Finally someone explodes the tosh about 2.5% of GDP or whatever arbitrary level of defence spending being "unaffordable".

He is obviously unaware the size of the British Army, and the length of the Ukrainian front line.. Or perhaps both.

Wow, this spy plot stuff sounds like something out of Stalin's Russia.. Prepare for purges!

New figures from the CBI suggest that the UK’s green economy is driving investment and creating thousands of well-paid jobs. But it is all propped up by subsidies and Government support, writes @grepsul👇 buff.ly/4keAcgV

I wrote a piece on Unherd about the state we're in..

Odd approach for a British ambassador: to call publicly for his own government (and other non British ones) to support the policy of a foreign state..

I wrote a profile of Ed Miliband, about how his tussle with Rachel Reeves could define - and even derail - the Starmer government..

My latest Business Adventures Substack looks at re-shoring, UK shipbuilding, and defence; and considers the difficulty of building back industrial capacity, once it's lost. open.substack.com/pub/jonathandr…

Latest post on Business Adventures: What's left of British shipbuilding? After the failure and rescue of H&W, I look at re-shoring, UK shipbuilding, and defence; and consider the difficulty of building back industrial capacity once it's lost. open.substack.com/pub/jonathandr…

Coming up this week on A Long Time In Finance: in the wake of Trump's proposal for a mineral deal in Ukraine, we look at the greatest minerals carve up of all time - in the Middle East - and ask: "how did that all work out"?

In the wake of Donald Trump's demand for a juicy minerals deal in Ukraine, we join author James Barr to look at the story of the greatest minerals carve-up of all time - in the post WW1 Middle East - and ask the key question: "How did that all work out?" pod.fo/e/2b8680

For those who enjoyed the podcast, here's more on the greatest minerals carve-up of all time - in the post WW1 Middle East - and how it all worked out..

Should the UK nationalise British Steel after Jingye opted to close it rather than take the taxpayer's £500m subsidy? The question to my mind is why it didn't demand an equity stake in the first place.

Warning: our next episode may contain SPITFIRES. Coming up, we'll be talking about the economics of rearmament with Prof Dan Todman and looking at what lessons we can draw from the 1930s

Generals calling for rearmament often talk about the UK facing a "1937 moment". But what actually happened in the late 1930s, are there similarities and what can we learn? We talk to historian Dan Todman about the economic & military parallels.pod.fo/e/2c9967

Great to get the brilliant Dan Todman on A Long Time In Finance to discuss the economics and politics of rearmament. We're a long way from matching their seriousness, patriotism and clear eyed logic Keir Starmer

What he said..

Our latest on A Long Time In Finance - MAKING PLANS FOR BRITISH STEEL - is out. In the wake of the crisis at Scunthorpe, we talk to historian Ewan Gibbs about steel, the state, and the importance of ownership and production in an uncertain world. pod.fo/e/2cfb06

Great to get the brilliant Ewan Gibbs back on to talk about the steel crisis and how we got here

In April the government took over Britain’s last basic steelworks at Scunthorpe. I spoke to A Long Time In Finance about the history of steel, nationalisation and why the country that invented modern steel making is scrabbling to save to its last blast furnaces. open.spotify.com/episode/1154Wx…