Osborne misses a great opportunity November 30, 2011 AS ever, it was Lewis Carroll who put it best in Alice Through the Looking Glass: “The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday – but never jam today.” Even that could be too optimistic: reading between the lines of yesterday’s mini-Budget, it is clear that the UK is out of money to an even [...]
Even Germany is feeling the pressure November 24, 2011 WHO will bail-out the bail-outers? That is the grim, almost philosophical, question facing the Eurozone this morning. Germany and its long-suffering taxpayers were meant to be the last chance for the Eurozone, the milch cow that would eventually be forced to step in, cheque book in hand, to prevent a calamitous collapse triggered by the [...]
Rights and wrongs of boardroom pay November 23, 2011 IT’S simple, really. Good bosses who improve their company and grow returns to shareholders should be rewarded and see their pay go up; bad bosses who destroy shareholder value should see their pay cut or be fired without a big payoff. That should be the culture in the City. The only exception to this rule [...]
Brownonomics makes a shock return November 22, 2011 AT one point yesterday, I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t having a nightmare. Is Gordon Brown still Prime Minister, I asked myself? The reason for my madness, dear readers, was the coalition’s dreadful neo-Brownite plan to part-guarantee 95 per cent mortgages. It was the kind of policy reminiscent of tax credits [...]
Let’s not go back to sub-prime loans November 21, 2011 THERE are two ways one can address a problem caused by faulty policies: by tackling its root causes – or by addressing some of its manifestations, and risk creating more issues thanks to the law of unintended consequences which plagues all government actions. Regrettably, when it comes to house prices, the government is largely going [...]
Eurozone’s growing crisis threatens to derail UK’s coalition November 4, 2011 WHAT a tale of incompetence, mad chutzpah, bullying and stupidity. The tragi-comedy that is the Eurozone’s crisis, and especially the farcical going-ons in Greece, ought at some point to be turned into a Hollywood movie. All the ingredients are present for a blockbuster, from cartoonish figures such as Nicolas Sarkozy or Silvio Berlusconi to the [...]
Europe is finally giving up on Greece November 3, 2011 WHO will blink first? The Greeks – or the Eurozone? Both have lots to lose from a Greek collapse and withdrawal from the euro; and Georgios Papandreou’s decision to bet everything on a referendum on the bailout package has massively upped the stakes. Until yesterday, it seemed as if Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel would [...]
Why the Archbishop has got it wrong November 2, 2011 I must confess that I’m glad not to be a member of the Church of England, an institution that has been hemorrhaging members ever since anybody can remember. While I have the deepest respect for the remaining band of Anglican churchgoers (though not for the CoE’s leadership), I can’t say I’m surprised by the Church’s [...]
Suits and the City October 20, 2011 The three piece revival: Waistcoats are back Look sharp in black tie How to wear a contrast collar shirt