Crisis turning into real threat for PM March 26, 2012 IT still seems likely that the coalition will last for a while yet. But the pressure is mounting again, with the resignation of financier Peter Cruddas as Tory party Treasurer and fresh allegations about party funding dealing another blow to David Cameron. Many in the City have become too complacent about the longevity of this [...]
UK and Europe on a collision course March 13, 2012 IT is the elephant in the room, the issue nobody wants to talk about. But the growing, irreconcilable gulf between what UK voters and their continental counterparts want from European integration will eventually become as important a question as the fallout from the economic crisis. The scale of the challenge is laid bare by YouGov-Cambridge [...]
Give yourself an edge in a tight job market March 7, 2012 NEW JOBS in banking and finance are not easy to find. Last week, Morgan McKinley released figures showing that the number of newly-open positions fell by 47 per cent in the year to February 2012. For the past four years, large numbers of candidates have pursued a persistently small number of jobs. The market for [...]
War on Britain’s aspirational classes March 6, 2012 THERE is something very wrong with Britain’s tax system. Imagine you are an aspiring, successful hard-working individual; after several years putting in the hours, you now earn £42,475 a year. You’re already a victim of the tax system: you pay no tax on your first £8,105, but then face 20 per cent tax on the [...]
Facilities Management – The Road to Recovery March 5, 2012 Difficult times: Facilities management providers are supporting UK businesses in unstable economic conditions.
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 [...]