Weekend Box: Sunak Stateside, Polish Protests & more
Welcome to The Weekend Box, Audley’s weekly round-up of interesting or obscure political, business and cultural news from around the world.
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SUNAK STATESIDE
Last month, we wrote about Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s trip to the land of the free. Now it’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who is stateside this week, rubbing shoulders with President Joe Biden on his first official trip to Washington.
One stop was a Washington baseball match for an obligatory photo-op, where, as our reporter on the ground notes, Sunak opted out of throwing the first pitch to a slightly empty stadium. But off the pitch, more pertinent topics were on the agenda such as Ukraine, economic cooperation, artificial intelligence, and the Inflation Reduction Act.
The main outcome of the visit was an ‘Atlantic Declaration’ which will set a ‘new standard for economic co-operation’ and ensure Western allies retain control over key sectors of the world economy. With that, it was evident that all hopes of a trade deal, which was promised in the Conservative’s 2019 manifesto, have well and truly been quashed. While Sunak has chalked this up to an evolving ‘macroeconomic situation’, Biden has made it clear that he is not interested in any tariff cutting, and the Inflation Reduction Act continues to be the elephant in the room.
This Act is a package of tax breaks and subsidies aimed at boosting green industries in the US which could threaten European manufacturers with requirements for certain green technologies to have US-made parts. Sunak has been critical of this, warning against ‘protectionism’ or ‘subsidy races that are zero-sum’. Whereas the Shadow Chancellor embraced a similar strategy to Biden’s on her own US tour when she made the case for more intervention in the free market economy. While there have been some concessions , in the form of a critical minerals deal, to ease the pain of the Act, the UK has more or less been sidelined from the formal discussions between the EU and the US that are still ongoing.
On AI it’s a similar story. While Sunak is using this visit to make his pitch for London to be the HQ of the new global regulator, announcing that the UK would hold the world's first summit on artificial intelligence, talks had already begun with US and EU over a voluntary code of conduct for AI.
The UK is being left in the wings of some major policy conversations and it is evident that we need to do more than glossy photo-ops and declarations to demonstrate our post-Brexit relevance. While the UK press may write up the trip as an all-out success, with no trade deal in hand it is less clear whether this trip has won the hearts and minds of US policymakers.
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Lukasz2
TAKEN TO TUSK
An estimated 500,000 people came out on the streets of Warsaw, Krakow and other Polish cities this week, in the biggest protests seen in Poland since the Solidarity trade union protests of the 1980s.
Called by ex-Polish PM and EU President Donald Tusk, on the 34th anniversary of an election win by a Solidarity-linked group that brought Poland independence and the end of communism, these protests were against the ruling Law & Justice (PiS) party and its right-wing populist agenda. Since winning power in 2015 this has included attacks on the independent judiciary and media, campaigns against the LGBTQ+ community and reproductive rights, and the promotion of a socially conservative, pro-Catholic church agenda, matched with increased social spending. The mix has won them support and Poland’s key role in supporting Ukraine since the Russian invasion has led other European countries to withhold criticism.
Now there’s an election due this autumn and Tusk is back, leading an opposition grouping called Civic Platform. Their march attracted a range of other opposition groups and figures including former Solidarity leader, Lech Walesa, another staunch critic of PiS. As the political rhetoric has sharpened, opposition groups have rallied support in the name of defending hard-won democracy and human rights against autocracy, while a PiS spokesman accused Tusk and Walesa of “trying to overthrow the government”.
A further spur to protests came in recent days with the passing of a controversial law that would allow a government commission to ban people from public office if it believes they were agents of Russian influence. The law, signed by President Andrzej Duda last week, has been nicknamed “Lex Tusk” as it is widely seen as targeting the opposition leader. Duda was compelled to suggest amendments to deflect criticism that it was an unconstitutional device to remove opponents. Expect more sparks to fly as the election approaches and two evenly matched, polarised blocks both call for Poles to save their country.
Image Credit: Alyson Hurt/Flickr
READ ALL ABOUT IT
This week news broke that The Daily and Sunday Telegraph and The Spectator magazine are up for sale. This follows a bitter row between the Barclay family and the newspaper group’s lender, Lloyds Banking Group, which has been in dispute with the family over its failure to repay debts to its Bank of Scotland subsidiary, allegedly approaching £1 billion.
In a bid to recover these debts reportedly owed by the network of holding companies, Lloyds Banking Group has now taken over the Telegraph Media Group (TMG) and is seeking a sale of the Telegraph and other titles, which are said to be valued at £600m. Lloyds Banking Group has appointed corporate finance advisory firm AlixPartners to act as a receiver over B.UK Ltd, a Bermuda-based entity, which ultimately controls the companies.
While the newspaper titles are performing well and are not remotely close to insolvency, this is a drastic move that would formally end the Barclay family’s nearly two-decade ownership. The Wall Street investment banks such as Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan are now piling in, hoping to be put in charge of the sale process. It is not often that national newspapers go on sale, and we are likely to see a high-profile bidding war over the next few months, and owners of other papers may put their hats in the ring to gain a larger market share. Of course, the competition regulator is likely to have something to say about that.
While it may be the end of the Barclay Family’s involvement with the titles, with brothers Aidan and Howard Barclay being removed from the businesses, it is by no means the end of these popular publications which will continue to operate as normal. We will be watching with interest in the next few weeks to see what the outcome of this historic sale is.
Image Credit: Andy Witchger /Wikimedia Commons
ZLAT’S ALL, FOLKS
This week, Zlatan Ibrahimovic announced his retirement from professional football.
Ibrahimovic enjoyed a brilliant career by anyone’s measure, representing Europe’s biggest clubs and Sweden’s national team with distinction. Zlatan is widely regarded as one of the greatest strikers of his generation.
On the pitch, he brought flair and creativity – the very things all sports crave. A highlights reel of his goal-scoring would be an embarrassment of riches, containing the absurd bicycle kick against England in 2012, the perfectly weighted flick against Italy in 2004, and the magnificent solo goal in the Dutch league in the same year.
But Zlatan’s most memorable moments were off the pitch, in press conferences, interviews and on social media. He had a habit of referring to himself in the third person. When asked about a potential trial at Arsenal early in his career, Ibrahimovic famously replied, "Zlatan doesn't do auditions."
At times he appeared conceited. "When you buy me, you are buying a Ferrari,” he said. “If you drive a Ferrari, you put premium petrol in the tank, you hit the motorway, and you step on the gas. [Pep] Guardiola filled up with diesel and took a spin in the countryside. He should have bought a Fiat." Arrogant, yes, but few footballers have been known to deliver such memorable lines.
It is possible the bravado was a front that belied a difficult upbringing. His parents, refugees from Yugoslavia, split when he was young. His mother was arrested for handling stolen goods, the fridge at home contained more beer than food and Zlatan resorted to shoplifting.
Throughout his career, he was self-aware enough to know he was playing a ridiculous character. Zlatan was brash but with enough wit and humour to make him loveable.
NO REPTILE DYSFUNCTION
After 16 years alone, a female crocodile in a Costa Rican zoo gave birth to a perfectly formed – albeit stillborn – baby. This is the first instance of parthenogenesis, or ‘virgin birth’ in the species, and has huge implications and has huge implications for our understanding of the reproduction of creatures, including now-extinct species.
How? In the process of egg creation, the cell divides to provide 50% of the genes needed for an offspring. By-products of this process called polar bodies are formed and wither away. Unless - rather than wither away – they fuse with the egg, thus forming a body with the requisite chromosomes for a fully-formed offspring.
Is there any other explanation? Some female species are also capable of reproduction via delayed conception, storing sperm for as many as six years before using it to fertilise eggs. However, DNA analysis can be used to differentiate between delayed conception and parthenogenesis. In this case, the newborn crocodile’s DNA was 99.9% identical to its mother, proving the absence of any other parent.
Why? There is no definite explanation for parthenogenesis, but the main school of thought suggests that it is an evolutionary development that allows species to survive prolonged periods in which no mate is available or forthcoming. The creation of an almost identical replica would allow such an animal to ‘live’ long enough for a mate to be found, thus continuing its lineage. Frustrated Tinder users, take note.
And that’s it for this week. I hope you found something of interest that you might want to delve into further. If so, please get in touch at cwilkins@audleyadvisors.com.
For now, that’s The Weekend Box officially closed.