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Matthew Brooker

@mbrooker.bsky.social
1.6K followers 1.6K following 1.4K posts

Columnist for Bloomberg Opinion in London. CFA holder, from Slough, 25 years in Hong Kong, 5 in Shanghai. Opinions are my own.

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Reposted by Matthew Brooker
Paul J Davies @pauljdavies.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Properly punishing Man City will be good for the investment value of the Premier League as a whole, says @mbrooker.bsky.social for @opinion.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
bloomberg.com
Manchester City’s Torment Is a Dream for Its American Rivals
Manchester City has been found guilty of systematically breaking Premier League rules for almost a decade, in a watershed for the world’s richest football competition. The verdicts taint the legacy of...
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The Premier League’s damning judgment on Manchester City is a turning point for English football www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
bloomberg.com
Manchester City’s Torment Is a Dream for Its US-Backed Rivals
Manchester City has been found guilty of systematically breaking Premier League rules for almost a decade, in a watershed for the world’s richest football competition. The verdicts taint the legacy of...
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Curiouser and curiouser
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Bully for the Premier League. Gave them both barrels
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
It’s dangerous and hostile territory youtu.be/9U0tDU37q2M?...
youtu.be
Monty Python - Climbing the North Face of the Uxbridge Road
YouTube video by feraldarryl
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The state of us
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham implored President Donald Trump to bring up the case of imprisoned Hong Kong dissident Jimmy Lai at a Thursday summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, according to two people familiar with the situation. www.politico.com/news/2026/09...
politico.com
British PM asks Trump to bring up Jimmy Lai with Xi
The British delegation said the Hong Kong dissident could live in the United Kingdom, a person familiar with the situation said.
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Cambodia is now the biggest supplier of bikes to the US. Sure it is www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
bloomberg.com
A $5,000 Bike Shows Why It’s Hard to Build in America
Trump’s tariff regime was meant to bring manufacturing back to America. A $5,000 bicycle shows how his levies are undermining that goal.
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
What’s the Chinese for Streisand effect? hongkongfp.com/2026/09/22/s...
hongkongfp.com
Security Bureau weighs action as Joshua Wong film tops Netflix charts
The Security Bureau has said it is "taking relevant follow-up actions" after a state-backed newspaper flagged a years-old Netflix documentary about pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong.
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
At least Alf Garnett paid his taxes www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Billionaire Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he has lost confidence in UK
Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe tells the BBC he thinks the country is "on the slide" and calls for more investment in the North Sea.
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Reposted by Matthew Brooker
Tony Tassell @tonytassell.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
From a @robertshrimsley.bsky.social column on how mega-donors obscure the wider threats to British democracy www.ft.com/content/f270...
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Joshua Wong was once an icon of democratic hope; now he is a symbol of China’s broken promises over Hong Kong www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
bloomberg.com
Joshua Wong's Freedom Means More Than Cheap Chinese Cars
Joshua Wong became a global celebrity as a teenage protest leader in Hong Kong, appearing on the cover of Time magazine, serving as the subject of an award-winning documentary distributed by Netflix a...
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Are you not reassured?
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Well this aged well
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Silo episode 9 reminded me how much I love Peter Gabriel. Here he is singing Here Comes The Flood in German, which I always felt sounded better for some reason open.spotify.com/track/4dyd5H...
open.spotify.com
Jetzt Kommt Die Flut
Peter Gabriel · Flotsam And Jetsam · Song · 2019
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Perfect
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Back in mainland China for the first time in a decade. Lots of EV showrooms
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Weren’t people who did this for a non-far-right cause sent to prison?
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Reposted by Matthew Brooker
Ian Fraser @ianfraser.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
YouGov poll: Most Britons see Reform UK as untrustworthy, extreme and incompetent, while the most common words used to describe its leader, Nigel Farage, are “racist” and “liar”. yougov.com/en-gb/articl...
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
“There are, always and only, the bad people, but some of them are on opposite sides.” Thought for the day, from Terry Pratchett (Guards! Guards!)
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
No need to even ask…
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Arron Banks is said to have paid private investigators to investigate Gabriel Pogrund, editor of the Sunday Times’ Insight team, after he broke a series of stories about Nigel Farage. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Arron Banks ‘hired private detective’ to look into journalist who investigated Reform UK
Asked whether he targeted reporter who investigated party finances, Brexit campaigner says: ‘When you live by the sword, you die by the sword’
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
It takes some brass cheek to say FIFA will “no longer tolerate any attacks on its integrity, good governance and due process” when you are the one who has dragged these through the mud
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
It stinks www.ft.com/content/2c74... At least half a dozen senior NHS leaders linked to Palantir
ft.com
At least half a dozen senior NHS leaders linked to Palantir
Extent of ties revealed as scrutiny grows of US tech company’s contract to build new data platform
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Why FIFA doesn’t change www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
bloomberg.com
What's Wrong With FIFA? Look Beyond Infantino
Gianni Infantino’s recent capitulation looks like a textbook case of overreach by a leader unaccustomed to restraints on their power. The FIFA president’s plan to sell a stake in a $20 billion commerc...
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
🍿🍿🍿 www.ft.com/content/613c... Fifa insiders turn on Infantino over controversial $20bn investment plan
ft.com
Fifa insiders turn on Infantino over controversial $20bn investment plan
Interventions by two senior officials deepen crisis over president’s plan to create new commercial venture and sell 20% stake
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Brilliant piece that hits the nail on the head www.ft.com/content/6a35... We’ve moved from income world to wealth world
ft.com
We’ve moved from income world to wealth world
Passive wealth gains increasingly matter more than earnings for one’s standing in society
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Never in the field of conflict has a country been hit so hard for so long with so little result… *TRUMP TO FOX: WE'LL BE HITTING IRAN HARD
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Britain made Hongkongers a promise of humanitarian assistance. This promise should not be compromised because the current government seeks a warmer bilateral relationship with China, writes Nathan Law www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Britain promised to protect Hongkongers from China. Why does it now seem ready to sacrifice us? | Nathan Law
Activists under threat from Beijing are facing strange difficulties with UK immigration. Our safety must not be traded for warmer relations with China, says pro-democracy activist Nathan Law
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
I’m watching Silo, which is about the US bombing Iran, after which Americans have to live in holes in the ground for hundreds of years
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
I feel like I’m seeing a pattern here www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Most people arrested during Henry Nowak protests had been reported for domestic abuse
Exclusive: Hampshire police data reveals 22 of 37 detained had been accused or convicted of intimate partner violence
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Reposted by Matthew Brooker
Joel Chan @kjoules.org · 23/07/2026
Via @franceshui.bsky.social on Twitter, Wu Chi-wai has successfully entered the country, according to multiple media sources
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
This *has* to be a mistake…?
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
The land-value tax is an enigma - the perfect tax that almost no one uses www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
bloomberg.com
London Homeowners Will Sweat on Burnham's Land-Tax Plans
Once more with feeling. Andy Burnham’s arrival in Downing Street has brought to power a long-time advocate of a tax on the value of land, stirring speculation and alarmist headlines about the likely i...
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
RIP. Thanks for all the memories, Kevin www.theguardian.com/football/202...
theguardian.com
Kevin Keegan, Liverpool legend and former Newcastle manager, dies aged 75
Kevin Keegan, the former England and Newcastle manager who was a member of Liverpool’s serial champions in the 1970s, has died aged 75
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Criminals are criminals by virtue of who they are, not what they do. We only have to work out how to catch them. Telling people what the law is so they can avoid breaking it is just making things easy for them.
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
It never ends www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Five arrested after raid on two Hong Kong independent bookshops
Officials say they are suspected of selling "seditious" books which incited "hatred" against authorities.
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Devon
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Symptoms of a failed state in the Waitrose ice cream section
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Kemi Badenoch has widened her head-to-head lead over Nigel Farage to 21 points yougov.com/en-gb/articl...
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
If you want to know what Manchesterism can do for London, look at Peckham www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
bloomberg.com
Burnham’s Manchester Has Some Housing Lessons for London
The Manchester model is coming south, with Andy Burnham returning to Westminster — and possibly winning the office in No. 10 Downing Street — after nine years leading a city that’s been a hotspot in a...
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
How privileged we are to have seen him. Greatest player of all time
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Companies are planning to extract helium-3 from the moon. No word on a limitless supply of Sam Rockwell clones www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
What is Helium-3 and could we get it from the moon?
Helium-3 is expensive and demand is forecast to soar, so some are planning to mine it on the moon.
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
The UK’s recent decision to deny entry to two American media figures, Hasan Piker and Cenk Uygur, is the latest retreat from free speech by a country that should know better. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
bloomberg.com
Free Speech, However Vile, Is Vital to Democracy
“If liberty means anything at all,” wrote George Orwell, in a preface to Animal Farm, “it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” Generations of students have been taught that l...
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
No one dares risk the wrath of Britain’s pensioners - including Andy Burnham www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
bloomberg.com
No One Is Willing to Risk the Wrath of British Pensioners
The clamor for Britain to scrap its unaffordable state-pension escalator is growing louder. Voices including the head of the Iceland supermarket chain, former Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer ...
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
It will be four years since I returned to Britain in September. By then there will have been five prime ministers
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Not today, Mr Musk He warned there was a risk of British politics “ending up somewhere like the United States of America, where people don’t talk to each other in the street”, he said. “We will not let that happen here.”
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
If you want to want to know who’s going to win the World Cup, then consult a mystic octopus. And don’t take economic forecasts too seriously www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
bloomberg.com
What the World Cup Can Tell Us About Finance
There’s a memorial to Paul the octopus at the Sea Life Centre in Oberhausen after the cephalopod seer earned worldwide fame by correctly predicting the outcome of all Germany’s seven games at the 2010...
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Reposted by Matthew Brooker
Paul J Davies @pauljdavies.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Excellent, entertaining read on predictions and luck. From @mbrooker.bsky.social >> www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
bloomberg.com
What the World Cup Can Tell Us About Finance
There’s a memorial to Paul the octopus at the Sea Life Centre in Oberhausen after the cephalopod seer earned worldwide fame by correctly predicting the outcome of all Germany’s seven games at the 2010...
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Look at this. Where poor kids wind up, based on where they came from. 香港加油 www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
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