Last Thursday, a group of Fathom staff got together after work to conduct an auction of Premier League footballers. While business here is going well, none of us are owners of top-tier English football clubs (yet). Rather, the money was play and the auction was for this year’s work fantasy league – an increasingly popular pastime where real-life players earn pretend managers points based on how well they play in actual games. A couple of sceptical colleagues saw the event

One thing that many Remainers and Leavers have in common is that they want Britain to be more ‘global’, whatever that means. Naturally, they disagree about the path needed to get to this hallowed ground and indeed what a global Britain would look like, but both groups are sure they want it. But what does global Britain mean in an economic sense, how do we measure the UK’s openness, and how does it compare to its peers? The answer to

When the Fed meets later this month, it is now widely expected to cut interest rates. Inflation has remained sluggish and there are signs that the economy is slowing, but cutting rates at the first signs of danger seems strange: not only are pre-emptive cuts rare, but the unemployment rate is below most estimates of the natural rate, and on a downward trend. The economy is operating above capacity, and a cut would reinforce the view that the Fed is

Magic, according to the Collins Dictionary, is the power to use supernatural forces to make impossible things happen. Well-known authorities on the issue such as Hermione Granger,[1] assert that casting a magic spell successfully requires not only saying the right words in the right order but also enunciating them correctly, with the correct emphasis: “It’s not wingardiam leviosa, it’s wingardiam leviosa”. Others such as Ged, the principal character in the late Ursula le Guin’s Earthsea series, maintain that magic is

At Fathom, discussing monetary policy is one of those topics that can set blood boiling, comes at least with a PG rating and, in past eras, would have probably been settled by duelling "à l'outrance". Much of the reason for such heated exchanges centres around the concepts of credibility and independence. These were the central tenets of Fathom’s founding father and have been the bedrocks of our professional offering ever since. Yet, independence and credibility are too often taken for

On a recent trip to Peru, spent tackling the gruelling Inca Trail to the once-lost citadel of Machu Picchu, I found myself baffled by a more elementary matter than the life-changing experience of self-discovery that I had anticipated. Instead, I discussed, at length, the optimum height, or — more specifically — leg length, for tackling the mountainous Andean trail with my fellow hikers! Despite many passionate debates, we couldn’t reach a consensus on whether longer or shorter legs were best.

"This right to vote is the basic right without which all others are meaningless. It gives people, people as individuals, control over their own destinies." Lyndon B. Johnson Political Britain is currently preoccupied by the question of who will be the next UK Prime Minister. Daily radio interviews and opinion pieces by the candidates, and even TV debates. It feels like we’re in the run-up to a general election. However, the next Prime Minister will not be chosen by the

Small Island is a new show at the National Theatre based on Andrea Levy’s 2004 novel. A moving production, it tells the story of Jamaican migration to post-war London, highlighting how life for the Windrush generation wasn’t what they expected. Living conditions in the 'Motherland' were a disappointment, a fact made worse by the less than enthusiastic welcome they received from parts of their new society. Today’s would-be migrants face similar risks. Nonetheless, millions still opt to leave their country