Will Theresa May’s “hostile environment” become our “hostile nation”? July 13, 2016 At the moment, an hour is a long time in politics, but all being well Theresa May will be our next Prime Minister by this evening. As pundits speculate on what will define her premiership, most assume it will be the priority to invoke Article 50 and initiate the Brexit process. But it would be [...]
Brexit and anti-establishment politics: The Out vote was the first great thwack against the status quo July 13, 2016 A groundswell of disenchantment with ruling elites across Europe is threatening to destabilise the region. There were 35 separate calls for referendums from alternative parties in the EU in the 24 hours after the UK’s Leave vote was announced, according to the European Council on Foreign Relations, although not all were explicitly about exiting the [...]
Three immediate challenges to the new government are apparent July 13, 2016 Recently I sat next to the head of corporate lending at one of the big banks. The usual question of “how’s business” was inevitably asked, with the answer “just had six quarters of lending growth but the last two weeks… awful! Especially with infrastructure, we had so much in the pipeline but confidence is low”. [...]
Three reasons why gold is the best-peforming investment this year, and prices are going to keep on rising July 13, 2016 Gold has been one of the best-performing assets this year, and the weeks since Brexit was announced have pushed the precious metal higher. Gold is now priced at $1,373 an ounce, 22 per cent or $312 higher than when 2016 began. Of all the investment funds out there, gold funds are the five best performers. [...]
This is how insurers can become part of the sharing economy July 13, 2016 If the general public was asked ‘what does the insurance industry do’, it’s unlikely the answer would be; ‘it supports entrepreneurial innovation and endeavour ’. But that’s precisely what insurers do and the exponential growth of the sharing economy has provided an interesting challenge for insurers in this role. Sharing enablers such as AirBnB, RideLink and Vrumi are [...]
What Theresa May as Prime Minister means for the future of the fraud squad July 13, 2016 Monday saw the pound spike and the FTSE 100 creep back into bull territory following Andrea Leadsom’s exit from the Conservative party leadership race. It was clear that bookies’ favourite Theresa May’s campaign to frame herself as the candidate for stability in the post-referendum chaos had resonated deeply with markets. Yet while those in the [...]
Let’s not be misled by the Celtic Tiger’s roar July 13, 2016 Behold the Celtic Tiger! Ireland’s economy grew by a whopping 26.3 per cent last year according to the country’s official stats office, which put out revised numbers yesterday – that’s over 11 times as much as the UK, and more than three times faster than India’s widely-celebrated economic expansion. Incredible, eh? There’s a reason why [...]
Indian nationals need a new visa: Britain is shooting itself in the foot with its backward system July 13, 2016 The UK-India relationship is one of both traditional and contemporary strength. Current business secretary Sajid Javid has described the partnership as being at a “key juncture” and as providing “opportunities we would be foolish to ignore”. And with a UK-India trade agreement hailed a “deal made in heaven” by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), now [...]
With the Labour Party in complete turmoil, does it have any chance of regaining power by 2025? July 13, 2016 Alex Thomson, director at Hanover Communications, says Yes. Politics is a bit like geology. For years it can appear that nothing is happening. But the tectonic plates are ever shifting under the surface, and finally things erupt. So while Labour may be facing a number of problems at the moment, including a fall in Jeremy Corbyn’s [...]
History shows us why the next chancellor must tighten the belt July 13, 2016 On the face of it, the Brexiteers have a bit of explaining to do. A week before the vote, Boris Johnson dismissed fears about the value of sterling, and accused the governor of the Bank of England of “talking the economy down”. Yet the economy does seem to have stalled, property funds have had to suspend [...]