Rathbones Review Summer 2019

Fall and rise? Reviving our High Streets Contents — Summer 2019

10 Bitter pill

18 Reaching for the stars 4 The regeneration game

Contents

4 What is going to happen to our 26 The end of meat? High Streets? From animal protein to insects Reviving traditional shopping 29 Why sustainable investing is here 10 The hunt for new antibiotics to stay Where will the next penicillin come The continued rise of ESG from? 32 Rewilding our world 14 Modular homes The quest for diversity, beauty and resilience Assembling a solution to the housing crisis 36 The Rathbones Folio Prize shortlist Our picks from this year’s competition 18 Commercialising the cosmos Is space the final frontier for 38 Planning on a long life? privatisation? Budgeting for longevity 23 Urban mining 40 Sixty years of Barbie

There’s gold in them thar iPhones Role model or bad influence? John Holcroft/Ikon images illustration: Cover Nik Wheeler/Alamy Impossible Foods, Hatley/Alamy, Space X, Anthony Images: Fahroni/Alamy,

2 Rathbones Review rathbones.com A word from Rupert Baron

Welcome to the summer edition of Rathbones Review 26 Where’s here are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,” the beef? Hamlet observed, “than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” “TFast-forward from the Danish royal court of the Middle Ages to the boardrooms of the 21st century and we find this sentiment resonating perhaps more strikingly than ever before.

29 Today heaven and earth alike are increasingly in thrall to two phenomena that neither Shakespeare nor his tragic prince could Sustained have dared imagine: the power of market forces and the innovative success brilliance of technology companies. Both are now in evidence not just all around us but far above us, with space recently emerging as a new and dramatic frontier for cutting-edge private enterprise.

Whereas a handful of government-funded agencies were once alone in reaching for the stars, the trailblazers in this sphere are now tech billionaires. As in any business arena, the advent of entrepreneurship brings the promise of both risk and reward. We explain how the unfolding commercialisation of the cosmos is giving rise to legislative, regulatory and political questions and unprecedented investment opportunities.

Meanwhile, back on terra firma, the UK’s High Streets continue their struggle to adapt in the face of another tech-driven shift: the relentless ascent of online shopping. In this edition’s lead article we explore efforts to revive the traditional retail experience in the face of this seemingly irresistible threat. Editor Martha Back Other topics include the complex world of “urban mining”, the Investment Director search for new antibiotics, the renaissance of prefab housing and the chequered history of the world’s most famous doll. We also If you have any comments on this examine changing dietary habits, the “rewilding” of the natural publication or suggestions for topics that environment, the cost of later-life care and the continued rise of you would like to see discussed in the future, sustainable investing, as well as surveying this year’s Rathbones please let me know. Folio Prize shortlist. [email protected] As Hamlet also remarked: “Words, words, words.” I hope you enjoy every one of them. Connect with Rathbones

@Rathbones1742 in Rathbone Brothers Plc Rupert Baron General Manager and Investment Director Rathbone Brothers Plc [email protected] rathbones.com Rathbones Review 3 What is going to happen to our High Streets?

Image: IR Stone/Shutterstock

4 Rathbones Review rathbones.com What is going to happen to our High Streets?

What is going to happen to our High Streets?

The British High Street has always been susceptible to the vagaries of the economic cycle. It has survived wars, recessions and the rise of out-of-town retail parks. But the internet may pose one threat too many. Can our High Streets survive — and what will they have to become to do so?

Graham Waddell, Investment Director, Rathbones, Glasgow (Graham recently joined us with Speirs & Jeffrey)

Coffee shops, tearooms and restaurants increasingly dominate many of Britain’s High Streets as traditional retailers succumb to the rise of online shopping. This is the scene in Rochester, Kent.

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he Centre for Retail Research “ Online spending now Committee recently published a report, (CRR) keeps a running tally of High Streets and Town Centres in 2030. Tthe major retailers entering some represents around 18% It found that Amazon UK’s business form of insolvency in Britain each year. of all retail in the UK.” rates amounted to just 0.7% of its UK It makes grim reading. Last year 43 turnover, while High Street retailers shut up shop, including famous names were paying up to 6.5%. It welcomed like HMV, Greenwoods, Evans Cycles, lower costs — lower rents and lower rates the new 2% digital services tax that House of Fraser, Poundworld, Henri mean they can charge lower prices. large online businesses will start paying Lloyd, Maplin and Toys ‘R’ Us. Some, Inevitably, the starting point for many from next April, but it warned that this like House of Fraser, were resurrected when seeking to rescue what is left of the does not go far enough in addressing — but only following deep cuts. High Street is to find a way to level the the tax imbalance between online and playing field. For most this means High Street retailers. This chain-store massacre resulted in addressing the archaic model of business the loss of 2,594 shops and over 46,000 rates — a pre-internet property-based tax Mike Ashley, the pugnacious chief jobs, but the true picture is much that raises £29 billion a year, an undue executive of the Sports Direct Group, was bloodier. Other big names have had to proportion of which is squeezed out of one of those called to give evidence to take drastic steps to survive. beleaguered retailers. The retail sector the inquiry. He told the Committee: “The Carpetright announced it was to close accounts for 5% of gross domestic vast majority of the mainstream High 92 of its 400 branches, Mothercare 50 product yet pays 25% of business rates. Street has already died... It’s in the bottom of 137, Debenhams 50 and New Look of the swimming pool — dead… [The rest] 85. Smaller businesses are closing each The Parliamentary Housing, is flat-lining. The only thing you can do day without media ceremony. The CRR Communities and Local Government is give it a massive electric shock.” estimates that overall nearly one in five stores has closed on our High Streets since 2012. Reasons consumers shop online instead of in stores A number of factors are held to blame, including weak consumer demand since the 2008/2009 crisis, intensive price 40% 46% 58% competition and our growing preference To save time Online sale/ Ability to better prices shop 24/7 to spend on ‘experiences’ — like travel and eating out — rather than ‘things’. But the biggest threat is the internet. Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that online spending now represents around 18% of all retail in the UK — the equivalent of £61.4 billion. 27% 29% 39% It is almost double what it was just five Convenience Free shipping Convenience of years ago and is expected to rise to nearly of everything offers not going to shops 23% by 2022. in one place

Surveys suggest that lots of factors drive 54% us online. The ability to shop at any time Ability to from your sofa, the ability to compare compare prices prices and products, the ability to see 15% 15% 20% reviews from fellow shoppers — all make Products To avoid To locate shopping on the internet a much better are not sold crowds hard-to- 29% experience for many. And then, of course, in my city/ find items Greater there is price. country variety/selection

Level taxation 11% One of the biggest advantages e-tailers To avoid checkout lines have over bricks-and-mortar stores is Convenience Push from offline Free shipping Source: Global Online Consumer Report, KPMG Price-related Ease of selection Only option to buy International, 2017

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His cure was a 20:20 internet sales tax for businesses — a 20% tax on all companies that make more than 20% of their revenue from the internet. This would affect not just companies like Amazon but also many High Street stores, including his own. He said it would incentivise retailers to keep 80% of revenues going through the High Street, stalling store closures and encouraging cross- subsidisation and click-and-collect. In return, councils would need to offer free parking for shoppers. He complained: “You still get some towns that charge for parking. Therefore, you have negated the whole free click-and-collect voucher, because they have to pay it all away on If the High Street is to survive it needs to attract the millennial parking fees.” generation. Money blogger Bronni Hughes offers suggestions Ashley said that such a tax would have for change. to be accompanied by business rate reductions — in return for retailers committing to invest in High Street stores he High Street is no longer the Offer something different: Shopping — and cuts in rents. The Committee failed cheapest or most convenient in-store has become less of a necessity to back his idea but urged the Tplace to shop and the selection to young people — it is something we government to assess other online sales of goods is almost guaranteed to be choose to do as a social activity. There is tax ideas, including “green taxes” on wider on the internet. But online almost too much choice online, so shops deliveries and packaging. shopping has its pitfalls — you have to should aim for a boutique feel, with wait for delivery, you cannot see the new merchandise that is not something The Committee also recommended item before you buy and returns can you could buy in a hundred other places. that any such taxes should be used to be awkward to post. Hold less stock and instead refresh subsidise a cut in business rates for shelves with exciting new items more retailers and to add to the government’s Connect online: Retailers could make frequently, to make talking points for £675 million Future High Streets Fund more effort to connect their online people shopping with their friends and — a pot of money that towns can bid for presence with their bricks-and-mortar to encourage them to return to see what to help fund town-centre regeneration shops to offer the best of both worlds. is new. projects. Allow us to check in-store stock levels easily online, encourage click-and- Focus on experience: Millennials But a healthy High Street may need collectors to unpack and try their order have become known for saving up for more than a level playing field for out and return items that are unsuitable experiences rather than things, and taxing retailers. Think-tank Centre for while in the building. retailers should take note. You cannot Cities says too much attention has buy anything in Made.com’s central been paid to the plight of shops and Improve your hours: Commutes are London showroom — it is there simply not enough to the wider economic getting longer and traditional opening to let you look. There are no pushy factors that contribute towards a healthy hours do not work. A millennial salespeople and it is a pleasant place city centre. customer might prefer shops to be to browse, sit on a sofa and chat — the open 12-8 instead of 9-5 on weekdays antithesis of a cluttered old-fashioned (and longer on Sundays too). High Street shop with harsh fluorescent lighting. Stay central: Fewer young people “ The retail sector accounts drive nowadays, so out-of-town Be social: When your shop and stock for 5% of gross domestic shopping is impractical. It is no look good, share it. Being beautiful on product yet pays 25% of coincidence that many stores going Instagram works for cafes, and retailers into administration tend to be retail should not ignore it — more than half

Image: Made.com Image: business rates.” park staples. of millennials say their purchases are influenced by social media.

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Paul Swinney, an economist at the Investment impact Mike Ashley had suggested converting Centre, says: “Our research shows that the top floors of Birmingham's 500,000 sluggish retail is the symptom of an sq ft House of Fraser store into flats. underperforming city centre, not the Retailer share prices reflect the Others see opportunities to create social cause of it. If a city centre lacks jobs, struggles facing the sector, but this housing and specialist residential facilities residents and leisure amenities, which is not the only area of the market for an ageing population. Each would are the primary functions of city to be challenged by the digital instantly generate an increased footfall. centres, then this will shrink the size of shopping revolution. As retailers the market that a secondary activity have shut up shop, property owners Phil Prentice, chief officer of Scotland’s such as retail can serve.” have found themselves with empty Towns Partnership, which supports properties they are struggling to town-centre regeneration, wants Swinney points to contradictory local fill. Many are coming under intense communities to think creatively as well. government strategies that have pressure from remaining tenants to In Edinburgh, Diageo is blending the incentivised the building of business reduce rents and offer rent holidays. retail and entertainment experience by parks and Enterprise Zones on the opening a Johnnie Walker visitor outskirts of communities rather than at The share prices of real estate centre on Princes Street. That may not their heart, taking jobs out of city investment trusts (REITs) with large work generally but Prentice asks: “What centres. These are often poorly served exposure to retail have suffered about libraries, galleries, art centres, by public transport and in retail heavily in the past year. Some are health centres, nurseries, crèche wildernesses that offer little to workers. trading at discounts — in other facilities, playzones, business incubators, words, the total share value of the hatcheries and co-working spaces and Centre for Cities argues that there is a trusts is lower than the actual value gyms? Let’s bring in farmers’ markets, clear correlation between city and town of the properties they hold. This events and activities, better food-and- centres that have a strong nine-to-five may make them look like bargains, drink offerings, concerts, boutique working week population and those with but they can fall further. cinema and performance.” thriving shops, restaurants and cafes. These workers provide custom from In contrast, property trusts investing Prentice also wants a blurring of the lines Monday to Friday; shoppers on Saturday in the warehouses and distribution between what has been described as and Sunday. centres upon which online retailers ‘bricks and clicks’. He wants High Street depend have seen strong growth stores to have a strong web presence Repurposing and have been among the best and more customer-friendly opening performers in the sector. This market hours, so encouraging click-and-collect. Others are increasingly recognising that may be becoming saturated, And he wants to encourage the emerging the challenge is no longer merely to though, and values may be peaking. trend of digital traders developing a keep alive shops but to keep alive town showroom presence on the High Street. centres themselves. This means finding positive uses for some of Britain’s 50,000 empty shops.

Creating high-quality office space is one solution. Many favour another — turning superfluous retail space into housing.

“ There is a clear correlation between city and town centres that have a strong nine-to-five working week population and those with thriving shops, restaurants and cafes.” Stockton-on-Tees has become a role model for reversing the trend of High Street decline.

8 Rathbones Review rathbones.com What is going to happen to our High Streets?

That is already beginning to happen “ A healthy community — popular online retailer Boden, after nearly 30 years of trading online, now needs a healthy hub.” has three physical shops. Meanwhile Ikea has just launched small stores on want choice. Town-centre management Tottenham Court Road and in Bromley, will have to work hard to retain where shoppers can order home big-name ‘anchor’ stores but also to delivery on items and plan kitchen and ensure there’s a diversity of shops on bathroom refits. Prentice and other the High Street. Centres need to embrace specialists argue that each town or city and integrate digital technology, offering has to develop a solution that taps into free wi-fi and dedicated apps to ensure its distinct heritage and that is that the internet supports rather than appropriate for its community. One An open and shut case supplants the town-centre experience. example is Motherwell. Better partnerships between the council, Net increase and decrease in retail “A healthy community needs a healthy transport providers, community groups units in the first six months of 2018 hub. By putting homes, work and and businesses and the hosting of healthcare facilities in centres you community events and festivals have immediately create an ecosystem that helped create a cleaner, greener and more +349 can sustain more shops, as well as Barbers attractive, family-friendly environment. cafes, cinemas and leisure facilities. By This in turn has enabled the town to investing in good transport, access and attract new tenants, including Costa, a welcoming environment you make +160 town and city centres places we want PureGym and Warren James. Footfall Beauty salons has increased, while vacancies have to congregate in. By resolving the been slashed. business rates issue and creating more +122 Shoe repairers flexible retail spaces you nurture Stockton-on-Tees is another role model independent businesses. This becomes for communities that have managed to +94 a virtuous circle.” reverse the trend of High Street decline. Tobacconists Its award-winning £38 million (vaping) High Streets and Town Centres in 2030 regeneration project included the creation +77 reached a similar conclusion. Its of an attractive water feature and open-air Mobile phone authors said: “We are convinced that theatre space in the centre of town. This shops High Streets and town centres will has allowed the town to host specialist survive — and thrive — in 2030 if they markets and cultural activities, including -160 adapt, becoming activity-based Newsagents a cycling festival, street theatre and community gathering places where fireworks, and has put the centre at the retail is a smaller part of a wider range heart of the community. -171 of uses and activities. Green space, Women's leisure, arts and culture and health and clothing shops Cathy Hart, a senior lecturer in retailing social care services must combine with at Loughborough University School of -211 housing to create a space that is the Business and Economics, says: “The Estate ‘intersection of human life and activity’, future doesn’t have to be one of agents based primarily on social interactions dereliction and decay. There’s no single rather than financial transactions.” answer to the High Street problem, but -223 fundamental to any approach is Electrical But the report also issued a bleak ensuring that people enjoy the town- goods stores warning that many town centres could centre experience and have a reason to die completely, fracturing the revisit, whether for shopping, social or communities on which they depend. -692 experiential purposes. People still like Pubs The task of revitalising town centres the human interaction of shopping with requires coordinated action between family and friends and communicating central and local government, retailers, with service staff. They still want to see landlords and local communities. And

Images: Chapman Brown Photography, Paolo Paradiso/Alamy Paolo Photography, Images: Chapman Brown and feel what they’re buying, and they Source: the Local Data Company it needs it soon.

rathbones.com Rathbones Review 9 The hunt for new antibiotics

The hunt for new antibiotics

Hardly a week goes by without a report of someone dying because of an infection from an antibiotic-resistant superbug. Amid mounting fears of a “post-antibiotic” age, scientists are pursuing a variety of innovative routes in the quest for new treatments.

Kate Elliot, Senior Ethical Researcher, Rathbone Greenbank Investments

n 1928 an untidy researcher the penicillin-resistant organism,” studying influenza in a London he told readers of the New York Times. Ihospital accidentally left a Petri dish “I hope the evil can be averted.” contaminated with Staphylococcus lying in the corner of his laboratory. He It seems that the temptation to resort to then went on holiday for two weeks. antibiotics has been too great. The most On his return, Alexander Fleming found recent figures show that Britons that a fungus had formed on the bacteria, consumed over 491 tonnes of antibiotics preventing its growth. Penicillin was born. in 2017. Animals — livestock, horses and pets — consumed another 282 tonnes. Fleming was not the first to understand the antibacterial qualities of mould. The Inevitably, antibiotic resistance is ancient Egyptians had already applied increasing. With no new antibiotics mouldy bread to wounds. But this discovered in 30 years, the World particular mould, when grown in a pure Health Organisation (WHO) says we culture, was found to be especially potent, are facing a serious global threat. killing a number of disease-causing bacteria. The WHO’s worries are especially focused on the emergence of so-called Other scientists carried on Fleming’s superbugs, such as methicillin-resistant initial work, and by 1945 penicillin was Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and available for general use. Just a year Clostridium difficile (C. diff), which are later Fleming himself was warning of extraordinarily difficult to kill. These the dangers of overusing antibiotics. superbugs are already responsible for “The thoughtless person playing with 700,000 deaths a year, and a 2014 penicillin treatment is morally study — led by economist Dr Jim O’Neill responsible for the death of the man and produced for David Cameron — who finally succumbs to infection with warned that they could kill more people

10 Rathbones Review rathbones.com The hunt for new antibiotics

Phage therapy represents one of the most promising avenues in the search for new antibiotics. Here a bacteriophage virus sets about attacking a bacterial cell, ready to destroy it from the inside out.

Image: No Beast so Fierce/Science Photo Library rathbones.com Rathbones Review 11 The hunt for new antibiotics

Meanwhile, Vedanta Biosciences, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is trying another approach — enhancing the microbiome, the vast army of microbes in your body that protects you from disease and breaks down your food. By collecting healthy samples from people around the world, mixing them together and delivering them in pill form, Vedanta hopes to build a stronger immune response in microbiomes weakened by overexposure to antibiotics.

University of Colorado Boulder researchers working on developing quantum dots ­— tiny crystals of semiconductors that could harness solar energy to make fuel — knew the Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin after absent-mindedly leaving a contaminated Petri dish in his lab technology had already been used for for two weeks. He returned from holiday to find that mould had prevented the growth of bacteria. imaging in cancer research. By teaming up with colleagues developing new than cancer by 2050, at a cost of £63 “ With no new antibiotics antibiotics, they have developed a novel trillion to the global economy. type of quantum dot that can selectively discovered in 30 years, the target bacteria. In January this year it was reported World Health Organisation that genes associated with antibiotic The dots are tiny. As researcher Prashant superbugs have been discovered in says we are facing a serious Nagpal says: “A quantum dot is to the water in the High Arctic. Researchers global threat.” width of a hair roughly what a city block were justifiably puzzled, since there is is to the Earth.” The hope is that the dots so little human activity in that part of particular, phage therapy and can be placed in a patient’s body and the world and the superbug genes phytochemicals, show promise. then be activated using a targeted light matched ones first identified in Delhi. source to clear infections in specific Scientists now believe that the genes Bacteriophages, known as phages for places. The dots would be very cheap were carried north by migrating birds short, are a type of virus that infects a to produce, and — at least theoretically that picked them up in surface water bacteria cell. The phage inserts its DNA — they would require a dose one million contaminated by sewage in India. into the bacteria and creates proteins times less than traditional drugs. that kill them by making holes in the “We cannot tackle the rise of cell wall from the inside out. Phages are In another example of repurposing antimicrobial resistance without very specific in the bacteria they attack, existing technology, a star-shaped focusing on water, sanitation, hygiene so that the naturally occurring good polymer developed 15 years ago to and infection prevention control,” says bacteria are unaffected, which means add viscosity to automotive paints and Helen Hamilton, a senior policy analyst that they do not cause the stomach engine oils was found to have the at WaterAid. “In today’s globalised problems associated with antibiotics. capability to deliver anti-cancer drugs. world, a drug-resistant infection in one Then scientists at the University of part of the world will not be Phytochemicals are plant-derived Melbourne found that a version of the constrained by national borders.” compounds that have a pharmaceutical polymer, called SNAPP (Structurally action. They are present in certain Nanoengineered Antimicrobial Peptide Searching for cures fruits, grains and vegetables. The most Polymers), was toxic to bacteria. common are antioxidants, which have With the scale of the problem now been associated with reducing the risk Exploring unusual avenues beyond question, a number of entirely of cancer. Scientists are now hunting new methods for curing bacterial for phytochemicals with antibiotic The pharmaceutical industry was almost

infections are being explored. Two in properties. exclusively focused on antibiotics in the Hospital Medical School/Images: St Mary's Science Photo Library, Stephen Ausmus/US Department of Agriculture/Science Photo Library

12 Rathbones Review rathbones.com The hunt for new antibiotics

wake of the Second World War, but scientists have now devoted more than half a century to building on the molecular scaffolds erected during that era. The point of diminishing returns has long since been reached. Now much of the industry has moved on to less frustrating challenges.

“You might be able to squeeze one or two compounds out of these classic scaffolds, but they just don’t have much more to give,” says Eric Gordon, co-founder and chief scientific officer of US-based Arixa, which is developing novel resistance- defeating compounds that can be administered alongside antibiotics. “Most people think that with a big cash infusion Fields of innovation “ Perhaps the most we would be sailing along again, making antibiotics. But the fact is that nobody unusual search for knows how to make them anymore.” The overuse of antibiotics in treatments is being farming is a key part of the problem. It is this worrying reality that is Richard Pearson, a specialist pig carried out by an compelling researchers to explore ever vet based in Wiltshire, discovered international group of more unusual avenues. Scientists at a simple way of helping farmers to Oregon State University, for instance, eliminate enzootic pneumonia from historians combing are investigating whether an answer their herds and reduce the use of ancient texts for might lie in the layer of mucus that antibiotics. Instead of dosing coats the outer surface of young fish. newborn piglets with a protective medicines of the past.” antibiotic, farmers dosed the Their interest stems from the fact that mothers. Mr Pearson explains: “In Work of this kind is not without this mucus helps protect fish from effect, this targeted treatment of precedent. Chemist Tu Youyou, harmful bacteria, fungi and viruses. 4,000 sows removed the need to who was awarded the Nobel Prize “We believe the microbes in the mucus treat the 100,000 pigs they in Physiology or Medicine in 2015, add chemistry to the antiseptic power produce annually.” searched more than 2,000 herbal of the mucus and that new bioactive treatments from ancient Chinese compounds might be discovered from Another approach is championed literature before discovering a new the fish microbiome,” says Dr Sandra by the #ColostrumIsGold campaign, malaria therapy. It could well be that Loesgen, head of the research group. which is run by the Responsible Use the most effective cures of the future of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance lie in the past. Perhaps the most unusual search of all (RUMA). It involves ensuring that is being carried out by an international baby animals receive sufficient Wherever they might be found, the group of medieval historians, amounts of their mothers’ milk soon race to find answers is becoming microbiologists, medicinal chemists, after they are born. Just after birth, increasingly urgent. The greatest fear is parasitologists, pharmacists and data the so-called first milk — or that bacteria have become so adept at scientists. Known as the AncientBiotics colostrum — of cows, sheep and pigs cultivating resistance that this is a fight team, they are combing ancient texts is full of antibodies, energy and that we can prolong but never win. “We for medieval medicines of the past. A essential nutrients. Delivering it at risk living in a post-antibiotic era,” says 1,000-year-old Anglo-Saxon eye-salve the right time can eliminate watery Floyd Romesberg, a researcher in recipe, which contains a mix of wine, mouth E. coli infection in lambs natural antibiotics at California-based garlic, allium and ox gall left to ferment and halve the cases of pneumonia Scripps Research. “We’re buying time. for nine nights, has been found to kill in calves. You just have to keep running as fast as MRSA in mice. you can to stay in place.”

rathbones.com Rathbones Review 13 Trillion-dollarModular homes companies

Image: Roy Garner/REX/Shutterstock

14 Rathbones Review rathbones.com Modular homes

Modular homes

At the end of the Second World War, with two million homes destroyed by German bombers, the government turned to prefabrication to help solve the housing crisis. Could it now hold the answer to modern Britain’s housing woes?

Adam Greaves, Investment Manager, Rathbones

n 2017 the wrecking ball finally crashed through south-east London’s Excalibur estate of post-war Iprefabricated bungalows. In the wake of a campaign by residents to save them, six were left standing, given listed building status by English Heritage as testimony to their role in British history and their remarkable durability.

The 189 homes in Catford had been built in the late 1940s as part of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s solution to the damage of the Blitz. Britain was facing a housing crisis and “prefabs” were the obvious, albeit temporary, solution. Designed to last for a decade, they could be rapidly constructed and boasted exciting mod-cons, like indoor toilets. Eventually over 156,000 were built.

Fast-forward three quarters of a century and the country’s need for housing is arguably as desperate as it has ever been.

Lofty target

Research by Heriot-Watt University suggests the UK needs to build 340,000 homes per year until 2031 to meet the backlog of demand, and that 145,000 of these need to be social housing. Given that just

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“ The UK needs to build That reputation hangs over the sector but things have changed a lot since an Tallest modular structures 340,000 homes per year inside toilet was considered the height in the UK until 2031 to meet the of modern living. 101 George Street, backlog of demand.” A key feature of modern modular Croydon buildings is typically their eco-friendly 38- and 44-storey towers design. Ilke claims its homes are a fifth — residential 163,420 houses were built in the year cheaper to heat than new-build Due to be completed in 2020, to September 2018 (the latest data traditional homes and half the cost to this will be the tallest modular available from the Ministry of Housing, heat compared to the average UK home. development in Europe. It will Communities & Local Government), provide 546 new homes, as there is some distance to go. In Germany, where there is a long tradition well as a ground-floor civic space including an art gallery, of wooden houses being pre-built in artist studios, a cafe and a Could modern prefabricated housing sawmills, more than 20% of houses are green space. — now re-christened ‘modular’ — once now modular and the sector is growing. again hold the answer? German builder Huf Haus shows just how Apex House, Wembley good modular housing can be. It has had 29-storey — student Today’s modular homes are precision- a UK division for 10 years, building glass accommodation built in factories and transported by and wood or steel designer homes that Currently Europe’s tallest road as pods that simply have to be would grace any episode of Channel 4’s modular building. Modules fitted together and plumbed in at their Grand Designs. are made from steel frames desired location. Notionally this means and concrete floors and finished internally upon quicker builds at cheaper prices. Huf Haus claims to have built over 200 delivery. The entire building houses in the UK in the past decade. took just 12 months to Typically, it takes 40 weeks to build a That will do little to solve the country’s complete. traditional house. Because the parts are housing crisis. Not surprisingly, most of constructed indoors, modular house the newcomers in Britain are focused on Mapleton Crescent, construction is less susceptible to delays the challenge of building high-quality Wandsworth arising from bad weather. Ilke Homes, low-cost housing. 27-storey — residential which began building modular houses Each unit arrived on site at its factory in Knaresborough last year, At 27 storeys, Pocket Living’s Mapleton complete with plaster, paint, usually completes construction in Crescent social housing development in windows, doors, wiring, under 10 days. Likewise, Legal & General Wandsworth is one of the tallest residential plumbing, bathrooms and tiles, before being craned Modular Homes properties — made modular towers in Europe. Each flat was into place at the rate of one near Leeds — take just days to built and fitted out off-site then craned storey per day. complete. Fledgling business Creating into place — a storey a day. A few miles Enterprise, launching in Holyhead in south a pair of 38- and 44-storey towers, Wales, claims its timber homes will be containing 546 new homes (over a made in two days and erected in 10. hundred classed as affordable housing), are close to completion in Croydon. The But what about the quality? The residents taller of the duo will be Europe’s tallest of Catford may have fought for their modular building. The developers chose prefabs, but few others found them so modular construction because they appealing. Sarah Curtis, a director of argued that it delivers a higher-quality estate agent Strutt & Parker, says: “By finish, with 80% less waste and greater today’s standards, these homes were certainty on costs and time. poorly constructed and leaked heat like a holey bucket. Many prefab homes are The buildings demonstrate that modular listed in the Housing Defects Act and, need not be an inferior social housing unless they’ve been fully refurbished, solution. But Will Jeffwitz, policy leader it’s almost impossible to get a mortgage at the National Housing Federation, on one.” which represents housing associations

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order book for modular constructors, helping them realise economies of scale. The government is under pressure to do more to support the industry too.

Modular is unlikely to present a threat to traditional housebuilding in the immediate future, but that could change. Knight Frank’s Housebuilding Report 2018, which surveyed more than a hundred housebuilders and developers (accounting for almost 75% of houses built in the UK each year), showed nearly nine out of 10 thought modular would boost supply in five years’ time, with more than a quarter predicting it would have a “significant impact” by then.

One reason for that may be a skills shortage. According to the Royal

Image: Huf Haus Image: Institution of Chartered Surveyors, 62% of surveyors reported that a lack of Huf Haus in England, says two problems remain. skilled workers was limiting building He warns: “This is still a fairly new, activity, something that could be Homes built by Huf Haus combine the Bauhaus school of design with the fledgling industry in England and there exacerbated due to Brexit if European centuries-old German tradition of is not the level of data available to prove nationals opt to leave the UK. half-timbered houses — or whether these products last the 30, 40 or Fachwerkhäuser. 50 years that housing associations need. Strutt & Parker’s Curtis argues that The other key issue is cost — modular off-site construction requires fewer Introduced in the 11th century, housing does not work out any cheaper builders. She says: “The challenges of the Fachwerk houses could be built at in the way it is being procured by housing UK’s housing shortage are much more speed and were well insulated while still allowing for open-plan designs — associations at present.” complex and political than simply finding all now highly desirable traits in a quicker way to build homes, but today’s modular homes. The problem is one of scale. While L&G factory-built houses address some of the Modular is part of one of the UK’s largest issues, particularly speed of construction Just as simply as they can be put insurance companies and its factory and overcoming the shortage of skilled together, Fachwerk houses can be has the capacity to build 3,000 homes labour. dismantled and reassembled annually, production has not reached somewhere else. This has made historical examples much easier to that level yet. Ilke hopes it will hit “There is clearly an appetite from preserve in the face of modern 2,000 homes a year in the next couple developers and policymakers to overcome construction. of years. Besides L&G Modular and Ilke, the barriers and introduce more Berkeley Homes recently announced modular housing, and advantages to be plans to build 1,000 modular homes passed on to home buyers.” out of a factory in Ebbsfleet, Kent. By contrast, Britain’s biggest traditional While many of Britain’s post-war prefabs housebuilder, Barratt Developments, lasted longer than anyone might have built 17,579 homes in 2017. Rival predicted, as a building method Persimmon delivered another 16,449. prefabrication quickly died. But times have changed. Technology has moved “ Modular need not Jeffwitz says efforts are being made to on; traditional builders are an expensive encourage National Housing Federation and reasonably scarce resource. This be an inferior social members to join forces and submit time, perhaps, the foundations are in housing solution.” combined orders to create a long, steady place for modular housing to take off.

rathbones.com Rathbones Review 17 Commercialising the cosmos

Commercialising the cosmos

Space was once the exclusive domain of two superpowers. Now it has become perhaps the ultimate competitive arena for two tech giants — not to mention a host of other private enterprises that see untold promise and profits in reaching for the stars. With the entrepreneur- driven commercialisation of space gathering pace, where could a synthesis of the corporate world and the cosmos eventually lead us?

Christopher Buxton, Investment Manager, Rathbones

hen Stanley Kubrick set about making 2001: A Space Odyssey, a film now consistently Wranked among the greatest of all time, he insisted on surrounding himself with some of the world’s leading scientific experts. It was the mid-1960s, and Kubrick, a director renowned for his perfectionism, did not want his uniquely ambitious and expensive movie to be outguessed by the future.

Space exploration was still in its infancy. In March 1965, just weeks after MGM began to tease 2001’s release, cosmonaut Alexei Leonov became the first person to “walk” in space; NASA’s Ed White followed three months later, bettering the Russian’s feat by 20 minutes in a typical display of Cold War one-upmanship. Nobody could know for certain what might be achievable in another three and a half decades, but Kubrick wanted to get as close as possible to the likely reality.

18 Rathbones Review rathbones.com Commercialising the cosmos

Astronaut Dale Gardner spacewalks during a mission aboard Discovery, one of NASA’s space shuttles.

Image: NASA

rathbones.com Rathbones Review 19 Commercialising the cosmos

His success in this regard is evidenced shift is that companies, not countries, by one of 2001’s most memorable are now leading the way. sequences, which depicts a passenger- carrying Orion III “spaceplane” docking Two in particular are at the forefront. The with an orbiting space station. Famously first is Blue Origin, established in 2000 accompanied by Johann Strauss II’s The by Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos; Blue Danube, the scene would in many the second is SpaceX, established in ways prove uncannily prescient. Sure 2002 by Tesla founder and CEO Elon enough, we now have orbiting space Musk. Space is no longer the exclusive stations; NASA’s space shuttles, which preserve of a select few government flew more than 130 missions between agencies: it is the stellar playground of 1981 and 2011, were aircraft-like in tech billionaires. design; and the at-seat entertainment systems that are now part and parcel of The private-public paradigm air travel can trace much of their heritage to the Orion III’s interior. Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin poses with the Stars and Stripes “We want a new space race,” Musk after becoming the second person to set foot on the Moon during NASA’s historic Apollo 11 mission in 1969. declared during a speech at Cape Look more closely, though, and you Canaveral last year. “Races are exciting.” can see that Kubrick and his advisers “ Space is now the stellar At least to some extent, this is what is presaged yet another development — taking place; but this “race” is largely one whose potentially enormous playground of tech defined by friendly competition and is implications have only recently started billionaires.” widely regarded as a prospective win-win to become apparent. With the iconic logo for all concerned. To quote Professor of Pan American Airways embellishing military exigencies and a realisation that John Logsdon, who founded the Space the Orion III’s flanks,2001 correctly the heavens could represent the supreme Policy Institute at George Washington prophesied the commercialisation of stage for parading global prestige, University and helped NASA investigate space — save, that is, for failing to predict scientific pre-eminence and ideological the 2003 Columbia disaster: “Bezos’ that Pan Am would go bust in 1991 and primacy. style is to do things and then brag about that spaceplanes are now more likely them. Musk’s style is to brag about things to carry corporate branding linked to The race peaked on 20 July 1969, a year and then do them.” Amazon and Tesla. after cinema-goers first experienced 2001’s vision of things to come, when And they have plenty to brag about From Cold War to corporations Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong already. Blue Origin made history by set foot on the Moon and declared “one completing the first-ever landing of a On 4 October 1957, to the astonishment giant leap for mankind”. Eleven more reusable rocket. SpaceX made history and horror of the West, the USSR astronauts, all American, followed him by launching the most powerful launched Sputnik I, the first-ever artificial before the enthusiasm and funds working rocket ever constructed. Both satellite. Its radio transmitter’s distinctive necessary for further lunar landings ran have rapidly cemented their positions series of beeps was soon picked up by out in 1972. A spell of détente brought as go-to contractors for NASA and the US and was sufficient to convince the a US-USSR space rendezvous by 1975, other space agencies, as well as for stunned Americans that their and by the early 1990s, in the wake of telecommunications companies that technological superiority, all but the Soviet Union’s collapse, any lingering continue to add to the thousands of undisputed since the end of the Second pretence of a race had given way to overt man-made satellites circling the Earth. World War, could no longer be taken for cooperation — as most spectacularly Reusable rockets operate at a fraction granted. illustrated by the International Space of the cost of their government-funded Station. counterparts and have quickly come to Sputnik I was barely the size of a beach constitute a reliable business model, ball, but the US reasoned that it marked Today, as the conquest of space enters allowing Bezos and Musk to muscle in a major step forward in Soviet efforts a radically different era, the Cold War is on territory that was for decades to develop an orbiting nuclear-strike long forgotten. The US and Russia have dominated by longstanding NASA capability. It was the first telling blow of joined a dozen other nations in a quest suppliers such as aerospace giants the original “space race” — an to “expand human presence into the Boeing and Lockheed Martin. extraterrestrial extension of the Cold solar system”, and the United Nations War — and it prompted a period of fierce has opened an Office for Outer Space This suits NASA especially well, says

competition fired by political tensions, Affairs. Yet by far the most significant Professor Scott Hubbard, of Stanford Images: NASA, SpaceX

20 Rathbones Review rathbones.com Commercialising the cosmos

University’s Department of Aeronautics united in their determination to take Space exploration and Astronautics, because it allows the people — not just astronauts but ordinary, in numbers agency to focus on “exploring the everyday citizens — deep into space. fringe, where there really is no business Their respective corporate mission case”. Interviewed last year, Hubbard, a statements make this abundantly clear: former director of NASA’s Ames Research Blue Origin is “committed to building a 3 Center, told Space.com: “I see this not road to space so our children can build countries (the US, Russia and only as cooperation or collaboration the future”, while SpaceX has “the China) with successful manned but maybe even as interdependence.” ultimate goal of enabling people to live spaceflight programmes on other planets”. NASA itself has expressly advocated private-public partnerships. “The Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is 12 private sector wants to move fast and pursuing similar objectives. So, too, are men have walked on the Moon

14 national space agenices with a shared vision for "expanding human presence into the solar system"

$60 million cost of a flight by SpaceX's reusable Falcon 9 rocket

$1 billion estimated cost of a flight by NASA's planned SLS "super- rocket"

SpaceX’s Dragon 2 craft, shown here preparing for its first orbital test, successfully completed an 1 billion uncrewed mission to the International Space Station in March this year. Jeff Bezos' annual spend on Blue Origin projects “ Reusable rockets have the numerous start-ups that are increasingly entering the burgeoning quickly come to constitute market for commercial space travel. As $1.6 billion a reliable business model.” has been witnessed in other technology-driven sectors, the pie is cost of a flight by a NASA likely to be divided into ever-thinner space shuttle be cost-effective,” says Phil McAlister, pieces — and some of the smallest and the agency’s director of commercial most nimble competitors could prove spaceflight, “and NASA has 50 years of to be among the genuine game-changers. $150 billion human spaceflight experience. Those cost of the International Space two things actually complement each Rules, risk and reward Station, the most expensive other very effectively.” construction ever built The emergence of a robust and even There is no doubt, though, that Bezos and crowded marketplace, particularly one Musk have their sights set far beyond in which entrepreneurship is a key the cargo contracts that currently fill Blue dynamic, raises a number of difficult Origin’s and SpaceX’s ledgers. They are questions. Is space the next investment

rathbones.com Rathbones Review 21 Commercialising the cosmos

frontier? Who controls space? Who The military dimension owns space? As leading British space scientist Professor Monica Grady has Late last year, at a meeting of the observed: “Once investment starts to National Space Council, US flow, lawyers won’t be far behind.” Vice-President Mike Pence outlined plans for a new branch of the military. The UN’s Office for Outer Space Affairs The Space Force, he announced, now oversees the Outer Space Treaty, a would be an “elite group of fighters framework for the governance of space. specialising in the domain of space”. By the standards of UN conventions, which are seldom succinct, the treaty Such a notion appears at odds with has surprisingly few articles. The the spirit of peace and cooperation document was originally drawn up in that has come to characterise space US Vice-President Mike Pence outlines plans for a 1967 — a year before 2001 made its exploration. Yet the truth is that the new Space Force during a speech last year. debut and two years before the world heavens have always been viewed watched in awe as Armstrong as an important sphere of military supermarkets, competition drives descended the ladder of Apollo 11’s operations — as was first illustrated prices down. There is little reason to lunar lander — and the text was by Sputnik I, which was immediately believe that competition between space formulated for nation states rather than interpreted by the US as a portent companies would follow a different for private enterprises. of the USSR perfecting orbiting model... in which case greater risks might nuclear weapons. be taken in order to increase profitability. It asserts, for example, that no country As the field develops and additional can lay claim to any celestial body. Yet It has been estimated that 95% of private companies move into space companies are already assessing the today’s man-made satellites serve exploration, there will be a higher feasibility of “space mining” and both a civilian use and a military use. probability of accident or emergency.” extracting water from the Moon and As Professor John Logsdon, the other natural satellites, not least because founder of George Washington Logsdon has sounded a similar it has been estimated that using University’s Space Policy Institute, warning. He fears a substantial gap hydrogen as rocket fuel could reduce has remarked: “Space has from between the standards adhered to by the cost of spaceflight by up to 95%. the start been militarised — but so the likes of NASA and those applied by This is not a matter of curbing jingoistic far not overtly weaponised. There the private sector’s would-be flag-planting: it is a matter of containing is a somewhat fuzzy line that has purveyors of commercial space travel. the full might of market forces in an not yet been crossed.” As the super-rich jostle to journey to environment of unprecedented the stars, he says, we could soon unfamiliarity. The Outer Space Treaty leaves discover whether “somebody with worrying room for manoeuvre in enough money to take a joyride around Moreover, such forces are customarily this regard. For example, it prohibits the Moon cares about NASA’s human rooted in the concept of risk and orbiting weapons of mass safety requirements”. reward — and the risks in space are destruction, but it neither mentions considerable. In the words of Grady, a weapons that do not fully achieve Perhaps conscious of such concerns, professor of planetary and space orbit nor defines precisely what Bezos, for one, is trying to shift the science at the Open University: “If we “mass destruction” means. narrative. In recent months he has look at the way more conventional repeatedly denied the very thing that businesses operate, such as Logsdon strikes a note of pessimistic Musk has demanded. “We are not in a pragmatism. “There is a school of race,” insists the welcome message on thought that says that continuing Blue Origin’s website. “There will be “ It is a matter of containing to treat space as a sanctuary free many players in this human endeavour the full might of market from armed conflict is kind of a to go to space to benefit Earth. We will fool's errand, that every other arena go about this step by step, because it is forces in an environment for human activity — land, sea, air an illusion that skipping steps gets us of unprecedented — has been weaponised and that there faster.” Does he mean it? The the idea that you can indefinitely truth, as with so much else in this new unfamiliarity.” keep space from being weaponised era of space exploration, is very much

is naive." up in the air. Erik S Lesser/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock Image:

22 Rathbones Review rathbones.com Urban mining

Urban mining

There is more gold in a single iPhone 4 than in a kilogram of the highest-grade gold ore. Extracting rare elements from disused consumer electronics has become a profitable business and is seen by many as environmentally friendly, but the A worker recycles reality of urban mining is complex. e-waste at a specialist plant in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya. David Shepherd, Investment Director, Rathbones

Image: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters

rathbones.com Rathbones Review 23 Urban mining

f you are one of the two and a half “ The world is on track to from the Japanese public and billion smartphone owners around businesses. Ithe world, you have a gold mine in produce 52 million tonnes your pocket. You probably also have an of e-waste a year by 2021.” But this eco-friendly image is in stark unusual concentration of palladium, contrast to the conditions in which aluminium and copper. And it is not most urban mining currently takes just phones that contain precious metals. place. Until recently China accepted So do televisions, microwaves and other 70% of the world’s e-waste and Guiyu, electrical products with chips and a town in Guangdong province, was circuitry. the world’s urban mining capital.

Extracting these elements can be The legitimate importing (and incredibly cost-efficient compared with illegitimate smuggling) of millions of traditional mining methods. A joint study tonnes of discarded electronics into the published last year by Sydney’s Macquarie town had driven a boom in the business University and Beijing’s Tsinghua of extracting rare materials from them. University showed mining from ore was Without any regulations to protect 13 times more expensive than “mining” workers, however, the results were electronic waste — also known as e-waste catastrophic. Electronic devices may be mining or urban mining. a rich source of precious metals, but they also comprise toxic heavy metals like There is no shortage in the supply of lead, mercury, cadmium and beryllium, unwanted gadgets for dismantling. In polluting PVC plastic and hazardous 2016 alone 435,000 tonnes of phones, chemicals. containing as much as £8.3 billion worth of raw materials, were discarded. UN A Greenpeace report on Guiyu found research has estimated that the world is children climbing towers of waste and on track to produce a total of 52 million people working with open-top acid tonnes of e-waste a year by 2021. baths, unprotected, stripping electronics down to their metal components. Some The Thomson Reuters GFMS Gold 5,000 families were estimated to work Survey suggests more than three in unregulated e-mining workshops. In quarters of the world’s economically an interview with the South China viable gold reserves have already been Morning Post, a former local worker said: extracted. So there is a growing need to “The whole town was blanketed by foul recycle these precious materials — and air that smelled of acid. I always felt like a growing commercial opportunity. coughing.”

The darker side of urban mining Two separate studies led by Shantou University Medical College found that a On the face of it, urban mining would large majority of children assessed had appear to have the makings of a modern, unsafe levels of lead in their blood, sustainable industry. The concept is From top: A worker AI-driven automation, which can hinder the development of sorts through creeping into the mainstream: every such as this device for the nervous system and IQ. Other computer keyboards taking apart iPhones, winner’s medal at the Tokyo 2020 amid a pile of e-waste can make e-waste reports have found a high incidence of Olympic and Paralympic Games will be at a facility in China. recycling safer. skin damage, headaches, vertigo, made from recycled metal collected Apple is hoping that nausea, chronic gastritis and stomach Images, Apple Images: Jim Xu/Contributor/Getty

24 Rathbones Review rathbones.com Urban mining

ulcers, as well as dangerously high iPhone v traditional have already attempted to build concentrations of toxic flame retardants mining for gold modular phones that allow consumers in workers’ bodies. to change individual parts. So far these models have failed because they are As a result of international iPhone 4 Fosterville Mine* bigger, less elegant and more condemnation, the Chinese government expensive, which makes them unlikely announced it would significantly to appeal to consumers. reduce imports, banning 24 kinds of solid waste. The Guangdong provincial Academics are also addressing the government made efforts to clean up 0.034g 21.5g problem. At Stanford University, Guiyu, building a 1.5 billion yuan per 137g per tonne of ore chemical engineers are developing the (£170 million) industrial park isolated (1 iPhone) (1,000,000g) first fully biodegradable electronic on the outskirts of the city to replace the circuit using natural dyes that dissolve individual workshops that once polluted in acid with a pH a hundred times its residential areas. weaker than vinegar.

Better for China, better for Guangdong; Meanwhile, Professor Veena Sahajwalla but now the problem has been displaced and her team at the University of New to Southeast Asia. Today governments South Wales have designed an e-waste in countries like Vietnam and Thailand 0.248g 0.0215g recycling micro-factory. The facility are also looking to curb imports. per 1,000g per 1,000g extracts useful products by burning e-waste in miniature furnaces at * Australia Brighter future temperatures calibrated for the desired metal, before passing the remains Governments now motivated to find along a production line where robots solutions are considering compelling pick out valuables. The process also manufacturers to take greater turns plastic and glass waste into responsibility for products over their silicon carbide nanoparticles, which are whole lifetime, right through to disposal. used in a variety of industrial settings. This would encourage them to design electronics that are more easily The whole production line is compact, recyclable. Last year Apple unveiled a so it can be used by communities or prototype iPhone recycling robot incorporated by businesses into their named Daisy, an AI-driven machine existing manufacturing process. that can take apart up to 200 iPhones Professor Sahajwalla says that one in an hour. micro-factory would be capable of paying for itself in just two to three By reducing e-waste, encouraging years. repair rather than upgrade would also The US Environmental Protection help. Several phone manufacturers Agency says: “One metric tonne This is a problem for which there is no of circuit boards can contain 40 simple solution, but governments, “ Urban mining would to 800 times the amount of gold manufacturers and scientists the world and 30 to 40 times the amount over are working on it. With so much appear to have the of copper mined from one metric value in e-waste, there is genuine hope makings of a modern, tonne of ore in the United States.” that urban mining could eventually become a paragon of 21st-century sustainable industry.” sustainability.

rathbones.com Rathbones Review 25 The end of meat?

The end of meat?

A growing number of us are reducing our meat and dairy consumption. What are the alternatives and can we really save the planet by abandoning animal protein?

Perry Rudd, Head of Ethical Research, Rathbone Greenbank Investments

26 Rathbones Review rathbones.com The end of meat?

t the Lao Café, Covent Garden, per kilo, around five times more per diners are tempted with an kilo than beef. Aunusual side dish from Thailand: malang tod — seasonal insects fried Because they are cold-blooded, insects with herbs. require less energy to maintain their internal body temperature. This means The “bug” is catching across the that, unlike cattle, they are efficient at capital’s restaurant scene, with avocado converting feed into edible body mass. topped with grasshoppers at London Crickets require around 2kg of feed to Bridge’s Santo Redemio Mexican produce 1kg of meat, around 80% of restaurant, crunchy fried pupae in a which is edible. Cattle require four times salad at the Greyhound Cafe in Fitzrovia as much feed and only 40% of the or fudge topped with wood ants at animal can be consumed. Insect diets London Bridge’s Native. can also include animal waste and plants that are inedible to humans. On top of all “ Crickets contain similar this, they have much shorter life cycles, so they can be reproduced much more levels of protein per kilo quickly. to beef.” In short, they are a much more efficient In November Sainsbury’s became the way to generate valuable proteins for a first UK supermarket to stock edible growing global population — and much bugs when it began selling Eat Grub’s less harmful to the planet. Smoky BBQ Crunchy Roasted Crickets. What’s wrong with meat? Insects may be novel as a food form in most of Western Europe, but this is not The problem with cows is rather the case in many other parts of the embarrassing. They are prone to world. It is estimated that approximately flatulence. They also burp a lot. In fact, two billion people around the globe some researchers estimate the average already include insects in their diet and cow burps 600 litres of methane a day. that there are over 1,900 edible species. Added to what is coming out of the other end, this means that cows may emit as Termites taste like mint (apparently). much as 750 litres of methane a day. Sago grubs — eaten across Southeast Asia Scientists in California have discovered — and tree worms have a bacon flavour. that mixing seaweed in their diet can Stink bugs remind people of apples. Red help reduce that figure, but this is no agave worms are spicy. And Australian large-scale solution. sugar-ant abdomens taste of sherbet. It is a whole new world of flavours. There are 1.5 billion cows in the world, most bred and raised for the meat The appeal of this food form is obvious, industry. According to the UN’s Food and at least in a couple of respects. Insects Agriculture Organisation (FAO), they have high protein. Crickets, for example, are responsible for nearly 15% of all contain similar levels of protein per anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions kilo to beef. Some species of Venezuelan — in other words, those caused by human termite are as much as 64% protein by activities. weight. Meat and dairy are responsible for a Insects are also rich in essential amino disproportionate amount of agricultural acids and omega-3 fatty acids. Some are emissions, 60%, despite producing just also very high in iron: mopane 18% of the world’s calories. Livestock caterpillars, found in Africa, contain 310g farming takes up 70% of agricultural land

Image: Jon Lovette/Alamy rathbones.com Rathbones Review 27 The end of meat?

use. Many argue that much of that land found that there are now 3.5 million Challenges would be better used growing crops, if vegans in the UK. One in eight Britons is only the world would turn vegan. now vegetarian or vegan. Many more are Meat and dairy alternatives are not reducing meat in their diets. One in five without issues. The growing popularity Heated debate is now flexitarian, eating a predominantly of soya is leading to deforestation in vegetarian diet with the occasional Brazil and other countries. Eco-sensitive As the problem of global warming looms inclusion of meat. consumers have to check packaging to larger, the question of diet becomes ensure that soya ingredients have been more intense. Global temperatures are Alongside this trend has been the rapid sourced sustainably. on average 0.8ºC higher than they were growth of meat substitutes. Sales of in the pre-industrial period. That may Quorn, which is made from a protein Almond milk, a popular substitute for not sound much, but at current levels of derived from a microfungus, rose 12% cow’s milk, has come under the spotlight emissions we are on track to hit 3ºC in in the first half of 2018. for requiring large quantities of water just 80 years. when it is mostly produced in drought- Companies such as Impossible Foods and prone California. And scientists have The UN Paris Agreement on greenhouse Beyond Meat have managed to replicate questioned whether the electricity used gas emissions pledged to keep the figure the taste and even the appearance of to create lab-grown meat will make it “well below” 2ºC, but even limiting it to beef with plant-based products, inspiring more environmentally harmful than the 1.5ºC would still make the planet warmer several of the UK’s leading supermarkets real thing. than it has ever been in human history. to launch “bleeding” vegan burgers. Others challenge the rationale for The consequences of global warming Going even further in the quest to removing livestock from the food chain. are well known: dead coral reefs, ocean replicate the real thing is lab-grown meat. Farmers and conservationists Isabella acidification, droughts, water shortages, By creating muscle tissue from a Tree and Charlie Burrell turned their poorer crop yields and greater risk of stem-cell sample, it is possible to “grow” conventional farm on Knepp Estate in extreme weather events like hurricanes a steak. In the concept’s infancy the costs West Sussex into a 1,400-hectare and wildfires. were astronomical — a single beefburger rewilding project where English longhorn was priced at £192,000 — but they have cattle, Tamworth pigs, ponies and deer Last year Science reported research from fallen since, and the industry is attracting now roam freely. Doing so has dramatically scientists behind the most comprehensive significant venture capital investment. improved biodiversity and has been analysis to date of the damaging impacts enormously beneficial for the estate’s of farming. They claimed that avoiding topsoil. meat and dairy products was the single “ One study found that biggest thing an individual could do to Tree and Burrell draw attention to FAO help reduce environmental harm — far there are now 3.5 million reports that estimate that 25 billion to 40 more effective even than reducing air vegans in the UK.” billion tonnes of topsoil is lost to erosion travel or buying an electric car. each year and that the only way to reverse the process is to let arable land lie fallow A study led by Oxford University’s and return it to grazed pasture for a Joseph Poore found that cutting out period, as farmers used to before artificial meat and dairy products reduces an fertilisers and mechanisation made individual’s carbon footprint from food continuous intensive cropping possible. by up to 73% and would reduce the global amount of land used for farming The solution to sustainably meeting by 75%. the world’s dietary needs is obviously complex. What is clear is that if we are Such is the efficiency of a vegan diet to meet climate-change commitments that a separate report suggested that then we need to eat less meat. It may Britain would need only three million be some time before insects become a hectares of the 17 million it currently mainstream ingredient in Britain, but uses to be completely self-sustaining. the rise of palatable meat alternatives Impossible Foods’ Impossible Burger is one of several new plant-based is making the transition towards a Little wonder, then, that veganism is products that claim to recreate both more plant-based diet much easier for winning so many converts. One study the taste and the appearance of beef. many carnivores. Impossible Foods Image:

28 Rathbones Review Why sustainable investing is here to stay

Why sustainable investing is here to stay

Consumers, companies and investors alike are increasingly recognising that environmental, social and governance considerations are becoming vital to businesses’ long-term success. The benefits for wider society are also likely to be far-reaching.

Jane Sydenham, Investment Director, Rathbones Image: Ashley Cooper pics/Alamy Ashley Image:

rathbones.com Rathbones Review 29 Why sustainable investing is here to stay

here has been an increasing “ Greater transparency spent ethically. Yet there are also amount of chatter in the press financial incentives behind sustainable Tabout sustainable and socially and improved corporate investment. responsible investing (SRI) over the behaviour should past few years. Just as today’s shoppers Towards the end of last year Forbes want to consume more sustainably, ultimately translate into reported that the cost of developing today’s investors are starting to recognise better returns.” renewable energy generators across that better corporate practices are likely the US had fallen below that of to enhance a company’s long-term US assets under management — is maintaining existing coal-fired plants competitive advantage. invested in line with environmental, (the cost of solar is said to have fallen social and governance (ESG) factors. 88% since 2009). This milestone After all, greater transparency and heralded considerable savings for improved corporate behaviour make The UN-backed Principles for Responsible consumers and marked the start of a companies better to work for and shop Investment (PRI) are driving the same fundamental shift from traditional to at. It makes sense that this should cause. The PRI promotes ESG factors sustainable energy in the US market. ultimately translate into better returns. when analysing returns and managing risk, and its influence is rapidly The same Forbes article explained that SRI assets across the world’s five biggest growing. It currently has over 2,300 some US energy providers were regional markets stood at $30.7 trillion signatories worldwide, representing planning to retire a significant at the beginning of 2018. This represents roughly $80 trillion of invested assets. percentage of their coal capacity ahead a 34% increase in just two years. of schedule, in favour of lower-cost solar Opportunities lighting up and wind facilities. One major utility, Earlier this year the Morgan Stanley MidAmerican, announced it would be Institute for Sustainable Investing Many investors sleep better in the the first to offer 100% renewable energy reported that $12 trillion — a quarter of knowledge that their money is being by 2020 without raising consumer tariffs. Investment opportunities are lighting up as the commercial benefits of low-cost renewables become clear.

Demolishing costs

Some sectors are investing in sustainable technologies to drive down costs. The construction industry is becoming more sustainable as it realises that increased energy efficiency reduces operational expenses.

A more sustainable approach is also changing the market and pricing “ Those companies taking the ESG route may be making a better name for themselves than their less As demonstrated by its use of electric vehicles, UPS is one of many multinational companies taking steps towards reducing their carbon footprint. sustainable peers.”

30 Rathbones Review rathbones.com Why sustainable investing is here to stay

strategies of global supply chains, where low-cost procurement is beginning to align more with ESG. For example, freight carriers like UPS are switching their fleets to cheaper, renewable fuels — a move that reduces the cost of global logistics, cuts harmful emissions and offers long-term savings for consumers.

Making a splash

Reputation plays an important role, too. Those companies taking the ESG route may be making a better name for themselves than their less sustainable peers, ultimately leading to better financial performance.

Global water technology company Xylem has become a market leader in water risk management through its development of innovative “smart A catastrophic dam collapse in the mining town of Brumadinho, Brazil, damaged the reputation and water” technologies. These improve profits of Vale SA, the world’s biggest producer of iron ore. the quality and quantity of water, as well as the efficiency of wastewater management. Most importantly, “ Investors also benefit controversial “six strikes” dismissal policy, understanding the non-financial which punished employees for alleged benefits that smart water brings to from a more responsible offences such as “excessive talking”. communities is a fundamental part of approach, safe in the the business and one that is doing Sustained sustainability Xylem’s reputation litres of good. knowledge that their money is not driving unethical It should now be clear what the press has Dam-age been chattering about. Better corporate businesses and practices.” governance drives better corporate Businesses are increasingly aware of practice and a better reputation, ultimately the potential financial and reputational There are plenty of other examples of improving long-term financial damage of serious ESG failures. The poor corporate practice damaging performance. Investors also benefit deadly dam collapse in the Brazilian results. Revelations about abusive from a more responsible approach to mining town of Brumadinho was the working conditions at Sports Direct not consumerism, safe in the knowledge second fatal disaster in four years to hit only had a negative impact on the that their money is not driving unethical Vale SA, the world’s biggest iron ore company’s share price but also posed businesses and practices. producer, and saw the company’s searching questions about the retailer’s market value drop by $18 billion. In business model and labour policies. It therefore seems reasonable to assert March this year Vale’s CFO reported Sports Direct subsequently offered that companies with strong ESG that its 2019 iron ore sales forecast zero-hour contractors guaranteed practices are likely to prosper over the could be reduced by as much as 75 hours, gave its workforce a meaningful long term. We think that sustainable

Images: UPS, Washington Alves/Reuters Images: UPS, Washington million tonnes. voice at boardroom level and dropped its investment is here to stay.

rathbones.com Rathbones Review 31 Rewilding our world

Rewilding our world

Rathbones is delighted to be a partner of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, whose latest strategy, Rewild Our World, represents an ambitious commitment to getting nature back on track in the face of “a planet under pressure”.

Dr Lesley Dickie, Chief Executive Officer, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust

he Durrell Wildlife Conservation have to understand both where you have “ Rewilding is about Trust is an international charity been and where you want to go. You helping nature to Tbased on Jersey in the Channel have to monitor and evaluate your new Islands. We champion the creatures that goals to be sure that you are succeeding get back on track and often do not receive much conservation and improving rather than merely attention. We truly believe that coasting along. You have to figure out then — hopefully — conservation works, and we have proven the resources that you will need and how taking our hands off, time and time again that it does. to get them. stepping away and In late 2017 we launched our new Most importantly, you have to make it leaving it to do what strategic plan, which will run until 2025. all exciting. And that is certainly how I it needs to do.” That is the year when naturalist and would describe our latest strategy, author Gerald Durrell, our founder, would Rewild Our World. Rewilding is about have turned a hundred. Gerald is no saving species, restoring ecosystems, longer with us, but the ethos of his vision helping nature to get back on track and is still felt at the Trust. then — hopefully — taking our hands off, stepping away and leaving nature This year is our 60th anniversary, and to do what it needs to do. The rainforest-dwelling since our inception we have had the same Sumatran orangutan is one of the endangered species mission: saving species from extinction. “Rewilding” is such an evocative word. intended to benefit from These four words combine to create a It conjures up images of a nature that is the Rewild Our World powerful focus for everything we do. bountiful, beautiful, raw and magnificent campaign. and where wildlife is resilient and The quest to rewild functioning.

Setting a new strategy for an organisation Coupled with this strategy is our vision presents a number of challenges. You statement of bringing about a “wilder,

32 Rathbones Review rathbones.com Rewilding our world

Sixty years of success

The Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust can trace its origins to the opening of Jersey Zoo 60 years ago. Since then it has made many contributions to the natural world, including: 14 species saved from extinction 5,500 conservationists from 142 countries trained

Image: Tiffany Lang/Durrell Tiffany Image: Zoo 435,445 hectares of habitat protected

rathbones.com Rathbones Review 33 Rewilding our world

The Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust’s rewilding efforts span a remarkable diversity of creatures. These include (1) the red-billed chough, (2) the glass frog, (3) the red-tailed laughingthrush, (4) Telfair’s skink and (5) the ploughshare tortoise. Many of these have previously received comparatively little attention 1 from conservationists.

healthier, more colourful world”. Each — a million people better connected one of these words has been carefully with nature. Key rewilding site chosen. “Wilder” is self-explanatory: we want more species in the wild thriving Rewilding with Rathbones rather than simply surviving or Jersey coastlands hanging on at the edges. “Healthier” We know that our new strategy is bold. denotes a world where species are in Thankfully, we never work in isolation. Goal good numbers and playing their role in The valued support of our partners is Restore species to Jersey's functioning ecosystems. “Colourful” one of the reasons why we believe that coastland habitats and resonates with us because we truly we can succeed. connect people to nature believe that the world loses a little bit of its colour whenever a species Rathbones has joined us on our rewilding Species becomes extinct. journey with enthusiasm. Its Jersey Red-billed chough, grass office is a committed and fantastic snake, agile frog, red kite, Our 10 rewilding sites are in such partner, embracing our strategy in many white stork, seabirds, diverse locations as the UK, the ways — raising funds, sponsoring events, including puffin Galápagos Islands, Brazil, Sumatra, helping us to build our new Andean India, Jersey and Madagascar. We have bear enclosure and connecting us with Key issues set some ambitious goals and will our newest ambassador, TV presenter Heavily degraded coastland measure our success against these. By and naturalist Monty Halls. habitats, missing wildlife 2025 we want to see: and ecological functions, Rathbones also sponsored our annual abandoned farmland — 10 ecosystems across the world’s Durrell Lecture in London in November major biomes rewilded 2018. This event, attended by more than Key partners 400 people, was dedicated to two of our States of Jersey, National — 100 threatened species on the road island sites: Floreana, one of the Trust for Jersey to recovery Galápagos islands, and Round Island, off the north coast of Mauritius. It was — 500 endangered species a hugely successful evening, with programmes with greater capacity generous supporters funding projects to achieve their goals and becoming more engaged.

34 Rathbones Review rathbones.com Rewilding our world

2 3

5 4

Another example of what Rathbones helps us to achieve can be found in the Go Wild Gorillas story of the Madagascar pochard, the Key rewilding site world’s rarest duck. In December 2018, Gorillas are among humanity’s closest after several years of work, we relatives. They are also under increasing successfully introduced this species threat. All four subspecies face danger Round Island, Mauritius back to the wild on Lac Sofia in northern from habitat loss, hunting, wildlife Madagascar. trade and infectious disease. Goal Rebuild the ecosystem as a This marked the culmination of Jersey Zoo has been home to gorillas global case study for island conservation breeding, habitat for almost 60 years and has plans to rewilding assessments and the development of redevelop the complex that houses new techniques for release. It also them. In tandem, the Durrell Wildlife Species involved the logistical problem of Conservation Trust is staging Go Wild Round Island boa, Guenther's getting to and from a notably remote Gorillas, a large-scale community gecko, Telfair's skink, seabirds, area of our planet. After the release, project that will see 40 life-size gorilla giant tortoise, flightless rail, with heavy rain stranding many of our sculptures placed around the island tarantula trucks in mud, members of our team to form a trail of discovery. walked for 15 hours to reach the Key issues nearest passable roads. Again, none of “We wanted to mark our 60th Invasive species, climate this could be achieved without the anniversary with a project involving change, habitat degradation, assistance of our partners. subjects close to our hearts — our ecosystem dysfunction beautiful gorilla family and our new The Durrell Wildlife Conservation strategy to connect people to nature,” Key partners Trust is dedicated to providing says Dr Lesley Dickie, chief executive National Parks and solutions for a planet under pressure. officer of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation This is our one home in an endless Conservation Trust. “We believe that Service, Forestry Service universe, so let us treat it accordingly. art-connectedness can lead to (Government of Mauritius), We invite you to join us in our vision of nature-connectedness.” The project Mauritian Wildlife Foundation a wilder, healthier and more colourful will take place from 27 July to 14

Images: Liz Corry/Durrell Zoo, Robin Hoskyns/Durrell Zoo, Hoskyns/Durrell Zoo, Robin Zoo, Images: Liz Corry/Durrell Nik Cole/Durrell Zoo Zoo, Flach/Durrell Pegg/Durrell Tim Charlotte Zoo, world. October this year.

rathbones.com Rathbones Review 35 The Rathbones Folio Prize shortlist

The Rathbones Folio Prize shortlist

The following eight books were shortlisted for the 2019 Rathbones Folio Prize. Here members of the Rathbones team offer their own thoughts on the contenders.

Can You Tolerate This? The Crossway Mary Ann Sate, Milkman Ashleigh Young Guy Stagg Imbecile Anna Burns Alice Jolly Can You Tolerate This? is an A touching account of a pilgrimage Set during the Troubles, Milkman intellectually curious, prize- from Canterbury to Jerusalem, This fictional memoir recreates is a tale of gossip and hearsay, winning collection of essays The Crossway is at once a story the end of the 19th century silence and deliberate deafness. exploring isolation, shyness, the of physical endeavour, a memoir from the perspective of an It is a story of inaction with limitations of the body and the on recovery from mental illness elderly maidservant. It aims to enormous consequences. and an exploration into the lives challenges of personal give a joyful, poetic voice to the Anna Burns was born in Belfast of believers. transformation. silenced women of the past. and is now based in East Sussex. Ashleigh Young was the recipient Born in 1988, Guy Stagg is a Alice Jolly is a novelist and In 2018 she became the first of the 2017 Windham- journalist who grew up in Paris, playwright who has won both writer from Northern Ireland to Campbell Prize in Nonfiction and Heidelberg, Yorkshire and the PEN Ackerley Prize and the win the Man Booker Prize. an Ockham New Zealand Book London. The Crossway was VS Pritchett Memorial Prize. Milkman also won the National Award, among other honours. She named BBC Radio 4 Book of the She has also written for the Book Critics Circle Award in 2019 lives in Wellington, New Zealand, Week and the Edward Stanford Guardian, the Mail on Sunday and has been longlisted for the where she is an editor at Victoria Travel Memoir of the Year 2019. and the Independent, as well as Women’s Prize for Fiction. University Press and teaches An extract was shortlisted for broadcasting for BBC Radio 4. creative writing at the International the inaugural Deborah Rogers “ Told from the view of a Institute of Modern Letters. Foundation Award. “ This book documents the teenage protagonist who social unrest among the would rather not get “ This collection is sometimes “ This engaging memoir for the working classes amid the involved in the mounting interesting, sometimes soul highlights the struggles beginning of mechanised political tension and enlightening and always that we all must make to find industry and the changes it violence surrounding her, charming. With a turn of peace in ourselves. Spiritually brought to their lives. The this book deals with phrase that makes even compelling and historically narrative, which looks like community, tribalism and everyday subject matter absorbing, it is a marathon to poetry at first glance, draws control in a unique and engaging, it offers a mix of enjoy rather than endure.” you in with its short sprawling style and with hugely impressive depth.” observation, anecdote and Craig MacDonald, Operations sentences and flowing style.” human interest story.” Team Leader Laura Fullan, Administration Mike McManus, Paraplanner Joshua Simpson, Operations Assistant Administrator

36 Rathbones Review rathbones.com The Rathbones Folio Prize shortlist

The winner of the 2019 Rathbones Folio Prize was announced on 20 May at the British Library. Visit rathbones.com/rathbones-folio to find out more.

Ordinary People The Perseverance There There West Diana Evans Raymond Antrobus Tommy Orange Carys Davies

Set in London, Ordinary People The Perseverance is a book A propulsive, multi-generational Set in the early 1800s on the is an intimate study of identity, about loss, contested language story that culminates with the American Frontier, West tells the parenthood, grief, friendship, and praise, where elegies sit searing events of the Big story of a widower who goes in ageing and the fragile alongside meditations on the Oakland Powwow, There There search of ancient giant creatures, architecture of love between deaf experience. is a contemporary novel of leaving his daughter behind. two couples at a moment of violence and recovery, identity Raymond Antrobus is a Carys Davies’ short stories have reckoning. and power. British-Jamaican poet, performer, been widely published in Diana Evans is a London-based editor and educator. In 2017 Tommy Orange was born and magazines and anthologies and British author and journalist of he was awarded one of three raised in Oakland, California. He broadcast on BBC Radio 4. They Nigerian and English descent. inaugural Jerwood Compton is an enrolled member of the have won the Jerwood Fiction Her best-selling novel, 26a, won Poetry Fellowships, and this Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes Uncovered Prize, the Society of the inaugural Orange Award for year he has been nominated for of Oklahoma and lives in Angels Authors' Olive Cook Award, the New Writers and the British a Ted Hughes Award for Camp, California. There There was VS Pritchett Memorial Prize, a Book Awards deciBel Writer of innovation in poetry and as Poet a New York Times best-seller. Northern Writers' Award and the Year prize. of the London Book Fair. the Frank O'Connor International “ Today’s Native Americans Short Story Award. “ This beautiful ode to the “ This poetry collection is live in a time and place complexities of modern life accessible to everybody. It where their ancestral past “ This book gives us a clear but revolves around characters introduces new concepts of seems less relevant and unflattering picture of the on the cusp of breakdown, language, love and loss and their stories more remote. early white settlers. What at desperately searching for provides a real insight into However, this profound and first seems like a charming lost remnants of their past the ignorance — whether compelling book shows that campfire yarn rapidly turns selves and finding only purposeful or accidental even those who are done into a nightmare as the fleeting solace in awkward — of the hearing community. with history find that it is central character pursues his places. Humour, heartache By the end the reader is both rarely done with them.” impossible quest further and tragedy echo throughout fascinated and humbled.” and further away from his Thomas Cottier, Assistant the pages.” vulnerable daughter.” Jessica White, Regulatory Investment Manager Heather Cox, Operations Manager Review Officer Christopher Stanley-Smith, Investment Director

rathbones.com Rathbones Review 37 Planning on a long life?

Planning on a long life?

As a nation, we are living longer than ever. This is a cause for celebration, but it also means planning ahead for care in later life has never been more important.

Emma Watson, Head of Financial Planning, Rathbones

ncreased life expectancy has been authority help and will probably have to one of the great successes of the meet care home fees in full. In Scotland Imodern age. In 1901 in England the threshold is slightly higher at and Wales men lived, on average, to 48 £28,000, while in Wales it is £50,000. and women to 52. Since then, universal healthcare, medical advances and Paying for care yourself is known as lifestyle changes have all contributed self-funding. Given the level of the to longer lives. Today, on average in the threshold for local authority help with UK, a 65-year-old man can expect costs, it should be no surprise that, another 19 years of life, while a woman according to consumer organisation of the same age can expect to live for a Which?, close to half of those in further 21 years. residential care in the UK are fully self-funding. However, this huge leap forward in longevity is also presenting challenges The costs of care are considerable. for individuals, families and society as According to the charity Independent a whole. As the number of older people Age, older people will, on average, stay is increasing, so is the number who are in a residential care home for two and a disabled, living with a long-term illness half years, at a cost of £32,000 per or in need of care for another reason. individual for the first year, with costs Whether that care is delivered in their increasing over time and coming to a own home or in a care home, how it is total of £82,000 over the full 30 paid for has become a key issue for today. months. Which?, however, puts the cost substantially higher, at £116,000. An estimated 40% of people over 65 have a “limiting” longstanding illness, There are significant regional variations with dementia one of the main causes in costs throughout the UK. One recent of disability in later life. The Institute study found the lowest average weekly and Faculty of Actuaries estimates that costs for residential care to be in one in three women and one in four Northern Ireland, starting at £519 and men will have long-term care needs. rising to £692 for a home offering nursing care for someone with dementia. Around 15% of people aged over 85 in At the other end of the spectrum, in the UK live in a care home, according London the corresponding figures are to Age UK. Under the current rules, in £721 and £954. England and Northern Ireland, people with assets over £23,250 — including While self-funding does not come property — do not qualify for local cheap, it can be manageable and, with

38 Rathbones Review rathbones.com Planning on a long life?

“ While self-funding does Generally, people have three choices: paying for care using existing assets not come cheap, it can be and sources of income, buying a care manageable and, with annuity or using a combination of the two. The Rathbones financial planning appropriate financial team or your adviser can help you planning, need not be a prepare and, when the time comes, provide you with the information you source of anxiety.” need to choose the right option.

This process will take into account appropriate financial planning, need not income and assets, along with funding be a source of anxiety. requirements, the likely length of time care will be needed and rising costs. In With the right advice and guidance, you addition, plans for passing on assets to can put in place a strategy to prepare loved ones will be factored in. for these costs, while ensuring you strike the right balance with other aspirations, Stresses in system such as passing on wealth efficiently and enjoying life in retirement. Growing stresses in the care system have made it more important than ever to plan for the future. The proportion of older people in the UK is rising rapidly, Run for your life with the over-85s forecast to be the fastest-growing age group. In 2016, Though longevity brings its there were 1.6 million people aged 85 challenges, it is also delivering or over. By the middle of 2041 that is rewards too. The charity parkrun projected to double to 3.2 million. UK, which organises free weekly 5km timed runs at locations At the same time, though, we are seeing around the UK, says people over a sharp increase in the number of care 65 clocked up more than 250,000 homes going out of business. Insolvencies runs at its events in 2018 — are reported to have risen from 81 homes overtaking the 18-24 age group for in 2016/2017 to 148 in 2017/2018, an the first time in the organisation’s increase of 83%. This has been blamed in 14-year history. part on rising staffing costs and low fees paid by councils, which are themselves If you add the 55-64 age band, struggling to meet growing adult social the older generation completed care bills. a million runs — twice as many as two years ago. NHS experts say Politicians have found it difficult to there is strong evidence that balance the need to adequately fund later people who are active have a life care with the desire of older people to lower risk of heart disease, strokes, pass on wealth to their loved ones. When type 2 diabetes, some cancers, he was Prime Minister, David Cameron depression and dementia. pledged to introduce a lifetime cap on care costs of £72,000 by 2020. Meanwhile, a study by the Centre However, this policy was subsequently for Ageing Better found that life abandoned by the Conservatives. satisfaction peaks between 70 and 74. Even those over 90 were Such uncertainty underlines the found to be more satisfied with life importance of planning properly for future than those under 64. care needs. By thinking about the issue well in advance we can help to ensure the best outcome when care is needed. Image: Sue Robinson/Shutterstock

rathbones.com Rathbones Review 39 Sixty years of Barbie

Sixty years of

The world’s most famous doll made her debut at a time when the fight for women’s rights was gaining renewed momentum. She was intended to inspire young girls to believe that they could “be anything”, yet during her 60 years as a cultural icon she has attracted as much criticism as she has praise. Has Barbie helped or hindered the fight for gender equality?

Nick Swales, Investment Director, Rathbones

ender roles were firmly With all toy dolls manufactured in the entrenched at the start of the US resembling infants, Handler set out G1950s. The post-war years had to fill what she suddenly realised was a helped to cement a status quo of men significant gap in the market. She found as breadwinners and women as wives further inspiration during a trip to Europe, and mothers. But beneath the surface, where she encountered Bild Lilli — a particularly in the US, something was German-made polystyrene doll with an stirring. extensive wardrobe of fashionable outfits.

I Love Lucy, one of the earliest TV Handler doggedly petitioned the sitcoms and the first to feature a executives at Mattel, the company of woman in a leading role, hit which her husband was a co-founder. America’s screens in 1951. The Although initially reluctant, they central character, Lucy Ricardo, eventually backed her. On 9 March was played by actress and 1959, at the New York Toy Fair, the comedian Lucille Ball, who first-ever Barbara Millicent Roberts — produced the show herself. better known as Barbie — was unveiled. Like The Honeymooners’ Alice Kramden, who would Barbie was intended to address the continue the theme in interrelated issues that her namesake’s another mouldbreaking play habits had revealed. Handler not comedy a few years later, only wanted to sell a doll with adult Lucy was feisty, free- features: she also wanted to encourage thinking and determined girls to frame their futures in less to carve out a life beyond clichéd terms — to appreciate, like Lucy her domestic travails. Ricardo and Alice Kramden before them, that women should not limit It was amid such nascent flickers of their ambitions to cooking, cleaning gender equality’s mainstream and child-rearing. “My whole recognition that businesswoman Ruth philosophy of Barbie was that through Handler noticed how her daughter, the doll the girl could be anything she Barbara, played with paper dolls. The wanted to be,” Handler once remarked. youngster would treat them as adults “Barbie always represented the fact rather than as children, and she would that a woman has choices.” habitually accord women only parental or caregiving duties. …………………………………………………………………………

40 Rathbones Review rathbones.com Sixty years of Barbie

Just as Barbie sought to obliterate one Jobs for the girls 1960 — fashion designer stereotype, though, so she immediately The original Barbie was essentially a set about perpetuating another. The Barbie’s professional career fashion model, so a move into creating Barbie that wowed New York was tall, slim has been prolific, to put it her own clothes was a natural and blond. She wore a zebra-striped mildly. Frequently reflecting progression. swimsuit and sported a permanent and sometimes even sideways glance that was designed to presaging the times, she has 1965 — astronaut convey the demure air of a fashion model. had more than 200 jobs since Barbie entered the space race four She could be thought of aspirational, she first entered the working years before man set foot on the which was good; but she could also be world — as a fashion designer Moon. NASA had no women thought of hopelessly unrealistic, which — in 1960. This dazzling astronauts at the time. — at least in some people’s eyes — was bad. versatility has always been intended to demonstrate 1973 — surgeon A lifelong capacity to divide opinions creator Ruth Handler’s belief In an era when the idea of women in was thus established at the outset. that Barbie should inspire such roles was fanciful enough to Barbie’s 60-year history, during which girls to “be anything”. inspire a feminist riddle*, Barbie ran more than a billion dolls have been sold, an operating theatre. has since been punctuated by both an Today, having marked her apparent determination to exert a 60th year, Barbie, at least in 1978 — business executive positive influence and an unfortunate her UK guise, is experiencing Barbie set about shattering the glass inability to please everyone. another corollary of the ceiling by climbing the corporate fight for gender equality. ladder. By 1985 she would be a Some of the most common reproaches The retirement age for power-dressing CEO. have revolved around her appearance. women is being aligned For nearly 40 years her vital statistics with that for men, meaning 1989 — army officer were estimated to be 36” (chest), 18” that she will have to work Barbie bucked a trend by assuming a (waist) and 33” (hips) — not exactly for another six years. senior role in the army. She would representative of the female population also hold lesser positions in the navy as a whole. Research by a Finnish Here are just some of the and the air force. university even warned that she lacked roles that Barbie has held the level of body fat required for during the past six decades. 1992 — presidential candidate menstruation. She was given a wider This was Barbie’s first bid for the White waist in 1997, with “tall”, “petite” and House. She has contested every “curvy” variations following in 2016. election since, including on an * The riddle is as follows: all-female ticket in 2016. She has also been accused of lacking A father and son are seriously injured diversity. Hispanic and black Barbies were in a car crash. They are rushed to 1999 — airline pilot separate hospitals. When the boy is introduced in 1980, but their facial taken into the operating theatre the Barbie enjoyed numerous stints as a features remained Caucasian until an surgeon says: “I can’t perform this stewardess and, later, a flight outcry prompted new designs. In 1997 operation — that’s my son.” How can attendant before finally taking the Mattel produced Share-a-Smile Becky, this be? controls of an airliner. Barbie’s wheelchair-user friend, only to It was once all but taken for granted face fresh condemnation amid complaints that many people would not be able 2008 — TV chef that she was unable to squeeze through to see the obvious answer — that the With food channels proving a hit, the doors of Barbie’s famous Dreamhouse surgeon is a woman. Barbie got her own cookery show. Yet — less still into its elevator. today most top kitchens are still ** An accompanying book was famously male-dominated. Yet perhaps the most hurtful criticism withdrawn from sale after depicting Barbie as an incompetent who had relates to Barbie’s alleged ineffectiveness to rely on the help of her male 2010 — computer engineer in highlighting the careers available to colleagues. Barbie set about addressing the women. In light of Handler’s original enduring issue of gender inequality vision for her creation, condemnation in STEM by tackling the curse of of this kind calls into question much of downloaded viruses**.

Images: skodonnell/iStock, Chutima Kuanamon/123RF.com, Mattel Chutima Kuanamon/123RF.com, Images: skodonnell/iStock, Barbie’s raison d’être.

rathbones.com Sixty years of Barbie

“ Maybe the unhappy Barbara Millicent Roberts has had more appearance simply compels youngsters than 200 jobs since 1959 — starting, to focus on their looks rather than on fact is that one person’s somewhat tritely, as a fashion designer. their professional prospects. role model is invariably Having demonstrated her skills as an architect, an army officer, an astronaut, a Professor Laurie Cohen, of Nottingham another person’s CEO, a computer programmer, a doctor, a University Business School, has damaging influence.” firefighter, a pilot and even a presidential conducted numerous studies into gender candidate, has she made any difference inequality in STEM. Her findings suggest to how girls perceive their employment that it is “real” role models who can opportunities? actually make a difference. “It’s vital that young women are inspired by the ………………………………………………………………………… success of others,” she says, “but care is needed, because some role models may There is still a conspicuous dearth of end up having a negative impact. Above women in many sectors. Science, all, the girls and women we spoke with technology, engineering and mathematics wanted role models who could talk about (STEM) provide the most obvious their own difficulties and challenges.” examples. A 2015 analysis by Fortune found that women made up only a third “Our respondents weren’t interested in Role models of the workforces at the world’s nine ‘superwomen’ touting unrealisable In March 2019, to mark Barbie’s biggest technology companies and that dreams,” adds Professor Jo Duberley, of 60th anniversary and Women’s the disparity intensified as ranks became Birmingham Business School, who History Month, Mattel unveiled more senior. Research by the OECD has co-authored the research. “They wanted a range of 20 “role model” shown that boys are still more likely to role models they could relate to.” Barbies in honour of women pursue a career in STEM, even though who have helped girls close the girls might perform similarly in relevant Maybe the unhappy fact is that one “dream gap”. They included (from left to right) Maya Gabeira, subjects at the age of 15. person’s role model is invariably another surfer, Brazil; Naomi Osaka, person’s damaging influence. This is tennis player, Japan; Kristina Does this make Barbie a failure? Possibly. certainly true of Barbie, just as it has Vogel, cycling champion, A 2014 study by the University of Oregon been true of the many would-be Germany; Tessa Virtue, ice-skater, concluded that playing with Barbie left champions of gender equality who have Canada; Yara Shahidi, actress, girls aged from four to seven limited in preceded and followed her. Lucy Ricardo US; Adwoa Aboah, activist and model, UK; Dipa Karmakar, their outlook and that they were more constantly sought to expand her horizons, artistic gymnast, India; Chen likely to consider multiple options if they yet she was routinely portrayed as Man, photographer, China; and instead played with Mrs Potato Head. A comically incompetent. Alice Kramden Ita Buttrose, journalist, Australia. popular theory is that Barbie’s idealistic was strong-minded and resilient, yet her day-to-day existence stayed rooted in drudgery. Simone de Beauvoir, Madonna, Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Clinton — all have attracted their fair share of admiration and opprobrium alike. Nobody is perfect in the final reckoning — although Barbie, uniquely, might just be too perfect. The world’s most famous doll has done what she can during the past 60 years, and Mattel’s current Dream Gap Project underlines a resolve to carry on in the same vein; but Barbie will never be a cure-all for some of society’s wider failings. In the words of MG Lord, the author of Forever Barbie: “The problem here isn’t an 11.5” plastic object. The

problem is the larger culture.” Mattel Image:

42 Rathbones Review rathbones.com Important information

This document is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any Rathbone Brothers Plc is independently owned, is the sole shareholder in each of its subsidiary financial instrument by Rathbone Investment Management International Limited. The businesses and is listed on the London Stock Exchange. ‘Independent’ and ‘independence’ information and opinions expressed herein are considered valid at publication, but are refer to the basis of Rathbones’ ownership as a corporate entity, and not to our use of non-life subject to change without notice and their accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. packaged products for clients of our advisory or non-discretionary investment management. No part of this document may be reproduced in any manner without prior permission. Unless otherwise stated, the information in this document was valid at May 2019. Rathbone Investment Management International is the Registered Business Name of Rathbone Investment Management International Limited which is regulated by the Jersey Rathbones, Rathbone Unitised Portfolio Service and Rathbone Greenbank Investments are Financial Services Commission. Registered office: 26 Esplanade, St. Helier, Jersey JE1 2RB. trading names of Rathbone Investment Management Limited, which is authorised by the Company Registration No. 50503. Rathbone Investment Management International Limited Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the is not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority or the Financial Conduct Prudential Regulation Authority. Registered office: Port of Liverpool Building, Pier Head, Authority in the UK. Rathbone Investment Management International Limited is not subject Liverpool L3 1NW. Registered in England No. 01448919. Financial planning advice is provided to the provisions of the UK Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and the Financial by Rathbone Financial Planning (RFP) which is a part of Rathbone Investment Management Ltd. Services Act 2012; and, investors entering into investment agreements with Rathbone Investment Management International Limited will not have the protections afforded by Rathbone Unit Trust Management Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial those Acts or the rules and regulations made under them, including the UK Financial Services Conduct Authority and is a member of the Investment Association. Registered office: 8 Compensation Scheme. Finsbury Circus, London EC2M 7AZ. Registered in England No. 02376568. © 2019 Rathbone Brothers Plc. Trust, tax and company administration services are supplied by trust companies in the Rathbone Group. Provision of legal services is provided by Rathbone Trust Legal Services Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rathbone Trust Company Limited. Rathbone Trust Legal Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under No.636409. Registered office: 8 Finsbury Circus, London EC2M 7AZ. Registered in England No. 01688454. The value of investments and income arising from them may fall as well as rise and you might get back less than The above companies are wholly owned subsidiaries of Rathbone Brothers Plc. Head you originally invested. office: 8 Finsbury Circus, London EC2M 7AZ. Taking the next step If you want to invest with us, we’d like to speak to you

Call: 020 7399 0000 Visit: rathbones.com