Another new PM, Monkey Go To Space, Quote for the Month

The 8th Prime Minister since 2010?

Here is the list of UK Prime Ministers who have served since 2010, along with their exact dates in office and political parties:

| Gordon Brown | Labour | left office on 11th May 2010 and was followed by:

| David Cameron | Conservative | 11 May 2010 | 13 July 2016 |

| Theresa May | Conservative | 13 July 2016 | 24 July 2019 |

| Boris Johnson | Conservative | 24 July 2019 | 6 September 2022 |

| Liz Truss | Conservative | 6 September 2022 | 25 October 2022 |

| Rishi Sunak | Conservative | 25 October 2022 | 5 July 2024 |

| Sir Keir Starmer | Labour | 5 July 2024 | *Incumbent* |

July 2026: Andy Burnham starts when?

Why so many? Because they are incompetent? Because the system is flawed? Because voters expect too much? Because we are experiencing unprecedented times (again)?

Yes I think all of the above! And does change of PM solve the problem? Clearly not!

It comes back to a major flaw I have discussed before in human nature. If we are not happy with the status quo, we tend to chuck it out rather than try to fix it. Examples include our PMs, Brexit (the biggest ever own goal?), various conflicts and wars, multiple examples in business and public life I could mention.

Will a new Labour PM suddenly satisfy voters? I very much doubt it. I suspect that after 6 months or so we will be back to the same old discussions. Andy Burnham, who this week looks likely to be crowned leader rapidly, appears to have one major policy which is devolving power to the North. Sounds a bit like re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Burnham's key policy is moving services from Westminster to the North

What most voters don't seem to appreciate is that it takes time - years - to make material improvements to many public services. What our leaders don't seem to appreciate is that if they don't act fast and decisively when they get into power, they won't be there for long! Oh, and did I mention that if you are short of money, the only real fix is to get the economy moving again? 

Perhaps someone should explain this to Burnham.

SpaceX IPO or Monkey Go To Space

New investors in SpaceX may think they’re getting into the company early, but Scottish Mortgage has already made 25 times its invested capital. The £151.1m it initially put into the then fringe company in 2018 has since swelled to £3.78bn as of Friday’s IPO. Now that's foresight.

Many investors have got caught up with all the hype pushing the share price of SpaceX, which had its IPO last week from $150 at launch to over $200 a few days later. However, as I write this SpaceX has fallen back to earth and is trading close to launch price.

The case for investing was very glossy, very futuristic, very over-hyped and miles off the ground as exemplified by Charles Archer in his article 'Monkey Goes to Space':

"$1.77 trillion for company losing $4 billion per quarter, with AI revenue projection requiring 100x growth written by bank running the IPO, with 95% insider ownership and early lockup exit built in, with 30% retail allocation because big money not interested at this price, eligibility threshold cut from $500,000 to $2,000 in one week, surrounded by $350 billion of other exit liquidity coming to market same time."

Read the full article here.

Quote for the month 

"We should do more and talk less."

Mary Ann Shadd Cary

Mary Ann Shadd Cary, a pioneering abolitionist and the first Black woman to publish a newspaper in North America, first wrote this famous phrase in an 1848 letter to Frederick Douglass. She expressed deep frustration over endless resolutions and conventions that produced little tangible progress, demanding practical action over mere rhetoric.