“Buy when there’s blood in the streets, even if the blood is your own,” was the maxim of 19th-century banker Nathan Rothschild. Not all other investors have shared his appetite for risk but most have always seen gold as the ultimate safe haven – and no more so than today, with the price of the precious metal soaring 50% this year, far outpacing returns from equities. In October, the gold value hit $4,380 an ounce, an all-time record.

What is driving the gold rush?
The gold price increase has been largely driven by uncertainty – “whether that is geopolitical” or “economic”, Ryan McIntyre, from investment management firm Sprott, told The New York Times. Institutions are attracted to gold as a store of value in times of crisis, the latest of which include tariff wars and fears of an AI stock crash.

Central banks, too, have increasingly sought protection “not against short-term meltdowns but longer-run changes”, said The Economist. According to the International Monetary Fund, central bank holdings of physical gold in emerging markets have risen 161% since 2006, with purchases going into overdrive in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Both China and Russia have ramped up switching their official reserve assets out of currencies such as the US dollar and into gold.

The US government shutdown also increased “long” positions held by hedge funds on gold futures, meaning that speculators are “the most likely drivers of recent price movements”.

What does it all mean?
Citadel CEO Ken Griffin recently said the rising price of gold is an indication of something big. “That something is a loss of trust,” said The Telegraph. “A loss of trust first and foremost in US treasuries, but also in other G7 government bond markets, including the UK.”

Stress in the long-term bond markets combined with a devaluation of the US dollar, which suffered its biggest decline in more than half a century this year, have unsettled investments usually seen as low risk.

The “exploding gold prices” are a “warning sign”, said Paolo Pasquariello, professor of finance at the University of Michigan. It is a “leading indicator of troublesome times ahead for the US economy”. 

YouTuber Jake Paul will go toe-to-toe with Britain’s former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in Miami next month in a bout that promoters have billed as the “most dangerous” contest of the influencer’s boxing career. Joshua, 36, will be “the first active, elite-level champion” that Paul has faced in the ring, said the BBC, and there are serious concerns about his safety.

Defying belief 
This will be Paul’s “14th fight since turning pro five years ago – with the 28-year-old YouTuber-turned-boxer having won all but one so far”, said The Sun. But taking on Joshua is a “whole different kettle of fish”.

The two-time world heavyweight champion has agreed to shed several pounds to meet the agreed weight limit of 245lb (17st 7lb) for the 19 December bout. But that still means Joshua will enter the ring five inches taller and around four stone heavier than his rival. Boxing fans are already “worried” about Paul’s chances of “actually surviving the fight”.

In the UK such a match-up would be “banned” because of the “serious safety fears”, said The Telegraph. This “shocking” plan “defies belief” and “breaks so many codes for the sport”. This is nothing more than a “money heist”: a £140 million fight, with Joshua reportedly set to earn more than £30 million from the Netflix-streamed event.

‘Laughing stock’
The two fighters have “found themselves at a crossroads” recently, said the Daily Mail. Paul has been “on the search for a more credible opponent” after his bout with WBA lightweight champion Gervonta Davis was cancelled, while Joshua “will be looking to shake off 13 months of ring-rust”.

Joshua has put himself in a “no-win situation”, said former world champion Johnny Nelson on Sky Sports. It won’t reflect well on him if he loses and, if he “goes in there and knocks him out, then you would say that’s to be expected”.

Boxing’s credibility has already “taken a hit because of difficulties arranging fights at the highest level” and an “influx” of cash from Saudi Arabia, said the BBC. For some, influencer fights represent an avenue to “attract new fans” and help “safeguard the future of the sport”. But “others argue they render it a laughing stock”.

A sculptor puts the finishing touches to a frozen unicorn at the Polar Ice Bar – one of the attractions at Edinburgh’s Christmas in the Scottish capital’s city centre.

Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images

With its “waist-high powder” and “slick” infrastructure, it’s little surprise Japan’s Niseko ski region has become so “popular”, said Annabel Grossman in The Independent.

Skiers and snowboarders around the world have “felt the lure of Japan’s mountains”, and are increasingly “swapping European and North American resorts” for “the peaks of east Asia”. Niseko, on Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido, is a “far cry from the charming chalets of the French resorts” but it has its own “very special appeal”.

The region spreads between four resorts dotted around the Annupuri mountain: Hanazono, Grand Hirafu, Niseko Village and Annupuri. All are linked by a convenient shuttle bus and “well connected, modern lifts”. There are far fewer crowds here than at most European resorts, so you’re unlikely to have to queue for the gondolas.

On-piste, the “thick, fluffy” snow is a “dream to ski” and “the off-piste by the slopes” has “shorter sections, allowing less experienced skiers to take advantage of the legendary powder”. There is also “plenty of challenging back country for advanced skiers”.

Perhaps one of the biggest draws is night skiing. While most pistes in Europe close relatively early, a few long pistes in Niseko are open “long into the evening”. There is something “magical” about skiing on “near-deserted” slopes “below the soft glow of the piste lights”.

Niseko’s four resorts aren’t as big as those in France or Switzerland, said Damien Gabet in The Telegraph. But this is “offset by a skiing experience entirely novel to the European veteran”: less peaks and ravines; more “shallow valleys and sweeping tree-runs”.

And the après-ski is “incomparable”. Instead of “shots at the bar”, expect “seated sake and real-deal dining experiences”, including yakitori and sushi joints, and Michelin-starred restaurants.

Labour’s asylum plans are horribly cruel – but they’re also a mix of hype, old policy and unachievable promises
Diane Taylor in The Guardian
Refugees and asylum seekers are “panicked” that they will be “uprooted once again” by the home secretary’s immigration reforms, writes Diane Taylor. The proposed changes are “eye-catchingly draconian”. Perhaps “the government feels that the pain will be worth it and people will obediently stop” arriving in small boats. But our leaders will “regret” the “damage” this “will cause”. Our society “will only splinter further” as the “policies of hate and division become embedded”.

Scotland’s sex-selective abortion plan is a dystopian nightmare
Celia Walden in The Telegraph
The SNP “is considering plans to allow women to abort babies because of their sex”, a practice “endorsed by religious nations” where male babies are preferred, writes Celia Walden. We could “make it clear that here in the UK”, it’s viewed as “morally repugnant”, but “our brave new world is all about choice” now. “Just as we tick off ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’” when ordering pizza, we can “engineer our progeny”. This “progress” makes me “queasy”.

A ‘sleep divorce’ is bad for you? No surprise to me
Robert Crampton in The Times
“I’ve always had my suspicions” about this “trend” for couples sleeping in separate rooms, writes Robert Crampton. The occasional night, “if someone’s ill” or “steaming drunk”, is “fair enough”. But a “permanent arrangement smacks of giving up”. They call it “a sleep divorce”: “the clue’s in the name”. Physical intimacy – “cuddling and whatnot” – is “an essential element” of a relationship and, “if there are two doors and a landing between you, that intimacy ain’t happening”.