Every parent I know has the same nagging worry. Their kid is on a phone, on an app, and nobody can quite say what is happening on the other side of that screen. For most of the last 20 years, the answer from Silicon Valley has been some version of "trust us." Trust the algorithm. Trust the safety ...
Every parent I know has the same nagging worry. Their kid is on a phone, on an app, and nobody can quite say what is happening on the other side of that screen. For most of the last 20 years, the answer from Silicon Valley has been some version of "trust us." Trust the algorithm. Trust the safety ...
The Florida mansion where wrestling legend Hulk Hogan died has undergone a significant $2 million price cut—less than three months after it first hit the market.
The Florida mansion where wrestling legend Hulk Hogan died has undergone a significant $2 million price cut—less than three months after it first hit the market.
Even if a company is profitable, it doesn’t always mean it’s a great investment. Some struggle to maintain growth, face looming threats, or fail to reinvest wisely, limiting their future potential.
Even if a company is profitable, it doesn’t always mean it’s a great investment. Some struggle to maintain growth, face looming threats, or fail to reinvest wisely, limiting their future potential.
An exodus of workers will be damaging – and electoral change might help Britain escape instability and low growth While all eyes are on the Middle East and the risk of a global recession, a possible scenario with significant downside risk for the UK economy after the next general election is building: the impact of anti-immigration policies. We do not know enough about the actual policy changes a ...
An exodus of workers will be damaging – and electoral change might help Britain escape instability and low growth While all eyes are on the Middle East and the risk of a global recession, a possible scenario with significant downside risk for the UK economy after the next general election is building: the impact of anti-immigration policies. We do not know enough about the actual policy changes a Reform UK-led government would impose, but if we get forced repatriation (including of some who were born in Britain) combined with a climate of fear, the economic disruption could be highly significant. Continue reading...
The Renters’ Right Act has finally given tenants in England more security over their housing, but landlords still hold the upper hand when setting rents You never welcome an email from your landlord, or in my case, my landlord’s agent. I happened to be in an airport waiting for a flight when something landed in my inbox that made my stomach drop. Two words popped out in the subject line: “Section ...
The Renters’ Right Act has finally given tenants in England more security over their housing, but landlords still hold the upper hand when setting rents You never welcome an email from your landlord, or in my case, my landlord’s agent. I happened to be in an airport waiting for a flight when something landed in my inbox that made my stomach drop. Two words popped out in the subject line: “Section 21”. Miles from home, staring at my phone, I felt useless and despondent at being served a no-fault eviction notice days before the new Renters’ Right Act made them illegal at the start of May. Once a feature of England’s rental market, section 21s had allowed landlords to force tenants out of their homes with only a minimum of two months’ notice. Presumably not wanting the hassle of having to use a section 8 notice – citing one or more legal grounds to end a tenancy – my landlord evicted me at the 11th hour. George Francis Lee is a recipient of the 2025/26 Scott Trust Bursary Continue reading...
WhatsApp group has bought tens of thousands of meals for people via Facebook page Carl used to own pubs – several of them – and a string of hotels. Then two years ago, rising costs forced him into bankruptcy. Now he sleeps on the beach in summer, and in winter sits in an all-night McDonald’s nursing a single cup of coffee. Carl’s daughters are in a different part of the country with his ex-wife. T...
WhatsApp group has bought tens of thousands of meals for people via Facebook page Carl used to own pubs – several of them – and a string of hotels. Then two years ago, rising costs forced him into bankruptcy. Now he sleeps on the beach in summer, and in winter sits in an all-night McDonald’s nursing a single cup of coffee. Carl’s daughters are in a different part of the country with his ex-wife. To maintain the illusion that he lives a normal life, Carl is careful only to video-call them from the local Wetherspoon’s with a meal and a drink carefully positioned in shot. That way, he reasons, he looks like a man with somewhere to be. Continue reading...
As a cheap, easy solution for when you’re away from home for a few days, it quietly does its job The problem Going away for a week and leaving your plants to fend for themselves is a specific kind of anxiety. You water thoroughly before you leave, move them out of direct sunlight, group them together and then spend your holiday picturing a wilted peace lily. The hack One hack suggests wrapping dam...
As a cheap, easy solution for when you’re away from home for a few days, it quietly does its job The problem Going away for a week and leaving your plants to fend for themselves is a specific kind of anxiety. You water thoroughly before you leave, move them out of direct sunlight, group them together and then spend your holiday picturing a wilted peace lily. The hack One hack suggests wrapping damp towels around the base and sides of your pots, creating a slow-release moisture jacket that keeps the root zone cooler and hydrated, while also acting as an insulating layer that slows evaporation from the soil surface. Unlike wicking systems that actively draw water in, this is purely about retention – holding on to the moisture that’s already there. Continue reading...
My girlfriends and I have more fun, more adventures, more independence than ever before. And as for the sex … I met my boyfriend when he was playing Bach in the park. I was taking my usual jog past London zoo and around the Regent’s Park boating lake when I was stopped in my tracks by the most beautiful music. Wafting across the rose garden was an exquisite guitar rendition of Bach’s prelude in E ...
My girlfriends and I have more fun, more adventures, more independence than ever before. And as for the sex … I met my boyfriend when he was playing Bach in the park. I was taking my usual jog past London zoo and around the Regent’s Park boating lake when I was stopped in my tracks by the most beautiful music. Wafting across the rose garden was an exquisite guitar rendition of Bach’s prelude in E major. When the final notes hung in the air like gossamer, I congratulated the musician. A twinkly-eyed bloke smiled up at me. “Ah, no bother,” he said in a soft Irish burr. At the sound of his mellifluous, velvety voice, my heart beat so loudly I felt as though it was coming through stereo speakers. His eyes seemed to smoke their way into me. I stared at him for what I estimate to be about, oh, a decade, but was probably only two seconds, before asking him for coffee. Pathetic, I know. A romcom “meet-cute” like this is not just cheesy; it’s deep-fried Brie in a bechamel sauce on a bed of melted cheddar. Continue reading...
The Cuban-American artist likes to paint pretty young white men – inspired by his fascination with Holden Caulfield. So why do his portraits have a sinister edge? Hernan Bas has been living in Venice this year, painting tourists. He’s aware of the ironies. (He is the kind of tourist, he tells me, who started looking at Venetian property prices, oh, about a week into his stay.) The Cuban-American a...
The Cuban-American artist likes to paint pretty young white men – inspired by his fascination with Holden Caulfield. So why do his portraits have a sinister edge? Hernan Bas has been living in Venice this year, painting tourists. He’s aware of the ironies. (He is the kind of tourist, he tells me, who started looking at Venetian property prices, oh, about a week into his stay.) The Cuban-American artist is from Miami, and he knows about mass tourism all too intimately: he lives in an neighbourhood that has now been so thoroughly colonised by Airbnbs that when he comes home from the airport, taxi drivers ask him where he’s visiting from, and he has to explain that no, this is his own house. Here – his studio looking out over the lulling lap of the lagoon – he can be the tourist as innocent, as amnesiac, drinking in the beauties of the city and forgetting about the violence and catastrophe unfurling beyond. “I can pretend nothing’s happening in the world. And I’ve done a very, very good job of that for the last seven weeks,” he tells me when we meet in the spring. For a moment his mind drifts back despairingly to his home town and the fraught politics of his country. “It was so mind boggling how much the Latin community went for Trump, and now everyone is eating dirt because they’re hiding from ICE,” he says. “Those same people who were gung ho for Trump are now getting deported.” Continue reading...
The film’s villain is a conniving tech oligarch seeking to buy his way into fashion’s inner circle. Sound familiar? In The Devil Wears Prada 2 , we’re introduced to a very different Miranda Priestly. There was a time where the all-powerful queen of fashion – who is played by Meryl Streep and based on Vogue’s longest-serving editor, Anna Wintour – could end careers with a glance. But this time, she...
The film’s villain is a conniving tech oligarch seeking to buy his way into fashion’s inner circle. Sound familiar? In The Devil Wears Prada 2 , we’re introduced to a very different Miranda Priestly. There was a time where the all-powerful queen of fashion – who is played by Meryl Streep and based on Vogue’s longest-serving editor, Anna Wintour – could end careers with a glance. But this time, she spends most of the movie taking orders herself. First, we see her at the behest of advertisers, then publishing magnate Irv Ravitz and his irritating nepo baby son. And it isn’t long before Benji Barnes, an eccentric billionaire, shows up and threatens to dismantle the excellence she has spent her entire career championing. In the film, Benji is played – scarily well, I should add – by Justin Theroux. After a high-profile divorce, he has had a “glow-up”, which loosely translates to losing weight and boasting a deep mahogany tan. Post-divorce, he is now in a relationship with Emily – Miranda’s acerbic former assistant, played by the scene-stealing Emily Blunt , who is described as “every girl who ignored him in high school”. Benji’s inclusion in the story feels representative of the wider media landscape, where the whims of billionaires decide which parts of the old, pre-social media world get to survive. And for Emily, she’s learning that being associated with someone so powerful has the potential to help her finally step out of Miranda’s shadow. The romance between these diametric opposites – Type A fashion queen and a nerd who grew up to become one of the world’s richest men – provides a stream of comic relief. But beyond the laughs are a deeper – and bleaker – statement about how people with enough money can buy cultural power. Continue reading...
Robert Cyr Jr, a US navy airman, had gone missing in 1944 when his seaplane crashed in the Segond channel The remains of a US military aviator who went missing after his crew crashed during the second world war were recovered and identified through DNA analysis and his family recently laid him to rest in Florida, according to officials. US navy airman Robert Cyr Jr’s burial in Clearwater, Florida,...
Robert Cyr Jr, a US navy airman, had gone missing in 1944 when his seaplane crashed in the Segond channel The remains of a US military aviator who went missing after his crew crashed during the second world war were recovered and identified through DNA analysis and his family recently laid him to rest in Florida, according to officials. US navy airman Robert Cyr Jr’s burial in Clearwater, Florida, brought to an end a decades-long saga that began on 22 January 1944, when he and eight fellow crewmates crashed while they were aboard a seaplane as it took off in the Segond channel in what is now the south Pacific’s Republic of Vanuatu. Continue reading...
Hong Kong has recorded its fastest economic growth in nearly five years in the first quarter, at 5.9 per cent, driven by strong exports and private consumption despite ongoing unrest in the Middle East. The first-quarter growth exceeded the year-on-year increase of 4 per cent recorded in the fourth quarter of last year, according to advance estimates released by the Census and Statistics Departmen...
Hong Kong has recorded its fastest economic growth in nearly five years in the first quarter, at 5.9 per cent, driven by strong exports and private consumption despite ongoing unrest in the Middle East. The first-quarter growth exceeded the year-on-year increase of 4 per cent recorded in the fourth quarter of last year, according to advance estimates released by the Census and Statistics Department on Tuesday. The 5.9 per cent rise was also the strongest since the 7.6 per cent growth seen in the...
Japan and Australia agreed to step up collaboration in areas including critical minerals, defence and energy security, tackling China’s dominance of rare earths and fuel-supply disruptions caused by the Iran war. “Australia and Japan are taking action to protect our economies from future economic shocks and uncertainty,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement after meeting ...
Japan and Australia agreed to step up collaboration in areas including critical minerals, defence and energy security, tackling China’s dominance of rare earths and fuel-supply disruptions caused by the Iran war. “Australia and Japan are taking action to protect our economies from future economic shocks and uncertainty,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement after meeting his Japanese counterpart, Sanae Takaichi, in Canberra. “By working together, we will achieve more...
Change is in the air at the company that Steve Jobs built. For more than a decade, Apple has designed the main processors that power its devices (known as systems-on-a-chip) and relied on TSMC to build them using the most advanced production processes in Taiwan. So, it’s quite significant that the iPhone and iPad maker has held exploratory discussions about using Intel and Samsung Electronics to p...
Change is in the air at the company that Steve Jobs built. For more than a decade, Apple has designed the main processors that power its devices (known as systems-on-a-chip) and relied on TSMC to build them using the most advanced production processes in Taiwan. So, it’s quite significant that the iPhone and iPad maker has held exploratory discussions about using Intel and Samsung Electronics to produce said processors in the US. Apple has had early-stage talks with Intel about enlisting the company’s chipmaking services, according to people familiar with the deliberations. Meanwhile, its executives have made visits to a Samsung plant under development in Texas that will also make advanced chips. Neither effort has resulted in any orders so far, and the work with both suppliers remains preliminary. Plus, Apple has concerns about using non-TSMC technology and may not ultimately move forward with another partner, the people added. But the development shows that not even Apple, one of the largest purchasers of silicon, is immune to supply-chain disruptions. Recent shortages have been driven by the massive build-out of AI data centers and higher-than-anticipated demand for Macs suitable for running AI models locally. That, in part, highlights the need for Apple to consider additional suppliers. There’s been a steady whiff of evolution at this most fabled of tech giants recently. Apple is also preparing a new “ Create a Pass ” feature for its next major iPhone software update. And our Apple expert Mark Gurman says the company has dropped some hints at how John Ternus will manage its finances (differently) after he takes the reins from Tim Cook. What You Need to Know Today Stocks pulled back from record highs and the dollar strengthened after the US and Iran exchanged fire, escalating Middle East tensions and fueling inflation concerns. Some relief came with oil easing during the Asian session, but the actual fallout is clear beyond markets. Hundreds of vessels were seen ...
The president seeks to oust Indiana Republicans who blocked a redistricting push in that state, while growing dissatisfaction with Trump's agenda gives Democrats an opening in Ohio. (Image credit: Jon Cherry)
The president seeks to oust Indiana Republicans who blocked a redistricting push in that state, while growing dissatisfaction with Trump's agenda gives Democrats an opening in Ohio. (Image credit: Jon Cherry)
FrankRamspott/E+ via Getty Images Shares of Everest Group ( EG ) have been a poor performer over the past year, trading essentially flat and missing out on a market rally. The company has struggled with underwriting challenges over the past 18 months, requiring a significant increase in reserves, a reinsurance deal, and a decision to exit much of its insurance business to shift to areas where it h...
FrankRamspott/E+ via Getty Images Shares of Everest Group ( EG ) have been a poor performer over the past year, trading essentially flat and missing out on a market rally. The company has struggled with underwriting challenges over the past 18 months, requiring a significant increase in reserves, a reinsurance deal, and a decision to exit much of its insurance business to shift to areas where it has better margins. In my view, these efforts are beginning to show some promise, and I rated the stock a “ B uy” in March , though its 3% rally since then has lagged the market’s 6% gain. With updated financials, now is a good time to revisit shares to see if the turnaround is indeed on track. Seeking Alpha In the company’s first quarter, Everest Group earned $16.08 per share, which beat estimates by $1.51. Gross written premiums were down 18.5% to $3.6 billion as it exited unprofitable policies and sold some renewal rights to AIG ( AIG ). It generated $316 million of underwriting ratio with a combined ratio of 91.2%, a healthy result. Overall, EG is a leaner and more focused company than a year ago, and with it shifting focus to areas of strength, we are now starting to see improvement. This quarter validated that the company is on track, in my view. That said, I would note that during Q1, it had $130 million of catastrophe losses, including an initial reserve of $58 million due to the Middle East conflict. Its reinsurance business has $300 million of direct exposure to the Middle East, against which it set aside $40 million. The rest of the reserve covers indirect exposure through global policies. While this is an area of significant uncertainty, this strikes me as a very prudent initial reserve. On the positive side, there were $33 million of favorable prior-year developments. After two years of having to add reserves because of prior-year issues, it was nice to see this reserve, suggesting EG has finally set enough aside. With its adverse development cover agreement sig...
Bridge Growth Partners has raised $790 million of equity in a secondary transaction that will let it hold the infrastructure software company Solace for longer. The single asset continuation fund was co-led by Apogem Capital , Golub Capital, HSBC Holdings Plc and Schroders Capital, according to a statement reviewed by Bloomberg News. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan rolled over a significant equ...
Bridge Growth Partners has raised $790 million of equity in a secondary transaction that will let it hold the infrastructure software company Solace for longer. The single asset continuation fund was co-led by Apogem Capital , Golub Capital, HSBC Holdings Plc and Schroders Capital, according to a statement reviewed by Bloomberg News. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan rolled over a significant equity portion it owned into the new vehicle. New York-based Bridge Growth, a private equity firm focused on the lower middle-market, first invested in Solace in 2016. Solace’s total addressable market is expected to increase dramatically because of artificial intelligence, Bridge Growth Chief Executive Officer Alok Singh said in an interview. “Enterprises are going to have millions and millions of agents everywhere,” Singh said. “They all need data in real time, and Solace seamlessly connects everything without having any drops.” Bridge Growth backed Solace from its Funds I and II, which will be liquidated after this transaction. The private equity firm and its affiliates will represent 15% of Solace’s total equity and continue to manage the business, Singh said. Ottawa-based Solace focuses on low latency messaging and can provide data simultaneously through different channels. Its customers include retail and aviation companies such as Heineken , United Airlines and Bosch . Under Bridge Growth’s ownership, Solace grew from 125 employees to around 550, and its recurring revenue rose to 96% from 35%, Singh said. The firm has about 400 customers, he added. Stanley Xu , managing director at Apogem, said his firm has been impressed by Solace’s “growth and transformation” under Bridge Growth’s ownership. Solace competes with Confluent, which International Business Machines Corp. agreed to buy for about $11 billion in December. Both Singh and Denis King , Solace’s chief executive officer, said Solace makes sense as part of a bigger company. Singh left New Mountain Capital in 2013 t...
Home sales in Toronto posted their biggest increase in nine months as lower prices finally began to lure buyers back to the market. The number of homes that traded hands in April rose 6.1% from the month before, according to seasonally adjusted data released Tuesday by the Toronto Regional Real Estate board. That outpaced a 3.7% gain in new listings and helped bring a 10-month slide in home prices...
Home sales in Toronto posted their biggest increase in nine months as lower prices finally began to lure buyers back to the market. The number of homes that traded hands in April rose 6.1% from the month before, according to seasonally adjusted data released Tuesday by the Toronto Regional Real Estate board. That outpaced a 3.7% gain in new listings and helped bring a 10-month slide in home prices to an end. The benchmark price in Canada’s biggest city held steady at C$929,300 ($682,850) in April, the first month without a decline in almost a year, the real estate board’s data show. Housing markets in Canada have been hammered over the past year by unease over the country’s trade war with the US , and more recently, the jump in fuel prices stemming from the war in Iran. On the trade front, Canada is looking to resolve at least some of the disputes during a review of its current agreement with the US this year. Because of the pressures, the benchmark price in Toronto is now down 6.6% from April 2025, according to the real estate board. “Lower home prices and borrowing costs over the past year have been a catalyst for some homebuyers this spring,” Jason Mercer, the board’s chief information officer, said in a statement. “More certainty on the trade front and an easing in geopolitical tensions would result in further improvements in market activity.”
Germany's Silent Shift: From Entrepreneurs To State Dependence Submitted by Thomas Kolbe Germany affords itself a state bureaucracy that functions like an artificial labor market placed upstream of the private sector. The flight of hundreds of thousands into the arms of the state corresponds with the shrinking number of self-employed in the country. And policymakers are actively promoting this tre...
Germany's Silent Shift: From Entrepreneurs To State Dependence Submitted by Thomas Kolbe Germany affords itself a state bureaucracy that functions like an artificial labor market placed upstream of the private sector. The flight of hundreds of thousands into the arms of the state corresponds with the shrinking number of self-employed in the country. And policymakers are actively promoting this trend. Let us begin with a piece of good news: according to a Bertelsmann survey , around 40 percent of Germans aged 15 to 25 can imagine starting a business as their personal life path. That is a surprisingly high figure in a country where young people not infrequently cite, half-jokingly and half-seriously, Hartz IV or the public sector as career goals. Let us note: the embers of entrepreneurship in Germany are still glowing; economic autonomy and sovereignty still rank highly among the younger generation. However, it is questionable whether this will suffice to ignite, one day, a true founding boom in a country of climate transformation, deeply rooted faith in the state, and an expansive public sector—a boom that could force a turnaround and help erase the long-accumulated sins of climate socialists. But we digress. Romantic youthful ideals carry little weight in the leadership circles of the Berlin Republic. There, the ideal of free enterprise collides with the cultural-political malaise of statism—one of many politically induced fault lines of our time. Entrepreneurial action, the free decision over the allocation of capital, inevitably carries conflict potential in a climate of manically enforced eco-transformation. In attempting to transform the existing economic order into a system of state-directed energy production and centrally steered industrial output, policymakers are pushing a growing number of mid-sized enterprises either into insolvency or straight abroad. No one should be surprised by the country’s economic depression: there is a price to be paid for handing ...
FINRA has adopted significant changes to its margin rule with potential impacts on active investors. If you currently engage in or are considering an active investment strategy, be sure to understand what's changing and how this will affect you. These changes, which will become effective June 4, 2026 (with a permitted transition period through October 20, 2027, for brokerage firms that need more t...
FINRA has adopted significant changes to its margin rule with potential impacts on active investors. If you currently engage in or are considering an active investment strategy, be sure to understand what's changing and how this will affect you. These changes, which will become effective June 4, 2026 (with a permitted transition period through October 20, 2027, for brokerage firms that need more time), are designed to provide more trading flexibility while maintaining investor protections. However, frequent trading with margin remains a high-risk activity that requires careful management of your funds. FINRA is replacing current day trading margin provisions, including the requirements for "pattern day traders" (the PDT rules), with new intraday margin requirements . This change modernizes how brokerage firms monitor and manage risk. Continue reading
Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ: HOOD) released its latest quarterly numbers last week, and the market reacted negatively. The performance was underwhelming, and the stock fell sharply. While it has been recovering in recent days, it's still down from where it was in recent weeks. And since the start of the year, it has fallen by more than 32% (returns as of the end of last week). Is this decline in Rob...
Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ: HOOD) released its latest quarterly numbers last week, and the market reacted negatively. The performance was underwhelming, and the stock fell sharply. While it has been recovering in recent days, it's still down from where it was in recent weeks. And since the start of the year, it has fallen by more than 32% (returns as of the end of last week). Is this decline in Robinhood's stock a good buying opportunity, or is it likely to fall even lower in the coming weeks? Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading