markets great again
Expecting trading not to be rigged in this day and age seems naïve and almost utopian
What I’m reading
The Telegraph:I cheated death in a missile strike in Ukraine. Three years later I returned to the scene
Financial Times: ‘Mr AI’ Peter Thiel lectures about antichrist in Rome
The Wall Street Journal: Israelis learn to live with war as the new normal
Christopher Williams, Business Editor
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