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Soul suckers of private equity, Douglas Murray on Epstein and MAGA & are literary sequels ‘lazy'?
Soul suckers of private equity, Douglas Murray on Epstein and MAGA & are literary sequels ‘lazy'?

Spectator

time5 days ago

  • Business
  • Spectator

Soul suckers of private equity, Douglas Murray on Epstein and MAGA & are literary sequels ‘lazy'?

First up: how private equity is ruining Britain Gus Carter writes in the magazine this week about how foreign private equity (PE) is hollowing out Britain – PE now owns everything from a Pret a Manger to a Dorset village, and even the number of children's homes owned by PE has doubled in the last five years. This 'gives capitalism a bad name', he writes. Perhaps the most symbolic example is in the water industry, with water firms now squeezed for money and saddled with debt. British water firms now have a debt-to-equity ratio of 70%, compared to just 4% in 1991. Britain's desperation for foreign money has, quite literally, left Britain 'in the shit'. Gus joined the podcast to discuss further, alongside the journalist Megan Greenwell, author of Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream. (00:46) Next: why is MAGA so incensed over Jeffrey Epstein? Six years after he died, the Jeffrey Epstein scandal is still haunting Donald Trump. Trump had vowed to release all files on various cases that attract conspiracy theorists – from JFK to Martin Luther King Jr. What makes the Epstein case different, as Douglas Murray writes in the magazine this week, is that the case was so recent and Epstein's ties with the elites, many of whom are still in power. Trump appeared to backtrack on releasing files relating to Epstein, prompting ire from the MAGA world, and there is now mounting cross-party pressure to uncover who knew what. Mike Johnson, the House speaker, sent representatives home early for summer, and there is even talk of Ghislaine Maxwell testifying. Why is the Epstein scandal such a lightning rod for MAGA rage? Douglas Murray joined the Spectator to discuss. The full interview can be found on Spectator TV. (15:49) And finally: are literary sequels 'lazy'? It's 'sod's law', says the Spectator's literary editor Sam Leith, that when a friend's book is due to be reviewed in the pages of the books section that you edit, the review will be bad. Mike Cormack reviews Men In Love by Irvine Welsh this week, calling the decision by Welsh to pen another sequel to Trainspotting 'lazy'. At the Spectator this made us ponder whether this is true of all literary sequels, and what motivates authors to stick with characters and stories that they know. Sam joined us to discuss further alongside Lucy Thynne, the Telegraph's deputy literary editor. (33:59) Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast. Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Megan McElroy.

Book Review: Veteran journalist explores impact of private equity industry on US society
Book Review: Veteran journalist explores impact of private equity industry on US society

Hamilton Spectator

time22-05-2025

  • Business
  • Hamilton Spectator

Book Review: Veteran journalist explores impact of private equity industry on US society

Megan Greenwell was the editor in chief of Deadspin when it was acquired in 2019 by a Boston-based private equity firm. After three months of watching her new bosses make what seemed to her to be boneheaded decisions, she quit. Two months later, the staff followed her out the door. Within five years, the once popular online sports magazine known for its irreverent reporting had been sold to an obscure Maltese website. Stunned by what she witnessed, the veteran journalist was determined to get to the bottom of a little understood, lightly regulated industry that owns hospitals, day care centers, supermarket chains, newspapers, commercial and residential real estate, and much more. The big names are Blackstone, the Carlyle Group, Apollo Global Management, KKR and Cerberus Capital Management. But what, she wondered, do they actually do? The result of her inquiry is 'Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream,' a deeply reported, briskly paced and highly disturbing account of how the private equity industry has 'reshaped the American economy to serve its own interests, creating a new class of billionaires while stripping ordinary people of their livelihoods, their health care, their homes, and their sense of security.' Instead of focusing on the macroeconomic level, she tells the story through four remarkable people whose lives were upended after private equity acquisitions. Liz was a Toys R Us floor supervisor when the storied retailer was acquired by Mitt Romney's company, Bain Capital, and other investors and eventually went under, laying off 33,000 employees without severance pay. Roger practiced medicine in rural Wyoming when private equity acquired his hospital and gutted services. Natalia was working for local Gannett newspapers at a time when the chain eliminated more than half its staff after years of private equity ownership. And Loren, an affordable housing organizer, escaped public housing only to end up in a mold- and rodent-infested apartment complex in northern Virginia owned by a private equity firm on the other side of the continent. Greenwell has written an essential guide to an industry that operates largely in the shadows, donates generously to Democrats and Republicans in Congress to keep it that way, and has contributed substantially to the hollowing out of the American dream. Despite her immersion in this predatory world, she remains surprisingly optimistic. 'Every year,' she writes, 'a few more people like Liz, Roger, Natalia and Loren start fighting back.' ___ AP book reviews:

Book Review: Veteran journalist explores impact of private equity industry on US society
Book Review: Veteran journalist explores impact of private equity industry on US society

San Francisco Chronicle​

time22-05-2025

  • Business
  • San Francisco Chronicle​

Book Review: Veteran journalist explores impact of private equity industry on US society

Megan Greenwell was the editor in chief of Deadspin when it was acquired in 2019 by a Boston-based private equity firm. After three months of watching her new bosses make what seemed to her to be boneheaded decisions, she quit. Two months later, the staff followed her out the door. Within five years, the once popular online sports magazine known for its irreverent reporting had been sold to an obscure Maltese website. Stunned by what she witnessed, the veteran journalist was determined to get to the bottom of a little understood, lightly regulated industry that owns hospitals, day care centers, supermarket chains, newspapers, commercial and residential real estate, and much more. The big names are Blackstone, the Carlyle Group, Apollo Global Management, KKR and Cerberus Capital Management. But what, she wondered, do they actually do? The result of her inquiry is 'Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream,' a deeply reported, briskly paced and highly disturbing account of how the private equity industry has 'reshaped the American economy to serve its own interests, creating a new class of billionaires while stripping ordinary people of their livelihoods, their health care, their homes, and their sense of security.' Instead of focusing on the macroeconomic level, she tells the story through four remarkable people whose lives were upended after private equity acquisitions. Liz was a Toys R Us floor supervisor when the storied retailer was acquired by Mitt Romney's company, Bain Capital, and other investors and eventually went under, laying off 33,000 employees without severance pay. Roger practiced medicine in rural Wyoming when private equity acquired his hospital and gutted services. Natalia was working for local Gannett newspapers at a time when the chain eliminated more than half its staff after years of private equity ownership. And Loren, an affordable housing organizer, escaped public housing only to end up in a mold- and rodent-infested apartment complex in northern Virginia owned by a private equity firm on the other side of the continent. Greenwell has written an essential guide to an industry that operates largely in the shadows, donates generously to Democrats and Republicans in Congress to keep it that way, and has contributed substantially to the hollowing out of the American dream. Despite her immersion in this predatory world, she remains surprisingly optimistic. 'Every year,' she writes, 'a few more people like Liz, Roger, Natalia and Loren start fighting back.'

Book Review: Veteran journalist explores impact of private equity industry on US society
Book Review: Veteran journalist explores impact of private equity industry on US society

Yahoo

time22-05-2025

  • Business
  • Yahoo

Book Review: Veteran journalist explores impact of private equity industry on US society

Megan Greenwell was the editor in chief of Deadspin when it was acquired in 2019 by a Boston-based private equity firm. After three months of watching her new bosses make what seemed to her to be boneheaded decisions, she quit. Two months later, the staff followed her out the door. Within five years, the once popular online sports magazine known for its irreverent reporting had been sold to an obscure Maltese website. Stunned by what she witnessed, the veteran journalist was determined to get to the bottom of a little understood, lightly regulated industry that owns hospitals, day care centers, supermarket chains, newspapers, commercial and residential real estate, and much more. The big names are Blackstone, the Carlyle Group, Apollo Global Management, KKR and Cerberus Capital Management. But what, she wondered, do they actually do? The result of her inquiry is 'Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream,' a deeply reported, briskly paced and highly disturbing account of how the private equity industry has 'reshaped the American economy to serve its own interests, creating a new class of billionaires while stripping ordinary people of their livelihoods, their health care, their homes, and their sense of security.' Instead of focusing on the macroeconomic level, she tells the story through four remarkable people whose lives were upended after private equity acquisitions. Liz was a Toys R Us floor supervisor when the storied retailer was acquired by Mitt Romney's company, Bain Capital, and other investors and eventually went under, laying off 33,000 employees without severance pay. Roger practiced medicine in rural Wyoming when private equity acquired his hospital and gutted services. Natalia was working for local Gannett newspapers at a time when the chain eliminated more than half its staff after years of private equity ownership. And Loren, an affordable housing organizer, escaped public housing only to end up in a mold- and rodent-infested apartment complex in northern Virginia owned by a private equity firm on the other side of the continent. Greenwell has written an essential guide to an industry that operates largely in the shadows, donates generously to Democrats and Republicans in Congress to keep it that way, and has contributed substantially to the hollowing out of the American dream. Despite her immersion in this predatory world, she remains surprisingly optimistic. 'Every year,' she writes, 'a few more people like Liz, Roger, Natalia and Loren start fighting back.' ___ AP book reviews: Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

Book Review: Veteran journalist explores impact of private equity industry on US society
Book Review: Veteran journalist explores impact of private equity industry on US society

Winnipeg Free Press

time22-05-2025

  • Business
  • Winnipeg Free Press

Book Review: Veteran journalist explores impact of private equity industry on US society

Megan Greenwell was the editor in chief of Deadspin when it was acquired in 2019 by a Boston-based private equity firm. After three months of watching her new bosses make what seemed to her to be boneheaded decisions, she quit. Two months later, the staff followed her out the door. Within five years, the once popular online sports magazine known for its irreverent reporting had been sold to an obscure Maltese website. Stunned by what she witnessed, the veteran journalist was determined to get to the bottom of a little understood, lightly regulated industry that owns hospitals, day care centers, supermarket chains, newspapers, commercial and residential real estate, and much more. The big names are Blackstone, the Carlyle Group, Apollo Global Management, KKR and Cerberus Capital Management. But what, she wondered, do they actually do? The result of her inquiry is 'Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream,' a deeply reported, briskly paced and highly disturbing account of how the private equity industry has 'reshaped the American economy to serve its own interests, creating a new class of billionaires while stripping ordinary people of their livelihoods, their health care, their homes, and their sense of security.' Instead of focusing on the macroeconomic level, she tells the story through four remarkable people whose lives were upended after private equity acquisitions. Liz was a Toys R Us floor supervisor when the storied retailer was acquired by Mitt Romney's company, Bain Capital, and other investors and eventually went under, laying off 33,000 employees without severance pay. Roger practiced medicine in rural Wyoming when private equity acquired his hospital and gutted services. Natalia was working for local Gannett newspapers at a time when the chain eliminated more than half its staff after years of private equity ownership. And Loren, an affordable housing organizer, escaped public housing only to end up in a mold- and rodent-infested apartment complex in northern Virginia owned by a private equity firm on the other side of the continent. Greenwell has written an essential guide to an industry that operates largely in the shadows, donates generously to Democrats and Republicans in Congress to keep it that way, and has contributed substantially to the hollowing out of the American dream. Despite her immersion in this predatory world, she remains surprisingly optimistic. 'Every year,' she writes, 'a few more people like Liz, Roger, Natalia and Loren start fighting back.' Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. ___ AP book reviews:

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