Victor Hill

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;…

Technology Trumps Politics in the Age of Reality TV

Technology Trumps Politics in the Age of Reality TV

20 mins. to read

  As seen in the latest issue of Master Investor Magazine. Political elites are crumbling before our eyes across the West because we are now living in a real-time Reality TV show. The West is becoming post-political. Let’s invest accordingly. The medium is the message Marshall McLuhan, the Canadian intellectual, told us back in 1963…

Mr Modi’s World

Mr Modi’s World

6 mins. to read

Nahendra Modi is the first Indian Prime Minister who came to power with the explicit objective of claiming India’s place amongst the world’s great powers. He was determined from the outset to put diplomacy to the service of India’s economic development, to strengthen ties between India’s increasingly influential diaspora and the motherland, and to take…

On Panama Hats

On Panama Hats

4 mins. to read

I thought that we were all supposed to be against the hackers, weren’t we? I mean, people who download confidential files from law firms and then use them to blackmail people indiscriminately are normally called criminals – aren’t they? Apparently not if the ultimate purpose is the international moral crusade against tax evasion with which…

Turkish Delights

Turkish Delights

6 mins. to read

When you take off on Turkish Airlines (Türk Hava Yollari (IST:TUYAO)) a chap dressed as a pastry chef, all in whites and hat, proffers you a tray of fresh Turkish delight. Even in Economy. Turkish Airlines has been voted Airline of the Year for the last five years: not just because of its unrivalled route…

Postcard from Tirana

Postcard from Tirana

6 mins. to read

So, Swen, ever well intentioned, sends me down here to check out the Albanian stock market and I turn up in Skanderbeg Square, white shirt, sober tie, notebook in hand – only find that it was closed down last year. Mind you, there were only about nine stocks quoted, mostly local retail banks. Apparently, it…

European Banks: Please Assemble at the Muster Station

European Banks: Please Assemble at the Muster Station

19 mins. to read

As seen in the latest issue of Master Investor Magazine.  We really do hate to interrupt your cruise. But there’s a rumour that a keen-eyed crewman on the bridge has spotted an iceberg. No, it’s worse than that, actually. Some of the crew are whispering that we’ve already hit an iceberg. But it’s just a…

Ukrainian Blues

Ukrainian Blues

4 mins. to read

The last time I was in Ukraine with the World Bank (February 2012) I had my fifteen seconds of fame when a news anchor swung a mike in front of my gob at a seminar. It was in the snow-laden city of Lviv. I had just descended from a platform where I had addressed the…