48 h. ago Recession indicators: how social trends like lipstick, hemlines and champagne sales predict economic downturns

According to Forbes, ‘monitoring these trends is essential, as they will likely affect your job’

Economics

8 d. ago It's the economic end times, so obviously I'm thinking about my takeaway coffee | Emma Brockes

The true scale of what’s happening is hard to grasp, so our irrational brains reach for measly acts of self-denialMost of us, confronted with daily forecasts of recession and economic downturn, have an emotional response that expresses itself in a range of behaviours. Big purchases may be deferred or cancelled. Travel plans are revisited. We might review our childcare spend and wonder if we should go out less – all rational decisions in the face of the rising cost of living. Then there are the irrational gestures, those that have little meaning financially but offer us, via small acts of self-denial, an opportunity to feel we’re doing something morally rigorous. It’s these, in my case, that have lately been triggered.For me, the barometer has always been coffee, a small but ineradicable source of guilt that has only grown as the price of a single flat white creeps up towards £4. Forgoing this small pleasure neither damages my day, nor, on the other hand, does anything significant to...

Economics

2 w. ago Conservative CDU/CSU and SPD form coalition government in Germany

Two of the country’s biggest parties freeze out right-wing AfD and prepare for impact of Trump’s new tariffsGermany’s biggest mainstream parties have sealed an agreement to form a government keeping the far right out of power, as Europe’s top economy struggles to reverse a downturn and gird itself for the potentially catastrophic impact of new US tariffs.The prospective chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative CDU/CSU announced the breakthrough deal with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), which had led the ruling coalition since 2021. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Nervous billionaires turn on Trump amid global financial meltdown as even tycoons who backed him for reelection line up to condemn 'ignorant' and 'arrogantly extreme' tariffs

Trump's billionaire allies have issued stark warnings of an 'economic nuclear war' that will crash markets and drive the global economy into a downturn if the tariffs are not halted.

Politics

last month Spring statement 2025 live: Reeves hit by economic growth downturn as she unveils budget and welfare cuts

Quarter of a million people, including 50,000 children, pushed into poverty by end of decade due to welfare reforms, according to government’s own impact assessment

Economics

last month Spring statement live: Reeves hit by economic growth downturn as she unveils £14bn budget and welfare cuts

The chancellor is delivering her spring statement in the Commons amid pressure from MPs to get the economy growing

Economics