Andrew Craig

We are wealthier, healthier, happier, kinder, cleaner, more peaceful, more equal and longer-lived than any previous generation. Cheer up!

By the way – if you want some further intellectual “ammo” that helps make the case that we might just muddle through to a brighter future, even with what is going on ATM, these books are all well worth a read! Factfulness by Hans Rosling - amzn.eu/d/g8izdPo The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley - amzn.eu/d/eCFN3b1 Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker - amzn.eu/d/gh4zJEB Abundance by Peter Diamandis - amzn.eu/d/3nFjLby The Singularity is Nearer by Ray Kurzweil - amzn.eu/d/8zhGwcu Our Future is Biotech by me ;-) - amzn.eu/d/2QT2rBM

AT TIMES LIKE THESE Good afternoon. In October of 2020 I wrote a fairly detailed blog post with the purposely provocative title: “The World is the Best it has Ever Been”. It struck me that it might be worth re-posting it today, because – on re-reading it, I’m pretty proud of it and, more importantly, because things do feel particularly awful at the moment and I would like to think that it might serve as something of an antidote to that reality. Not only do we have the awful, chaotic situation in the Middle East, but, in the UK specifically, the Labour government’s whole approach to policy since coming to power has seemingly been to brainstorm the things which will cause absolutely the most damage possible to the UK and to the British people, as quickly as possible and across the piece. On tax. On energy. On employment policy and rental supply. It is staggering to watch. BUT… Notwithstanding these things – which are certainly true and a very, very real concern, I do think it is a good idea generally to try our best to believe in the very real possibility that things will get better over time, even if we might take a pretty brutal backward step or two along the way, as seems to be the case right now – and has been the case many times before in history. One of my favourite quotes is: “On what principle is it that with nothing but improvement behind us, we are to expect nothing but deterioration before us?” Even with everything that is going on, the fairly clear record of history is that it pays to be bullish and to cultivate a positive mental attitude about the world if at all possible – financially, and also for your mental health. Far too few people do this – which is problematic in itself. The other reason that this is worth doing is because it is an asymmetric bet: If the world gets better – you’ll benefit from having behaved as if it will. And if it doesn’t, and we descend into crisis and conflict, you’ll have been better off anyway. Love him or hate him, I do think Elon Musk’s quote: "I'd rather be optimistic and wrong than pessimistic and right" has real merit. If you get a chance – please do check out the article – link below. I would hope that it might cheer you up at the very least. …and, if you do get a chance to read the piece, it is worth noting that it was written before the rise of LLMs when AI was in its infancy to a great extent. Very best wishes, Andy. plainenglishfinance.co.uk/opinion/the-wo…

Under this government youth unemployment in London has gone from it's lowest in 25 years, to the highest level, last seen after the 2008 crisis. And this is before the consequences of 2026 bite. The wholesale destruction of youth opportunity and prosperity. Devastating.

The left sees the world as a zero-sum game. As they are not able to create anything, they focus on stealing other people’s money. Free market supporters focus on growth, which drives prosperity for all. That’s the difference.

Virtually no Labour MPs come from industry or business, and almost certainly have no idea how wealth is generated. No wonder the economy is tanking.

This is disgusting. The vast majority of those jobs in Hospitality are for young people 18-24.

Where have weekend jobs gone? They’ve been priced out by a Labour government that didn’t understand where they came from in the first place. 👇 All of this started on 30 October 2024, when Rachel Reeves delivered her first budget, massively raising employer National Insurance Contributions. The key here was not just raising the rate, but cutting the threshold from which the jobs tax is paid. The old threshold was almost twice as high and meant that many business paid little to no jobs tax if they employed someone part time. This was great for teenagers, working mums, students, and anyone else working part time. By lowering the point at which people started to pay tax, the cost to employ someone part time rose considerable. It’s basic economics that you get less of the things you tax heavily. More taxes on jobs = fewer jobs. This should not have come as a surprise. I warned of it constantly at the time. Conservatives at every level of politics warned about it. Rachel Reeves was stubborn and didn’t listen. She thought she knew better. The price is now being paid most heavily by young people who can’t find a part time/weekend job while they study. They’re worse off and many of them wind up stuck on welfare. It’s a betrayal of a generation. Socialists don’t pay the price for their terrible decisions, ordinary people do.

Everyone screams ‘tax the rich more’ But the  top 1% pay 28.5% of all income tax And the bottom 50% only pay 9% of all income tax The problem is not the rich The problem is how much tax is wasted

💥📺📻NEW When The Facts Change interview Britain's dreams of being an AI super-power will be stymied by energy realities. Liam Halligan talks to leading data-centre entrepreneur John McGee, Managing Director of @DurataUK Desperate for a pro-growth narrative, Chancellor Rachel Reeves recently argued that "the UK will achieve the fastest AI adoption in the G7". But Britain's role in the AI revolution will be seriously curtailed, says John McGee, because "we simply haven’t got the power generation capacity at the moment”. Running AI data centres uses up huge amounts of energy. "As things stand, we are going to really struggle power-wise, unless something changes very quickly,” warns McGee. “I’m all for green energy,” he says. “But when we are trying to build an AI revolution, the clean energy timeframe is simply too aggressive … “It’s all very well for politicians to jump on the latest buzzword – which is AI – but do they actually understand what it will take to be a global leader in this sector, not least when it comes to buildings and energy”. Click on the link below for FREE access to this exclusive, insightful interview. And please share/subscribe to support quality, independent journalism. comment.press/mcgee

Without Net zero taxes and subsidies the entire industry isn’t viable. energy bosses explain that even if wholesale bills were halved or even zero, Our bills will be 20% higher in 5 years. Brilliant strategy Ed, just brilliant 🤡

𝗥𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘄𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗽 𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵 Think renewables are the cheapest energy source? Wrong. We've got places like South Australia where "free" solar causes prices to crash negative at noon and spike to insane highs later, proving the real cost is in the backups and wiring no one talks about. Steve Carson's deep dive smashes this green myth wide open—why are we ignoring the bills? Fascinating read. Read the full article: wattsupwiththat.com/2026/03/27/ren…

Sooner or later it is going to dawn on Ed Miliband and the rest of the government that anger over Britain’s sky-high energy prices is not going to go away. They are no longer going to be able to conceal the obvious evidence that UK consumers and businesses are paying significantly more for their energy than their counterparts in comparable countries. They are also not going to get away with blaming the war in Iran, nor with maintaining the pretence that the government’s green policies are helping to bring down bills. ✍️ Ross Clark Article | spectator.com/article/ed-mil…

The factory that produces half of Britain’s salt could soon be killed by Net Zero. For the first time in history, England is set to be a net importer of the world’s most important mineral. This will be catastrophic for UK manufacturing, says Ruari McCallion buff.ly/M8o8O6P

Venezuela used to be twice as wealthy as Chile. Then Chile adopted free-market capitalist principles while Venezuela chose socialism. Now Chile is the wealthiest large country in South America and Venezuela the poorest. Free markets work, socialism makes nations poor.

Warren Buffet: "I can end the deficit in five minutes. You juts pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for reelection."

By publishing this explicitly false story, the @FT has officially become tabloid trash for market participants. Despite my direct, on-the-record denial of ever having advocated, explored, or espoused the idea that Chancellor-Bank of England statute serving as a prototype for a Treasury-Federal Reserve relationship, FT journalists manufactured a story with the headline, “Scott Bessent praised Bank of England as model for tighter oversight of the Federal Reserve.” These pathetic journalists have clearly fabricated a story to give the impression that both I and the Trump Administration are setting “about restructuring the relationship… at a time when President Donald Trump has launched an unprecedented assault on the world’s most important central bank.” Their mendacious assertion is based on vague statements from unnamed “financial industry executives familiar with the matter.” In short, FT has literally manufactured an entirely fake policy position for me and the Administration. Other than furthering a maliciously false narrative of dysfunction and divisiveness, it baffles the mind as to why they would shred their already diminished journalistic credibility. Over the past 10 years, I have written more than 20,000 words opining on the Federal Reserve decisions, personnel, structure, and modifications. Nowhere have I ever mentioned this ridiculous notion. The Governor’s letters to the Chancellor have proven to be a useless and perfunctory device. There is much to be said about the storied Bank of England, but any recreation of its operating framework on this side of the Atlantic has never been contemplated. The shameful journalists and editors at the FT are shocking in their meretriciousness, lack of standards, and general intellectual libertinism. It is the worst tradition of Fleet Street to manufacture news rather than report on it. They have brought irredeemable shame to their parent organization, Nikkei Inc., with whom I had previously held excellent relations. In 2025, I laid out a comprehensive 6,000+ word review of each and every policy reform that I believe should be adopted by the Federal Reserve. Read my actual, real thoughts on and proposals for Federal Reserve reform at the International Economy: international-economy.com/TIE_Sp25_Besse…

This account - belter after belter after belter Realise what the state steals from you Understand what they piss it all away on Grasp that all that money doesn’t come back to you in any useful way Be aware Be angry Vote accordingly

ChatGPT made this graphic for me to illustrate the pump price of petrol... The fuel duty is higher than the crude oil component And then we pay VAT including on the fuel duty!! When @RachelReevesMP talks about fuel profiteering she needs to look in the mirror @griffitha @ClaireCoutinho

The other thing folks miss about Norway and Scandi generally is that they have a truly EPIC per capita natural resource endowment. When you have that you can fund a much bigger welfare state. But compare their trajectory to eg the Asian tiger economies since the end of WW2 and you realise just how much this has held them back.

These people are calling for a system which always and everywhere has failed. Always and everywhere destroys. Always and everywhere creates poverty and misery. Don’t let them say Norway. Norway is not socialist, it is a market economy with strong property rights. Neither Polanski or Corbyn believe in this. They do not understand economics or incentives. They are predators.

HOW TO SURVIVE THE PASSIVE INVESTING "PONZI" - without panicking or dumping ETFs Good morning. I’m delighted to share our latest YouTube video today. In this one, I address feedback I received after our last video which continued to highlight the potential dark side of the explosive rise in passive investing. Over several videos this year I have been explaining why the rise of passive can rightly be considered to be a Ponzi scheme in the making that could cause significant harm when it eventually unwinds. After our last video, I came in for a measure of criticism. Several people took me to task in the comments section for producing a “clickbaity” and typically fear-focused kind of video, highlighting a massive problem but “offering no practical solutions.” As a result, in this latest video, I thought it would be a good exercise to summarise many of the key ideas that can help you think about all of this; some possible “practical solutions” if you like. These fall into two broad categories: First – the many topics I have shared in the past which are of relevance. Secondly – much of the additional content I will be covering in the next few weeks and months. Key takeaways include: ❇️ Evolution, not revolution. I’m not suggesting anyone should immediately dump their passive ETF holdings. For most people, the smart approach is gradual adjustment, not panic selling. ❇️ The idea that human progress is still the ultimate investment theme. Long-term investing works because the world economy grows. The goal is to own a sensible slice of that progress (“owning the world”). ❇️ Crashes will happen — and the next big one could well be linked to the passive bubble. The solution? The same timeless principles that have always worked: …Invest for the very long term …Invest regularly (and automate it) …Ignore the noise and stick to your plan …Get your asset mix right (a simple “100 minus your age” rule can help) ❇️ Psychology is everything. Building wealth is far more about behaviour and habits than picking the perfect assets. When the inevitable volatility hits, the biggest danger is panic-selling. Being mentally prepared is crucial – hence why I make these videos. I also preview some of our upcoming content, including: Comparing broad World ETFs vs US-only, equal-weight vs market-cap weighted ETFs, the role active funds might play, for some at least, and a deeper dive into company valuation and its real-world importance. If you’ve been concerned about passive investing but unsure what to do, I hope you’ll find this video helpful. Very best wishes, Andy. youtu.be/PUdtLeLQAuk