In a decision that has sent ripples through the mahogany-panelled dens of the Square Mile, the Supreme Court of the United States has actually done something other than rubber-stamp the demolition of democracy. It blocked Donald Trump's attempt to fire a Federal Reserve governor, a move so transparently authoritarian it would make a banana republic blush. With a single ruling, the nine wise souls in robes have momentarily halted the march towards a presidential autocracy where even independent central bankers are treated like recalcitrant butlers.
The London financiers, those barometers of global doom, are now nervously swirling their single malts and muttering about 'institutional fractures.' As if they hadn't noticed the entire edifice of American governance has been held together by duct tape and blind luck since 2016. This is the kind of news that makes you want to pour a triple gin and stare at the ceiling.
Because if the Federal Reserve can be politicised to the point where the president can fire governors for disagreeing with his magical economic thinking, then we might as well all start trading in seashells. The court's ruling is a stay of execution, not a pardon. The republic lurches on, bleeding from a thousand self-inflicted wounds, while the suits in London adjust their probability algorithms.
The only real surprise is that anyone is surprised at all.
