The Times (July 29)
The UK’s “reckless lack of gas storage invites disaster.” Britain maintains “90 days’ worth of oil imports,” but “just two or three days’ worth of gas in reserve.” Since oil and gas each account for approximately one third of domestic energy, this “peculiarity” contributes “to energy insecurity and our soaring bills.” It’s completely out of step with reality. “Germany can store 90 days’ gas; France, over 100; Italy, somewhere in between; and the Netherlands, about 60.” Britain’s “reckless lack of gas storage invites disaster.” This obvious failure “ought to be a considerable source of worry.”
Tags: Disaster, Domestic energy, Failure, France, Gas, Gas storage, Germany, Insecurity, Italy, Netherlands, Oil imports, Peculiarity, Reckless, Reserve, Soaring bills, UK, Worry
BBC (June 28)
“Europe’s unprecedented early summer heatwave may be responsible for hundreds of excess deaths.” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that over 1,300 deaths recorded since June 21 were likely linked to the unrelenting heat. Though the majority of the excess deaths were in France, the heat has been widespread. “Temperature records were broken across the continent again on Sunday – including in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic – as the extreme heat continued to move east.”
Tags: Czech Republic, Europe, Excess deaths, France, Germany, Heatwave, Poland, Records, Summer, Temperature, Unprecedented, Unrelenting heat, WHO
Barron’s (June 23)
“The latest heatwave sweeping across Europe is a stark reminder that it is the world’s fastest-warming continent, stretching into an Arctic that is heating at an even greater pace. Britain, France, Italy and Spain have issued red alerts and health warnings for much of their territory this week as the region endures its second heat episode since May.”
Tags: Arctic, Britain, Continent, Endures, Europe, Fastest-warming, France, Health warnings, Heatwave, Italy, May, Reminder, Spain. Red alerts, Stark
The Times (June 11)
“Since the historic Nato summit in The Hague one year ago this month, European leaders have pledged massive increases in defence spending in the face of increasingly acute threats of Russian aggression. Yet the reality is that key west European governments – especially the UK, France and Italy – are not putting their money where their mouth is for fear of undermining lenders’ confidence in their national debt.”
Tags: Confidence, Defense spending, Europe, France, Governments, Historic, Italy, Leaders, Lenders, National debt, Nato summit, Pledged, Russian aggression, Threats, UK
The Economist (May 18)
“Since Donald Trump took office in January last year, America’s economy has continued to be the envy of the rich world. In 2025, while Britain, France and Japan eked out annual GDP growth of 1%, give or take, and Germany all but stood still, American output grew by 2.1%.” That growth could have been far more impressive. The Economist calculates that without the drag created by “fitful presidential policymaking,” the U.S. “might be rocketing ahead at nearly 5% annualised growth.”
Tags: 2025, 5%, Drag, Economy, Envy, Fitful, France, GDP growth, Germany, Japan, Policymaking, Rich world, Trump, U.S., UK
Barron’s (April 5)
The global economy is in for a “crude awakening.” Even under the best (or least worst) scenario, the Iran “war will shave about a percentage point off global economic growth, taking it down to 2% this year. Growth forecasts for large, developed economies—Japan, France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom—were modest before the war at around 1%. If the conflict extends past June, GDP growth for these countries could evaporate, while inflation keeps rising.”
Tags: 2%, Conflict, Crude awakening, Developed economies, Economic growth, Forecasts, France, GDP, Germany, Global economy, Inflation, Iran war, Italy, Japan, Scenario, UK
The Guardian (November 15)
The Guardian and Carbon Brief found that “just a fifth of funds to fight global heating” actually “went to the world’s 44 poorest countries, known as the least developed countries (LDCs).” In contrast, “China and wealthy petrostates… are among countries receiving large sums of climate finance.” For example, the “UAE, a fossil fuel exporter with a GDP per capita on a par with France and Canada, received more than $1bn in loans from Japan that were logged as climate finance” while “Saudi Arabia, which is one of the top 10 carbon emitters…received about $328m in Japanese loans.”
Tags: $1bn, 44 LDCs, Canada, Carbon Brief, China, Climate finance Fossil fuel, Exporter, France, GDP, Global heating, Guardian, Japan, Loans, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Wealthy petrostates
Wall Street Journal (October 7)
“French President Emmanuel Macron has lost his fourth prime minister in just over a year, a sign of how the country’s political crisis has engulfed his ranks and constrained his options for pulling France out of a fiscal spiral.” After just a month in office, “Sébastien Lecornu stunned the country by resigning as prime minister…. Lecornu’s benighted tenure—the shortest in the history of France’s modern Fifth Republic—is a measure of how a political system that was once a cornerstone of stability in Europe has fallen into disarray.”
Tags: Benighted, Cornerstone, Disarray, Engulfed, Europe, Fifth Republic, Fiscal spiral, France, Lecornu, Macron, Options, Political crisis, Resigning, Shortest, Stability, Stunned, Tenure
The Economist (September 6)
“Insurgents who want to smash the system often end up running it.” Europe’s hard right is a threat to the economy and leading or polling strong in Britain, France and Germany. “In Italy they are in power; in the Netherlands they briefly led a coalition; and in Poland in June their presidential candidate saw off the nominee from the centre. By 2027 the hard right could be in office in economies worth getting on for half of European GDP.” The best case scenario is ” stagnation, at worst a bond-market rout.”
Tags: Bond-market rout, Britain, Economy, Europe, European GDP, France, Germany, Hard right, Insurgents, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Polling, Power, Smash, Stagnation, Threat
Fortune (September 3)
“As traders head into the final leg of 2025 they are not doing so with overconfidence. In fact, if this week’s bond market is anything to go by, they’re nervous.” Safe haven gold has hit record highs and a “global bond selloff” is creating concern over national debt. “The upset isn’t confined to America alone. In Europe, French government bonds…similarly spiked toward a 5% yield and sit at 4.49% at the time of writing, marking its highest run since 2009.” Arguably, the U.K. is getting hit hardest, “with 30-year gilts pushing above 5.7%, their highest level since the spring of 1998.”
Tags: 2025, Bond market, France, Gilts, Global bond selloff, Gold, National debt, Nervous, Overconfidence, Record highs, Safe haven, Traders, U.K., U.S.
