Venezuela is a humanitarian crisis – and the British left just laughs January 25, 2019 “Nice company you’ve got there, @Dyson! Shame if we nationalised it.” So tweeted Owen Jones, Guardian columnist and fierce supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, in response to news that Dyson is relocating from Britain to Singapore. The tweet sparked the predictable outrage from people who believe that a private company should be able to take its [...]
There’s a lesson from Dyson’s Singapore move, but it has nothing to do with Brexit January 25, 2019 There’s no question that Dyson’s move from Wiltshire to Singapore will be a loss to Britain. The company boasts profits in excess of £1bn, employs 4,000 in its Malmesbury offices alone, and is one of the UK’s major business success stories. But that doesn’t justify the political backlash we’ve seen. In true polarising fashion, owner Sir [...]
Editor’s Notes: Davos – a festival of irrelevance and hypocrisy January 25, 2019 Davos brings the same delights every year. From the press release about the number of private jet movements to Oxfam’s annual criticism of the global super-rich, there are predictable elements to this week-long event. Another thing you can always be assured of is that some staggering hypocrisy will be on display. I came across a [...]
Apprenticeship levels up on last year but still hampered by 2017 levy January 24, 2019 More people started apprenticeships in the first quarter of the 2018-19 academic year than in the year before, but are still below equivalent figures reported in 2016-17 and 2015-16. There were 132,000 starts between August and October last year, up 15.4 per cent year-on-year from 114,300, according to Department for Education (DfE) figures published this [...]
Household spending reaches pre-crisis levels as labour market strengthens and inflation falls January 24, 2019 Household spending rose to pre-crisis levels last year and family spending power grew at its fastest rate in more than two years. Weekly spending rose to £572.60 in the year ending March 2018, the highest since 2005 after adjusting for inflation, the Office for National Statistics said today. Family spending power was also £11.37 – [...]
The Premier League is one of the UK economy’s star players January 24, 2019 I am a Stoke City supporter and a huge fan of all football. For me, it really is the beautiful game, and that makes me especially pleased that EY’s new report on the economic and social impact of the Premier League demonstrates just how much football contributes to the UK economy and society. The Premier League [...]
Davos: Liam Fox agrees future trade deal with Israel as UK seeks to maintain existing EU agreements after Brexit January 23, 2019 The UK has agreed its first post-Brexit free trade deal in principle, Liam Fox said at Davos today. The international trade secretary said Britain and Israel have shaken hands on a future deal ahead of the UK’s planned departure from the bloc. Read more: Fox warns Brexit delay would be worse than no deal “As [...]
No matter how we measure inflation, politics will forever trump economics January 23, 2019 THE ECONOMIC Affairs Committee of the House of Lords has got its bovver boots on. Last week, the government was given a sound kicking. The issue was the seemingly esoteric one of how to measure inflation. Inflation tells us how much the prices of goods and services are going up. The question is: what do [...]
Government borrowing higher than expected in December but annual borrowing falls to 16-year low January 22, 2019 Government borrowing came in higher than expected in December as the UK received less money back from the EU. Public sector net borrowing climbed to £3bn in December, £300m higher than the same month in 2017 and more than the £1.9bn City economists had expected. The Office for National Statistics said this was partly due [...]
Employment rate hits record high as wages reach new post-financial crisis peak January 22, 2019 Employment rose to a record high in the three months to November as wage growth hit a 10-year peak, according to official data released today. The number of people in paid work rose by 141,000 people to 32.53m, the Office for National Statistics said, giving a record employment rate of 75.8 per cent. Sterling surged [...]