sutton038

Last week I took a London-based NGO to the London Metal Exchange. We’re kind of concerned about some issues around commodity speculation , so thought it would be worth a visit. To be fair, I sometimes go with my friend Harry just for fun, because it’s such a darn unique curiosity. If you ever want to do it, go to the LME website, fill in the booking form and send it to them. Why would you want to go there? Because it’s the largest global exchange in industrial metals, and that makes it an interesting node in the matrix of global trade. It mostly deals with metal derivatives (futures and options contracts for future delivery of metal), but trade in physical metals for immediate delivery also occurs. I spoke to a trader outside when he was having a smoke, and he said that if you deal in the physical ‘spot’ contracts, you’ll have metal waiting for you in a warehouse within two days. The real choice is what metal you want...

In 2008 I embarked on an unusual experiment in gonzo urban anthropology. I left the world of radical left-wing academia, and went to London with two goals in mind. Goal one: To break into the financial sector at the heart of one of the most powerful centres of the global economy and to see first-hand how it worked, to learn by doing, not by reading. Goal two: To shatter the complacent intellectual comfort zone I’d found myself in, and to learn to move in and out of different worlds like a chameleon. It was an exercise in critical thought, backed by real action. ADVANCED TIE SKILLZ That’s how I found myself on the 36th floor of the Lehman Brothers offices in Canary Wharf, four weeks before the company collapsed, and how I found myself in the subsequent financial crisis, trying to pitch esoteric inflation derivatives, property derivatives, and longevity derivatives, aboard a mad raft with an oddball crew of old rogues and young rats, fighting against the odds to stay afloat. It’s a prett...