Daily Brief – Reform

Humphrey Percy
Chairman and Founder
Tue 28 Jan 2025

Reform

Britain’s newest party is now the top polling party at 26%, 1 point ahead of the Conservatives and 4 points ahead of Labour. This is big news and perhaps explains why even Conservatives with strong nerves are beginning to wonder if the fortunes of the Conservatives might best be joined with Reform rather than risk their share of the vote remaining static or worse still being eroded further by Reform.

GBP/USD 1.2437.

UK Supermarkets

Proof that posh people do indeed push: Waitrose rattled due to its UK market share falling below 4% while M&S is over 4%. So posh peoples’ supermarket Waitrose is responding by reinstating the free coffees to its 9 million loyalty scheme cardholders. No such fripperies for high street Sainsbury’s – they are withdrawing their offer of free coffee to their customers. Tough love.

EUR/GBP 0.8386.

Tourist Tax

Groundbreaking stuff from the City of Edinburgh which is due as the first city in Scotland to do so to introduce a 5% tourist tax on tourist spend on overnight accommodation costs from July 2026. It will generate GBP 50 million a year that will be ploughed back into the city’s infrastructure and services. The tax applies to tourists and those visiting for work so all those financial services companies visited by London based firms will also have to cough up.

EUR/USD 1.0432.

Brassicas

Get ready UK readers: your cauliflower and broccoli supplies will be severely constrained during the dead period between April and July due to floods in Europe and other manifestations of global warming. That plus mild weather(really?) in the UK which meant that UK crops came to harvest faster than usual. Calls for the UK government to help out the brassica growers seem unlikely to be met given its cash strapped finances. Meanwhile it’s becoming obvious that there’s a lack of UK agricultural workers and plenty of slugs of the crop eating variety to add to the problems.

GBP/CHF 1.1274.

Wannabe

In those far off Blairite years of Cool Britannia the Spice Girls won the Brit awards in 1997 for Best Single and Best Video. There is a lot to this song in every respect including its length but I will spare you the full smorgasbord in favour of a flavour of the sumptuous feast that it is (not) lyrically:

Ha ha ha ha ha
Yo, I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want
So tell me what you want, what you really, really want
I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want
So tell me what you want, what you really, really want
I wanna, (ha) I wanna, (ha) I wanna, (ha) I wanna, (ha)
I wanna really, really, really wanna zigazig ah

If you want my future, forget my past
If you wanna get with me, better make it fast
Now don’t go wasting my precious time
Get your act together we could be just fine

I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want
So tell me what you want, what you really, really want
I wanna, (ha) I wanna, (ha) I wanna, (ha) I wanna, (ha)
I wanna really, really, really wanna zigazig ah
If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends
(Gotta get with my friends)
Make it last forever, friendship never ends
If you wanna be my lover, you have got to give
Taking is too easy, but that’s the way it is


Discussion and Analysis by Humphrey Percy, Chairman and Founder

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