Bosses must engage with the media January 30, 2012 BANKERS, business people and CEOs – with a small number of exceptions – are proving useless at making their own case to the media and hence to the general public. It is frankly pathetic. Few members of our business and financial elite are willing to talk – and especially not on the record. At best, [...]
This sorry RBS saga isn’t over yet January 29, 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 [...]
A great growth market for London January 26, 2012 IT’S Friday, so for once let me recount a positive, upbeat success story. Increasingly, we are paying our way in the world by attracting visitors from overseas, who spend lots and sustain a growing number of jobs. London is third in the Euromonitor overseas visitor rankings, behind Hong Kong and Singapore. We are easily the [...]
Coalition deeply confused on growth January 25, 2012 IT is hard to understand what the coalition is playing at. Britain’s economy is stagnating, GDP appears to have shrunk in the last three months of 2011 and yet the government exudes no sense of emergency, no impression that it realises that we are in a national crisis and that radical, drastic and unpopular action [...]
Why capital gains tax isn’t too low January 24, 2012 RARELY have I seen such a nauseating US presidential election. All the candidates are poor, especially on the Republican side; but it is what passes for debate that is truly pathetic. Particularly depressing has been the vitriol directed at Mitt Romney, one of the two top Republican candidates, for deriving much of his income through [...]
Music industry shows content is king January 23, 2012 MOST industries have done well from the extraordinary change unleashed by the internet since the web went mainstream in 1994. Among the few exceptions have been content businesses, including the media and music industries, which have seen their old business models decimated by the technological revolution and which have struggled to build a viable alternative. [...]
Why a wealth tax is a very bad idea January 22, 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 [...]
Goodwin must lose his knighthood January 19, 2012 IT is time for Sir Fred to become once again plain Mr Goodwin. He should be stripped of his knighthood, awarded in 2004 for services to banking at a time when the Labour party and the Scottish establishment thought he was a genius and a great business hero. He was no such thing and ended [...]
Coalition needs to tackle jobs crisis January 18, 2012 BRITAIN’S jobs market has ground to a halt and with more people joining the labour force than leaving it unemployment is soaring. This is an emergency, yet the government is paralysed, with radical supply-siders (including, perhaps surprisingly, several advisers in 10 Downing Street) largely stymied, thanks to Vince Cable and allies. There are some reforms [...]
Britain is right to oppose a Tobin tax January 17, 2012 SUPPORTERS of an EU Tobin tax like to see themselves as the enemies of finance and supporters of the poor. They want to punish the City while raising money for increased public spending – or if the EU’s plan goes ahead, to finance Brussels. They are certainly right that such a tax would hurt financial [...]