The Week - UK (2021-02-06)

CITY 49

6February2021 THE WEEK

Commentators

Lockdown beganlastyearwithacrazefortheNetflixseriesTiger

King,saysLex. But, clearly,“theold-world joyofreading”has

reasserteditself.BloomsburyPublishingreports itnowexpects

annualprofits tobe “wellahead”ofexpectations. TheBritish

publisher,knownfor theHarryPotterseries,hasan“eye forthe

zeitgeist”. Its recenthits–suchas ReniEddo-Lodge’sWhy I’m

NoLonger Talkingto WhitePeople AboutRaceandDishoom’s

Indiancookbook–“afford anilluminatingsnapshotoflifein

2020”.Otherbestsellerlistsalso“show aworld insearchof

socialawarenessand feelgood schmaltz”,though thecontinued

popularity ofOrwell’s 1984 hintsthat“darker fearsremain”. All

told,NielsenBookScanreckons 202 million printbooks,worth

£1.76bn, weresoldintheUKlastyear.Such numbersfade beside

the past “heavy-hitters”suchasHarryPotter(500million in

globalsales), 1972 ’sThe JoyofSexorthe Bible.But the “upward

trajectory” articulatesacomforting truth:inc haotic times,the

best shelter is to be found“between the covers ofagoodbook”.

“Roughjusticecomesinmanyforms,”saysAlistairOsborne.

WasTomHayesavictimofit?TheformerUBSandCitigroup

traderhasbeenreleasedfromjailmorethanfiveyearsafterbeing

convictedof“rigging”thebenchmarkinterestrate,Libor.Given

thatHayesappearedtoacknowledgehiscrimesontape,“many

thinkhegothisjustdeserts”.Butdigdeeperand“it’shardto

escapetheconclusion”thatHayeswasa“fallguy”–acasualtyof

theSeriousFraudOffice’s“sprayshotapproachtoprosecutions”.

TheSFOdubbedHayes the“ringmaster”ofascam but, ashe

observes, “everybody” –includinghisbosses–“knewwhatIwas

doing.Therewasno subterfuge.” Moreover,whomexactlywas

he conspiringwith?“TheSFO triedtoanswer thatbyprosecuting

six brokersfromIcap,RPMartinandTullett Prebon. But they

wereallacquitted.”UBS endedup paying$1.5bnoffines;Hayes

was handeda14-yearsentence,“thesameforsexuallyassaulting

achild”.This“ludicrous” sentencewaseventuallycut,buthe’s

now fightingtohavehisconviction quashed.“Whatever the

outcome ofthat,hiscase isno triumphforBriti sh justice.”

HowistheUKeconomydoingintheinternationalgrowthstakes,

asksDavidSmith.Notsowell.AccordingtotheIMF,lastyear’s

10%contractionwasmuchworsethantheperformanceofthe

US,whichlost3.4%,andJapanandGermany,whichdeclinedby

5%.Perhapsthe“safestthingtosayisthattheUKwasamong

aclutchofpoorlyperformingEuropeancountries,alongwith

France,ItalyandSpain”.Somefavourthe“trampolinetheoryof

economicrecoveries”.ButthedisappointingnewsisthatBritain’s

projectedrecovery–4.5%thisyearand5%next–isbehindthat

ofSpainandFrance,inspiteoftheEU’s“vaccinationimbroglio”.

Why?Onereasonisthatourownsuccessfulprogrammeisn’tyet

“deliveringliberty”.Anotheristhe“serious”tradefrictioncaused

byBrexit.Butathirdisthathavingspentastaggering£ 280 bn

fightingCovid,thereis“littleofficialtalkofprovidingapost-

pandemicfiscalboost”.TheChancellormightsaythebeststim-

ulusissimplyliftingrestrictions,but“othercountriesareadopting

abelt-and-bracesapproach”.Timewilltellwhichworksbest.

“As digital technologies come to dominate everyindustry, engi-

neers are rising from the workbench to the boardroom in record

numbers,”says Harryde Quetteville.According toareport from

headhuntersCris tKolde r, awhopping 28% ofchie fexecutivesat

S&P 500and Fortune500 companiesin 2020 hadanengineering

degree–“beatenonlybybusiness degrees (34%)andmore than

theentire liberal arts put together”.What’s more ,theyappear to

be effective.In 2018, 34 ofHarvard Business Review’s “best-

performingCEOsint he world” were engineers,overtakingthose

with MBAs forthe fi rsttime.Membersofthe professionsay it’s

no surprisethat their“fusion oftechnical expertise andpragmatic

problem-solving” is indemand atatime when “real-world

delivery”counts.Indeed, today’s“entrepreneur-engineers”, like

Tesla’s Elon Musk,are th eBrune ls of theage.Sadly, in the UK we

havebaggage.Wedon’t ce lebrateengineers, or backthem ,ast hey

do in America–perhaps because Britain was home to theoriginal

industrialrevolutionand allour te mplates refer to150years ago.

Instead of harking back toaglorious past, “we need to update it”.

JeffBezos

Fewcompanieshavethrived

likeAmazonduringthe

pandemic.Theonlinegiant,

startedinagaragebyJeff

Bezosin1994,hasjust

deliveredrecordquarterly

sales,breakingthe$100bn

barrierforthefirsttime,said

CallumJonesinTheTimes.

Agoodmoment,reckons

Bezos,tostepdownas

CEO.“Inventionistheroot

ofoursuccess,”hewrote

tohis“fellowAmazonians”

thisweek,asheranthrough

itsgreatesthitsonthe

journeyfromonlinebook-

sellertoglobaldominance.

“Ifyougetitright,afew

yearsafterasurprising

invention,thenewthing

hasbecomenormal.”

Bezos,57,whowillremain

executivechair,ishanding

thereinstoAndyJassy–

bossofthecompany’scloud

computingarm,Amazon

WebServices–whohas

longbeenhisheirapparent.

Still,thechangecomesata

“strangetimeforAmazon”,

saidDominicRusheinThe

Guardian.Itsstockrosemore

than 75% last year, taking

Bezos’s private fortune to

$185bn. Yet it faces pressure

from workers complaining of

“mistreatment” during the

pandemic, and “increasing

political scrutiny of the size

and power of its business”.

What’s next for Bezos

himself, asked The Daily

Telegraph. The options

are endless for one of

the world’s richest men.

Stepping down will allow

more time to focus on his

space exploration firm (Blue

Origin), his climate change

initiative (The Earth Fund),

and his newspaper (The

Washington Post). But

former execs are “sceptical”

about how much power the

founder and largest share-

holder will actually relin-

quish. As they observe,

“Jeff Bezos likes control”.

Britain’s

stuttering

recovery

DavidSmith

TheSundayTimes

Rough justice

for Libor’s

“fall guy”

AlistairOsborne

TheTimes

Apandemic

publishing

boom

Lex

FinancialTimes

The future

belongs to

engineers

Harry de Quetteville

The Daily Telegraph

City profile