Jeremy Corbyn is what you get when you mess with capitalism

A delayed reaction to the bank bailouts is behind the surge in popular support for protest politicians such as Jeremy Corbyn, says Merryn Somerset Webb.

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Jeremy Corbyn: riding a wave of popular discontent

We've been pointing out for some time now that the rise of extreme political parties and politicians across the West is a clear symptom of the discombobulation and betrayal felt by populations in the wake of the great financial crisis. My interview with Bernard Connolly effectively forecast it, I've mentioned it with reference to the rise of the SNP, and John Stepek summed it all up neatly in his Money Morning on Jeremy Corbyn. But the idea is now on the move.

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Merryn Somerset Webb

Merryn Somerset Webb started her career in Tokyo at public broadcaster NHK before becoming a Japanese equity broker at what was then Warburgs. She went on to work at SBC and UBS without moving from her desk in Kamiyacho (it was the age of mergers).

After five years in Japan she returned to work in the UK at Paribas. This soon became BNP Paribas. Again, no desk move was required. On leaving the City, Merryn helped The Week magazine with its City pages before becoming the launch editor of MoneyWeek in 2000 and taking on columns first in the Sunday Times and then in 2009 in the Financial Times

Twenty years on, MoneyWeek is the best-selling financial magazine in the UK. Merryn was its Editor in Chief until 2022. She is now a senior columnist at Bloomberg and host of the Merryn Talks Money podcast -  but still writes for Moneyweek monthly. 

Merryn is also is a non executive director of two investment trusts – BlackRock Throgmorton, and the Murray Income Investment Trust.