| Hello from London,
This time of year often brings changes of routine. For one thing, I’ve taken over this newsletter for a couple of weekends, while Adam Roberts takes a richly deserved holiday.
Even more importantly (sorry, Adam), this is the week of our special summer issue, which contains four terrific long reads from our colleagues at 1843. The quartet is led by Liam Taylor’s story of the horrific ordeal of a group of gold-miners in South Africa who were trapped underground for months. You can also read about a strange case of stolen identity, the hopefuls striving to pass the world’s hardest exam and a young Israeli who spent 500 days as a hostage of Hamas.
One place where I suspect there’ll be little time to relax this summer is at LVMH. Not long ago the world’s biggest luxury-goods group was riding high—valuable enough to make its boss, Bernard Arnault, briefly the world’s richest man. As we report this weekend, times are harder now. That’s partly down to bad luck, but also to troubles of LVMH’s own making.
Donald Trump’s tariffs, of course, won’t be helping. Our analysis, published today, suggests that so far foreign companies are swallowing a portion of the tariffs, in the form of lower profits, rather than passing them on in full to American consumers. But sooner or later the American economy will feel the effects of Mr Trump’s folly.
As well as a more muscular (but misguided) approach to trade, the Trump administration is taking a more muscular (but not so nutty) approach to space. Space Command, set up during Mr Trump’s first term, used to be wary of talking about its offensive capabilities. Now, as our defence editor reports, it embraces the idea.
Thank you for your responses to Adam’s question about the future of the office party and whether companies should still throw them. While it seems as if many readers of this newsletter, if coerced into attending such events, are likely to be found sulking by the nibbles, more of you than I’d expected are up for trading desk for dance floor. Débora would like to see office bashes happen more frequently, writing that the rise of work-from-home has made these events “even more special”. Linda, also pro-party, makes the sobering suggestion that the gatherings might be some people’s only opportunity to “get dressed up” and “hit the dance floor”. Bill, however, urges caution, lamenting that “the time has come and gone for these events” because embarrassing incidents can now “live forever” on social media.
For next week, I’d welcome your thoughts on the subject of this week’s cover package, the astonishing advance of artificial intelligence. Do you think that AI will lead to explosive economic growth, or something much less impressive? And do you expect your own economic circumstances to be made better, or worse? Write to us at economisttoday@economist.com. |
