Sorry to be a party-pooper, but this is the wrong kind of growth October 31, 2013 EVEN the Bank of England sometimes makes mistakes. It was forced to correct its most recent data on consumer borrowing yesterday, in a development that confirmed what many of us feared all along: credit is beginning to surge dangerously. Yes, the economy has rebounded; but in many ways we are seeing the wrong kind of [...]
The government’s plan to regulate the press is deeply flawed October 30, 2013 WRONG, wrong, wrong. That, I’m afraid, is the only way to describe the shameful decision last night by the Privy Council to institute a system of statutory regulation for publishers. The move confuses the need for states to seek to enforce the rule of law across all industries – for which new rules are usually [...]
Forget high speed rail. Driverless cars will revolutionise transport October 29, 2013 SOMETHING very exciting is about to happen in Milton Keynes, of all places. Starting in 18 months’ time, the Buckinghamshire town will host the first proper UK test of driverless cars. The trial will be modest by the standards of those happening elsewhere in the world – the hundred self-driving pods will use special lanes [...]
Don’t blame foreigners for our self-inflicted housing shortage October 28, 2013 LONDON’S housing policy is in a mess: rules, restrictions and levies make it hard and expensive to build homes in the right places, crimping supply. Combined with growing demand, this has pushed prices up. While the coalition’s reforms have helped slightly, making it easier to convert old offices and simplifying some rules, and more public [...]
Why we should all remember the man who built Canary Wharf October 28, 2013 THREE major forces help drive progress: economic and legal institutions; people, especially risk-taking buccaneers and entrepreneurs; and chance. The creation of Canary Wharf is a case study of how all three factors interact: its rise from the ashes of the bankrupt Docklands transformed London’s economy, enabling it to build and retain a world class financial [...]
Why the Carney doctrine is great news for London’s economy October 24, 2013 BANKER bashing is over – that was the dramatic message from Mark Carney last night, as he finally ditched his predecessor Lord King’s hostility to the City, replacing it instead by a much more sensible approach. In a remarkable speech which signals a new settlement between the UK state and international finance, the governor of [...]
Five facts about the modern world that will make you think October 23, 2013 1 IN the US, over 8,000 waiters have PhDs or equivalent qualifications, as have 5,057 cleaners. Roughly 317,000 waiters have university degrees, as have 80,000 bartenders and 18,000 parking attendants. These figures have been highlighted by Richard Vedder of the University of Ohio, and are based on official statistics from 2010; today’s situation is unlikely [...]
Major’s windfall tax idea is as silly as Miliband’s energy price cap October 22, 2013 EVERY so often, when I get depressed about the state of contemporary British politics, I begin to recall with something close to fondness Sir John Major’s time as prime minister from 1990 to 1997. These days, others have also started to make the same mistake, perhaps unsurprisingly. Much of Major’s 1997 election manifesto was lucid [...]
Corporatism, rigged markets and a new ideological showdown October 21, 2013 FORGET the old politics of left versus right. Britain faces a choice between three philosophies – capitalism, corporatism and social democracy – with adherents scattered across all political parties, as the nuclear energy fiasco has demonstrated yet again. Capitalism involves a genuinely private sector that competes for customers: if companies make a profit, they expand, [...]
We are signing up to decades of over-priced electricity. Why? October 21, 2013 OUR energy policy is going from bad to worse. Not only are our bills already rocketing, largely as a result of a flurry of costly UK and EU green initiatives, but we are about to lock in high prices for decades to come by signing up to a fresh supply of horrendously over-priced nuclear electricity. [...]