Brian Reading has been an influential contributor to global economic debate since the late 1950s and founded the World Service at Lombard Street Research in 1991.

In his early career he was Special Advisor to the Governor of the Bank of England and later Special Advisor to the Minister of Economic Affairs. In 1966 he was economic advisor and speechwriter to the Leader of the Opposition (later Prime Minister) Edward Heath and wrote the "At a Stroke" speech which some say won the 1970 British election.  During this period he also contributed to working groups on trade union reform, the design of VAT and advised in the rescue of Rolls Royce. His distinguished career has also included acting as consultant to many US asset management firms

Brian Reading was the inaugural Economics Editor of The Economist in 1972, and he coined the phrase "stagflation" in an article entitled "The Word is Stagflation". He campaigned for flat rate tax, popularised the "Laffer Curve" and forecast the 1974 world recession.

Brian has a distinguished journalistic background, having made numerous contributions to both press and journals including The Spectator, The Sunday Times, The Financial Times and The European.

He is considered a world authority on the Japanese economy and has published two books, Japan: The Coming Collapse (1992)is now regarded as a classic, and The Fourth Reich (1995).

Brian now shares his unique perspective on economic events with our clients in a regular column  entitled "Required Reading". In his own words:

Not all entries will be tomorrow's news today. Some entries will be timeless. Nor am I contrarian. I just don't take consensus or conventional views for granted.