Merryn Somerset Webb

For those of you uncertain as to just how utterly awful aligning CGT thresholds with income tax thresholds would be, some sums here. CGT is already a wealth tax. This would make it one of the highest wealth taxes of any kind in the world. linkedin.com/posts/merryn-s…

@EquityActive It does matter. Being able to move fast and efficiently between productive cities is fantastic.

@MerrynSW UK is a small country, so train times don't matter as much as on the continent. All we need is fast, reliable wifi on all trains, then we can use the time productively.

Took train from Naples to Rome a few days ago. 300km/hr most of way. V quick. Now on LNER east coast. Train top speed is 200 kmh. We are going 170. At 300 could do Edinburgh to London in 2 hours. Which would be nice/transformational.

!!

Impressive piece of work and a clever way to get the point across - despite the UK tax burden being at generational highs, the average British worker is taxed lightly relative to Europe. (Be nice to see pensions/student debt in there but that's another layer of complexity)

I haven't read this entire @DanNeidle report (yet) but so far it's an excellent explainer on the case for a land value tax (which the idealist in me has long favoured) as well as the political problems and fearsome temporal fairness issues it would raise taxpolicy.org.uk/2026/07/12/wha…

Am almost certain it will turn out that there is.

In 2012, according to Deutsche Bank's Mapping the World's Prices report, Japan was expensive and the US was cheap. Now, their positions have virtually flipped. There's no secret as to how this happened - but is the pendulum about to swing back? bloomberg.com/news/newslette…

Making concentrated bets has paid off in recent years but diversification still matters over the long run, as a recent paper from Professor Hendrik Bessembinder highlights bloomberg.com/news/newslette…

Respondents to the latest Bloomberg market pulse survey were asked who the least market-friendly chancellor would be. Looks like we're gonna need a bigger batch of North Sea oil licences bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

@lakesidephyserg @LNER Was on holiday. Did not check. But cannot possible be worse

@MerrynSW What was the wi-fi like on the Italian trains? It's non-existent on @LNER.

@YahooCastle Yes

@MerrynSW Have you heard of the De Beers system ?

Why have one someone had to dig for when you can get the same in a lab? Cleaner. Safer.

They've used up their Scottish quota. They aren't able to take any more. Bad gov policy - not uni policy.

Excellent sense from the Economist on Burnham's foolish plan to built yet more council houses: "England does not have too little social housing. It has too much: at 16% of the total stock, more than any other G7 country. In some London boroughs nearly 40% of homes are social housing. And far from being “the foundation for everything”, as Mr Burnham says, the council-housing system is wasteful, unfair and a barrier to growth", says the Economist editorial team. "New social lets in Kensington and Chelsea were nearly 80% below market rents in 2024-25, a £32,000 annual saving per household. Social tenancies are often for life and can even be inherited. Once you’re in, there’s no more means-testing, regardless of how much your fortunes improve. Of the 4m households in social housing in England, more than 10% have incomes in the national top 40%. Some are rich. The wife of the president of Sierra Leone, who lives in a palace, was recently found to have a council home in London as well." Council house rents should be raised to market levels & the houses themselves privatized. The last thing we need is more of them.

IHT is literally murder

Crucial for manufacturing semi conductors and for cooling MRI machines. asia.nikkei.com/economy/trade-…

This strikes me as a form of inequality - arbitrary and blatant unfairness - that more people should be worked up about

Had a great chat with Bloomberg real estate team leader Jack Sidders about UK REITs and the rampant consolidation within the sector for this week's @MerrynSW Talks Your Money episode. Packed a huge amount of info on commercial property into a short pod podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the…

This does not seem aligned with my understanding of how the free world is supposed to work.

فكرة أن الذكاء الاصطناعي سيحل محل المحللين تبدو منطقية في ظاهرها، خصوصاً مع قدرته على قراءة التقارير وتحليل البيانات بسرعة كبيرة. لكن في إدارة الاستثمارات، جمع المعلومات ليس الجزء الأصعب دائماً. Sarah Ketterer الرئيسة التنفيذية لشركة Causeway Capital Management ترى أن الذكاء الاصطناعي سيزيد قدرة فرق الاستثمار على تغطية شركات وأسواق أكثر، وسيختصر جزءاً كبيراً من العمل التحليلي المتكرر. لكن يبقى دور المحلل في فهم جودة الإدارة، وتقييم استراتيجية الشركة، ومعرفة الفرق بين مشكلة مؤقتة وتراجع فعلي في النشاط. لهذا أعتقد أن الحديث عن استبدال المحللين فيه مبالغة. الذكاء الاصطناعي سيغير طريقة عملهم، لكنه لن يلغي الحاجة إلى الحكم الاستثماري والخبرة. واللافت في حديثها أن الفرص ليست بالضرورة في أكثر القطاعات ضجيجاً. فبينما يتركز الاهتمام اليوم على شركات التقنية والرقائق، قد تكون هناك فرص أقل تسعيراً في قطاع الرعاية الصحية وبعض شركات البرمجيات. السوق غالباً يطارد القصة الواضحة، بينما الاستثمار الجيد يبدأ أحياناً من القطاعات التي لا يتحدث عنها الجميع. @MerrynSW @business youtu.be/90zUdCMBP5s?si…