iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I think 2 Para should oblige!

Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Out on Radio 4 today at 1.30pm, I try to unpick what’s driving our electricity bills up and up, making energy using industry so uneconomic. Is it volatile gas prices? Or the less easy-to-see fixed costs we are piling on the system? Give it a listen bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

My latest post on Business Adventures is about the collapse of Rolls-Royce in 1971; a tale of engineering genius and financial ineptitude open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

open.substack.com

The Turning Point: The Necessary Collapse of Rolls-Royce (Part 1)

How an industrial disaster was the making of the world's largest aero-engine group

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

An amazing story of engineering genius and financial incompetence. The story of Rolls-Royce's collapse in the winter of 1971, and how it was an indispensable moment in the company's subsequent rise. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

open.substack.com

The Turning Point: The Necessary Collapse of Rolls-Royce (Part 1)

How an industrial disaster was the making of the world's largest aero-engine group

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Did Brown ventilate these suspicions in public?

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

Why isn't he being sued for negligence by his customers? Does he have some clever wording in contracts to absolve himself of responsibility for any advice he gives?

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

Odd to write about Britain's costliest mansion without it becoming a piece of property porn. But possible in the case of 2-8A Rutland Gate. Although sold only in 2020 for £210m, it's now an derelict barrack in Knightsbridge, occupied only by a homeless man. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10...

telegraph.co.uk

Access Restricted

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

Out now on A Long Time in Finance: our first live gig - in partnership with The Library of Mistakes in Edinburgh! We discuss Fred Goodwin, RBS and "The Art of The Shred" with Ian Fraser, author of Shredded, the seminal account of the fall of RBS. pod.fo/e/332216

pod.fo

A Long Time In Finance: The Art of the Shred: ALTIF Live!

Fred Goodwin led Royal Bank of Scotland to ruin and Britain to the brink of financial disaster. But who was the man they called Fred the Shred and how did he build RBS into (briefly) the world's la...

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

It's true! On 25 September we're doing @ALTIFpodcast's first live show with our new friends, The Library of Mistakes. In THE ART OF THE SHRED we'll be discussing Fred Goodwin and RBS's 2008 collapse with author Ian Fraser. Click below for details & tix.. Hope to see you there..

tinyurl.com

Jonathan Ford, Neil Collins and Ian Fraser on a long time in finance

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

My latest post is on Heathrow's big outage, the mysterious wave of British substation fires and what's behind them. Is it enemy action.. or something more mundane? open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Or Bobby Sands St next to the British Embassy in Tehran

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

Should never have been repealed. Another brilliant idea from Eric Pickles

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

Coming up on A Long Time in Finance, we look at the history of Scunthorpe and British Steel..

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

Generals calling for rearmament often talk about the UK facing a "1937 moment". But what actually happened in the late 1930s, are there similarities and what can we learn? We talk to historian Dan Todman about the economic & military parallels. pod.fo/e/2c9967

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Should the UK nationalise British Steel after Jingye opted for closure rather than take the taxpayer's £500m bung? To my mind, the question is more why the government didn't demand an equity stake in the first place. unherd.com/newsroom/chi...

unherd.com

China has embarrassed Labour over British Steel

Imagine the embarrassment: you announce a national steel strategy and jump through all the approved hoops of public consultation to show you are taking a reasonable ministerial decision. Then, just da...

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

My latest on Business Adventures is about mineral deals, and why they're not always what they cracked up to be, even if your concession is sitting on oceans of oil as the British, French and Americans were with the carve up of post-Ottoman Iraq.. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

open.substack.com

Put Not Your Trust in Big Minerals Deals

Not Trump's Ukraine effort, but the grandaddy of all carve-ups: post-Ottoman Iraq

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Maybe the aid sector would have a little more money if people like David Miliband weren't paid $1.2 million a year.

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Reposted by Jonathan Ford

Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

I know, I know.. I have started a substack on financial and business history called Business Adventures. It's just getting going and this is my "manifesto". I'll be posting properly in a day or two. If you want to join up, you would be most welcome open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

open.substack.com

Welcome to Business Adventures

Notes on business and financial history

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Reposted by Jonathan Ford

James Barr @jamesbarr.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

“So there was nothing Turkish about the Turkish Petroleum Company. I think that’s the first point to make.” @grepsul.bsky.social, Neil Collins and I talked an episode that has some contemporary resonance.

podcasts.apple.com

Iraq, Minerals and the Art of the Deal

Podcast Episode · A Long Time In Finance · 03/14/2025 · 31m

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Reposted by Jonathan Ford

James Barr @jamesbarr.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

Podcast! With Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins, on a topic with some contemporary resonances.

podcasts.apple.com

Iraq, Minerals and the Art of the Deal

Podcast Episode · A Long Time In Finance · 14/03/2025 · 31m

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

Those who live by "beggar thy neighbour" tax schemes also die by them

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

Coming up this week on @ALTIFpodcast: in the wake of Trump's proposal for a mineral deal in Ukraine, we look at the greatest minerals carve up of all time - in the Middle East - and ask: "how did that all work out"?

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

Latest post: What's left of British shipbuilding? After the failure & rescue of H&W, I look at re-shoring, shipbuilding & defence - and the difficulties of rebuilding lost industrial capacity. There's also a plea for more sane defence procurement! open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

So what's the recommendation? Raise taxes, or keep defence spending at an absurdly low level even though Putin and our adversaries are splurging like its out of fashion?

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

Well I sort of take your point but your fact is wrong. The first Spitfire flew in March 1936, while the Battle of Cable Street wasn't until October. But the Spit didn't enter service with the RAF until August 1938..

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

But the real Mosley never was in charge. And when the chips were down in 1940, he was promptly detained under Defence Regulation 18B. But if in 1934, everyone had said, "Oh no let's not build Spitfires, or Cromwell tanks, because... Mosley," well maybe he would never have been detained..

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

If I was a Pole or a Lithuanian, where they are spending tons more proportionately than us or the French & Germans, and have even curbed welfare spending to do so, I would greet that concern with a massive eye-roll given where we are, I'm afraid.

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

True. But last time I looked, Putin was spending close to 10% of Russia's GDP on armaments. And there's hardly much sign of the military industrial complex doing its malign schtick in W Europe atm tbh

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

Yeah let's not build the spitfire in case Mosley gets to use it. Good plan guys!

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Latest post on Business Adventures: What's left of British shipbuilding? After the failure and rescue of H&W, I look at re-shoring, UK shipbuilding, and defence; and consider the difficulty of building back industrial capacity once it's gone. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

open.substack.com

What's left of British shipbuilding?

As the case of Harland & Wolff shows, industrial capacity, once atrophied, is hard to build back

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

My latest Business Adventures Substack looks at re-shoring, UK shipbuilding, and defence; and considers the difficulty of building back industrial capacity, once it's lost. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan... pic.x.com/Hn7PfyuRtH

open.substack.com

What's left of British shipbuilding?

As the case of Harland & Wolff shows, industrial capacity, once atrophied, is hard to build back

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

I wrote a profile of Ed Miliband, about how his tussle with Rachel Reeves could define - and even derail - the Starmer government.. thecritic.co.uk/ed-miliband/

thecritic.co.uk

Ed Miliband: Undimmed Green zealotry | Jonathan Ford | The Critic Magazine

The green zealotry of the energy secretary remains undimmed and som Labour insiders are concerned…

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

How tin-eared is Starmer? This is, after all, the PM who's been - along with his ministers - sounding the alarm about war risk and rearmament. To use as your baseline for this feeble increase a period when Britain disarmed, leaving its forces denuded, is just unserious, even contemptible.

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

You are mistaking a rhetorical piece of rabble-rousing for an actual genuine enquiry. No biggie; easily done..

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Philip Stephens @philipstephens.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

I struggle to believe as Russia menaces the peace of Europe and the western alliance disintegrates before our eyes that UK ministers can argue about whether a tiny, wholly inadequate, rise in defence sprending from 2.3 to 2.5 pct of GDP should happen this year, next year or the year after..surreal..

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

There is something almost Oscar Wilde like about Janan Ganesh's willingness to invite ridicule from the unwashed

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

Finally someone explodes the tosh about 2.5% of GDP or whatever arbitrary level of defence spending being "unaffordable".

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

I am still shocked by Reza Shah's decision to re-name Persia in the 1930s. The "Persian bomb" has a much better ring about it..

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

Out now on @altifpodcast: 1976: THE YEAR BRITAIN WENT BUST. We talk to @duncanweldon.bsky.social about when Denis Healey, G&T in hand, was called back from Heathrow's VIP lounge to the Treasury to announce Britain was applying for a $3.9bn loan. Listen to see what happened next! pod.fo/e/2a69cc

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

These are territorial emissions, which are tbh fairly meaningless in the context of a global issue. Consumption emissions (the carbon attached to everything we consume, wherever produced) present a different picture, having fallen by just over 20% since 1990.

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

If it contains nuclear waste his life may not be that long

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

The only way round this, it seems to me, is to close the arbitrage for the big industrial and tech users that want to do PPAs, and get this nice fillip from shedding grid costs. That means paying an insurance fee for access to grid backup.

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

But if they are only paying for the time they are on the grid, it doesn't get round the problem for everyone else. And remember: with the cost of hooking up more dispersed renewables onto the grid, the cost of the network isn't shrinking; its going up

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Great for them: they no longer pay the grid charges. But the cost of the grid itself doesn't go down. It's just mutualised across a smaller rate base. And, don't forget, the big user might sometimes still want access to the grid, say when their private power plant goes down for maintenance..

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Jonathan Ford @grepsul.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

It matters because the current business model for most grids is based on a usage charge - so that grid costs are just a chunk of the overall bill a customer pays for power. Power Purchase Agreements get round that by allowing industrial purchasers to "go behind the meter"

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