The cattle cycle, contamination by Swiss bankers, Saudi's wealth fund & the STD epidemic in the UK

Great links, images and reading from Chartbook Newsletter by Adam Tooze

Welcome to Chartbook Newsletter Top Links. To get the full email, click here:

Alva and Gunnar Myrdal, Sven Ljungberg 1968

Losing money on the cattle cycle

"Ranchers in the “Prairie Gateway” — Texas, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma — lost money per head of cattle btw 2019 and 22. Unit economics could improve this year, but the analysts say there’s still “a ways to go before the cycle turns.”" Alexandra Scaggs on gruesome top form at FT Alphaville

****

Dear Reader,

Glad you are enjoying this Top Links. Chartbook Newsletter is fun to write. And I’m delighted it goes out for free to readers around the world. But it takes a lot of work! What sustains that effort are voluntary subscriptions from paying supporters. As a thank you, several times per week, paying supporters of Chartbook Newsletter receive an email like this, jam-packed with fascinating images, links and reading. If you would like to receive the full Top Links in future, click here to join the supporters club.

***

Saudi’s mammoth wealth fund targets global sport

The golf deal is part of a grand strategy.

Sport is one of 13 “strategic” sectors identified by the PIF, partly to deliver more entertainment options for a youthful domestic population, but also to champion Saudi Arabia’s brand overseas.  In recent years, Riyadh has spent tens of millions of dollars to bring myriad sporting events to the country, from heavyweight boxing bouts to Formula 1 racing. Two years ago, it acquired English football club Newcastle United. Now it is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to lure some of the planet’s top footballers to its shores, with French players N’Golo Kanté and Karim Benzema set to join Cristiano Ronaldo in its domestic league. 

Source: FT

Renewable over fossil

For subscribers only

Gas price shock continues

For subscribers only

Skorsten under bygge, Sven Ljungberg

Contamination by Swiss bankers

What an image!

“We are worried about ‘cultural contamination’,” UBS chair Colm Kelleher said last month over taking on Credit Suisse staff. To limit risk there will be red lines: No more clients from Libya, Russia, Sudan and Venezuela. No more Ukrainian politicians, Korean derivatives or yacht finance. Apparently its called the Diktat. Source: FT

The human motor in the field

Hungarian scientist Géza Farkas conducting physiological tests on field labour outside Budapest 1929, from a fascinating article by Juri Auderset on “Consigning the “Human Motor” to the History of Agricultural Work. Reflections on the Fractured Trajectory of Scientific Management and the Rationalization of Labor”.

Steam Engine intangibles

For subscribers only

China’s sound history

For subscribers only

STD epidemic in the UK

Source: FT

Sven Ljungberg (Sweden, 1913-2010)

If you have got this far you know you want to click here, to get the full unredacted Top Links bulletin. Click below to fix that: