Kevin Warsh

Wednesday

Martin Vander Weyer

The role of ABBA in the Ajax fiasco

From our UK edition

‘It’s all about ABBA,’ a military acquaintance whispered when I mentioned the scandal of the British Army’s order of 589 Ajax armoured vehicles, for which -‘initial operating capability’ status has been withdrawn following multiple cases of soldiers suffering after-effects of intolerable noise and vibration. What could that possibly have to do with the great Swedish-songsters? Nothing, he explained: it is an acronym for ‘Anything But British Aerospace’, allegedly a mantra in defence procurement circles in a previous era.

Friday

Freddy Gray

What to make of Kevin Warsh

The news broke this morning that Donald Trump has, after considerable deliberation, settled on Kevin Warsh as his nominee to replace Jerome Powell as chairman of the Federal Reserve. "I have known Kevin for a long period of time," said Trump, on Truth Social. "There’s no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best." "On top of everything else," added the Commander-in-Chief, "he is 'central casting' and he will never let you down." The use of the phrase "central casting" shows Trump’s reality TV brain at work. The President likes people in major government positions who look the part on screen. Inevitably, senior Democrats are attacking Warsh’s nomination as Trump’s "latest attempt to seize control of the Fed.