Jonathan Ford
@grepsul.bsky.social
Former newspaper person. Likes trouble, cycling and regional crime drama. Doing A Long Time in Finance podcast with Neil Collins, and also a substack on stirring business stories, grepsul.substack.com
Odd to write about Britain's costliest mansion without it becoming a piece of property porn. But possible in the case of 2-8A Rutland Gate. Although sold only in 2020 for £210m, it's now an derelict barrack in Knightsbridge, occupied only by a homeless man.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10...
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10...
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www.telegraph.co.uk
October 27, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Odd to write about Britain's costliest mansion without it becoming a piece of property porn. But possible in the case of 2-8A Rutland Gate. Although sold only in 2020 for £210m, it's now an derelict barrack in Knightsbridge, occupied only by a homeless man.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10...
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10...
Out now on A Long Time in Finance: our first live gig - in partnership with The Library of Mistakes in Edinburgh! We discuss Fred Goodwin, RBS and "The Art of The Shred" with Ian Fraser, author of Shredded, the seminal account of the fall of RBS. pod.fo/e/332216
A Long Time In Finance: The Art of the Shred: ALTIF Live!
Fred Goodwin led Royal Bank of Scotland to ruin and Britain to the brink of financial disaster. But who was the man they called Fred the Shred and how did he build RBS into (briefly) the world's la...
pod.fo
September 29, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Out now on A Long Time in Finance: our first live gig - in partnership with The Library of Mistakes in Edinburgh! We discuss Fred Goodwin, RBS and "The Art of The Shred" with Ian Fraser, author of Shredded, the seminal account of the fall of RBS. pod.fo/e/332216
It's true! On 25 September we're doing @ALTIFpodcast's first live show with our new friends, The Library of Mistakes. In THE ART OF THE SHRED we'll be discussing Fred Goodwin and RBS's 2008 collapse with author Ian Fraser. Click below for details & tix.. Hope to see you there..
Jonathan Ford, Neil Collins and Ian Fraser on a long time in finance
The hugely popular podcast A long time in finance is coming under the umbrella of the Library of Mistakes.
tinyurl.com
September 11, 2025 at 10:28 AM
It's true! On 25 September we're doing @ALTIFpodcast's first live show with our new friends, The Library of Mistakes. In THE ART OF THE SHRED we'll be discussing Fred Goodwin and RBS's 2008 collapse with author Ian Fraser. Click below for details & tix.. Hope to see you there..
This is adorable!
July 24, 2025 at 7:58 AM
This is adorable!
I've written a books essay in the FT about the nuclear age we are entering; one pregnant with old perils and new promise www.ft.com/content/7fec...
The perils and promise of our new nuclear age
As net zero goals revive the push for atomic power, could it light the way or lead to disaster? Three timely books explore the possibilities
www.ft.com
July 5, 2025 at 10:25 AM
I've written a books essay in the FT about the nuclear age we are entering; one pregnant with old perils and new promise www.ft.com/content/7fec...
My latest post is on Heathrow's big outage, the mysterious wave of British substation fires and what's behind them. Is it enemy action.. or something more mundane? open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...
July 4, 2025 at 9:03 AM
My latest post is on Heathrow's big outage, the mysterious wave of British substation fires and what's behind them. Is it enemy action.. or something more mundane? open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...
Coming up on A Long Time in Finance, we look at the history of Scunthorpe and British Steel..
April 30, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Coming up on A Long Time in Finance, we look at the history of Scunthorpe and British Steel..
Generals calling for rearmament often talk about the UK facing a "1937 moment". But what actually happened in the late 1930s, are there similarities and what can we learn? We talk to historian Dan Todman about the economic & military parallels. pod.fo/e/2c9967
April 18, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Generals calling for rearmament often talk about the UK facing a "1937 moment". But what actually happened in the late 1930s, are there similarities and what can we learn? We talk to historian Dan Todman about the economic & military parallels. pod.fo/e/2c9967
Should the UK nationalise British Steel after Jingye opted for closure rather than take the taxpayer's £500m bung? To my mind, the question is more why the government didn't demand an equity stake in the first place.
unherd.com/newsroom/chi...
unherd.com/newsroom/chi...
China has embarrassed Labour over British Steel
Imagine the embarrassment: you announce a national steel strategy and jump through all the approved hoops of public consultation to show you are taking a reasonable ministerial decision. Then, just da...
unherd.com
April 10, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Should the UK nationalise British Steel after Jingye opted for closure rather than take the taxpayer's £500m bung? To my mind, the question is more why the government didn't demand an equity stake in the first place.
unherd.com/newsroom/chi...
unherd.com/newsroom/chi...
My latest on Business Adventures is about mineral deals, and why they're not always what they cracked up to be, even if your concession is sitting on oceans of oil as the British, French and Americans were with the carve up of post-Ottoman Iraq.. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...
Put Not Your Trust in Big Minerals Deals
Not Trump's Ukraine effort, but the grandaddy of all carve-ups: post-Ottoman Iraq
open.substack.com
April 7, 2025 at 5:55 PM
My latest on Business Adventures is about mineral deals, and why they're not always what they cracked up to be, even if your concession is sitting on oceans of oil as the British, French and Americans were with the carve up of post-Ottoman Iraq.. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...
Reposted by Jonathan Ford
I know, I know.. I have started a substack on financial and business history called Business Adventures. It's just getting going and this is my "manifesto". I'll be posting properly in a day or two. If you want to join up, you would be most welcome
open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...
open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...
Welcome to Business Adventures
Notes on business and financial history
open.substack.com
January 3, 2025 at 7:23 PM
I know, I know.. I have started a substack on financial and business history called Business Adventures. It's just getting going and this is my "manifesto". I'll be posting properly in a day or two. If you want to join up, you would be most welcome
open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...
open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...
Reposted by Jonathan Ford
“So there was nothing Turkish about the Turkish Petroleum Company. I think that’s the first point to make.” @grepsul.bsky.social, Neil Collins and I talked an episode that has some contemporary resonance.
Iraq, Minerals and the Art of the Deal
Podcast Episode · A Long Time In Finance · 03/14/2025 · 31m
podcasts.apple.com
March 14, 2025 at 5:55 PM
“So there was nothing Turkish about the Turkish Petroleum Company. I think that’s the first point to make.” @grepsul.bsky.social, Neil Collins and I talked an episode that has some contemporary resonance.
Reposted by Jonathan Ford
Podcast! With Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins, on a topic with some contemporary resonances.
Iraq, Minerals and the Art of the Deal
Podcast Episode · A Long Time In Finance · 14/03/2025 · 31m
podcasts.apple.com
March 14, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Podcast! With Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins, on a topic with some contemporary resonances.
Those who live by "beggar thy neighbour" tax schemes also die by them
Ireland's very exposed, as @aidanregan.bsky.social says here. Around the world, ideologues like Milei may feel inspired to new extremes by Trump, but the havens have to worry that he will eat their lunch... www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Ireland could lose pharma tax to US after Trump accusations, experts warn
Predictions that US firms could retain manufacturing plants in Ireland but move profits back to America
www.theguardian.com
March 13, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Those who live by "beggar thy neighbour" tax schemes also die by them
Coming up this week on @ALTIFpodcast: in the wake of Trump's proposal for a mineral deal in Ukraine, we look at the greatest minerals carve up of all time - in the Middle East - and ask: "how did that all work out"?
March 13, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Coming up this week on @ALTIFpodcast: in the wake of Trump's proposal for a mineral deal in Ukraine, we look at the greatest minerals carve up of all time - in the Middle East - and ask: "how did that all work out"?
Reposted by Jonathan Ford
Latest post: What's left of British shipbuilding?
After the failure & rescue of H&W, I look at re-shoring, shipbuilding & defence - and the difficulties of rebuilding lost industrial capacity.
There's also a plea for more sane defence procurement!
open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...
After the failure & rescue of H&W, I look at re-shoring, shipbuilding & defence - and the difficulties of rebuilding lost industrial capacity.
There's also a plea for more sane defence procurement!
open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...
March 7, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Latest post: What's left of British shipbuilding?
After the failure & rescue of H&W, I look at re-shoring, shipbuilding & defence - and the difficulties of rebuilding lost industrial capacity.
There's also a plea for more sane defence procurement!
open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...
After the failure & rescue of H&W, I look at re-shoring, shipbuilding & defence - and the difficulties of rebuilding lost industrial capacity.
There's also a plea for more sane defence procurement!
open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...
Latest post on Business Adventures: What's left of British shipbuilding?
After the failure and rescue of H&W, I look at re-shoring, UK shipbuilding, and defence; and consider the difficulty of building back industrial capacity once it's gone.
open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...
After the failure and rescue of H&W, I look at re-shoring, UK shipbuilding, and defence; and consider the difficulty of building back industrial capacity once it's gone.
open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...
What's left of British shipbuilding?
As the case of Harland & Wolff shows, industrial capacity, once atrophied, is hard to build back
open.substack.com
March 4, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Latest post on Business Adventures: What's left of British shipbuilding?
After the failure and rescue of H&W, I look at re-shoring, UK shipbuilding, and defence; and consider the difficulty of building back industrial capacity once it's gone.
open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...
After the failure and rescue of H&W, I look at re-shoring, UK shipbuilding, and defence; and consider the difficulty of building back industrial capacity once it's gone.
open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...
My latest Business Adventures Substack looks at re-shoring, UK shipbuilding, and defence; and considers the difficulty of building back industrial capacity, once it's lost. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan... pic.x.com/Hn7PfyuRtH
What's left of British shipbuilding?
As the case of Harland & Wolff shows, industrial capacity, once atrophied, is hard to build back
open.substack.com
March 4, 2025 at 2:10 PM
My latest Business Adventures Substack looks at re-shoring, UK shipbuilding, and defence; and considers the difficulty of building back industrial capacity, once it's lost. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan... pic.x.com/Hn7PfyuRtH
I wrote a profile of Ed Miliband, about how his tussle with Rachel Reeves could define - and even derail - the Starmer government..
thecritic.co.uk/ed-miliband/
thecritic.co.uk/ed-miliband/
Ed Miliband: Undimmed Green zealotry | Jonathan Ford | The Critic Magazine
The green zealotry of the energy secretary remains undimmed and som Labour insiders are concerned…
thecritic.co.uk
March 4, 2025 at 8:17 AM
I wrote a profile of Ed Miliband, about how his tussle with Rachel Reeves could define - and even derail - the Starmer government..
thecritic.co.uk/ed-miliband/
thecritic.co.uk/ed-miliband/
How tin-eared is Starmer? This is, after all, the PM who's been - along with his ministers - sounding the alarm about war risk and rearmament. To use as your baseline for this feeble increase a period when Britain disarmed, leaving its forces denuded, is just unserious, even contemptible.
UK defence spending will rise to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, PM Keir Starmer announces in the Commons. This will be the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War, he tells MPs.
February 25, 2025 at 12:52 PM
How tin-eared is Starmer? This is, after all, the PM who's been - along with his ministers - sounding the alarm about war risk and rearmament. To use as your baseline for this feeble increase a period when Britain disarmed, leaving its forces denuded, is just unserious, even contemptible.
Reposted by Jonathan Ford
I struggle to believe as Russia menaces the peace of Europe and the western alliance disintegrates before our eyes that UK ministers can argue about whether a tiny, wholly inadequate, rise in defence sprending from 2.3 to 2.5 pct of GDP should happen this year, next year or the year after..surreal..
February 16, 2025 at 3:10 PM
I struggle to believe as Russia menaces the peace of Europe and the western alliance disintegrates before our eyes that UK ministers can argue about whether a tiny, wholly inadequate, rise in defence sprending from 2.3 to 2.5 pct of GDP should happen this year, next year or the year after..surreal..
There is something almost Oscar Wilde like about Janan Ganesh's willingness to invite ridicule from the unwashed
February 16, 2025 at 3:51 PM
There is something almost Oscar Wilde like about Janan Ganesh's willingness to invite ridicule from the unwashed
Finally someone explodes the tosh about 2.5% of GDP or whatever arbitrary level of defence spending being "unaffordable".
February 16, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Finally someone explodes the tosh about 2.5% of GDP or whatever arbitrary level of defence spending being "unaffordable".
I am still shocked by Reza Shah's decision to re-name Persia in the 1930s. The "Persian bomb" has a much better ring about it..
if he decides to change the name of the Atlantic Ocean to the Cybertruck Sea (and the argument of this piece is exactly that he would be entitled to do that), will you change the name of your magazine?
Trump’s decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico may be upsetting to some, writes @giladedelman.bsky.social, but “in a democracy, values are determined by majority rule, and they don’t shift in only one direction. They can shift back”:
February 16, 2025 at 2:02 PM
I am still shocked by Reza Shah's decision to re-name Persia in the 1930s. The "Persian bomb" has a much better ring about it..