HSBC’s most recent TV ad campaign is a montage of lush, slow-motion footage of stalwart everyday #heroes stacking shelves, shouldering bags of grain and politely asking people to queue for shops. “We are not an island”, intones Sandi Toksvig over footage of a softly gleaming Britscape, “we are part of something far, far bigger”.The bank expressed a similar sentiment on WeChat, China’s ubiquitous social network, last night – except that this time, the place it considered to be “not an island” was Hong Kong, and the “something far, far bigger” was the criminal and security jurisdiction...…HSBC’s most recent TV ad campaign is a montage of lush, slow-motion footage of stalwart everyday #heroes stacking shelves, shouldering bags of grain and politely asking people to queue for shops. “We are not an island”, intones Sandi Toksvig over footage of a softly gleaming Britscape, “we are part of something far, far bigger”.The bank expressed a similar sentiment on WeChat, China’s ubiquitous social network, last night – except that this time, the place it considered to be “not an island” was Hong Kong, and the “something far, far bigger” was the criminal and security jurisdiction...WW…

Over the next two weeks, the boards of , , ,   and the all face the possibility of shareholder revolts over executive pay at their forthcoming annual general meetings (AGMs). As the AGM season begins, there is a particular focus on pay.Executive pay is often the most contentious item at an AGM, but this year is clearly exceptional. The people running companies that have been severely impacted by Covid-19 can’t be blamed for the devastation of their revenues by the pandemic, but they also can’t take credit for the government stimulus that has kept them afloat. Last week, for example,...…Over the next two weeks, the boards of , , ,   and the all face the possibility of shareholder revolts over executive pay at their forthcoming annual general meetings (AGMs). As the AGM season begins, there is a particular focus on pay.Executive pay is often the most contentious item at an AGM, but this year is clearly exceptional. The people running companies that have been severely impacted by Covid-19 can’t be blamed for the devastation of their revenues by the pandemic, but they also can’t take credit for the government stimulus that has kept them afloat. Last week, for example,...WW…

If you could fly two billion miles in the direction of the Pegasus constellation, and knew where to look, you would find a thin, flat object, about the size of a football field and up to ten times more reflective than the average comet. If you watched it for a while, you would notice that it is tumbling as it moves away from the sun, turning end over end roughly every seven hours.This object passed the Earth in October 2017. As it began its return to interstellar space, the Canadian astronomer Robert Weryk identified it among the images from what was then the world’s most powerful camera, a...…If you could fly two billion miles in the direction of the Pegasus constellation, and knew where to look, you would find a thin, flat object, about the size of a football field and up to ten times more reflective than the average comet. If you watched it for a while, you would notice that it is tumbling as it moves away from the sun, turning end over end roughly every seven hours.This object passed the Earth in October 2017. As it began its return to interstellar space, the Canadian astronomer Robert Weryk identified it among the images from what was then the world’s most powerful camera, a...WW…