Jonathan Finn

Solicitor in local government-Northumbrian

[Jonathan Finn @Jonathanfinn9]

@AlexanderPHRose Agreed Alex. Well done England, given the level of competition at this level. More members of FIFA than the United Nations and they all want to win. Look how far we progress in these competitions in the last 10 to 20 years. Only 8 Coutries have won World Cup

[Jonathan Finn @Jonathanfinn9]

@5liveSport John, you're like a child on Xmas day with that excitement but with great diction

[Jonathan Finn @Jonathanfinn9]

@NickyAACampbell The live pod was fantastic Nicky and what amusing guests you had. Lovely meeting you. Thanks..Jonathan

[Jonathan Finn @Jonathanfinn9]

@northumbriana @NUFC agreed Dan. The project is failing sadly. Hope I'm wrong.

[Jonathan Finn @Jonathanfinn9]

@abcarbsva @OmegaLuke and you get John Murray, whose excellent

[Jonathan Finn @Jonathanfinn9]

@AlexanderPHRose I agree Alex, we need a distraction!

[Jonathan Finn @Jonathanfinn9]

@NickyAACampbell @bbc5live ignorance is bliss.....lucky dogs!

[Jonathan Finn @Jonathanfinn9]

@NickyAACampbell Thank you Nicky, just listened to the first 2 episodes. So refreshing given the amount of complaints I hear from my parent's generation that they "can't say that anymore.!" As you well know, they still can.

[Jonathan Finn @Jonathanfinn9]

@yorkshirepost v. gbh. nh bhb

[Jonathan Finn @Jonathanfinn9]

@NlandNP Wedderleap car park? this weekend? is it open? thanks

[Jonathan Finn @Jonathanfinn9]

@clarkson_geoff @bbcquestiontime @BBCOne perhaps listen to his final answer re crime statistics. I was surprised and seriously impressed for a party I don't support. He's a goodin amongst an ugly party.

[Jonathan Finn @Jonathanfinn9]

@Rourke199811 @NickyAACampbell off topic Nicky but you've inspired me re listening to waves breaking on beach and excluding background noise. I can hear the surf in Longsands Tynemouth. Next week it will hopefully be the Isle of Skye

[Jonathan Finn @Jonathanfinn9]

@AnthonyTeasdale @northumbriana fascinating, and agree about the library

[Jonathan Finn @Jonathanfinn9]

@northumbriana and of course we had a legend Yorkshireman Peter Jackson at centre back

[Jonathan Finn @Jonathanfinn9]

@Itwitius Any dates in Yorkshire? Thanks Tim

[Robert Peston @Peston]

We just learned that the world’s most powerful person, Donald Trump, has a boss: the bond market.

He may not have acknowledged this to himself, yet, but the global financial tumult he caused - and has temporarily eased - has locked him in a fiscal prison.

Because, as I have been saying for 24 hours, he came perilously close yesterday to having caused such an extreme fall in the price of US government debt that it would have become prohibitively expensive for his administration to fund a large deficit - more than 6% of GDP - and also to refinance the almost $8 trillion of government debt that matures in the coming year (almost a third of America’s sovereign debt).

The point is he is totally in hock to the good will of bonds investors.

And when he announced his reckless roster of massive tariffs eight days ago he alienated them, because they feared he would tank the economy such that tax revenues would plummet and the deficit would balloon.

So they sold US government bonds, Treasuries, and the yield on the bonds - the de facto interest rate - soared.

Which is why Trump blinked, and put on hold the more extreme tariffs, except for the 140% on China, for 90 days.

You might think the worst part of this is the uncertainty he has created for businesses and investors for the next 90 days. Since no one in their right minds would make a major US investment till the final tariff determinations are made.

But the cancerous uncertainty is not the worst of it.

The worst of it is he has shredded any respect that overseas governments and investors might have had for America’s economic and fiscal competence.

Shades - you might say - of how Truss and Kwarteng’s unwise unfunded tax cuts undermined the perceived fiscal competence of the UK.

But unlike Truss and Kwarteng, there is pretty much no mechanism for removing Trump.

All of which means that bond and stock markets will remain fragile and volatile - fearful that Trump will regain his mojo and engage in some other fiscal extravagance.

He has also handed a loaded gun to his perceived enemy, China, and his supposed ally Japan.

This matters in both cases, because he is engaged in the mother of all trade wars with China - and Japan wants a trade deal with him that would see it escape mega tariffs.

The loaded guns they have are their massive loans to the US government. Japan owns more than a trillion dollars of US Treasuries and China not much less.

If they were to sell those bonds, or even if they chose not to refinance maturing bonds, that could be a disaster for Trump. Because it could cause another potentially crippling spike in bond yields.

Here is the measure of Trump’s debacle.

He may well have trashed America’s single most important financial competitive advantage, namely that investors have traditionally bought the dollar and US Treasuries at a time of economic and political uncertainty.

No more - because he personally has become the world’s source of economic uncertainty snd anxiety.

So, as I say he, is now in a fiscal prison. And if bond investors, including Japan and China, see him imposing tariffs or cutting taxes in ways they don’t like, they learned yesterday they have the means and power to stop him.

[Jonathan Finn @Jonathanfinn9]

@campbellclaret Hi Alistair, I'm off to Germany soon and I'd really appreciate your recommendation for a book educating me on German history and culture that avoids too much on the Nazis (I studies this at A level?). Danke.

[Jonathan Finn @Jonathanfinn9]

@Itwitius @Nigel_Farage sorry, just seen Starmer's statement. Struggling to keep up.

[Jonathan Finn @Jonathanfinn9]

@Itwitius @Nigel_Farage and of course poor Stamer. He's (or more properly tge Uk) are now in a terrible position. What should Starmer say now Tim?

[Jonathan Finn @Jonathanfinn9]

@Itwitius do you think this was Trump's and.Vance's plan Tim? ie to sabotage the agreement and humiliate Zelensky? or even force him to resign?