Hello from The National and welcome to the View from London – your weekly guide to the big stories from our London bureau
Fresh start
Former German chancellor Olaf Scholz returns to the global stage this week and has written for The National alongside colleagues on how his role as chairman of the South-North Commission on Development can bridge divides.
The commission, formed by the cabinet of his successor, Friedrich Merz, is charged with exploring new avenues of co-operation with the Global South.
Alongside chairwoman Laura Chinchilla, a former president of Costa Rica, Mr Scholz will spend the next year guiding 20 commissioners through global reforms. The backdrop is a rising tempo of wars, climate change and social division under the ragged tent of a disintegrating UN system.
The commission was launched at the excellent sustainability conference in Hamburg by Reem Alabali Radovan, the German Minister for Economic Co-operation and Development. As she puts it, if Germany wants to shape the shifting global order it needs "stable partnerships with countries in the Global South".
The authors recognise the new Commission owes a debt to the Independent Commission on International Development Issues run by former German chancellor Willy Brandt. Better known as the North-South or the Brandt Commission, it ran from 1977 to 1980.
The paperback version of its findings, Ensuring Survival, became the focus of intense public meetings from Stockholm to New Dehli and beyond.
The new commission recognised that there is a much more dynamic scene of emerging economies leading world growth tables, and many voices in the debate over international reform. Its starting point is that this emerging order needs more Global South representatives at the table.
Mr Brandt later won the Nobel Peace Prize and is a figure of moral courage recognised to this day. Over to you, Mr Scholz.
Homo Machina
No, not the 20th century surrealist game, but the latest shift in British defence policy.
While the political feuding around the timing of Britain's £15 billion ($19.88 billion) defence reset has raged for far too long, its preparations for the age of robot warfare are a distinct turning point.
The Royal Navy’s 60,000-tonne aircraft carriers could well serve as airbases for the force's new jet-powered drones.
Troops will learn to fight alongside attack robots and aerial drones of the kind that are dominating the Ukraine battlefield. An “immediate priority” for what the Defence Investment Plan called the “integrated force” was to become a major drone power.
“Speed is decisive,” it said.
That will bring UK defence spending to 2.7 per cent of gross domestic product, with a 3 per cent target set for 2030.
Andy Burnham as prime minister-presumptive will now face pressure to raise the pace of spending as soon as he reaches the door of No 10.
Burn rate
For a guide to the impact of the UK's regulatory announcements in the cryptocurrency sphere, I turned to Katie Harries, the European director of policy for Coinbase.
The UK has many challenges in getting to the forefront of the race for digital transactions.
The key to Tuesday's announcements was the Financial Conduct Authority reducing the capital requirement for firms to hold funds equal to 1 per cent of the total value of stablecoins, down from 2 per cent previously proposed.
Ms Harries says the UK has set out a relatively innovative licensing structure and welcomed the FCA announcement. "It's definitely a material improvement. I think there'll be significant reductions in capital requirements for firms operating in the UK."
She said the UK is taking a "very open and global approach". Overall, the UK reforms before an October 2027 introduction of the new regime is "very good on the nuts and bolts of what a regulatory framework should look like".
There are drawbacks as the UK also talks about wanting to become a centre of innovation in the next generation blockchain-based web, where the user owns the data – costs imposed by the regulation, for one. "We still think the cost of doing business in the UK will be higher than other jurisdictions," Ms Harries said.
Another pressure on the UK is how to forge a digital money strategy that promotes the development of a sterling stablecoin regime. Afterall, that is the Washington route. "The reason why the US has also leant in is that it sees it as a route to reduce borrowing costs," she told The National.
Calming measures
It would be insensitive to suggest that Heathrow is lavishing care on those affected by its expansion scheme. It is engaging with their concerns.
About 750 homes are set to be demolished in nearby villages and thousands more are likely to be affected by increased noise. Those households are being offered one-on-one therapy, personalised counselling and a 24/7 helpline run by independent health groups and funded by the west London airport.
The blueprint for a third runway describes the airport’s expansion as “critical to national growth”.
The international consortium that owns Heathrow plans to build a 3,500-metre runway as part of a £49 billion expansion project. A rival scheme by the Arora Group has proposed a shorter runway, although the government prefers Heathrow’s plan. Reportedly, the Arora chief played golf with the Heathrow chairman recently in a rapprochement.
A suggested compensation package would offer 125 per cent of the market rate of the homes to be demolished. The airport has written to residents living within a compulsory purchase zone to offer support.
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