London’s fanatical cyclists from hell are taking crazy risks with pedestrians’ lives October 20, 2016 Every morning on my walk into the City, I see the brand-new cycle path along the side of Blackfriars Road being put to good use. But every morning, I also see some of you cyclists riding on the pavement next to it, weaving among pedestrians. The special lane made for you, carved out (at significant [...]
Cutting the apron strings: How Brexit will force British banks to think on their feet October 20, 2016 I do not believe there is some fantasy world out there that if Britain leaves the EU we can somehow be economically better off.” The words of none other than former chancellor George Osborne, prior to Brexit. But despite the initial aftershock, the Bank of England’s latest GDP forecast clearly shows that Britain’s economy hasn’t [...]
Wanted: A market breakthrough to solve poverty in rich countries October 20, 2016 What is the point of a free market system? It’s to lift people out of poverty, giving them a better life, richer in every way. By this test, free markets have been fantastically successful historically. But rich countries, from the UK and America to those in Europe, have done nothing much for the poor in [...]
In defence of the global citizen: Bashing the cosmopolitan way of life is the stuff of the seventies October 20, 2016 If you believe you are a citizen of the world, you are a citizen of nowhere,” recently declared our Prime Minister. I believe that this statement is both parochial and narrow-minded, as if spoken by someone who has only ever lived in one country, spoken one language and does not know better. I grew up [...]
With less than three weeks until voters go to the polls, is Donald Trump now too far behind to win? October 20, 2016 Ed Bowsher, deputy editor at Share Radio, says Yes. I said back in January that Hillary Clinton would beat Donald Trump and I haven’t changed my mind. Trump’s comments on women have been very damaging and his victory next month is extremely unlikely. Clinton’s average poll lead over Trump is now 7 per cent, according to [...]
Another day, another delay to new runway October 20, 2016 When is a delay not a delay? When it involves putting down a new runway in the south east of England. Earlier this week, prime minister Theresa May, said to be in favour of expansion at Heathrow, signalled that the Cabinet would decide next Tuesday on where to put a new strip. That, however, will [...]
Financial services need attention, not favours October 19, 2016 In the first episode of the Great British Bake Off one of the presenters, Sue Perkins, asks a contestant what he does for a living. “I work in the City as a client service associate,” came the reply, to which Perkins responded “basically a banker” before making a joke about the global financial crisis. Unfortunately, [...]
Is Ukip dead? October 18, 2016 Harriet Maltby, head of policy research, Prosperity Index at the Legatum Institute, writing in a personal capacity, says Yes. Ukip has long been a confused combination of Nigel Farage with his middle-class Eurosceptic Tories and disgruntled working-class Labour voters. It was Nigel, and the personality cult that followed him, that held the party together. Now he has [...]
Inequality doesn’t matter if we’re all paid according to the value we create October 18, 2016 Log on to Netflix and you can catch old episodes of Dirty Jobs, where you can watch host Mike Rowe visit plumbers, pig farmers, and steel mill workers and try his hand at some of the less sexy but utterly fascinating jobs that help make the world around us possible. All of these people work incredibly hard, [...]
Thank competition – not magical central bankers – for years of moderate inflation October 18, 2016 Tempers are fraying at the highest levels of economic policy-making in the UK. Theresa May, at the Conservative Party conference, emphasised the “bad side effects” for savers of the Bank of England’s policy of near-zero interest rates, a position reinforced by former Tory leader William Hague in the Telegraph this week. A few days ago, Mark [...]