QE not the answer to UK’s problems February 10, 2012 IF the Bank of England is to be believed, more quantitative easing is necessary to make sure inflation doesn’t fall below its target. Yet the Bank’s record is not good enough to allow us to take it on trust. Simon Ward of Henderson calculates that the Bank’s forecasts for inflation in one year’s time have [...]
Britain is now an anti-business nation February 2, 2012 YES, this government is anti-business. This is the first time since 1994, when Tony Blair took over the Labour party, that both government and opposition are united in their relentless attacks on corporate Britain, money-making and the City. The difference in those days – and starting in 1979 – was that the Tories were in [...]
This sorry RBS saga isn’t over yet January 30, 2012 THERE can be no doubt that the worst decision Stephen Hester ever made was to join a bankrupt and freshly nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland in November 2008. On the face of it, the mission he was given by the Labour government was exciting and vitally important: to turn around, drastically downsize and prepare for [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS January 30, 2012 The Co-Operative Group The Co-operative Group has appointed Steve Murrells as chief executive of its food business replacing Tim Hurrell, who retired last year. Murrells, who will report to group CEO Peter Marks when he starts in July, will join Britain’s fifth largest food retailer from Danish meat company Tulip, where he is UK chief [...]
Why a wealth tax is a very bad idea January 23, 2012 EVERY few months, when the going gets tough for the Liberal Democrats, Vince Cable renews his call for a “Mansion Tax.” With the LibDems slumping to a disastrous 9 per cent in a YouGov poll, against 41 per cent for the Tories and 36 per cent for Labour, it was no surprise to see him [...]
The Gresham, an art deco palace on the Danube, is Budapest’s finest hotel January 16, 2012 Budapest is sometimes compared to Paris. While very pleasant indeed – especially if you go in the summer and lounge by the vast 19th century public baths in the scorching sun – the city doesn’t really compete with Paris in terms of beauty, architecture or cultural riches. With its history of hardship and decimation, how [...]
Cameron right to back shareholders January 9, 2012 SO David Cameron believes in capitalism after all. His proposal to give shareholders a binding vote on the pay of their CEOs is sound. Companies are owned by shareholders, not directors, government, workers or busybodies; it is shareholders’ job to be involved in key decisions and not become absentee landlords. Rewards for failure in business [...]
US trade gap narrows sharply in October December 9, 2011 The US trade deficit narrowed in October to its lowest in 10 months, but imports from China hit a record high, a new government report has shown. The trade gap totaled $43.5bn, in line with a consensus estimate from analysts before the report. However, the Commerce Department revised its estimate of the September trade deficit [...]
Cameron must be radical on Europe December 8, 2011 ONCE again, the British public is being mis-sold a European treaty. Some of what is being proposed is, as advertised, about “saving” the euro by trying to make it harder for nations to overspend and over-borrow. But what has imposing a Tobin tax on London, to raise billions that would be transferred to Brussels, got [...]