In this week's Podcast Douglas reviews the GDP data just released, comments on the implications of the apparent imminent demise of NATO and the wishes of President Trump to 'appease' Putin, not a word to be used lightly. He reviews how Europe might seek to pay for rearmament by printing more funny money and the continuing failure of the public sector and in particular the NHS to show productivity gains, or in the case of the NHS return to pre Covid levels of productivity

Returning to implications of Covid Neil looks at the attempts being made by local authorities and local MP's in Kent to see the return of Eurostar services to Ebbsfleet and Ashford that were stopped when Covid struck, With our local travel infrastructure principally foreign owned our leverage seems limited, and looking back into the origins of this project discovers we are still waiting for part 2 of the scheme launched by Mrs Thatcher and The Treaty of Canterbury.

Neil gives a shout out for a new pub reopening on Romney Marsh and this week our Kent wine of the week is The Bacchus from one (if not the) of the oldest vineyards in Kent, Biddenden

Douglas McWilliams provides his weekly review on the economy including exclusive research identifying both the economic cost of potholes in the road but also the economic benefit in filling them in

Neil McClure reviews Farming in Kent and how farmers are having to seek diversification of income in the face of climate change and how this coincides with the need to find land for green energy schemes

Finally they review one of award winning Squerryes Vineyard of Westerham Kent's finest wines. their sparkling 2017 vintage Blanc de Blanc. What you may not know is that this estate has been in the same family for 300 years and is another indication of diversification in agriculture together with their letting of the family house as the setting for TV series Bridgerton

View from the Tent was conceived by two longstanding friends who having worked in London all their lives now find themselves in semi retirement living in Tenterden in the heart of Kent

Internationally renowned economist Douglas McWilliams continues to cast an acerbic eye on national events while Neil McClure looks to find stories of interest in the Kent and South East business world

Their combined musings are helped at the end of each broadcast by the contents of a bottle of wine from one of Kent's 50 operating vineyards (not to mention breweries, distilleries and cider presses!)

A Weekly Snapshot of National and Local Economic and Business News

From The Heart of Kent