Innehållsförteckning för Issue 1250 från MoneyWeek

US merchant and marketing pioneer John Wanamaker used to joke that, “half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half”. There are, however, times when 100% of marketing budgets are quite obviously being wasted. Enter the “vowel movement” of Abrdn, the name Standard Life Aberdeen chose to rebrand itself with in 2021. Supposedly a reflection of “a modern, agile, digitally enabled brand” (surely in the age of the internet, nobody is digitally inhibited?), it incurred widespread derision for looking like a typo and a desperate attempt to emulate social-media stars: dropping vowels was becoming fashionable among TikTok stars and YouTubers such as Strictly Come Dancing star Hrvy. “Ontario has announced retaliatory tariffs and threatened to withhold electricity exports” Corporate kitsch Aberdeen was…

“Over the past three decades [investors] have gradually woken up to the fact that passive funds, which merely track an index, give them a cheap, simple method for investing in major asset classes… For fund managers… the result has been a Darwinian struggle, in which survival went to the cheapest… A fightback was inevitable. One of the biggest trends… is the launch of active ETFs, which have higher fees… A significant proportion of active-based ETFs… are in the field of factor-based investing… Such funds attempt to exploit the stockpicking insights used by traditional fund managers in a systematic fashion… The industry is offering many new options to tempt investors away from the low-cost index funds that are starting to dominate the market… But one rule should never be far from…

Last year WPP “lost its position as the world’s largest advertising agency by revenues to French rival Publicis”, says Daniel Thomas in the Financial Times. This year doesn’t seem to be much better. The shares have slipped to a four-year low due to WPP warning that this year core revenues and profit margins would be “flat at best”. WPP has blamed this on “greater uncertainty in core markets, such as the US and UK”, stoked by concerns over the “impact of Donald Trump in the White House“, risks of a trade war among companies “in sectors such as the automotive market” and “worries over inflationary pressures”. Advertising agencies are seen as “bellwethers” for the economy because firms “increase spending on advertisements when they are feeling positive and scale back during…

Spain’s BBVA is enjoying a strong tailwind, says WirtschaftsWoche. Like other Spanish banks, it is profiting from the rise in interest rates over the past two years as well as the country’s strong growth rate of 3%. Brisk business, along with a slowdown in the increase of staff and admin costs, is expected to propel net income to more than €10bn in 2024. And the outlook remains auspicious – the group’s subsidiaries in Mexico and South America are highly profitable, while the acquisition of Banco Sabadell, a smaller rival, has just been approved by the EU. The stock is reasonably valued on a price/earnings (p/e) ratio of 6.6 while the dividend yield is a juicy 7.7%.…

The notion of “Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow” is now all the more alarming, says Daniel Michaels in The Wall Street Journal. Washington’s attitude to Ukraine is seen as a warning about America’s “willingness to defend Taiwan” and many Taiwanese believe a Russian victory will embolden China to invade the self-governing island, which it views as its own territory. Hence the moves to “placate” the US, says James Chater in Deutsche Welle. Last month, Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, pledged to increase defence spending to 3% of GDP, and on Monday the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) said it would increase its investment in the US from $65bn to $165bn (see page 12). Taiwan makes 90% of the world’s most advanced semiconductors, but exports of this “essential resource” are a big…

● Chancellor Rachel Reeves wants to create “the world’s first regulated private stockmarket”, says Delphine Currie in City AM. The proposed Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System (Pisces) – which will allow shares in private companies to be traded at intervals – is intended to revive London’s pipeline of initial public offerings (IPOs) and boost the British economy. But there are good reasons why no country has set up such a market before. First, it’s intended purely for trading existing shares, rather than raising money, so of little interest to most firms. Second, having workable restrictions on who can access it will be difficult. Third, institutional investors are likely to require companies to disclose detailed information, undermining one of the key benefits of being an unlisted business. All told,…

“I was crossed off of every casting list… EastEnders takes up a lot of your life. You’ve got money, but you ain’t got time to go to a cashpoint. But it did get me out of a lot of trouble and opened me up for other opportunities.” Actor Danny Dyer (pictured) on being cast in the soap opera in 2013, quoted in The Guardian “In a Britain where the percentage of the population who receive more in benefits than they pay in tax has hit 53%, where the state itself spends over 40% of GDP every year and where judges can bankrupt councils over equal pay disputes, it is [she says] actually ‘capitalism’ that has ruined the country.” Will Lloyd reviews a book by leftist Ash Sarkar, in The Times…

engelsbergideas.com Anthropologists have long noted that the English language is not as rich as others when it comes to describing relationships in an extended family, says Samuel Rubinstein. That may be because the extended families seen in many pre-industrial societies never did exist in England, or at least not for a very long time. England may be an unusually individualist society principally because it always has been, as anthropologist Alan Macfarlane argued in his classic 1978 study. Medieval English women tended to marry late and enjoyed more property rights than women elsewhere, for example. Intergenerational households were unusual. Children quite often lived in different towns from their parents. Most ordinary people in England from at least the 13th century, says Macfarlane, “were rampant individualists, highly mobile both geographically and socially,…

Drugmaker Indivior has ousted its CEO under pressure from US activist Oaktree, after a third profit warning in eight months. The anti-opioid specialist moved its primary listing from London to New York last June to attract investors in the US, where it makes most of its sales, but shares slumped 40% in July after a profit warning. Oaktree then increased its stake from 2.5% to 7.7%, becoming Indivior’s largest shareholder, and criticised the firm for “doubling down on a failing strategy, ignoring competitive threats and allowing costs to spiral”. After a further profit warning in October, Indivior agreed to a board overhaul and added two directors approved by Oaktree – one of whom, Joe Ciaffoni, will now take over from Mark Crossley as CEO.…

Holidays don’t always go to plan. A broken arm, food poisoning, or losing your luggage could put a sudden end to your fun. Travel insurance will cover any costs you incur. Around 44% of holidaymakers skimp on it, according to the Nationwide Building Society in 2024. But if you don’t have it, or you have the wrong cover, you risk paying exorbitant costs running into tens of thousands should something go wrong. In one case highlighted by the Association of British Insurers, a holidaymaker faced a bill of £124,000 following a fall in Spain and repatriation back to the UK. Buy your insurance as soon as you book your holiday so you’re covered immediately. Don’t wait until the day before you travel, as anything could go wrong before that. “Half…

Jamie Dimon thinks remote working is a disaster. The JPMorgan boss recently told staff they were “wasting their time” by signing a petition opposing his order that all staff should return to full-time office working. The bank is no longer prepared even to offer hybrid working, whereby staff split their time between the home and the office. It’s a growing trend, with more US and UK companies now joining the backlash against remote and hybrid working practices. Staff working from home don’t always pull their weight; they complain; and don’t contribute to the organisation’s culture or its spirit of collaboration. Still, many employees still want to work remotely, at least sometimes. This is important to eight in ten British workers, so changing policy may hit recruitment and retention. And all…

“France’s Legrand is a more subtle way to profit from AI than US tech stocks” The Fidelity European Trust takes a cautious approach to risk and aims to achieve consistent long-term outperformance driven by stock selection. The strategy focuses on identifying companies capable of sustainable dividend growth over a period of between three and five years. We look for four main characteristics in businesses: positive fundamentals; the ability to generate cash; a strong balance sheet; and an attractive valuation. We also seek balance across sectors, believing that stock selection should be the primary driver of performance. By focusing on quality businesses, the strategy tends to outperform in weaker markets, providing a defensive edge. Additionally, our long-term view aims to improve performance and reduce transaction costs. Europe’s best airline poised for…

This wasn’t a great fortnight for my six long tips, with two rising and four falling. On the positive side, retailer Marks & Spencer rose from 358p to 366p and fast-food firm Domino’s Pizza went up from 291p to 293p. However, food packager Hilton Foods decreased from 889p to 854p, property developer Harworth stumbled from 164p to 162p and United Airlines slipped from $104 to $94. Ticketing firm Trainline also dropped from 358p to 307p. The overall outcome of this was that my net profits have taken a large hit, falling by more than half from £1,297 to £526. Thankfully, my four short tips did a little better than my longs, with three out of the four moving in my favour. The only exception was telecoms firm Lumen Technologies, which…

Around 150 million units of Nintendo’s hit Switch video games console have been sold worldwide since it was released in 2017. With the release of the successor Switch 2 scheduled for later this year, it is perhaps an opportune moment to remind ourselves of just how far Nintendo has travelled to arrive at the Switch’s dinky, detachable controllers. You need only look at the Nintendo 64’s controllers from the mid-1990s. One such ultra-rare prototype appeared at Dallas-based Heritage Auction’s sale of video games and consoles last month. It is, says the auction house, “a seminal creation that laid the groundwork for one of the most iconic controllers in gaming history”. It sold for $20,000, including fees. In direct competition with the N64 was the PlayStation – Sony’s first foray into…

Within just two minutes, North Korean hackers stole $1.5bn-worth of the cryptocurrency ether (Ethereum) from the Dubai-based crypto exchange ByBit last month, says Matthew Field in The Telegraph. The FBI blamed the single biggest crypto heist in history on the Lazarus Group, which is linked to the rogue state led by Kim Jong-un (pictured). Two days before the breach, hackers had injected malicious code into a system called Safe Wallet used by Bybit. They used the code to mimic the signatures of “key” holders, including Bybit’s CEO Ben Zhou. Lazarus then began laundering the stolen funds through various crypto exchanges. North Korean cyber agents are tasked with stealing funds to finance the country’s weapons programme and recover losses from sanctions. The attack topped the $1.3bn stolen by North Korea over…

UK house prices are still rising, but stamp duty changes due on 1 April are creating uncertainty. Nationwide reports that house prices rose 0.4% in February, the sixth successive monthly increase. The average UK property price has risen 3.9% over the past 12 months to an average of £270,493. Separate data from HM Land Registry shows that prices rose 4.6% in the year to December 2024. The housing market has picked up from a lull between mid-2023 and spring last year, says Jasper Jolly in The Guardian. However price growth is still well short of the annual 10% increases witnessed in 2021 and 2022, a period when lockdowns prompted a rush for extra space. The British appetite for property remains as strong as ever – online listings portal Rightmove was…

Britain’s lack of an investment culture is costing many of us dearly. Shares are often volatile, but they usually outperform cash over the long term. If you had put £10,000 into a cash individual savings account (Isa) at the start of 1999, it would have grown to be worth £18,965 by the end of 2024, according to Vanguard – barely keeping up with inflation. By contrast, £10,000 in a fund that tracked the FTSE All-World index of global developed and emerging markets would have grown to £77,826 over the same period. Of course, cash is usually best for short-term savings, since stockmarkets can plunge and take time to recover. Still, there is no excuse for the fact that 42.2% of the capital placed in junior Isas in 2022-2023 was held…

Shares in chipmaker Nvidia lost almost 10% on Monday when president Donald Trump confirmed that tariffs on Canada and Mexico will go ahead, says Kif Leswing on CNBC. While Nvidia’s chips are mostly made in Taiwan, “some of its sophisticated systems and full computers surrounding the chips are manufactured in other regions”, including Mexico, and could therefore be hit by the 25% duties on imports. Nvidia is also being scrutinised for its exports to Singapore, with some analysts claiming that the city state is being used “as a waypoint to bypass US controls on exports to China”. Nvidia is particularly exposed to tension between Washington and Beijing as the two superpowers engage in “an arms race over AI technology”, says Michael Acton in the Financial Times. The outgoing Biden administration…

German prosthetics manufacturer Ottobock is planning an initial public offering (IPO) in the second half of 2025 to raise €1bn, says the Financial Times. The proceeds will be used to pay back a €1.1bn loan that Ottobock’s owner, Näder Holding, took out last year from a consortium of private equity groups led by KKR and Carlyle to buy back a 20% stake from Swedish private equity investor EQT. Ottobock is attractive to investors thanks to steady revenue from healthcare systems and demand fuelled by conflicts such as the Ukraine war. It generates most of its sales from Europe and the US. Last year Ebitda grew to €325m from €280m in 2023.…

It is a long way from being the “world’s favourite airline” anymore. But British Airways can still churn out impressive profits. Last week, IAG, BA’s parent, which also owns Iberia and Aer Lingus, announced post-tax profits rising to €2.73bn for 2024, with operating profits up by 22% as passenger numbers continued to rebound from the Covid-era collapse. Shareholders liked the look of that. The shares ended the week almost 6% higher, consolidating a run that has seen them more than double over the last year. The contrast with IAG’s major European rivals could hardly be more stark. In the third quarter of last year, Air France-KLM reported a loss of €160m, partly driven by tourists staying away from Paris during the Olympics. Likewise, Germany’s Lufthansa reported a 9% drop in…

The coming year “may be a reality check on fiscal policy, with implications for inflation and bond yields”, says Sonal Desai, who oversees more than $200bn in bond investments at Franklin Templeton. “The US ran a budget deficit of close to $2trn last year in an economy that’s booming by any measure… right now, there is no reasonable expectation of the deficit falling for multiple years.” Tariffs won’t bring the acceleration in inflation that some fear, but a deficit of this size remains inflationary, she tells the latest Barron’s roundtable. “It’s gratifying to see the market come round to assuming that the Fed will cut rates only twice this year. It might only be once or less depending on what happens with fiscal policy.” The 10-year Treasury yield – now…

capx.co Young, skilled and talented Britons are starting to move abroad in search of better opportunities, says Jack Hutchison. The numbers are small as yet, but a report last year found that 38% of 25-34-year-olds are considering moving abroad in the next five years. They are seeking to escape low economic growth, failing public services, a proportionally much higher cost of living and a “general feeling of stagnation and malaise”. It needn’t be this way. I run Civic Future’s Fellowship Programme for talented people who want to enter public life. The youngsters I meet are “smart and capable, civic-minded people”, and see that “the best way to guarantee their future is not to leave the country but to try to fix it”. They see that they can have more impact…

■ Brokers are questioning some of the fee changes that The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG) announced last week, says Citywire. The addition of a performance fee of 3% of value achieved over NAV or market value in a takeover is “a bit puzzling”, since the trust is supposed to be run for the benefit of investors rather than its managers at InfraRed, reckons Stifel. The new structure is “complex”, agrees Deutsche Numis, and critics will wonder “why the managers need additional incentives to dispose of assets given their success to date”. ■ Two more infrastructure and renewables trusts have increased buybacks in an attempt to tackle their discounts to NAV. Greencoat UK Wind will buy back a further £100m of shares over the next 12 months, while HICL Infrastructure has…

Investing in struggling companies is not for the fainthearted. Some businesses fall on hard times but later recover, rewarding those who bought in at the right moment. Others never turn things around. The challenge for investors is identifying the fallen angels that can rise again and avoiding the value traps destined for decline. A game-changer Frontier Developments, the Cambridge-based video-game developer, has suffered a spectacular fall from grace. At its peak in 2021, its share price soared to 3,400p. Today, it trades for less than 200p, a collapse of over 90%. A combination of overexpansion, misjudged investments, and disappointing sales has left the company struggling to regain its footing. But the board has a credible plan to turn things around, cutting costs and refocusing on what it does best. If…

Second homeowners could be lumbered with council-tax rises of up to 300% in 2025-2026 as local authorities begin to exercise new powers. If you have a furnished second home that is not your primary residence, you face a 100% premium on council tax if your home has been empty for 12 months or more. If it has been empty for five years or more, you face a 200% premium, rising to 300% if the property has been empty for ten years or more. Similar laws apply in Scotland and Wales. In Scotland, councils can charge up to double the full rate of council tax on second homes. In Wales, the premium can be as much as 300%. For a band-G property in Cornwall, a 100% surcharge would equate to around…

Moving to electronic invoicing (known as e-invoicing) could save firms time and money, as well as ensuring they manage their tax affairs more effectively, the government believes. Ministers have just launched a consultation on how to encourage the practice, including the question of whether it should be mandatory, as is increasingly the case in the public sector. E-invoicing means exchanging information digitally between buyers and suppliers, stripping all paperwork out of the process. E-invoicing facilities are often embedded in the accounting software many small businesses use, and larger organisations are increasingly adopting online platforms through which all invoices must be submitted. There are advantages in working this way. E-invoicing can reduce errors and speed up invoice processing, often by automating a significant element of the payment process. There is also…

One of the problems with operating in a fast-growing industry is that constant change and disruption can make it hard to remain successful. No sooner has a company developed a business model that is profitable than the technology shifts or competition pushes down prices. This causes margins or market share to tumble, since large amounts of investment are required to stay ahead of the competition. So it’s often better to find a niche that is big enough to be worthwhile, but not so big as to attract a lot of other firms. Financial technology company Corpay (NYSE: CPAY) has done just that. The firm specialises in corporate payments, including travel and hotel expenses as well as general vendor payments. These can be a nightmare for companies to manage, as giving…

“The trouble with tariffs… is that they raise prices, slow economic growth, cut profits, increase unemployment, worsen inequality, diminish productivity and increase global tensions. Other than that, they’re fine,” says David Kelly of JPMorgan. US stocks sold off this week as Washington imposed 25% import taxes on Canada and Mexico, with the S&P 500 suffering its worst day so far this year on Monday. Come Tuesday, traders had erased all market gains since president Donald Trump’s election win. A historic shift “It is hard to overestimate the scale of change taking place in global economic and geopolitical relations,” says George Saravelos of Deutsche Bank. “Approximately half of total US imports are now subject to tariffs of more than 20%,” while the average US tariff rate is “above 10%, the highest…

Aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce declared last week that it would hit its profit targets two years early, says Philip Georgiadis in the Financial Times. The stock promptly bounced 15%, making it one of the ten biggest in the FTSE 100. Rolls-Royce’s latest results, which included a 13% rise in the order book for new engines, “underlined the scale of the recovery... since governments shut the skies during the pandemic”. It also announced that it would launch a £1bn share buyback, in addition to bringing back a dividend of 6p a share, as promised last year. Many of Rolls-Royce’s past problems were due to its slow recovery from Covid, which had “brought it to its knees”, says Robert Lea in The Times. However, the real turning point came when CEO Tufan…

Five to buy Unilever The TelegraphUnilever’s full-year earnings increased 14.7% thanks to its core brands and growth in the operating profit margin. Sales gained 4.2% as volumes and pricing rose. The consumer-goods giant is cutting costs, spinning off its ice-cream unit, and investing in its top brands. With an improving outlook for household spending amid falling interest rates and a sound strategy that should create an improved business, Unilever is “well-placed to deliver strong capital growth and index outperformance”. 4,426p Jet2 The TimesJet2, Britain’s biggest package holiday provider, recently warned that higher costs and a cautious consumer environment would hit profits this year. Shareholders were already bracing for higher spending on sustainable aviation fuel and taxes. Yet early summer bookings look healthy, and it has a high return on capital…

After Covid struck five years ago, several UK real-estate investment trusts (Reits) suspended or slashed their dividends. There were dire predictions that demand for offices and shops would be so much weaker after the pandemic that payouts would never fully recover. But while real estate has been affected by changes in work and leisure, most Reits have seen their income hold up much better than feared. The two big diversified Reits sum up the highs and lows. Land Securities paid out 45.55p per share in 2018-2019, falling to 23.2p in 2019-2020. It should pay 40.5p this year. British Land fell from 31.47p to 15.04p; it’s now back to 23p. Yet share prices are mostly back to where they were in 2020 or even lower. This isn’t just true for the…

Why Japan is going nuclear Will FeeNikkei Asia Fourteen years on from the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Tokyo’s decision to “ramp up” nuclear power is causing domestic disquiet, says Will Fee. The government cites AI’s increasing demand for power – data centres are expected to account for 3%-4% of global energy consumption by 2030 – and is planning for nuclear power to comprise around 20% of the energy mix by 2040. Japan’s policymakers may have been emboldened by America’s decision to reactivate its Three Mile Island nuclear plant, the site of the “biggest commercial nuclear accident in US history”. Safety issues aside, it is “not a foregone conclusion” that AI should remain so power-hungry. Money used to invest in nuclear could “just as easily be invested in tech solutions to reduce…

conversableeconomist.com A primary goal in creating the European Union was to replicate the single market that prevails in the US, says Timothy Taylor. The US has a large internal market, and the Constitution bars states from setting up barriers to trade with each other, which is a “remarkable advantage” for the economy. By comparison, Europe still has a long way to go. A new report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), “Europe: A Recovery Short of Europe’s Full Potential”, argues that Europe’s lagging productivity can be traced to its internal market’s more limited size, capital-market constraints, skilled labour shortages and stalled structural reforms. The EU’s goods and services markets are keeping businesses from becoming larger, forcing them to spend more on research and development and preventing them from exploiting economies…

Beleaguered British fund managers usually focus on the cheapness of the UK market. The problem with this is that earnings growth for the UK has been volatile and pedestrian for the past 12 years, while US corporate earnings have soared. However, an increasing number of funds are defying this disappointing index performance. Of the 21 trusts in the UK All Companies and UK Equity Income sectors, eight have outperformed the FTSE All-Share index over three years and 12 over one year. These trusts have picked the right stocks, not just shadowed the market. So it’s a relief to hear the team managing the £850m Merchants Trust (LSE: MRCH) enthusing about the companies they invest in rather than complaining about the unloved UK market. Recovery opportunities Merchants’ shares trade at a…

Generally speaking, I avoid the retail sector unless there’s something on offer that appears too good to miss. That’s quite rare. Retailers typically have little to no competitive advantage, and the sector is brutally competitive. Add in high labour costs, the cynical and fickle nature of demand from consumers, and high rents and taxes, and the odds are stacked against the average retailer. However, a handful of bargains have recently emerged in the sector. These businesses are trading at some of the lowest valuations in recent memory. A perfect storm Investors have moved out of the retail sector over the past year as clouds have accumulated over the UK economy. Discretionary spending stagnated in 2024 as consumers cut back on non-discretionary purchases so that they could afford day-to-day items, such…

● Rail fares have risen by 4.6% and the cost of most railcards has increased by £5 as the government aims to raise money to patch up the railway, writes Ruth Jackson-Kirby. It’s only the second time rail fares have risen above inflation since 2013, says Gwyn Topham in The Guardian. An annual season ticket between Brighton and London will cost over £5,000; York to Leeds will be more than £3,000; and to commute from Canterbury to the capital will be more than £7,000. ● “If you had a British Airways flight or holiday disrupted by the Covid pandemic, check if you’ve got an old voucher,” says Molly Greeves on MoneySavingExpert. “Millions of pounds’ worth are still unclaimed.” The vouchers need to be used before 30 September 2025. You can…

● Small companies renegotiating energy-supply contracts in the coming months are likely to face higher charges following a sharp increase in wholesale prices. In the consumer market, Ofgem, the industry regulator, has just announced that an increase in the cap on prices will come into effect in April; the rise highlights the pressure on energy prices, but doesn’t help small businesses since they’re not covered by the cap. Energy-market experts warn that they may therefore face more significant price rises than the 9% uplift in the price cap. ● More than three-quarters of small business leaders work through sickness and illness to manage the demands of their organisations, a new survey from accounting software firm FreeAgent warns. Almost half told the platform they worry they are experiencing symptoms of burnout.…

The ten-week prison sentence imposed on Runcorn and Helsby’s MP Mike Amesbury after he was convicted of assault has been turned into a suspended sentence on appeal. Since this is still technically a custodial sentence, a recall petition will now be triggered unless the MP resigns first. While 10% of the electorate must sign the petition to bring about a by-election, Ladbrokes has not wasted any time in offering bets on the outcome (which will be void if no contest takes place this year). Betting exchange Smarkets also has a market, but it isn’t yet liquid enough to consider. From the odds, Ladbrokes clearly thinks that this is going to be a two-horse contest between Labour (which currently holds the seat) and Reform. It has Reform as the clear favourite…

YouTube star Jimmy Donaldson, better known as Mr Beast, is looking to raise a couple of hundred million dollars to expand his business in a funding round that would value his company at about $5bn, says Lucas Shaw on Bloomberg. Donaldson (pictured), 26, is raising cash to fund a holding company that will own all or part of several of his ventures, including chocolate brand Feastables, snack company Lunchly and his video production company. Mr Beast is best known for his work on YouTube, where he earns a share of advertising sales. More recently he created and starred in a show for Amazon, which put up £100m; Mr Beast lost tens of millions of his own money to ensure the show made a splash. With 368 million subscribers, Mr Beast…

2018 Charles Heidsieck, Brut Millésimé, Champagne, France Retail price: £125, thefinestbubble.com, farrvintners.com, hedonism.co.uk There is always a little smoke and mirror activity surrounding the release of new and exciting Champagnes. My featured wine and its 2018 Rosé Millésime sibling (£135) are being eased onto the stage in “early March”. Stockists and prices are vague, and I am sure a host of valiant indie wine merchants will join the throng before too long. As always, I recommend shopping around, as pricing will inevitably pendulum wildly! New Champagne releases are ten a penny these days. During the course of this year, I predict only a handful will be genuinely eye-catching – those that are of sufficient “must-buy status” to make it into my “Finest Fifty” round-up at Christmas. These are two of…

Going… Fashion items that once belonged to Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe are heading for sale with Julien’s Auctions at The Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel in California on 27 March. The lots commanding the highest pre-sale estimates are a gold and diamond purse that Taylor clutched at the Lido premiere, a burlesque show, in Paris in December 1964, and a ruby, diamond and gold necklace and earring set that also belonged to Taylor. Meanwhile, Monroe’s gold, 1950s minaudière evening purse is, too, appearing in the sale and all three lots are expected to sell for between $100,000 and $200,000 each. Gone… The vintage sequined marching-band unitard worn by Chappell Roan (pictured) for the video of her 2023 hit Hot to Go! smashed its $2,000 pre-sale estimate to sell for $88,900…