Ed Conway

That’s me in the hard hat, in front of the bucket of a terrifyingly enormous digger. What you can’t really tell from the picture is that my head was spinning. I’d just had one of those moments that change your life forever. It would set me off on a journey around the world…!🧵

🎟️ LONDON EVENT Waterstones on Gower St at 18:30 on Nov 9. Come along to hear more about Trade World, the bonkers/amazing story of the modern day economy and, well, anything else you fancy asking about... Tickets👇 www.waterstones.com/events/trade...

Ed Conway speaks in two sessions 17 November 2026 in Festival of Economics: Where is Britain’s economy headed? and Trade: Ten years since Brexit: economicsfestival.co.uk/event/trade-...

✍️ Britain does have an economic model. It just happens to be a consumer website. I wrote something about the moneysavingexpert economy and why it's facing an existential crisis. And why this isn't just a UK issue... Have a read👇 edconway.substack.com/p/the-moneys...

Pretty cool stuff though! Those physical systems are part of the backbone our every day lives run on! Energy. ⚡️

📽️ WHAT IF THE GAS RUNS OUT? If the UK's gas supplies fail it turns out there's an emergency plan. A strict hierarchy about who is cut off first: Europe, then power stations, then industry, then homes. Our film on the scenario no one wants to talk about👇 youtu.be/sKDnZz4wypI?...

✍️ How diesel found itself at the heart of geopolitics. And why Donald Trump is taking a leaf out of Putin and Xi's playbook. A simple explainer edconway.substack.com/p/the-diesel...

🎥 Everything you ever wanted to know about the pensions triple lock, how it works, and what @andyburnham wants to do with it, in language hopefully everyone can understand. 8 mins 👇 youtu.be/Yii7WiA-6t4?...

Thrilled to be talking to Genevieve Gaunt about Trade World at HENLEY LITERARY FESTIVAL next Thursday (8 Oct). 2pm. Come and say hello! www.henleyliteraryfestival.co.uk/whats-on/edc...

Was SUCH a thrill to talk to my old friend Wilfred Frost on his Master Investor podcast last week. Watch the full thing here 👇 www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXQK...

This @lrb.co.uk piece from Arthur Downing is just a fantastic tour d'horizon of Britain's energy system. A must-read for anyone hoping to navigate the coming decade. Remember: energy is more or less EVERYTHING! www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

This is a really good piece of writing - informative and engaging. Got me looking at images of Hormuz island and thinking about fish fingers...

✍️ The world is changing. Trade is changing. Geography is returning. An essay I wrote for @thetimes.com 👇 www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

📽️ What happens when the world's biggest exporter of one of the most important substances for modern civilisation decides to stop exporting it? We might be about to find out. 🛢️Primer on US diesel and the coming fuel crunch, inc why it could be especially grisly for Britain👇 youtu.be/sYnmyKB9_G8?...

I'm listening to the audiobook of this right now. It is fantastic. I do need to take a minor issue with one section though. On the Opium Wars, we were taught all about them in Y9 at my Midlands Comprehensive in the early 80s. (Mr Robbie and Mr Gray set the curriculum and they would probably have

📽️ Why the Bank of England is bracing itself for higher inflation and what it means for the rest of us. Oh, and why an obscure change in its quantitative tightening programme (slightly) helps out the Chancellor. Latest primer👇 youtu.be/7KLZETYJ3LM?...

📽️ It looks as if the world is about to be engulfed in another spike in the cost of living. Here's my 13m explainer on how we avoided the worst of the energy shock this summer, and why we might not be so lucky this winter...👇 youtu.be/cuhNwc-E3lM?...

🙌 Thrilled beyond words to have learned that TRADE WORLD made it into the bestseller charts in its first week out there in the wild. Who'd have bet a nerdy supply chain book could be up there with celeb memoirs?! It's mad. Thank you SO much to everyone who's bought a copy 🙏

👀 Global shipping industry group makes its first public intervention since it was founded 60 years ago, to warn that the rules governing global shipping are breaking down. "Without maritime trade... the global economy as we know it would come to a sudden halt". www.ft.com/content/c651...

✍️ This isn’t just about Jaguar Land Rover (or VW) It’s about the fact that nearly nine tenths of a car is not made by the company whose badge goes on the front. We need to start talking about the other 9/10s of the car industry edconway.substack.com/p/this-isnt-...

🚨OFFER ENDS TONIGHT If you've already ordered or pre-ordered Trade World you can get access to an exclusive essay with bonus material. Email preorder@edmundconway.com with proof of purchase before the end of the day and you'll be sent a link to the essay!

Another interesting piece from @edconway.bsky.social

📽️From the odyssey of a fish finger... 🌾To Russia's astounding dominance of global wheat exports... 🚗And the wave of Chinese imports that threatens the very existence of the Western car industry. 👀Presenting a MEGA screen with charts from my brand new book, Trade World👇 youtu.be/AqBSTqEzVRo?...

✍️ The little holes in your bread are telling you something... 🟤How a lab in an obscure village in the south of England invented modern British bread. 🟤What all this has to do with economics. 🟤And why, technically, British bread might no longer be bread... edconway.substack.com/p/the-little...

📖 PUBLICATION DAY Today a book I've spent 2yrs working on is finally out. I'll have more to say about it later on, but TRADE WORLD is a brand new story about the hidden underbelly of the modern world. A sort of companion to Material World. But SO much more. I hope you like it!

🎟️Tickets still available for my first Trade World event TONIGHT👇 Now at the larger capacity War Memorial Hall in Chorleywood. 7pm. Come and hear stories about the unexpectedly bizarre, fascinating underbelly of the modern world. And find out how this town changed the country!

This was a really fun conversation!

This is insane

Well, the introduction alone is quite the eye opener! Loving my signed copy. 👍

Are We Approaching “Peak Ship”? Twenty years ago the Emma Maersk made the front pages. In the following years, ships quietly got even bigger, and changed the world along the way. But for how long? edconway.substack.com/p/are-we-app...

⭐️ First review for TRADE WORLD⭐️ Emma Duncan writes in @thetimes.com: "This is economics, but the dismal science has never been more enjoyable." Out on Thursday. PRE-ORDER NOW!

Ed's Material World was fascinating - his upcoming Trade World looks to be equally so.

What is Andy Burnham going to do about the many big climate/environment decisions in his inbox? On this week’s Rare Earth @tomheap.bsky.social and I take a look, with the help of a stellar panel. It’s easy to list the problems, but what’s his solution? Available now: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Very interesting. And eye-opening.

Yes. Unlike in Material World, this time around there are some photos. And, better still, one or two charts...

I worked in one of those factories in Grimsby. Everyone wanted to be across the road where they worked on peas. It shattered the myth that own brands and brands were basically the same. The difference between the M&S and Kwik Save fish was night and day. Flat or Curled. Nurse, the flashbacks!

This is the most interesting thing I've read in years

Forget follow the money, follow the cod. This is unbelievable.

Such an insane journey

This is well worth a read, its madness

This is astonishing. I read his previous book Material World and that is excellent and eye opening.

✍️ Want to understand the bonkers nature of the modern economy? Take a ride with me on the 30,000 mile journey the cod in a fish finger takes between being caught off the coast of Scotland and consumed in a British home 🤯 Promise I'm not making this up👇 edconway.substack.com/p/the-30000-...

🎤 TRADE WORLD TOUR 🎤 Secret factories. Weird commodities. Forgotten technologies. Wild tales about the way the modern world actually works. I’ve spent the past few years collecting loads of new stories. Excited to share them with you. Coming to a bookshop or hall near you👇

✍️ The North Sea is not just about the North Sea The weird and wonderful world of gas, in all its different flavours. And what the strange chemistry of methane has to do with one of the most controversial issues facing the new UK government 👇 edconway.substack.com/p/the-north-...

The Radio, the Submarine and the Tariffs What a smashed Toshiba boombox can teach us about Trump, transshipment and the mysterious hidden routes of world trade. edconway.substack.com/p/the-radio-...

🚨Is Britain giving up on the North Sea too soon? Does oil & gas still have a big future in the UK? Is it the answer to our economic problems? Or just another political distraction? Spent the past few months making a Sky News documentary on this. Watch👇 youtu.be/NSdBTwL4iqA?...

✍️ The two things no one ever tells you about writing a book... My latest substack, on the weird world of "blurbs", the significance of preorders and... a rare, special limited-time offer! 👇 edconway.substack.com/p/at-least-o...

Pre-order my new book, Trade World, and there's no need to visit substack whatsoever. Problem solved!

All pre-ordered now as I adored Material World and I had no idea of how important the economics of pre orders are.