Indholdsfortegnelse for Issue 1017 i MoneyWeek

The live action remake of Mulan opened to disappointing numbers in China, with the Disney remake pulling in just $23m in its first weekend, “far from the smash hit the House of Mouse hoped it would be”, says Chris Edwards on Digital Spy. The film, about a fearless young woman who disguises herself as a man to battle northern invaders in China to save her ailing father from serving in the Imperial Army, recorded a user score of just 4.9/10 after more than 150,000 votes on Chinese website Douban. A “reckless teenager” was fined £10,000 under Covid rules after police broke up a party of 50 people at his student home, says the Mail Online. Stuart Hawk, a19-year-old politics student at Nottingham University, slammed the fine as “ridiculous”, claiming he…

The single currency has gained 8% against the greenback this year. In response, European Central Bank (ECB) president Christine Lagarde has promised to “monitor carefully” developments in the foreign exchange market. A rising euro creates two problems: firstly, it means lower import prices. Eurozone consumer price inflation turned negative in August, so more deflationary pressure is unwelcome. Secondly, it hits the earnings of exporters, especially significant in a bloc where exports make up about 45% of GDP and bourses are crammed full of multinationals. Confidence in Europe’s economic recovery has encouraged international investors to buy into local markets, juicing the euro’s rally, says Jack Ewing in The New York Times. Ironically, that surge now risks dampening the recovery that started it. The ECB would prefer a weaker currency, but there…

Tech giant Apple is the world’s most valuable stock, says John Authers on Bloomberg. Its market capitalisation of just over $2trn is slightly higher than the combined value of all the FTSE 100 companies. It is bigger than every stockmarket in the world apart from America, China and Japan, says index provider MSCI. One reason it has just kept climbing, however, is continual stock buybacks. The value of the equity bought back since 2015 is approaching $500bn. Since then the number of Apple shares in issue has slipped by almost 30%. The FTSE’s share count, by contrast, has remained stable. “It’s that much easier for Apple to keep rising if there is always someone there (Apple) to buy on the dips.”…

The US market has just enjoyed its busiest week for initial public offerings (IPOs) this year. A dozen flotations aimed to raise almost $7bn, with half of the proceeds stemming from three Californian tech listings: cloud software group Snowflake, videogame software company Unity and Sumo Logic, adata software platform. Companies have been bringing forward flotations thanks to the strength of the market, say Richard Henderson and Miles Kruppa in the Financial Times. Software stocks in the S&P 500 index are on 34 times earnings, compared with 26 times for the broader index, and have outperformed the S&P by 27%, boosted by the rise of remote working.…

Supporters of a “kinder, gentler form of capitalism” are celebrating, says Brooke Masters in the Financial Times. Rio Tinto has decided to force out CEO Jean-Sébastien Jacques (pictured) over the destruction of a 46,000-year-old Aboriginal heritage site. After an internal probe into Rio’s decision to blast the Juukan Gorge caves in May led merely to a £4m cut to the bonuses of Jacques and his two deputies, investors “reacted with fury”. Last week all three announced plans to leave. The debacle shows how recent events around the world have “injected steroids” into the environmental, social and governance (ESG) movement and “multiplied the issues that companies must consider”. “ESG wonks” are already proclaiming it a “landmark moment”, says Oliver Shah in The Sunday Times, but the tale tells you more about…

Just about every company has had to tweak, adjust, or reimagine its business during lockdown. It is easier for some than others. Newspapers have pushed digital subscriptions as print sales collapse, and publishers are putting more effort into e-books as bookshops close. Supermarkets are beefing up home delivery as fewer of us venture out to their shops. Retailers have focused on online sales; restaurants and even pubs have started selling takeaways; a few hotels have been renting out rooms to home workers who need some peace and quiet away from their families or flat-mates. The results have been mixed, at best. But most have managed to replace at least a percentage of the revenues they have lost. Using some imagination, and improvising, they have managed to create new products or…

Big changes in how the world runs tend to happen relatively slowly. Even wars have usually been preceded by rising tensions where the potential risks were obvious. In the same way, most of the trends that may be propelling us into a much less stable era than the last 40 years (see right) have been evident for some time. US-China disputes, inequality, money printing or climate change – these have been building for a decade or more. Covid-19 is an obvious exception to this: it has upended the world more abruptly than any event in modern history. And in doing so, it has singlehandedly created one major immediate question: whether people have shifted to working from home permanently, and whether the centres of big cities – which have been huge…

Covid panic is a terrible mistake Ian Birrell Unherd At the start of the pandemic, the predictions for Africa were “terrifying”, says Ian Birrell. Without emergency action, UN experts predicted up to 1.2 billion cases and 3.3 million deaths. Little wonder that so many countries rushed to embrace strict lockdowns. Yet the impact of shutting down countries will be far worse in Africa than in the West, while the “doom-laden” warnings appear misplaced. In Malawi, one of a few countries that did not impose rigid measures, there have been 176 confirmed Covid deaths in a population of 19 million. Around 50,000 deaths were predicted. This is perhaps explained by Africa’s youth (almost 20% of Britons are over 65; in Africa, the proportion is 2%). But whatever the reason, the collateral…

My four long tips have struggled during the past fortnight, with one increasing, one staying the same and two falling. Media group ITV rose from 58p to 65p. Equipment firm United Rentals stayed at $177. However, energy company Royal Dutch Shell fell from 1,086p to 1,078p. Worst of all, thanks to its decision to offer a rights issue at an unexpectedly low price, airline company International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) fell from 206p to 135p. While the stop-losses meant that the position was closed at 140p, this still represents a loss of £990. My short tips haven’t done particularly well either. Online insurance broker eHealth went up from $63 to $75, while exercise bike manufacturer Peloton appreciated from $76 to $81. At least electric lorry maker Nikola fell from $40…

Cairn Homes (LSE: CRN) is an Irish housebuilder. It reported a slump in its first-half earnings as building activity came to a standstill in lockdown, says Shares. For the six months to June 2020, pre-tax profit plummeted to €1.2m from €21.8m in the same period last year. Cairn reopened 15 construction sites in mid-May, but respecting social-distancing measures is raising operating costs, says Giulia Bottaro on Proactive Investors. Cairn reported 207 new home sales in the six months to 30 June, down from 390 a year ago. The shares have slipped by 31% in 12 months.…

The world may already have reached “peak oil demand” – the point at which annual consumption hits a plateau and is never any higher again. That’s not a hyperbolic press release from Extinction Rebellion or some other fringe environmental protest group. It’s according to none other than oil major BP. In its just-published Energy Outlook 2020 report, BP paints three scenarios for energy demand between now and 2050. Under both its “Net Zero” scenario, in which governments and individuals take aggressive measures to reduce carbon emissions, and its slightly less aggressive “Rapid” scenario, oil consumption will never again hit the peak of 100 million barrels a day seen last year, before the coronavirus spread havoc across the globe. BP is keen to point out that it’s not predicting the future…

Ethical investing is hot right now, with ever more fund managers offering products focusing on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. Research by Morgan Stanley shows that 84% of millennials (today’s 20 to 35-year-olds, roughly), see taking account of ESG impact as a“central goal” when it comes to investing. But it’s not just the younger generation. Apparently, nine out of ten wealth managers (who typically deal with a much older age group) believe that the Covid-19 outbreak has resulted in greater investor interest in ESG investing, according to an FT/Savanta survey. This interest isn’t just limited to traditional actively-managed funds. Plenty of money is finding its way into various types of ESG exchange traded funds (ETFs). According to industry consultant ETFGI, the sector enjoyed record net inflows of $28.53bn through…

As the troubles at Boohoo suggest, there is no easy, purely quantitative way to screen companies for ESG factors. As Joseph Mariathasan, adirector of ESG consultants GIST, puts it: “You can’t simply add together separate scores for E, Sand G.” The variations between systems make this clear. For example, the GIST team notes that the ESG scores of Japanese stocks show no correlation between MSCI and FTSE. And while electric car manufacturer Tesla scores highly with MSCI, it does badly with FTSE. GIST believes it is possible to devise a reliable system, but describes its process as “E, S and some G”. In short, as Kate Allen of the FinancialTimes wrote recently, “there are lies, damned lies and ESG rating methodologies”. And as an investor, that means you need to…

A good place to start could be one of the growing number of “robo advisers” now available in the UK. Investment funds managed according to environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors continue to multiply. But what if you want help building a portfolio of ethical, socially responsible investment (SRI) or ESG funds – inside your individual savings account (Isa) allowance or pension, for example? The good news is there is a growing number of investment platforms offering specialist ESG portfolio services that can help you do exactly that. A good place to start could be one of the growing number of “robo advisers” now available in the UK. These online fund platforms all operate in a similar way: you complete a questionnaire designed to assess your attitude to risk, your…

£3.5bn How much of taxpayers’ money may have been paid out in wrong or fraudulent claims under the furlough scheme, according to HMRC. It estimates that between 5% and 10% of the cash may have been claimed in error or by “deliberate fraud”. £77bn The record amount of cash that was saved in the first half of 2020, according to Janus Henderson Investment Trusts. That took the total cash pile to £1.5trn, or roughly equal to the combined value of all UK residential mortgages. $9.1bn How much Nasa now says the development of its new giant rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), will cost. Coupled with an extra $2.4bn needed for ground support systems, the new mission cost represents a 33% increase since 2017, says tech website Ars Technica. 300…

Gary Lineker (pictured) has taken a £400,000 paycut to remain the host of Match of the Day for the next five years, along with an agreement “to be more careful in his use of Twitter to push political causes”, says Jim Waterson in The Guardian. Lineker, who suggested earlier this year that it was time to make the BBC licence fee “voluntary”, took home £1.75m last year, “well ahead of any other BBC employee”. Given his links with the BBC, Lineker has also been criticised for regularly tweeting negative views on Brexit and the government. New BBC director general Tim Davie announced Lineker’s new salary of £1.3m and emphasised one key point: “And before you ask, Gary knows that he has responsibilities to the BBC in terms of his use…

Have US equities pulled off a “healthy correction”? The Nasdaq index entered official correction territory last week after falling by more than 10% from a recent high. Yet US stocks started this week in better spirits. Optimists say that occasional pullbacks of this kind are needed to keep the market on its toes and get rid of “froth”. The idea is that occasional losses punish speculators who would otherwise leverage themselves up to the hilt betting on rising prices. That forces investors to remember the fundamentals and paves the way for a more durable rally. Too much froth The trouble is that there is still plenty of froth around, says Bloomberg. The recent mini-crash wiped $2trn off stock valuations, but trading data shows that bullish retail investors, who often buy…

“People are poor forecasters of their future selves… Years ago, psychologist Dan Ariely [told] a group of financial advisors [that] ‘the craziest thing you guys do is the risk assessment questionnaire’ ... [It asked] clients how they’d feel if they lost 10%, 20%, or 30% of their money… It relies on people accurately predicting how they’ll feel if they lost money in the future. Which is extremely hard to do when the economy is booming. A better approach is using your past behaviour as a guide to your future behaviour… how people react to outlier events – booms, busts, stress, joy – is driven more by emotions that are stable in time than intelligence that evolves over time. How you responded to the last big loss, or the last big…

Three to buy Associated British Foods The Mail on Sunday This FTSE-100 company appears strange, combining fast-fashion purveyor Primark with a food business. Yet lockdown illustrated the wisdom of that approach. Primark doesn’t sell online and stores were closed during lockdown, but the impact was mitigated by better sales of Twinings tea and Silver Spoon sugar as consumers turned to comfort-eating and baking. This winter may bring lower sales of “sparkly dresses” for Christmas parties, but fleet-footed Primark will be able to quickly shift its clothing range into cosier, “stay at home” alternatives. 1,939p Royal Mail Interactive Investor The shares soared last week on news of a 34% jump in parcel deliveries in the five months to August compared to the same period last year. There are growing hopes that…

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is pushing for another referendum on Scottish independence, but she may have been beaten to the draw, says Marc Horne in The Times. By a vote of 18 to 2, the Shetland Islands council backed a motion to begin examining options to achieve “financial and political self-determination” from Scotland. That might involve Crown Dependency status, such as that enjoyed by the Isle of Man and Jersey, or even complete independence. Supporters of the move complain about a “growing sense of frustration over cuts to funding” and moves towards “centralised decision-making in Edinburgh and London”. This is a “brilliant” move, says Paul Baldwin in the Daily Express. After all, how can the SNP possibly deny the same right it is demanding for itself? And success would be…

• Mike Henry, CEO of mining giant BHP Group, received $6.1m in his first six months in the role, says Reuters. Henry took over from the previous CEO, Andrew Mackenzie, on 1 January. His pay includes a $1.7m base salary, with a 10% pension contribution. BHP has said it will freeze the pay of top executives for the coming financial year. • Zoe Ball (pictured), presenter of the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show, has seen her salary rise by nearly £1m to £1.36m, making her the second highest-paid BBC employee behind Gary Lineker, who was paid £1.75m, says The Times. Ball’s show has lost one million listeners since she replaced Chris Evans, who earned £2.2m in his last full year, in January 2019. Other presenters to see their pay increase…

Modern monetary theory (MMT) is an economic theory whose key implication is that governments should fund public spending by creating as much money as they need. Conventional economics assumes that governments need to raise money either through levying taxes or by borrowing (usually through issuing bonds) before spending it. MMT instead focuses on the distinction between currency users and currency issuers. People and businesses cannot create their own currency; they must get enough money in a recognised currency, such as sterling, to pay for what they need. If they can’t get enough, they will default on their obligations. Governments are currency issuers. The British government controls the supply of sterling and can ultimately create as much as it needs to pay its debts. Hence advocates of MMT argue that treating…

“Game of Thrones is wonderful. My theory is they employ all these British actors because, one, they are like me and grateful. Two, we turn up, and we know our lines. Three, we don’t demand a 60ft Winnebago and PA, and four, largely we are very uncomplaining.” Diana Rigg (pictured) on HBO’s hit series, quoted on Twitter “I’m not sure money can make you happy, but a lack of money can make you unhappy.” Broadcaster Clive Tyldesley on the most important lesson he’s learnt about money, quoted in The Sunday Times “I had a café when I was ten. I opened the front garden of my parents’ home, took all the furniture out and the neighbours came around and paid for cups of coffee and buns and things I’d made.…

The first time that Covid-19 really came to people’s attention was when the Diamond Princess cruise ship was quarantined in early February after an outbreak that infected 714 people and killed 14. By March most countries, including the US, had either banned or heavily restricted cruise ships. So it’s no surprise that at one stage in early April shares in Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL) had fallen by 80% from their price at the start of the year. Even though they subsequently rallied, doubling over the last five months, they are still over 60% down from their 52-week high at a time when the benchmark S&P 500 continues to make new highs. The clouds are clearing “The group’s record is impressive: between 2015 and 2019 sales rose by 33% Still, there…

From New Delhi to Bengaluru, India is home to some of the most polluted urban centres in the world. But this year, its skies turned clear and blue for the first time in decades after the coronavirus lockdown shut factories, grounded flights and removed cars and trucks from the roads. As residents across the country breathed clean air and spotted stars at night, those in the northern state of Punjab could see the Himalayan mountain range more than 100 miles away. The sudden halt in economic activity has drastically cut pollutant emissions and shrunk humanity’s ecological footprint. But it requires a fundamental shift in our economic structures to build amore sustainable post-pandemic world. “Lockdown turned India’s skies clear and blue for the first time in decades” From air pollution to…

Tesla is the best-known of all the “next generation” car companies. It is also very expensive and in our view, pricing in an extraordinarily bright future. That’s been true for a long time – it may continue to be so. But if you’re looking for exposure toTesla and other tech stocks, then rather than bet it all on one company, we’d stick with our longstanding recommendation of Scottish Mortgage Trust (LSE: SMT). The investment trust recently trimmed its exposure to the electric car giant (simply because the recent run-up had pushed itsTesla holding to its portfolio limits) but it is still a significant holding. If you are specifically keen to bet on electric cars then one option is to go for a thematic exchange-traded fund.The iShares Electric Vehicles and Driving…

As with many things in the financial industry, ESG funds come with a great deal of jargon. What does it all mean? ■ ESG-filtered funds: these proactively screen for businesses with a high ESG rating. ■ Sustainability or SRI funds: these combine both a“positive” screen (businesses you want to own) alongside a “negative” screen (businesses you want to exclude). Many exclude alcohol, tobacco, gaming and weapons businesses, while other variations include fossil-fuel-free (or reduced) funds, which exclude businesses involved in fossil fuel production. ■ Low carbon/climate change funds: these focus specifically on businesses with a record of generating low carbon emissions. ■ Thematics: these are sector-based funds which invest in certain global themes such as water, forestry and clean energy. ■ Equality-based funds: many of these focus on encouraging global…

When it comes to ethical investing, most of us immediately think of funds and which companies we’re investing our money in. But what about your run-of-the-mill, day-to-day banking needs? While an environmental, social and governance (ESG) focus is the most recent incarnation of the phenomenon, savings institutions have a long history of what might be described as social activism (for want of a better term), with mutually-owned building societies and credit unions, for example, set up to provide financial products for their members in order to develop local economies. What makes a bank ethical? Today, a bank or building society’s ESG principles might cover anything from where it invests your money (or often more importantly, where it will refuse to invest your money), to how it pays its staff. The…

ESG-focused investors don’t have to limit themselves to conventional funds offering exposure to shares and bonds. Innovative new entrants to the ESG world offer some interesting alternatives, although you should familiarise yourself with the specific risks involved before investing. Abundance Investment isone good example. It’s an online platform offering opportunities to invest in peer-to-peer lending to sustainable projects in areas such as renewable energy and social infrastructure. Many of these projects are eligible holdings for Isas and pensions. Ethex is another possibility. It aims to operate as a one-stop shop for ESGminded investors, offering access to traditional funds, ethical savings accounts and a growing number of alternative investments, including charity bonds, green bonds and debentures. Like Abundance, Ethex offers Innovative Finance Isas, the wrappers launched by the government in 2016…

Spanish police seized four fake Modigliani paintings this week that an auction house was trying to sell for €8m. The fakes disappeared 52 years ago and came to the attention of police during a regular screening of works of art on sale. Modigliani is deemed by experts to be among the most forged artists. Naomi Osaka (pictured) won her third Grand Slam title this week, adding another £2.3m in prize money to her fortune, says Eleanor Crooks on PA Media. The 22-year-old is already the highest-paid tennis player in the world, and this week became the first Asian player to win three grand slam singles titles, surpassing Chinese trailblazer Li Na.…

Sweden’s pulp and paper manufacturer BillerudKorsnas is among the few companies that enjoyed a successful second quarter this year, says Wirtschaftswoche. It grew its bottom line by an annual 10% thanks to robust demand from the food and consumer-products industry. The group specialises in sustainable packaging made from paper and cardboard that is gradually replacing plastic; products include bottles made of paper and a plastic-free paper sack of cement that dissolves in the mixer. It has reduced costs with new contracts for raw materials and electricity, which should also help net profits for 2020 eclipse last year’s figure of €98m. The stock yields almost 3%.…

Nvidia’s “blockbuster” takeover of UK chip dsigner Armis already facing “growing opposition”, says The Daily Telegraph. Japanese technology investor Softbank bought Arm for £24bn in 2016; it now wants to sell it to the US technology company in a record deal for the semiconductor sector. As soon as the £30bn deal was announced, Arm’s founder Hermann Hauser complained that it would deliver Britain into “American vassalage” by selling its “prime technology asset”. Hauser says a sale to Nvidia would mean “the decision about who Arm is allowed to sell to will be made in the White House”. The British goverme thas pledged to investigate the deal, and China may follow suit. Silicon Valley stardust It’s true that the deal brings “regulatory, political and client risks”, including a chance that US…

The controversial Internal Market Bill, which would give the government the right to override parts of the Northern Ireland protocol (part of the EU Withdrawal Agreement) in matters of state aid and customs declarations, has cleared its first Commons hurdle. Changing a binding treaty in this way is a breach of international law. However, Boris Johnson argues that it is needed as an “insurance policy” because the deal agreed with the EU to avoid a hard border with the Irish Republic “created a backdoor through which EU state aid rules would apply to the UK in perpetuity”, says Camilla Cavendish in the FT. Watching this government “jeopardise its chances” of a trade deal in part over subsidies –which Johnson has never been keen on – is “bewildering”. It is a…

Betfair punters continue to bet heavily on November’s presidential election, with £84.5m matched on Betfair so far (up from £78.7m). Surprisingly, they still seem to think that Joe Biden’s advantage is relatively small, putting the odds of him winning in November at 1.87 (53.4%), while Donald Trump is at 2.2 (45.4%). This is essentially unchanged from a week ago. Sporting Index is also predicting a narrow result in the electoral college, putting Biden (pictured) at 283-289 electoral votes, compared with 249-255 for Trump. One state that looks interesting is Maine. Unlike most states, which simply give all of their Electoral College votes to the winning candidate on a statewide basis, they also give a single vote to the winner of each of the state’s two Congressional Districts.  Four years ago,…

Leaders of education unions have topped the Public Sector Trade Union Rich List, with six senior staff sharing £1.3m between them, says Rosemary Bennett in The Times. Sally Hunt, who led the University and College Union (UCU) until last year, and was a vocal critic of vice-chancellors’ pay, even leading the first lecturers’ strike over pensions in 2018, was the highest paid on the list compiled by the Taxpayers’ Alliance. Her final year’s earnings totalled £534,805, including £400,000 in “post-employment payments”. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, was second, earning £211,286. Geoff Barton, head of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), earned £174,206 – almost seven times the starting salary of a teacher. The average remuneration of the top 29 public-sector union bosses…

The world is headed for a new “age of disorder”, says Jim Reid, the veteran multi-asset strategist at Deutsche Bank, in the latest edition of his annual Long-Term Asset Return Study. “Economic cycles come and go, but sitting above them are the wider structural super-cycles that shape everything from economies to asset prices, politics, and our general way of life.” The current super-cycle “has been gradually fraying at the edges over the last half-decade” and we are likely to look back on 2020 as its end. There have been five super-cycles in modern times, reckon Reid and his team: the first era of globalisation (1860-1914), war and depression (1914-1945), the Bretton Woods agreement (1945-1971), the arrival of high inflation (1970-1980) and the second age of globalisation (1980-2020). This last era…

The turmoil caused by the pandemic has prompted many companies to raise more money. While some have borrowed, or sought help from the government, others, notably International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG), the owner of British Airways, has launched rights issues. This means that a company sells additional shares to existing shareholders at a discount. In essence, a rights issue is the opposite of a share buyback (whereby a firm buys its own shares, reducing the number of shares that are outstanding). In theory rights issues should be neutral for the share price provided companies can use the cash raised efficiently. Even if this is not the case, they could still be a sensible move if the only other options are either bankruptcy (which would see existing shareholders wiped out) or…

Gamesys (LSE: GYS) is an online gambling company. It impressed investors with its interim results earlier this month. Cash flow was robust and there was a maiden dividend. It seems everything “is coming together nicely”, says Russ Mould in The Daily Telegraph. Trading in the first half was helped by lockdowns that prompted people to spend more time with their screens. Gamesys has no shops and its online slots, casinos and bingo have seen a 14% year-on-year increase in active players per month in the year to 30 June 2020. The stock has gained 56% in the last year.…

Arlan Galbraith was born in 1947 in Stouffville, Ontario, in Canada. After dropping out of school he bought a farm with his brother Norman, raising pigs and cattle. By 1980 the brothers declared bankruptcy, forcing Galbraith to turn to farm work to support himself and his family. During this time he acquired a reputation in local pigeon-racing circles, a hobby that he had pursued since he was introduced to the sport as a child. In 2001 he claimed that he had created a new breed of elite pigeon and formed Pigeon King International to exploit it. What was the scam? Pigeon King International sold breeding pigeons to investors, particularly Mennonite farmers (because of their reluctance to go to the authorities), in return for promising to buy any offspring at a…

The contrarian view on oil stocks is not so much that the oil era will never end – it’s more that it won’t end quite as quickly as markets might now be pricing in. BP currently remains an outlier among its peers – trading group Vitol for example, expects another ten years of oil demand growth before the peak, notes Rakteem Katakey on Bloomberg. JPMorgan analysts look at the terrible performance of oil stocks in the investment bank’s annual energy report. They note that energy sector valuations are at all-time lows versus the rest of the market, and that returns on S&P-listed traditional energy stocks have been negative on an annual basis since 2013 right up until 2020.That’s woeful when you consider what’s happened to the wider market over that…

So pervasive has concern about environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues become that it is hard to find a fund presentation without a slide on it or an annual report without a section explaining how seriously the manager takes the issue. What is less easy to find out is whether what lies behind this is just a box-ticking exercise; the use of an off-the-peg service; or some serious thought about the principles. Yet 2020 has shown how important the issue can be. The 80% drop in the oil price earlier this year has hit oil majors BP and Shell hard, forcing them to cut their dividends. Though the oil price has now recovered to be “only” 30% down, both companies’ share prices have fallen by roughly half. Meanwhile, those investors…

If you’re looking for the most ethical account in which to put your savings, rather than a day-to-day current account, then there are plenty of choices out there.That said, the most ethical banks do not always pay the best interest rates. For example, Charity Bank is owned by charitable foundations and only uses its savers’ deposits to lend to charities and social enterprises, carrying out a social impact assessment for each loan it makes. And likeTriodos, it’s also entirely transparent as to who it lends to. However, it only pays interest of up to 0.35% on its Ethical 33-day Notice Account. If you are saving less than £6,000 in total and are able to drip feed it in month by month, then you can get a rate of 1.25% withTriodos,…

I am aware that I reviewed a Côte de Brouilly only last week, but the repetition is not an oversight. I feature here the most delicious and noteworthy bottle of wine that I taste each week, regardless of style, so I am the first to admit it is a little odd to read about two elite Beaujolais in only eight days. But by the time you slap duty and VAT on the price of La Croix des Rameaux, you will end up at £25, so this is far from a regular Bojo. With stunning balance and tenderness coupled with epic cherry fruit notes, which come from ancient vines, all held together with a stern backbone of minerality and rigidity, this is an unnervingly serious wine and I urge you to…

• “Watching a preview of the new, warts-and-all documentary on Paris Hilton, I was struck by how utterly joyless her life appears to be,” says Lorraine Kelly in The Sun. The hotel heiress (right) has played the “squeaky-voiced, spoiled Beverly Hills brat in order to make bucketloads of cash and has been playing the paparazzi and gossip columnists like a fiddle for decades”. Good for her. She is “as sharp as a razor blade”. But the act has come at the cost of a troubled youth and an exhausting schedule. Hilton says she will only be happy when she has made a billion dollars. “I don’t believe her. Money alone doesn’t make you happy, it just means that you can be miserable in comfort. I do hope this documentary helps…

Summer has come and gone. And another birthday, too. That makes it 72 times in our lifetime that the leaves have grown heavy with the late-summer dew. Birthdays put us in a reflective mood. We try to remember what it was like before. Have things really changed so much? Or is it just us? Of all the things we’ve seen in our 72 flu seasons, the events of the recent six months are surely among the strangest. Never before has the economy been shut down to try to prevent a virus from spreading. And never before has any government tried to offset the damage by passing out so much free money. “The government no longer even pretends to respect its limits” The deep damage is to the system itself. Free…