Wednesday, April 5, 2023

Boring is back

The Readout With Allegra Stratton.

Since news of his arraignment emerged, the Donald Trump re-election campaign has been drilling deep into the reserves of its aggrieved voter cohort. Bloomberg's Flavia Krause-Jackson reports how the first former president in US history to face criminal charges yesterday left court, got on his private jet back to Florida and, over a McDonald's meal, threw himself straight into a speech to energize his re-election. 

Former US President Donald Trump delivers remarks at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach Photographer: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg

Both Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Keir Starmer might be nervously watching Trump try to use this moment as his springboard back to the White House. First-term Trump was surrounded by some responsible adults, keeping his impulses in check.

Second-term Trump would have very different instincts to Biden and European leaders on, for instance, Ukraine. His approach to Putin, and energy procurement is likely to be poles apart from that of Sunak or indeed, Starmer. 

Bloomberg Opinion's Noah Feldman sees this indictment for alleged hush money payments as potentially setting back the greater prize:

"From the perspective of protecting US democracy, the indictment is poorly timed. It would have been far better for the stability of our democracy if Trump had first been charged with crimes connected to his attempts to subvert that democracy...the upshot is that the timing of the hush-money charges against Trump might potentially (be) putting our democracy in more danger, not less."

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What just happened

The stories you need to know about this evening

Did we speak too soon?

Rishi Sunak started this term with a moment to mark his 100 days in office. That event saw the launch of his five pledges and was met with mixed reactions — both that the pledges were "soooo easy" and "impossible" and everything in between. Now as this parliamentary term closes, Bloomberg's editorial team is more complimentary: "Common sense" they write, " may be making a comeback to British politics". 

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak  Photographer: WPA Pool/Getty Images Europe

To be sure, they list "still daunting" challenges lined up in front of the no-longer-so-new premier: A divided Conservative Party; the costs of Brexit to the UK economy; strikes and lacklustre productivity but, in their eyes, the approach to tackling them has become pragmatic and is a welcome change. 

"To put it mildly, surging optimism over Britain's future would be premature… Still, for the first time in years, British politics seems to care about competence more than grandstanding. It's a start." 

But if boring being the new MO is too pedestrian for you, have a look north where, this morning, police have dramatically raided the house of Nicola Sturgeon and in so doing also potentially affected the wider UK balance of power. 

Nicola Sturgeon's husband has been arrested in connection with an ongoing investigation into the funding and finances of the pro-independence Scottish National Party. 

The developments follow 18 months of Police Scotland looking into whether £600,000 of donations to the SNP for independence campaigning may have been used for other purposes. Just a week ago Humza Yousaf won a contest to replace Nicola Sturgeon as head of the SNP and now, rather than plot a path forward towards independence, he faces allegations of the party's past tarnishing any fresh attempt. 

But it won't stop there. As Bloomberg's reporters put it, this could have wider reaching consequences:

"Falling SNP support is seen as a boon for Labour, and every seat it picks up north of the border changes the calculus as it seeks to win power from the Tories in Westminster." 

Nicola Sturgeon and Peter Murrell Photographer: ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP

Gender wage disparity

The average woman working in the UK finance industry earns around 26% less than her male counterpart, reports Irina Anghel. That's a number that has fallen less than three percentage points after five years of UK companies reporting their gender pay gap. And it compares with an average wage gap across the whole UK workforce of 13%, based on the latest dataset.

What you need to know tomorrow

Get ahead of the curve

Adapting jobs market. The ChatGPT revolution opens the door to a four-day week by providing a major productivity boost for swathes of jobs, according to a Nobel Prize-wining labor economist.

SpurnedPresident Joe Biden will not be attending the May 6 coronation of King Charles III in London, the White House said on Tuesday evening.

Watch out! Here's a guide to the best watches of 2023 — from a $4,600 time-only watch with a Muppet twist to a $193,000 necklace of twisted gold.

Period anxiety. The women's national football teams of New Zealand and England are the latest to announce the end of the use of white shorts.

Architect of Thatcherism. Nigel Lawson, who died this week, changed UK politics as much as the famous prime minister he served, argues Clive Crook.

'London Is Over.' A billionaire who has abandoned Belgravia living for Dubai has spoken to Bloomberg's Secret Agent.

The big number 

35 days
Average amount of time it took to agree a sale on a UK home last month, roughly twice as long as a year ago.

Northern Ireland's youth want more than peace

One key story, every weekday

Closed Gates along the Peace Wall on Lanark Way in Belfast.Photographer: Stephen Wilson/Bloomberg

Northern Ireland and its Good Friday Agreement are often held up globally as a model for peace and reconciliation efforts. Since the UK's vote to leave the European Union in 2016, though, that solution has looked more fragile and vulnerable to events beyond Northern Ireland's control. Those who grew up with no memory of 'The Troubles' fear the Good Friday Agreement is holding the region back.

Read more here from Morwenna Coniam and Ellen Milligan.

Allegra Stratton worked for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak when he was chancellor and runs an environmental consultancy, Zeroism.

Please send thoughts, tips and feedback to readout@bloomberg.net. You can follow Allegra on Twitter.

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