Barney Macintyre

Business news editor @ObserverUK. Writing the Boardroom Sensemaker. Email me: [email protected]

[The Observer @ObserverUK]

A bank with adult content on the side? @barneymac reports as OnlyFans plots its financial future

The platform faces the challenge of winning over the creators it once threatened to ban, as it eyes a move into fintech
https://t.co/TYFnl9hbnh

[The Observer @ObserverUK]

The Observer issue no. 12,231 The man who bought Britain

Christopher Harborne funded the Brexit party, put £5m in the pocket of Nigel Farage and bankrolled Reform to become a national party. He is a crypto billonaire who lives in Thailand

Featuring:
Keir Starmer interviewed by @RSylvester1
@DAaronovitch on the biggest donor in British political history
@CatNeilan on the coming investigation into Nigel Farage

Pick up a copy today, available nationwide. Subscribe to get a copy of The Observer delivered right to your door every week:
https://t.co/L4DVKuP9HC

[Ben Zaranko @BenZaranko]

For my first column as Observer economics editor, I've written about the folly of calling for blanket price subsidies during a global energy shortage.

It doesn't seem to be online so if you want to read in full, you'll have to buy a physical paper like the good old days.

[Barney Macintyre @barneymac]

More recently, he’s been courting $5 billion in new investment for his fund Affinity Partners… while also “volunteering” for the US in diplomatic talks in the Middle East.

[Barney Macintyre @barneymac]

NEW: Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner sank $170m into an obscure British e-commerce company that auditors flagged last year over doubts that it would survive without fresh investment.

For @ObserverUK

https://t.co/kCElkKvYhg

[Rachel Sylvester @RSylvester1]

Palantir - the good, the bad and the ugly. My piece for @ObserverUK https://t.co/gsIjkdXdP6

[Barney Macintyre @barneymac]

Thrilled that Ben is joining us @ObserverUK!! One of the best brains in British economics

[Ben Zaranko @BenZaranko]

Some personal/professional news: today is my last day at the IFS. There’s nowhere else I’d rather have spent the last nine years and leaving is such a wrench. But it’s time for something new, and I’m excited to be joining The Observer as Economics Editor from 7 April.

[Fairness Foundation @fairnessfdn]

Today, we've released a new report by political economist and author @williamnhutton.

It explains why Britain is stuck- and what policymakers can do about it.

Read the full report today👇

🔗https://t.co/IaULpI4PWj

[Patricia Clarke @paticlarke]

If you can't trust a citation, what can you trust? AI chatbots are inventing academic sources – and scholars are citing them. My latest on "scholarly slop" for @ObserverUK
https://t.co/lJDrsyz03B

[The Observer @ObserverUK]

The Telegraph rejoins Europe: how a German firm bought the Brexiteers

Axel Springer’s surprise gazumping of DMGT puts its Europhile chief executive in charge of the right-wing stalwart, write Stephen Armstrong and @barneymac
https://t.co/zvtX7JYK8r

[Sharon Goldman @sharongoldman]

BREAKING: OpenAI robotics leader resigns over concerns about surveillance and autonomous weapons amid Pentagon contract

https://t.co/TToEJTu3mJ

[The Observer @ObserverUK]

Monzo succession saga casts a shadow over plans for IPO

The digital bank faces a shareholder revolt to reinstate TS Anil as CEO, highlighting splits over the timing of any listing, writes @barneymac

https://t.co/hDp4ceMkIg

[Patricia Clarke @paticlarke]

🚨 SCOOP: Bumble built its brand on women making the first move. But a wave of legal threats from men's rights activists pushed the company to dilute its core product, robbing the company of its USP at a moment when dating apps are already in decline 🧵
https://t.co/AdJSDgO4oQ

[The Observer @ObserverUK]

We’ve officially launched The Observer’s first digital subscription.

Become a subscriber and get:

🗞 Early access to our biggest investigations
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Read, watch and listen to The Observer: https://t.co/iW5hBV6MHe
Download our app here: https://t.co/EEdN4CVzCa

[Ben Zaranko @BenZaranko]

For this week's @ObserverUK I've written about one of my favourite topics: the productivity of the public sector, how it's measured, why it tends to grow less quickly than productivity in the private sector, and what this means for policy.

https://t.co/31ZPrlTkLh

[Mariana Mazzucato @MazzucatoM]

Great article by Nick Stern in today’s ⁦@ObserverUK⁩ “Climate action is the best way to ensure long-term growth” https://t.co/cLpVXacTCP

[Ben Zaranko @BenZaranko]

I've written for @ObserverUK about Kemi Badenoch's "golden economic rule" and Nigel Farage's promise that a Reform government would "never borrow to spend". I doubt either policy would survive contact with the real world.

You can read here: https://t.co/4F0yjFloDn

[Patricia Clarke @paticlarke]

🚨Call for business pitches 🚨

I’ll be covering for our business news editor @barneymac next week @ObserverUK. If you’ve got timely stories, scoops and/ or thoughtful analysis, please send them my way:

[firstname].[lastname] @ https://t.co/Ba6m2YqtwD

(Tech tips also welcome)

[Jagjit S. Chadha @jagjit_chadha]

The deep problems at the @ONS are well summarised by @simonbriscoe and @barneymac. Enjoyed talking to them as the failure is a classic example of over-reach.

@CamEcon @econromesh
@EconSteveM

https://t.co/MAHC2earDy

[Barney Macintyre @barneymac]

NEOM, the $500bn megacity being built in Saudi Arabia, has yet to pay bonuses to staff this year, fuelling concerns MBS’s scheme faces a cash crunch and is going to be redrawn.

Is this the end of the big boondoggle in the desert?

Me for @ObserverUK

https://t.co/aXEuMeisoC