Daily Brief – UK-Switzerland

UK-Switzerland

Luckily, Argentina put the kybosh on Switzerland’s World Cup hopes in the nick of time as otherwise it would have been a touch awkward for UK Business and Trade Minister Peter Kyle as he hastened to ink a trade deal with Switzerland to burnish his credentials with his new boss, Andy Burnham if the land of cuckoo clocks had bridled ahead of the trade deal. The deal locks in IP protections for the pharma industry but it is unclear which country gains most from the deal, but never mind, Peter Kyle hailed the deal as the most significant trade deal for services – ever. If that seems a stretch, it does include a 90-day visa waiver for those busy British businessmen. What is the most welcome and useful (to us at least) news is that in future the 800,000 British tourists visiting Switzerland each year by air will be able to use airport e-gates. For that alone the Business and Trade Minister should be congratulated even if that is the extent of the most significant services trade deal – ever.

GBP/USD 1.3406.

D33

Dubai has an economic agenda that other older countries closer to home would do well to emulate: D33 is a 10-year framework led by Dubai Founders HQ that targets the creation of 30 unicorns (startups valued at USD 1 billion+) and strong SME growth by 2033. Not only that, but Dubai seems to be pushing against the barrier of 24-hour days since the epicentre of this startup frenzy is based in Dubai’s 25 hours Hotel at One Central. Other buzzy words such as “phygital” all make for plenty of positive energy as well as the incentive for success of negligible direct tax and fully functioning air conditioning. What’s not to like for right minded entrepreneurs?

EUR/GBP 0.8538.

Church and State

Bulgaria, as we know, is a member of the EU, a member of Schengen and joined the EUR on 1-1-26. The Eastern Orthodox Church includes both the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church. Patriarch Kirill is Head of the Russian Orthodox Church and is controversial because he has described the Russian invasion of and war against Ukraine as a holy war and therefore fully justified; for good measure he also called for the annihilation of Ukrainian independence. Another controversial Russian is billionaire Vagit Alekperov with links to Lukoil and the Kremlin. Both were put on the list to be sanctioned by the EU in 2022. Bulgaria has now broken cover and exercised its veto of both individuals’ sanctions and consequently the EU has abandoned its efforts having acceded to the Bulgarian argument that politics and religion are separate despite there being more than a little confusion on that one from Patriarch Kirill and a bit of a mystery as to why that church versus state argument might apply to the sanctioning of Mr Alekperov. To parrot a well-known phrase from another distant era in 1939: faraway places of which Brussels understands little, one suspects.

EUR/USD 1.1448.

Darwin

Rather than survival of the fittest, Darwin’s principle means the survival of the best-suited to a specific environment. In this instance it is Brits in the current “heat dome” who regretfully fall woefully short of that measure – at least according to Shropshire Phone Repairs that is “flooded” with phone repairs due to the heatwave. Mind you,  it is not the heat but more due to those overly clever phone owners putting their devices in the fridge or the freezer to cool them down. As a result, internal moisture damage is providing plenty of work for phone repair shops with swollen lithium batteries all too common a phenomenon. Durr.

EUR/JPY 185.33.

Y.M.C.A.

With no hint of irony came the news this day in 2005 that Victor Willis famed for his role as the policeman in Village People was arrested in Daly City near San Francisco. Apart from the outstanding warrant to pay USD 15,000 for possessing narcotics, Victor Willis was found to be packing both a gun and plenty of drugs in his convertible. It all goes to show you can take a pop policeman out of New York but it’s harder to take NYC out of a pop policeman.

Young man, there’s no need to feel down
I said, young man, pick yourself off the ground
I said, young man, ’cause you’re in a new town
There’s no need to be unhappy

Young man, there’s a place you can go
I said, young man, when you’re short on your dough
You can stay there and I’m sure you will find
Many ways to have a good time

It’s fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A
It’s fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A., ayy
They have everything for young men to enjoy
You can hang out with all the boys
It’s fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A
It’s fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A., ayy
You can get yourself clean, you can have a good meal
You can do whatever you feel

Young man, are you listening to me?
I said, young man, what do you want to be?

Discussion and Analysis by Humphrey Percy, Chairman and Founder

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