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In this episode Douglas and Neil look forward to Mayday elections for Kent County Council and the prospect of a Reform Party led Council.   We review the issues driving local politics and focus on the opportunity for Reform to demonstrate they are a party able to govern

We finish with our tour of local vineyards by reviewing a wine from the Oxney vineyard in East Sussex

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In this episode Douglas looks beyond the short term noise (and what noise there is!) and provides analysis on the underlying risks of different investment markets

From government bonds to gold and cryptocurrencies Neil and Douglas identify some of the fundamentals driving each market

We consider the implications of Trump as an unreliable friend

Finally we continue our stroll through local vineyards in Kent and return to The Balfour Vineyard to review one of their sparkling Rose wines.

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The Road to Perdition means someone's actions or choices are likely to lead to failure, ruin, or a negative outcome, often implying a path towards destruction or damnation

This title is perhaps best known as the title of a Sam Mendes film in 2002.  

This week Douglas reviews President Trump's announced changes in trade tariffs and decides whether these qualify as the sequel of the dark events played out in the film

Douglas also considers the opportunity for Rachel from Accounts to claim its all somebody else's fault and whether the door to a closer trading relationship with the EU are closing by default.

Neil reviews the potential impact of changing trade arrangements on business in the South East

We finish off with our walk through the vineyards of England by tasting a wine from the Charles Palmer vineyard in Winchelsea, East Sussex 

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In this episode Douglas reviews our current economic position following the mini budget earlier in the week and considers whether there are too many similarities with events of 1931, where the Prime Minister was forced into radical action by recession, tariffs and calls for rearmament.

Neil looks to see whether our current public attitude to repeated disasters, economic and otherwise, resembles the analysis of the collapse of the USSR when citizens were both shocked but unsurprised.

Neil then tells how local heritage railways are being impacted by Net Zero

Finally we taste a wine produced by Sussex Vineyard, Henners of Herstmonceaux.

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With the UK economy showing more signs of strain, Douglas looks ahead to the mini budget next week and how much worse things have to get before The Chancellor needs to look up the telephone number for the IMF.

Douglas also considers the continuing pressures of President Trump's MAGA campaign with threats of Tariffs and its implication for UK economy.

Neil claims his share of credit for a major government cost cutting announcement this week and how much further the Deduplication of government activities could go following the abolition of NHS England

Neil also looks at what has to happen for a company to be valued at US$35 Billion within 5 years of start up

Finally as our continuing tour of Kent vineyards takes us to Wayfarer Wines of Woodchurch. 

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Once again President Trump dominates the landscape internationally and Douglas looks to possible outcomes and the implication of ever widening trade tariffs for the health of the American economy

Turning to domestic issues Douglas admires the Government's pragmatism in the face of changing economic and political circumstances and their willingness to contemplate rectifying the chronic productivity deficit in UK Government and public health services

Neil reviews the potential for Kent industry to gain from increased defense spending while bemused by a lack of investment in innovation surrounding the County's many academic institutions

Finally we introduce listeners to another Kent vineyard, this time the Balfour Vineyard at Hush Heath and their soft and appealing sparkling non vintage white wine Leslie's Brut. 

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In this Podcast Douglas reviews the economic impact of the multi faceted attack on conventional wisdom currently underway in President Trump's second term including imposition of tariffs and break down of relations with NATO.  

We consider the opportunity for an opposition coalition to form and the risk of Impeachment

Domestically Neil turns back to Kent local government matters and his research on the 13 District Councils accounts for the year ending March 2024.  We reflect on the dramatic failure of these authorities to meet their audit publishing deadlines, the 100 per cent plus increase in audit fees in the last years and how 8 of these Councils justify paying their Chief Executives more than The Prime Minister given the limited responsibilities that a District Council holds.

We conclude with tasting another English wine this time from West Sussex

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It is clear we are experiencing seismic shifts in our world and  it seems we have a Prime Minister who is pragmatic enough to manage and adapt to meet these challenges.  Douglas considers how the changes in defense spending could impact on the economy with the associated cut in the AID budget.  He then considers the impact of the summary resignation of the Chief Executive of NHS England and what this might imply for future policy.  Douglas has started to analyse  the potential upsides of a US UK Trade deal and finishes with a consideration on how the USA economy is doing under the Trump administration. 

 Neil also looks to the NHS but in particular the potential increased funding of Primary Care and asks for clarity and public accountability as to how the money going to GP's is spent

Neil then takes a look at how big charities are turning to high profile fundraising tactics like win a multi million pound home sweepstakes to raise finance and whether the sweep-stake promoters do better than the charities.

Finally we review the premier output of Kent's only Whisky Distillery the Copper Rivet distillery in Chatham Dockyard

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In this podcast Douglas reviews the current economic and political news including the announced GDP figures; the implications of The Trump announcements re Ukraine and the future of NATO; the economic impact of a substantial increase in defence spending and ideas in France how this might be funded; and then looks at the continuing problems in returning public sector, and in particular NHS productivity to pre Covid levels

Turning to events in Kent and the South East Neil looks at the efforts being made to return Eurostar rail services to Ebbsfleet and Ashford stations.  The services were halted during Covid and Eurostar seems reluctant to restart the services.  Neil looks back to the origins of this major infrastructure project and looks to see if there are lessons for current projects and is surprised to find that nothing much has changed

Neil gives a shout out to the reopening of an historic pub on Romney Marsh, The Woolpack at Brookland just outside Rye and Douglas and Neil then move on to their weekly tastings of Kent wine, this time The Bacchus from Biddenden Vineyard.

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In this episode Douglas reviews the current economic events including President Trump's favourite word Tariffs, the continued economic fall out of the last UK budget and the implications of the recent fall in base rate and finishes off by reviewing a piece of research published exclusvely by From the Tent in association with Howard Cox of Fair Fuel UK.  In this research Douglas identifies the economic impact of potholes in the road for our economy and the immediate win win to boost growth if the Chancellor addressed this issue rather than chasing over-the -horizon projects like Heathrow runways.

Neil focuses this week on Farming in Kent and after providing an overview on its economic importance to Kent looks at how farmers are having to diversify and their eagerness to make their land available to meet the governments greeen energy challenge with new solar farms, battery storage and onshore windfarms.  While many local residents in Kent deplore this development it seems that Farmers must seek the best economic return and in particular trade the certainty of rental income for the uncertainty of weather affected Harvests

Douglas and Neil finish off by previewing another one of the wines produced by Kent vineyards, this time The 2017 Vintage Blanc de Blanc sparkling wine from the Squerryes Vineyard outside Westerham.

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