Gently sceptical thoughts on investment and the wider world of finance – see my Medium publication The Patient Investor for more.

Share Power: a manifesto for giving control back to private investors
- 17th February 2022
A new book by MoneyWeek editor Merryn Somerset Webb argues we can assert agency over companies through truly representative share ownership

Adapting the Efficient Market Hypothesis
- 17th January 2022
Theories of efficient markets mislead because they seek to explain market behaviour according to the laws of physics rather than biology, says Adaptive Market Hypothesis proponent Andrew Lo

Trillions: a history of the rise and rise of passive investment
- 10th January 2022
A new book by Financial Times journalist Robin Wigglesworth surveys the history of index funds and considers their increasingly significant implications for the global economy

10 1/2 Notes on Beating the Market: a review
- 13th October 2021
I review a brief but sharp polemic by hedge fund manager Paul Marshall on the possibility of beating the market

In Pursuit of the Perfect Portfolio: a review
- 8th October 2021
A new book by Andrew W Lo and Stephen R Foerster profiling key figures in the development of modern portfolio theory offers a fresh perspective on the active versus passive debate

Investing to Save the Planet: a review of a new guide to the world of green finance
- 8th December 2020
My review of a new book on green investment by Financial Times journalist Alice Ross, written for the Go Invest Green pensions project I’ve been working on this year.

The Economics of Oil and Gas
- 1st September 2020
A review of a new book providing a helpful reference guide to the complex economics of the hydrocarbons sector

Boreholes, bottles and black alders: what will be left of us a million years from now
- 26th July 2020
What traces of our energy infrastructure will be discernable in the far future? – a review of David Farrier’s Footprints: In Search of Future Fossils