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Britons boosted by improved exchange rate against the euro

Italy’s Bardonecchia was named Europe’s best-value skiing resort for a second year running according to a new report, as British skiers benefited from a stronger pound.

Italian ski resorts are likely to offer the best value for money this year, according to a ranking by Post Office Travel Money that compared the cost of ski passes, equipment hire, lessons and refreshments across a week-long holiday. A week at Bardonecchia was priced at £544 per person, excluding flights and accommodation, up just 1.5 per cent from last year.

The pound is close to its highest level against the euro since the 2016 Brexit vote, meaning that holidaymakers will benefit from favourable exchange rates as they travel abroad this winter.

Costs for a single adult skier fell at a third of the 36 resorts surveyed and there were single-digit rises at the remaining two-thirds.

Italian resorts make up six of the top 10 and are joined by two Bulgarian destinations, along with Baqueira Beret in Spain, and Norway’s Norefjell resort — a new entrant after prices fell 2.6 per cent to £739. 

Post Office Travel Money warned that those skiing in Norway should “choose restaurants and bars carefully as the cost of meals and drinks can be much higher than in most other European resorts.”

Passo Tonale offered the best value for a family of four, with a one-week cost of £1,571, a fall of 7.9 per cent on last year. The Italian resort offers a “kids-go-free” equipment hire deal throughout the skiing season. 

Prices rose at three-quarters of the 30 resorts surveyed for family holidays, because of the cost of ski tuition.

Laura Plunkett, head of Post Office Travel Money, said that it was “vitally important for skiers looking for a bargain break to do their homework before booking” because “the cost of lift passes, equipment hire and ski school continues to vary by hundreds of pounds.”

Kranjska Gora offered the lowest ski-school prices at £399 for five to six half days. For a family of four, the total cost of a week at the Slovenian resort fell by nearly a quarter to £1,714.

Plunkett advised families who have yet to book to “compare resort prices for ski equipment hire and lift passes, as well as for meals and drinks, as these can make a big difference to the overall cost of a ski holiday”.

Swiss resorts remain the most expensive, costing over £1,100 for one adult skier.

The list of venture capitalists and Silicon Valley insiders joining the next presidential administration is growing. Just this week, President-elect Donald Trump named Jacob Helberg, an adviser to Palantir Technologies and husband to Keith Rabois, a Khosla Ventures managing director, as a top economic policy and trade official. Helberg follows Craft Ventures co-founder David Sacks and, of course, Elon Musk to roles in the new administration.

My bet is that we’re not done. People close to some of Trump’s current advisers point to a number of venture capitalists and founders who could serve advisory roles, largely because they already have ties to Washington or Trump. As with Sacks and Musk, these roles may not be full time and they could be more limited in scope—say, acting as advisers on particular policies like defense, artificial intelligence or crypto. Some are involved in the transition or helping interview candidates, stints that could wind down in January.

For instance, Shaun Maguire, the Sequoia Capital partner behind the firm’s bets in SpaceX and other Elon Musk companies, has been one of several industry executives and lawmakers interviewing candidates for roles in the next administration, including ones focused on defense, according to a person familiar with the process. Marc Andreessen, meanwhile, has been interviewing candidates for the new Department of Government Efficiency, co-led by Musk, according to a different person.

Already a group of such industry advisers has coalesced under the New American Industrial Alliance, including Joe Lonsdale’s 8VC, General Catalyst and Palantir, to offer policy recommendations to the incoming administration about manufacturing in defense and beyond. Startup accelerator Y Combinator, AI chip startup Extropic and Oklo, a Sam Altman–backed nuclear company, have joined the group, according to the group. This effort shows how a variety of Silicon Valley groups are angling to get their message across to the new administration.

Andreessen Horowitz partner Katherine Boyle is another name that’s come up in conversations about potential advisers. She was an early proponent of the American Dynamism concept, which focuses on investing in defense, aerospace, manufacturing and other startups conducive to U.S. national interests. She now co-leads the Andreessen Horowitz fund by that name. The venture capitalist is a longtime attendee of the Reagan National Defense Forum and spoke on a panel there last week. And her American Dynamism summit in Washington has hosted speakers such as Republican Sen. Todd Young and current Deputy Department Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks.

Andreessen Horowitz already has earned some good graces with the new administration. Co-founder Marc Andreessen endorsed Trump in July, saying the candidate would have a friendlier attitude toward crypto and AI. That seemed to embolden other venture investors to proclaim their support. Brian Quintenz, head of policy at Andreessen Horowitz’s digital asset arm, a16z Crypto, has emerged as a top contender for Commodity Futures Trading Commission chair, Bloomberg reported.

The other firm likely to be close to the administration is Founders Fund. Trump appointed Founders Fund and PayPal co-founder Ken Howery as the U.S. Ambassador of Sweden during his last presidency. Howery was involved with a fundraising event for candidate Trump earlier this year, according to someone who spoke to him, and could be given a similar ambassadorship now.

After Trump won 2016’s presidential election, Founders Fund’s Trae Stephens, then just a principal at the firm, was asked by his boss, Peter Thiel, to join him on the transition team. Stephens, whom I profiled in July, spent a few months on the team in the beginning of 2017. Stephens has since been floated as a candidate for deputy secretary of defense, according to The Wall Street Journal.

That may be a stretch, given his jobs: Stephens is now a general partner at Founders Fund helping run day-to-day operations, as well as executive chair of Anduril, which he co-founded. Still, investors close to Stephens expect to see him advise on tech policy or how the Defense Department works with startups. Stephens has worked at various posts within government in the past, including at a U.S. intelligence agency.

Much is in flux, encouraging investors and entrepreneurs to knit closer ties to the incoming leadership. For a moment, the hottest Silicon Valley hot spots are located in the lobbies of the Four Seasons and The Breakers—a 10-minute drive from Mar-a-Lago.

Company will be accountable for delivering next generation combat aircraft under Global Combat Air Programme

The national defence champions of the UK, Italy and Japan have struck a deal to govern the production of a next generation fighter jet, as the three nations push forward their ambitious plan to have the aircraft flying by 2035. 

Under the agreement signed in London on Friday, the three companies — Britain’s BAE System’s, Italy’s Leonardo and the Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement Co (JAIEC) — will each hold a 33.3 per cent share in the new group, giving them an equal degree of influence over the project. 

JAIEC was set up this summer and is jointly funded by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and the Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies. 

The new venture, which will be based in the UK, will be accountable for the design, development and delivery of the next generation combat aircraft under the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP). The industrial agreement follows the signing of a trilateral treaty between the three nations last year.

Unveiled in 2022, GCAP is one of the most ambitious military programmes ever attempted, aimed at expanding each nation’s defence capabilities to address rising security threats from Russia and China.

The companies’ three chief executives all welcomed the formation of the company. Charles Woodburn, chief executive of BAE, said it would “bring together the significant strengths and expertise of the companies involved”. 

The agreement comes as government officials from the three countries have been discussing the idea of bringing Saudi Arabia into GCAP, despite strong resistance from Tokyo.

Riyadh has been urging the UK, Japan and Italy to allow it to become a full partner in GCAP. However, people familiar with the discussions have said the Gulf state could join as a “plus one” partner consisting of purely financial participation and providing early orders for the fighter jet, rather than becoming a fully fledged participant. 

British defence secretary John Healey said earlier this month the UK was willing to consider allowing Saudi Arabia to “develop their links to join” the programme. Healey said there had been “detailed discussions between the four nations for some time” but stressed “there’s more work to do”.

Hiroshi Umino, a JAIEC staff member, said that the joint venture partners were currently studying how big an initial capital injection to make and staffing numbers, but the participation of any other countries would be a decision for the trio of governments.

“We see it as an extremely big step forward that we’ve come together as one company to properly make decisions and manage GCAP,” he told the Financial Times.

Umino added that Japan decided to participate through JAIEC since the nation has industrial expertise outside of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to contribute and it intends to transfer technology gained through the programme to several companies. 

The joint venture will subcontract the development and manufacture of the aircraft to the respective industrial partners in each country.

The exact split of the design and development still has to be agreed, but it will be shared equally between the three nations. The exact manufacturing allocation will be allocated at a later date when more is known about the volumes of aircraft each nation will procure.

The partners aim to deliver the supersonic jet in roughly half the time, and therefore at less cost, than previous generation aircraft such as the Eurofighter Typhoon. To meet the ambitious timetable, the three companies have been investing heavily in digital design and innovative engineering methods. Using digital modelling will help engineers on the project to collaborate on the design and identify problems earlier.  

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