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Farewell, unloved 2021
It would be difficult to make the case for 2021 having been a ‘good’ year. Maybe the grape harvest will prove to have been a good one,...
geoffreysambrook
Dec 23, 2021
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Nostradamus, Oscar Wilde and incompetents
I’ve never ploughed through the thousand-odd quatrains that make up Nostradamus’ Les Prophéties, although I have skimmed through odd...
geoffreysambrook
Dec 15, 2021
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When the wind don't blow
Beautiful late autumn weather in southern England currently – clear skies, crisp air and barely a breath of wind. Ah, wait though. No...
geoffreysambrook
Nov 24, 2021
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Money from the Shadows
This article was written by Richard Horswill. All views and opinions expressed are strictly his own. The term ‘shadow money’ suggests...
Richard Horswill
Nov 11, 2021
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Save the core for the Floor
This article was written by David Gaddes. All views and opinions expressed are strictly his own. It’s been a while since my last...
David Gaddes
Nov 3, 2021
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The Art of the Possible
“Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable – the art of the next best”, said Otto von Bismarck, the man who achieved the...
geoffreysambrook
Oct 27, 2021
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LME Week 2021 – Back in Town
This article was written by Martin Hayes. All views and opinions expressed are strictly his own. After the cancellation last year caused...
Martin Hayes
Oct 14, 2021
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Tin Master
A few months ago, when I wrote an article here about the likely closure of the LME Ring (obviously before its Lazarus-like revival….), I...
geoffreysambrook
Oct 6, 2021
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Energy hysteria and metal prices
When I wrote last week that we needed to see some input from the grown-ups into the question of energy policy and security, I was working...
geoffreysambrook
Sep 29, 2021
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Energy security: where are the grown-ups?
For the last eighteen months or so, we have all been bombarded by politicians, media, Twitter and Uncle Tom Cobbleigh and all with a...
geoffreysambrook
Sep 22, 2021
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The Return of the Ring
So, the theatre is back. After eighteen months of silence and gathering dust, the trading floor in Finsbury Square is again echoing to...
geoffreysambrook
Sep 8, 2021
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Pax Britannica, pax Americana
This is only tangentially related to metals today – wait to the end for the connection – but the mayhem being reported from Afghanistan...
geoffreysambrook
Aug 25, 2021
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And then there were eight….
This article was written by Martin Hayes. All views and opinions expressed are strictly his own. Hot on the heels of the LME confirming...
Martin Hayes
Aug 12, 2021
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Keep it simple
The Victorians (as in nineteenth-century British, not inhabitants of the Australian state) have a reputation for being repressed,...
geoffreysambrook
Aug 11, 2021
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Bring on the new contracts
This article was written by Martin Hayes. All views and opinions expressed are strictly his own. This week saw the London Metal Exchange...
Martin Hayes
Jul 28, 2021
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Schrödinger's Ring?
I guess most readers of this will be familiar with the thought experiment of Schrödinger’s Cat, even if, like me, as non-quantum...
geoffreysambrook
Jul 21, 2021
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Put the fizzy wine from north-eastern France on ice!
Most of us only know Lord Acton for one notable quotation, but he was in fact an interesting man for far more than that. A confidant of...
geoffreysambrook
Jul 7, 2021
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Will the machine stop?
If I mention E M Forster, what comes to your mind? A Room with a View, Howard’s End and A Passage to India? Lush Merchant Ivory films,...
geoffreysambrook
Jun 23, 2021
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Will G7 vaccine promises help Zambia?
This article was written by Anthony Lipmann. All views and opinions expressed are strictly his own. With seagulls under instruction from...
Anthony Lipmann
Jun 17, 2021
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Muffle the lych bell!
So, my expectation that the LME Ring was doomed turns out – for the moment at any rate – to be wrong. After the sounding of the passing...
geoffreysambrook
Jun 16, 2021
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