Victor Hill

Postcard from Yerevan: Observations from Armenia

Postcard from Yerevan: Observations from Armenia

4 mins. to read

The mountain glowers down upon the city. A brooding presence, you cannot escape it: Mount Ararat. It’s the place where Noah’s Ark came to rest when the Great Flood subsided. Or so I was taught in primary school. But this mountain, although the symbol of Armenia, is located in another country, on the other side…

Brexit Scenario One Point Zero

Brexit Scenario One Point Zero

6 mins. to read

Wednesday, 22 June 2016 Prime Minister David Cameron says he does not think that rising concerns about the financial condition of certain Eurozone countries will influence British voters tomorrow, though all major opinion polls now put both sides neck-and-neck… Peter Kellner of YouGov says: It’s all now down to who turns up to vote and…

Facebook: Technology or Ideology?

Facebook: Technology or Ideology?

6 mins. to read

Mark Zuckerberg, the 31-year-old founder and CEO of Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB), recently told an adoring audience of Silicon Valley developers: We’ve gone from a world of isolated communities to one global community, and we are all better off for it… [Our mission] is to connect the world… [The danger is in] people and nations turning…

Turkey’s Future Affects Us All

Turkey’s Future Affects Us All

20 mins. to read

As seen in the lastest issue of Master Investor Magazine Turkey is now a key regional player with a dynamic economy but it sits on intersecting geopolitical fault lines. An ancient rivalry could trigger an earthquake. Writing in The Spectator recently, Charles Moore, that veteran commentator and author of the magisterial authorised biography of Margaret…

The Fly in Alphabet’s Soup

The Fly in Alphabet’s Soup

5 mins. to read

It seems funny to think of Google as an advertising company – but that is how it makes its money. The internet business now known as Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), which is the most valuable company in the world with a market capitalisation of around £380 billion, had revenues of USD20.3 billion (£13.9 billion) in Q1 this…

The Problem with the Anti-Corruption Movement?

The Problem with the Anti-Corruption Movement?

7 mins. to read

…Corruption is Endemic! One thing we have learned this week: when you are making small-talk with Her Majesty about weighty issues like global corruption, it’s best not to make bland generalising assertions like: Nigeria and Afghanistan are fantastically corrupt. Much better to make the assertion at one remove by quoting a trusted third party. So:…

Britain to Be Sucked into EU Bailout Vortex

Britain to Be Sucked into EU Bailout Vortex

5 mins. to read

If you think the forthcoming mega-bailout of Italy is nothing to do with us, Mr Cameron, think again… Mr Cameron seems to think that the United Kingdom, as an EU state outside the Eurozone, would not have to cough up if there were another round of bailouts in the Eurozone periphery. In particular, the financial…

Alice in Wonderland Economics Leads Us towards Gold

Alice in Wonderland Economics Leads Us towards Gold

7 mins. to read

As I have been telling anyone that I can buttonhole at drinks parties for some time, we are living in the age of Alice in Wonderland Economics. Alice in Wonderland Economics is the weird world where investors, such as pension funds, pay to lend to governments which are crippled by debt. (Germany, Japan, Denmark and…

Another Title Bites the Dust

Another Title Bites the Dust

5 mins. to read

When I learnt yesterday that Trinity Mirror (LON:TNI) had decided to pull the plug on New Day just nine weeks after the title’s triumphal launch, I felt a twinge of sadness and a stab of guilt. Sadness because I have a very British love of newspapers and I would like to see the sector prosper;…