UK factories report worst month in six years amid Brexit fears
activity levels in the UK manufacturing sector dropped to the lowest level since February 2013 in May, as firms scaled back their orders due to existing high stock levels....The survey found that high stock levels, ongoing Brexit uncertainty, a deteriorating economic backdrop and rising competition contributed to the drop in output. Weak export demand amid a faltering global economy also had an impact.
Annual growth in borrowing on credit cards, overdrafts and personal loans eased to 5.6% in the year to May, down from 5.9% a month ago and marking the smallest rise since April 2014....The weaker expansion could, however, allay concerns at the Bank over an unsustainable consumer credit bubble....Households have over recent months gradually been able to rebuild their finances, as inflation fades and wage growth accelerates to the fastest pace in more than a decade
Elsewhere, a different sort of lesson in culture and political economy:
Back in the far-off days of Occupy and the Arab spring, we were told that the political future would be leaderless, “horizontal” – and defined by the egalitarian promise of social networks. But more than ever, any chance of political success now depends on charismatic, one-person leadership, and the crucial online currency of celebrity.
Instant wisdom as ever:
For the past two weeks I have been immersed in a brilliant book published late last year: The Digital Party, by the London-based academic [so that makes it good?] Paolo Gerbaudo,
And to bring it all home:
Though Johnson is presumably no more familiar with the term than he is with the realities of building models of buses, he clearly wants to be a hyperleader....it seems to me that this is exactly where the Brexit party might be heading, thanks to the digital expertise it has copied from the Five Star movement.
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