Tausi Insider

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, in London, on Nov. 9. ANDY BAILEY/AFP/Getty Images Britain has been in managed – or mismanaged – decline since its costly victory in the Second World War, a quarter-century after the British Empire reached its peak. That decline seems to be accelerating as Brexit, the pandemic, the energy crisis and seemingly endless political turmoil work their dark magic. Every decade or so since the war ended, a currency or economic crisis or an epically bad political decision has pushed Britain’s economy – and global stature – ever lower. The pound’s devaluation in 1949 ensured the rise, and ultimate dominance, of the U.S. dollar. The chaos of the 1970s – strikes, social unrest, gaping budget deficits, soaring oil prices and inflation – intensified the country’s tribulations and triggered a bailout by the International Monetary Fund. Then came another currency crisis – “Black Wednesday” of 199...

The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits increased moderately last week, pointing to a still-tight and strong labour market despite growing fears of a recession as the Federal Reserve fights to dampen demand. Though the weekly jobless claims report from the Labor Department on Thursday showed unemployment rolls, or the so-called continuing claims rising to a 10-month high in late November, economists cautioned against reading too much into the move as the data are volatile around this time of the year. Labor market tightness and resilience keeps the U.S. central bank on course to continue hiking interest rates for a while. “It is too early to interpret higher continuing claims as a signal of a loosening labour market,” said Isfar Munir, an economist at Citigroup in New York. “The holiday time is generally not attractive to workers to start a new job, compounded by many firms temporarily closing during the holiday period.” Initial claims for state unemployment be...