General Election 2024: Politicians ‘not professional enough to be clowns’ as performers and punters weigh up votes in election circus

Published

11 months ago

June 20, 2024

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Even the world of escapism can’t escape politics.

Decisions made on the green benches of parliament could be life or death for the circus. Like many businesses, it is walking the wire between rising costs and cash-strapped audiences.

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As part of our Bench Across Britain series we visited a circus tent in south Leicestershire where punters try to forget the world for an hour or so – only to be confronted by Sky News, asking them about the general election.

First, we spoke to the performers: high wire walker Ksenia Archer literally dropped in on our bench while still attached to her safety harness.

“Our costs have gone up miles high,” she said.

“Unfortunately, our customers’ costs have gone up as well. We’ve not been able to increase ticket prices – they have had to go down, to ensure we get any customers at all.”

She added: “The circus was invented in England – it’s over 250 years old. But unless we get support we will be slowly dying out.”

At Circus Cortex, the performers thrill and petrify, suspended from ropes, spinning in the air, balancing on precarious structures – but what scares them is empty seats.

The industry has campaigned for VAT to be reduced to 5% on ticket prices, as happens in some other European countries, and as happened briefly in the wake of COVID-19.

Paul Archer, circus director, said: “Politicians do not understand the difficulties we have: bringing performers into the UK [means] we have increased visa costs; we have difficulties with transport costs going up. The circus industry needs help.”

As for the performers, behind the masks and grease paint they have the same mundane struggles as everyone else.

In the dressing room, dancer Rebecca Peters said she is watching the pennies. “Rising prices, shopping and stuff, travelling to London for auditions, it’s just got very expensive,” she said.

The Circus Cortex tent sits in a field in south Leicestershire, one of the Conservatives’ top 40 safest seats, where in a recent poll the Tories led Labour by eight points – but that was just before right-wing showman Nigel Farage entered the arena.

Check which party could win in your constituency

Even though he is standing in Clacton, the Brexit ringmaster could take chunks out of the Tory vote. Several audience members at the circus seemed to have lost faith in the larger parties.

“I’m literally done with the current government, including Labour,” said HGV driver Denzil Furtado. “I don’t think they are offering something substantial.

“I’m really convinced by the recent lead of Nigel Farage. He has the charisma of being a prime minister actually.”

His partner, software developer Priya Fernandes, disagreed: “We should give the current government one more chance to prove what they are,” she said.

“Inflation is coming down right now – I think they deserve a second chance.”

Others in the audience said they are not going to vote – even though there are things they want such as tackling the cost of living or lowering taxes, or more support for single mothers, or reducing immigration or improving public services.

But they just don’t see their vote making a difference. Some are making an unenthusiastic choice.

Programme manager Margarita Grigorian said: “I will only go with Labour because I don’t want to go with the Conservatives – and the other parties are too little and too weak.”

Keir Starmer recently told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby “I’m not running a circus”, but the sense in south Leicestershire is that they want a show – a strongman, something daring, and eye-catching.

Asked who the biggest clown was in this election, Mr Archer replied: “They are not professional enough to be clowns.

“You have to understand humour and timing – they haven’t got any of it, have they?”

With days left until polling day, we are entering the finale, and the audience seems bemused – still trying to work out what it all means.

Politics

Strive to become Bitcoin treasury company

Published

2 hours ago

May 7, 2025

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Strive to become Bitcoin treasury company

Strive Asset Management, founded by entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, has revealed plans to transition into a Bitcoin treasury company.

According to a May 7 announcement, Strive is going public through a reverse merger and plans to use the combined company’s stock to accumulate Bitcoin (BTC).

The deal will see Strive merging with Asset Entities — a social media marketing company listed on the Nasdaq. The combined entity will operate under the Strive brand and use its access to the public equity markets to finance Bitcoin purchases, the company said.

Once the deal closes, Strive plans to issue approximately $1 billion in equity and debt and use the proceeds to accumulate BTC. The asset manager “intends to use all available mechanisms to build a Bitcoin war chest […] and build a long-term investment approach designed to outperform Bitcoin,” it said.

Strive plans to allow “Bitcoin holders to contribute Bitcoin in exchange for public stock through a structure that is intended to be tax-free,” it said. As of May 7, the company manages approximately $2 billion in net assets across a variety of funds.

In December, Strive filed to list an exchange-traded fund (ETF) investing in convertible bonds issued by MicroStrategy and other corporate Bitcoin buyers.

Corporate Bitcoin treasuries

Corporate Bitcoin treasuries have become popular since the approval of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on Wall Street. Companies pioneering the Bitcoin buyer approach, such as Strategy have seen their share prices surge by 350% in 2024.

Analysts say adding Bitcoin to corporate treasuries can “potentially be a valuable hedge against growing fiscal deficits, currency debasement, and geopolitical risks,” asset manager Fidelity Digital Assets said in a 2024 report.

Corporate Bitcoin treasuries collectively hold roughly $74 billion worth of BTC as of May 7, according to Bitcointreasuries.net.

Trump connection

Ramaswamy, an outspoken ally of President-elect Donald Trump, founded Strive in 2022. Its stated goal is to help investors “harness the power of capitalism,” according to Strive’s website.

In 2023, Ramaswamy — who largely earned his $1 billion net worth from biotechnology startup Roivant Sciences — campaigned against Trump in the Republican presidential primary. He later endorsed the president-elect.

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Politics

Trump memecoin dinner attendees could include foreign nationals — Report

Published

4 hours ago

May 7, 2025

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Trump memecoin dinner attendees could include foreign nationals — Report

At least some of the top holders of Donald Trump’s memecoin who apply to attend a private dinner with the president could be based outside the United States.

According to a May 7 Bloomberg report based on an analysis of the top TRUMP tokenholders, 19 of the top 25 wallets on the leaderboard used foreign exchanges that exclude US-based customers, suggesting either foreign nationals or Americans living abroad. In addition, more than half of the top 220 holders — the group eligible to apply for a dinner with the president — also used exchanges in other countries.

As of May 7, the identities of the top tokenholders and those who might choose to apply for the May 22 Trump dinner and “special VIP tour” were unknown. However, the project stated that anyone who applied could not bring guests, had to pass a background check, and “can not be from a [Know Your Customer] watchlist country.”

The implications of having dozens or hundreds of memecoin holders potentially tied to foreign governments and interest groups have raised ethics concerns from some US lawmakers, claiming that Trump was engaging in “pay-to-play” corruption. At least one senator has called for the president’s impeachment, saying Trump was “selling access for what are effectively payments directly to him.”

Memecoin concerns are slowing crypto legislation

Democratic lawmakers in the House of Representatives and Senate have already been pushing back against considering any crypto-related legislation until Republicans address concerns around “Trump’s crypto corruption.” The Senate is expected to vote on a bill regulating stablecoins on May 8, and House Republicans recently introduced a discussion draft of a digital asset market structure bill.

Then-president-elect Trump launched the memecoin on Jan. 17 — three days before taking office — followed by the first lady introducing her own token. Two companies connected to Trump control roughly 80% of the memecoin’s supply.

The launch of the memecoin and its potential influence over the president and his agenda has already prompted some companies to get on board. On April 30, a trucking logistics management company announced a $20 million investment in the TRUMP token, suggesting influencing Trump’s trade war between the US and Mexico, where the firm conducts much of its business.

Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions

Politics

Trump-backed USD1 is now the seventh-largest stablecoin worldwide

Published

8 hours ago

May 7, 2025

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Trump-backed USD1 is now the seventh-largest stablecoin worldwide

USD1, the US dollar stablecoin launched by the President Donald Trump-backed World Liberty Financial (WLFI), has become the seventh-largest stablecoin worldwide in just two months since its launch.

WLFI’s snapshot vote for a USD1 airdrop proposal is underway, and USD1’s market capitalization has continued to climb.

Launched in early March with a $3.5 million supply, USD1 has expanded into a market cap of $2.2 billion at the time of writing, leaving rival stablecoins First Digital USD (FDUSD), PayPal USD (PYUSD) and Tether Gold (XAUT) behind, according to data from CoinGecko.

Although rising fast, the USD1 market cap is still far from the market value of major stablecoins like Tether’s USDt (USDT) and USDC (USDC), whose market caps are worth $149 billion and $61 billion, respectively.

BNB Chain drives USD1 issuance

Trump-backed USD1 is almost exclusively issued on Binance-backed BNB Chain. According to data from BscScan, as much as $2.1 billion of all USD1 supply is issued on BNB Chain, accounting for more than 99% of its total circulating supply, while an Ethereum-based version accounts for just $14.5 million, according to Etherscan.

USD1’s latest market spike was sharp, jumping 1,540% from $128 million to $2.1 billion within two days in late April, according to CoinGecko.

The spike came days before Eric Trump announced that Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX would use the USD1 to invest $2 billion in Binance.

Justin Sun-backed HTX among the first CEXs to list USD1

As USD1’s market cap spiked, some centralized exchanges (CEXs) rushed to list the Trump-backed stablecoin.

HTX, a crypto exchange closely associated with Tron founder Justin Sun and formerly known as Huobi, announced the listing of USD1 with permanent zero-fee withdrawals on the BEP-20 network on May 6.

According to websites like CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap, HTX was one of the first CEXs to list USD1, as the token is primarily available on decentralized exchanges, including PancakeSwap and Uniswap.

Most WLFI inflows come from outside the US

While the WLFI community has been voting on the USD1 airdrop, some reports suggested that WLFI investment is mainly coming from outside the United States.

According to a poll by V1PS founder Notaz.Sol, as much as 90% of WLFI investors are likely coming from non-US jurisdictions, including Europe, Asia and Latin America.

A May 7 Bloomberg report also indicated that over half of the top holders of Trump-branded memecoins reside abroad.

The USD1 stablecoin’s growth lines up with Trump’s pro-stablecoin agenda announced in his executive order on “Strengthening American leadership in digital financial technology” in January.

While WLFI has been closely associated with Binance, both Trump and Binance have repeatedly denied and criticized reports suggesting any links or deals between the parties.

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