Society

AstraZeneca delay dents hope of fast Covid cure

9 Sep 2020

The $144 bln pharma group halted trials for its coronavirus vaccine after a human guinea pig fell ill. Such events are routine in drug development, but it shows that a remedy will take time and face setbacks. That means more travel and social curbs, and a slower recovery.

Corona Capital: Bumble IPO, SPACs

2 Sep 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: The Blackstone-backed dating site may be eyeing an $8 bln valuation if it goes public next year, more than twice its pre-virus price tag. Ex-MGM exec Harry Sloan adds online gaming to his blank-check company empire.

Cox: Republicans mostly rant about fake socialism

28 Aug 2020

The GOP wrapped up a four-day confab-cum-reality TV show combining glowing testimonials about Trump’s achievements with venom against his opponents. Yet the greatest enemy was a phantom economic threat. America’s rich-world allies see socialism as normal, not a disaster.

Corona Capital: Davos delay, Political TV ratings

26 Aug 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: The World Economic Forum’s annual winter meeting becomes a summer gathering; and in the U.S., the Democrats’ online spectacle leads TV ratings over the Republicans’ more traditional convention.

The Exchange: Telecoms mogul David McCourt

25 Aug 2020

The pandemic has made connecting rural areas a global priority. The Irish-American cable entrepreneur explains to Aimee Donnellan why he returned to Dublin to roll out a 3 billion euro broadband programme, and how the Covid-19 crisis created an opportunity to transform business.

Ireland’s Golfgate can reveal a more responsive EU

24 Aug 2020

The Irish public are outraged about an elite golf jolly that flouted Covid-19 restrictions. One minister has resigned and European Commissioner Phil Hogan is under severe pressure. A swift departure would help Brussels look less like a technocratic refuge from popular politics.

Kremlin foe’s illness benefits Russian kleptocrats

21 Aug 2020

Allies of Alexei Navalny say the politician-investigator has been poisoned. In a country with few independent voices, his damaging exposés of leading figures’ corruption and cronyism have been popular - and embarrassing. Any would-be emulators are now likely to be more cautious.

UK exam U-turn exposes algorithms’ deep flaws

19 Aug 2020

Popular fury forced the abandonment of hypothetical calculations of likely grades for Covid-canceled national exams. From credit scoring to criminal sentencing, even well-intentioned models of this kind make many harmful mistakes. Most victims lack the clout to force a reversal.

Work-from-home shunts UK rail towards state siding

18 Aug 2020

Employers like accountants PwC think offices will be permanently slimmed down after Covid-19. Less commuting means more government help for rail, and even less room for the profit motive. Nationalisation, rather than Britain’s messy halfway house, might even improve services.

Breakdown: The scramble for a Covid-19 vaccine

11 Aug 2020

Drugmakers like AstraZeneca and Pfizer may soon get regulators’ blessing for coronavirus inoculations. Yet doubts will linger over the treatments’ efficacy and profitability, and manufacturing delays mean poor countries will have to wait. Breakingviews explains why.

Corona Capital: Junked cans

11 Aug 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: An aluminum company with a junk rating issues debt with a ridiculously low interest rate.

American college football needs to play long game

10 Aug 2020

Collegiate athletes recently penned a letter arguing for better safety, healthcare and cash compensation. Players have increasingly been using their star power to pressure coaches and administrators. But the time for tweaks is over – a total NCAA revamp is long overdue.

Lebanon’s gash cuts too deep for orthodox bandage

10 Aug 2020

France hosted an emergency conference on Sunday to arrange aid for the devastated nation - and the IMF called for reforms. But the heavily indebted country has no functioning government, banking system or economy. And the people are livid. Normal reforms look like a pipe dream.

Corona Capital: Aviva’s restructuring

6 Aug 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: New CEO Amanda Blanc is reinstating the UK insurer’s dividend and is even open to selling its Asian and European businesses. That’s music to investors’ ears.

Corona Capital: Disney movie magic, “Call of Duty”

5 Aug 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: The Magic Kingdom’s decision to send “Mulan” straight to streaming impressed investors, but is bad news for cinema chains; Activision Blizzard’s shoot-‘em-up game brings a profit surge.

Lebanon blast lays bare cost of a weak state

5 Aug 2020

The devastation in Beirut adds to the political, financial and economic troubles that beset the country. Long-standing governance shortcomings make such tragedies more likely and recovery more difficult. Too many countries share Lebanon’s inability to deal with added catastrophe.

Mumbai’s slums test lockdown logic

30 Jul 2020

Nearly 60% of people in densely packed areas have had Covid-19, a study found, suggesting a low fatality rate. About 40% of the Indian financial capital's residents live in similar settings. The city’s strict shutdown may now be impoverishing more than protecting the poor.

Cox: History’s most plagued city can lead the way

28 Jul 2020

Venice has benefitted more than any other place over the centuries from global trade and the movement of people. “La Serenissima” has also withstood pandemics, devoting churches as testaments to each calamity. A plan to remake its business model has merits beyond the lagoon.

U.S. aid can give shot to women in the workforce

27 Jul 2020

Female employees have been hit hard in the pandemic, with a higher jobless rate and lower labor participation than men. Congress is mulling economic Band-Aids but the crisis is an opening for more ambitious plans like universal childcare. It’s a longer-term boost for growth.

Can the Fed help close the racial prosperity gap?

22 Jul 2020

Economists advising U.S. presidential hopeful Joe Biden have proposed making racial equity part of the Federal Reserve’s mandate. That chimes with the zeitgeist. But if it means rate-setters ignore too-high inflation for too long, it could hurt those Biden aims to help.