Chipped Off the Old Bloc: The Readout With Allegra Stratton

Millennials have been served a very different coming-of-age to their parents, the Boomers. So it should come as no surprise that they're doing the midlife crisis differently too

The concept of a “midlife crisis” is, we learn, approaching its 58th birthday (“already over the hump itself” as Bloomberg’s Mark Ellwood puts it.) Introduced in the 1960s as a “much-mocked mashup of paunch and panic,” it's also led to research that shocked: The revelation that the output of composers and artists went into precipitous decline around the age of 35.

Now Bloomberg Businessweek explores how millennials, those born after 1981, will experience their inevitable crises when they glide into their 40s. 

At this point, you are likely chuntering that the tight labor marketrise of WFH in a generation that also has fewer financial assets than their parents must all combine to mean they skip the whole sorry thing.

Quite possibly. One expert prefers the phrase “midlife crossroads” while another suggests that rather than this being a table-flipping moment of life reinvention, the new normal is a constant, quiet reassessment and iteration, allowing millennials and those who come later to recalibrate without upending their lives entirely. 

If you like some anthropology with your socio-economics, have a read. 

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What just happened

The stories you need to know about this evening

• Centrica posted a record profit, joining Shell and BP in reaping the rewards of soaring energy prices.
• Aldi will create more than 6,000 jobs across the UK this year
• A quarter of London companies are downsizing their offices due to the shift to flexible working.
• Royal Mail is facing the prospect of a further six months of strikes after postal workers voted to extend industrial action.

This is serious

Put the word “wargaming” into the title of anything and images of top security government warehouse complexes, illuminated by blue-lit screens twitching with reams of critical data, all serve to megaphone: This Is Serious. (An image shattered the moment you learn that COBRA — into which politicians go when there is a crisis — means Cabinet Office Briefing Room A.)

this story from Philip Aldrick, Alex Wickham and Thomas Seal doesn't disappoint. They've laid out how the UK is preparing for a shortage in the supply of electronic chips, looking at a contingency exercise spanning multiple government departments.

The premise is the possibility of China storming Taiwan and blockading production at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, which makes 92% of the world’s most advanced semiconductors. Beijing could also restrict its own exports for economic leverage against the US.

As Bloomberg’s team put it: “The pandemic offered a mere preview of the chaos that tiny silicon wafers can unleash.”

“The Covid dry-run was nothing compared with the catastrophe that would engulf the UK if the world’s chip supply is cut off in its East Asian heartland.” 

The view from their sources is that Brexit has made all of this worse since it leaves the UK isolated. Manufacturing capacity that might have been based in the UK as a single market member, will now be located inside the bloc where there are no border frictions. As the UK sits on the verge of a Brexit deal, questions linger about what more government should be doing to incentivize domestic manufacturing. 

This is brought into starkest relief at the moment by first, the US Inflation Reduction Act and, in response, how the Europeans are moving to match them. That’s something Bloomberg’s Akshat Rathi put to the fascinating Jennifer Morgan, interviewing her for this week’s podcast. Once boss of Greenpeace, she’s now Germany’s climate envoy. 

Rathi suggests that, even though the European Union will spend more on various green initiatives than the US, “there is a risk that US tax incentives, the low cost of energy and simpler regulations could lure away from Europe those companies looking to build factories that make solar panels, batteries and hydrogen-producing electolyzers.

Morgan disagrees: “Having a competition to drive things faster, and at bigger scale, is not a bad thing.” She points to Europe’s more rounded approach to climate policy, which also includes carbon pricing and outright bans on carbon-emitting devices. “Incentives alone are not adequate to drive the types of [emission] reductions we need”. 

It’s a good listen if you’re curious about how someone goes from activist to diplomat (a distinction Morgan resists, describing herself as an “activist diplomat”) or even more generally for the insights of one of the most unique politicians working right now. 

You can listen to the podcast now on , and subscribe to get new episodes every Thursday.

Breakfast price soars

price of a full English breakfast has increased to a record high even as the UK’s overall rate of inflation slows. The average cost of ingredients to make a traditional fry-up jumped by more than 22% from a year earlier in January. That’s the biggest increase since Bloomberg started the Breakfast Index in June. 

What you need to know tomorrow

Get ahead of the curve

PodcastBloomberg’s new In The City episode looks at why the Adani rout is a “wake up call” for the world. Listen on Apple podcasts

Fidelity is looking to fill about 4,000 new roles by midyear as rival asset managers cut staff.

OptimisticStandard Chartered upped its guidance and announced a bigger-than-expected buyback, amid speculation around a possible takeover bid from the Middle East. 

Independence Bloomberg Quicktake looks at why Scotland’s push to secede from the UK won’t go away.

Unexpected A government minister has suggested banks could sue the Bank of England over new rules.

New territory Vodafone is exploring options for a $14 billion African unit.

The big number 

FTX’s downfall was an arc of brotherhood and betrayal

One key story, every weekday

FTX co-founders Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang have been friends since their teens. But in the wake of the crypto exchange’s implosion, the two are offering dueling accounts of what really happened and of who’s ultimately to blame. 

The Big Take

Allegra Stratton worked for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak when he was chancellor and runs an environmental consultancy, Zeroism.

Please send thoughts, tips and feedback to [email protected]. You can follow Allegraon Twitter.