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The impact of the investigations into the Autonomy Inc. acquisition, the Barclay's rate rigging for LIBOR, and the UBS London trading desk's huge bets by a young trader in the twenties, have dented the reputation for integrity of London markets.

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So far 40 Underground subway stations have closed in London and ridership is down 50%. Travel into and out of the capital continues as the number of cases shows a sharp increase. The government is taking measures as it monitors the situation.

By contrast Asian countries such as Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea with more experience and capabilities because of past epidemics have acted proactively. The approach in Europe has been gradual. Because social distancing played a key role in countries in Asia, along with the better capabilities for tracing and isolating patients through early testing, much depends on how this is implemented.

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Housing prices surge in London in late 2013. Prices increased by 10% in October 2013. The average asking price for a house in London increased by 50,000 pounds to 544,000 pounds in October 2013 at online real estate agency Rightmove website.

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The expected glut in office space in London. About 8 million square feet of new office space is being built in the financial district known as the City and a large part of it is coming in in 2008. The level of construction is 60% higher than the City's 10 year average. About 80% of this office space is speculative , that no tenants exist yet for the space, normally only 50% is speculative. And this is happening when new lease signings in the City fell by 49% in the 4th quarter compared to the third quarter. Big banks like Citigroup are cutting down on office space and Macquarie Group and Australian bank is postponing plans to lease office space for a London headquarters.

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Mr Iksil, a trader in Chase's CIO London office made such massive bullish bets on CDX-IG-9 index of 121 companies by selling credit default swaps, to the point where it cost less for protection on the index than for the individual components of the index. This worked in Jan-Feb 2012 with hedge funds on the other side having paper losses. In subsequent months hedge funds realized that Iksil would have to unwind some of these bets to avoid large losses. As a trader at Bank of America put it in a memo, at that point "Fast money smelled blood." The result is that hedge funds accelerated their bets against Mr Iksil's bullish positions, leading to the large $2 billion losses at CIO unit of Chase- losses on depositors money from aggressive bets in a volatile market. Mr Iksil is a French born trader, who has worked for Chase since March 2007. He has earned $100 million each year for Chase. He travels to London from his Paris home each week, and works from home Fridays. Two junior traders work with Iksil, primarily placing bets for complex trades in credit markets....

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The world mourns the death of Queen Elizabeth.

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The 129 page internal report on what caused the trading losses of $6 billion at the London based investment unit of JP Morgan Chase bank. The report shows the trading was intended to offset losses of $100 million. Instead the trading assumed large proportions and supervisors ignored the risks, management showed lax oversight. This type of situation occurs in other industries. The costcutting at BP and suppliers resulting in the Gulf Oil Spill and the Toyota costcutting saved small amounts by creating large risks that threatened the companies, with bankruptcy in BP's case and loss of confidence of the customer base in Toyota's case. They also reflected years of costcutting that were showing up in smaller problems that remained unrecognized. BP refinery fires occurred for lack of adequate maintenance. Problems were already developing at JP Morgan Chase with managment changes at the London unit leading to poor oversight and complacency of top management, a culture that took undue risks even as management remained confident in its strategies....

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Eliud Kipchoge is one of the rare runners from Africa for his outlook on life. He is from Kenya, and holds the world record for running the Marathon. At the Berlin Marathon he set a record of just over 2 hours, with an improvement of 78 minutes the biggest in 50 years.  How does he do it? He wears a wrist band that says "No human is limited." He believes it is in the power of the mid to do what it sets out to do and what it believes. As he trains in the Kenyan highlands his idea of life is living simply which "sets you free." There at training camp he shares in the chores, including cleaning toilets, and always maintains the discipline that is part of his daily routine. Being disciplined is about not just the two hours running but the other 22 hours as well. A simple life means no distracted mind. Says Kipchoge: "My mind is always free. My mind is flexible. The mind is what drives a human being. If you have belief-pure belief in your heart- that you want to be successful you can talk to your mind and your mind will control you to be successful." This 34 year old Kenyan runner won the 5000 metres at the World Championships in Paris in 2003, won silver in Osaka in 2007, but failed to make the 2012 Kenyan Olympics team. He then switched to marathon running and won ten marathons, three in London. As part of the NikeBreaking2 project Eliud is taking on the challenge of running a marathon under 2 hours, 63 years after Roger Bannister set the 4 minute mile record. ELiud believes there are still beautiful things in store, some cool things to do. And his dream is to build a running world that brings joy and peace - "There is freedom in running. Go and run and your your mind will be free."    ...

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Unilever of London/Amsterdam merges its food business with McCormick of Baltimore, Maryland.

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The Monitor Group in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was paid $250,000 a month for work including writing the doctoral dissertation thesis of the Libyan leader Ghadafi's son Seif. Seif was a student at the London School of Economics. Sir Howard Davies resigns from his position at the LSE over links which the university had with the Libyan regime.

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A father daughter on a 3 day trip to London on a budget of $1000 staying at a wellness place for $185 a night and budgeting on food and transportation.

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Greece is estimated to lose $30 billion in uncollected taxes each year. In an effort to make the wealthy pay their fair share in deficit reduction and austerity measures the Greek government is going after tax havens in London of Greeks shifting money abroad. This includes important members of parliament including the president of the Greek parliament.

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Keir Starmer-The Biography, book by Tom Baldwin and the struggles growing up of Keir Starmer, is reviewed in the Times of London. It shows the struggles of his youth.

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As Labour under Burnham heads to the Greater Manchester election with 2 million voters July 30 - Burnham wins Makerfield by election 55% to the 44% for Reform, Restore and Conservatives combined. It sets the stage for Labour's recovery from attacks by Reform with sensible policy on immigration, and focus on all the people left out in the British economy in the North of England under the Conservatives and neglected by Starmer and a Greater London focused economy. Britain's strength during the Industrial Revolution came from the shipyards of Scotland to the steel mills of Birmingham and the manufacturing industry in Manchester, as well as the financial strength gained from the Empire in India and concentrated in London.