Hello from The National and welcome to the View from London – your weekly guide to the big stories from our London bureau
Open or shut?
An undeniable truth in the modern British economy is that foreign capital is helping to bridge a gap in growth stemming from the country's current taxes and regulations.
As the global economy experiences turbulence, the UK finds itself at a crossroads on how open it should be to the rest of the world.
I've written this week that the MP Liam Byrne is something of a weathervane in British politics. In 2010, as part of Gordon Brown’s departing Labour government, he left a note that told the incoming Conservative party leadership that there was “no money left” in the Treasury. So began the age of austerity. Ever since, the story of British politics has been how to flog whatever bit of revenue that the government can find out of the economy.
Now chairman of the business and trade committee in Parliament, Mr Byrne is leading calls for a national industrial strategy in light of the changed circumstances in the world economy. US President Donald Trump’s protectionist policies have pushed this item to the top of the UK’s political agenda, putting Mr Byrne back at the centre of the action – just as he was after the 2007-2009 Great Recession, the other epoch-defining event in his long career.
There are many friends of the UK, and some putative foes, who remain unclear about London’s thinking when it comes to managing the nation’s business assets.
The need for an industrial strategy grows stronger with the case of British Steel, a household name and the only virgin steel producer in the UK.
What of De La Rue then? It prints the very banknotes that the Bank of England offers to redeem. And yet as things stand it will shortly be sold to a US venture fund and will join the dozens of other familiar UK names leaving the London Stock Exchange.
Damien McElroy
London bureau chief
Papal respects
People will be able to pay their last respects to Pope Francis in St Peter’s Basilica from Wednesday to Friday, the Vatican has announced.
World leaders have confirmed they will attend Pope Francis's funeral on Saturday, which will be marked by his request for simpler rites and a burial outside the Vatican in the hills of Rome.
The Argentinian pontiff, 88, died on Monday from a stroke, less than a month after returning home from five weeks in hospital battling double pneumonia.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva said they would be at St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on Saturday morning. The Prince of Wales, a future head of the Church of England, will attend on behalf of King Charles, while UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will also attend.
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Dubai chocolate
The rising cost and patchy availability of pistachios is a trending topic this week.
The phenomenon that is Dubai chocolate is boosting demand for the nut beyond anything seen in recent memory. The chocolate filled with sweetened creamed nut and butter-fried vermicelli originated in Dubai but has been mimicked by makers around the world after it became a viral sensation on social media.
It was created by the Dubai-based Sarah Hamouda in 2021, after she wanted the combination of chocolate and pistachio-filled Arabic sweets to satisfy her pregnancy cravings. Social media influencers then popularised the treat.
Now it is having to be rationed in big shops across the UK. Even the most venerable chocolatiers can't resist the trend.
Self-sabotage
Not me, I hope, but the UK's tourism industry stands accused of it. Experts have found the UK is ruining its own tourist industry by creating unnecessary barriers to inbound travel.
A new report shows that spending by international visitors is still £2.2 billion ($2.94 billion) less than before the Covid pandemic.
According to analysis by the World Travel and Tourism Council, people visiting Britain spent £40.3 billion last year, down 5.3 per cent from 2019.
Julia Simpson, the global tourism body’s president and chief executive, blamed the decline on "deliberate policy choices".
