Autumn Statement 2016: Philip Hammond shouldn’t base changes to pensions tax relief on older people’s situation today November 22, 2016 According to some reports, tomorrow’s Autumn Statement could be both the first and last for the new chancellor, because Philip Hammond is said to be in favour of sticking to a single annual Budget. We’ve become used to the biannual format, with a fresh set of policies emerging from the chancellor’s red box twice each year. [...]
Theresa May takes aim at the wrong energy targets November 21, 2016 Prime Minister Theresa May appears to be limbering up for a three-pronged attack on “rip-off” energy firms, failing broadband providers and any housebuilders that stockpile land. On the energy front, speculation has been mounting that the so-called big six energy firms will soon be told to offer fewer, simpler tariffs and make switching suppliers easier [...]
Did Theresa May’s “pro business” CBI speech do enough to reassure British companies? November 21, 2016 Simon Walker, director general of the Institute of Directors, says Yes. Businesses were feeling a bit unsure of how the Prime Minister viewed them after her speech to Conservative Party Conference last month, but she struck exactly the right tone yesterday, emphasising her support for entrepreneurs, innovators and free markets. Mrs May has been keen [...]
Autumn Statement 2016: Looming dangers demand an urgent rethink of monetary policy in Britain November 21, 2016 A widely-held, but erroneous, view is that low interest rates act invariably as a welcome, unambiguous boost to business, consumers and the economy. Nonetheless, it seems almost incredible that the Bank of England has maintained an emergency rate since March 2009. The granting of (notional) independence over monetary policy to this institution has allowed politicians [...]
His presidency could make or break the US: Would you serve under Donald Trump? November 21, 2016 After 10 days in the United States, and 216 hours or 12,960 minutes talking about the President-elect, how he won, his fiscal stimulus plans, his fraught relationship with the press, his tweets, his controversial comments about women, Mexicans and Muslims, the conflicts of interests, his children, who gets security clearance, his apologies, his friendliness towards [...]
Ending discrimination against families in the tax and benefits system would mark chancellor Philip Hammond as a true radical November 21, 2016 Every now and again we have a radical government that changes the way things are done. Lots of governments try to give the impression of being radical by implementing swathes of new legislation. But really radical governments that change the course of history are rare. In the post-war period, we have only had the 1945 [...]
Virtual reality is the future – but it turns my stomach November 21, 2016 I was lucky enough to try out Sony’s new virtual reality (VR) headset this month for its Playstation 4 video game console. It was the first time I had experienced VR since the mid-1990s, in the days of the mega-arcades in London’s Trocadero (now sadly defunct). This new generation of an old concept managed to [...]
McDonnell’s profligacy will clash with reality November 21, 2016 Philip Hammond will treat us all to his first fiscal event on Wednesday, as he stands up to deliver a hotly anticipated Autumn Statement. Actually, that may be overdoing it. Let's just call it anticipated. After all, Hammond is no George Osborne. The latter was famed for using such set-piece occasions as an exercise in power-building, [...]
Why there won’t be much property magic in the Autumn Statement November 21, 2016 There is a long list of measures which, were they to appear in this Wednesday’s Autumn Statement, would be regarded as a magical outcome for us real estate types. For example: serious increases in the capital budget to fund infrastructure, which is both a facilitator of new development and a prerequisite for community acceptance of [...]
Dear Mr Trump… An open letter to the President-Elect on the foreign policy principles that will maintain America’s greatness November 21, 2016 “Now on the street tonight the lights grow dim/The walls of my room are closing in/There’s a war outside still raging/You say it ain’t ours anymore to win/I want to sleep beneath/Peaceful skies in my lover’s bed/With a wide open country in my eyes/And these romantic dreams in my head” – Bruce Springsteen, No Surrender [...]