Have you been pleasantly surprised by Donald Trump’s performance since the election? November 14, 2016 Tim Worstall, senior fellow of the Adam Smith Institute, says Yes. Pleasantly surprised is to put it mildly. The sight of special snowflake heads exploding in outrage all around has been hugely enjoyable. According to them, threats to deport 3m illegal immigrants seem to be different from the 3m deported under the Obama administration. The [...]
The behavioural biases that explain why Mr Market is unruffled by Mr Trump November 14, 2016 The world is not short of comment and analysis following the election of Donald Trump as US President. In some ways, the coverage is indicative both of the result’s unexpected nature and its historical significance. It is fascinating, therefore, that an event of such magnitude has created barely a ruffle in stock markets. Step back from [...]
Why Trump voters will now be suffering from Trumpgret November 14, 2016 It is fascinating, albeit in a sad way, to see politicians making promises they won’t or can’t keep. A prime example was Vote Leave’s pledge to hand the £350m per week sent to the EU to the NHS instead. It was scrapped from the campaign’s website the day after the Brexit vote. Last week’s election win by [...]
The economic benefits of a free port scheme after Brexit are an illusion November 14, 2016 Leave campaigners in the referendum liked to talk about Britain’s being a “seafaring nation”. It is in this vein that the anti-EU Centre for Policy Studies has released a report today advocating a new “free ports” policy for a post-Brexit Britain. If carried out by the Government, their proposal will succeed only in sinking our [...]
The new lord mayor must look to the future November 14, 2016 The City now has its 689th lord mayor. On Saturday, Andrew Parmley donned the traditional finery and paraded through the City in the magnificent State Coach that has carried his predecessors every year since 1757. The Lord Mayor’s Parade is one the most public-facing elements of the City of London Corporation, which can lay claim to [...]
Sir Stuart Rose, chairman of Dressipi: The next revolution in retail is data-based, personalised services, and the UK is at the vanguard November 14, 2016 THE DEMISE of BHS and Austin Reed, as well as gyrating retail sales figures, has again highlighted the variety of headwinds facing the retail sector, particularly on the high street. These include: the threat from companies such as Amazon, increasing costs, squeezed margins, keeping brands fresh or even the good, old-fashioned unpredictable British weather. The [...]
The world according to Trump: American nationalism now drives US foreign policy November 14, 2016 “Every good citizen makes his country’s honour his own.” – Andrew Jackson, seventh US President Donald Trump’s overall foreign policy views are not the mystery the highly-discredited commentariat presently make them out to be. He largely hews to what Walter Russell Mead calls the Jacksonian nationalist strain of American foreign policy, long a minority (if [...]
Shelve the EU’s anti-innovation precautionary principle to turbocharge the UK’s Fourth Industrial Revolution post-Brexit November 14, 2016 Thirty years ago, Big Bang launched a wave of technological change, transforming the City’s fortunes and securing its future. Facing down vested interests and naysayers, the Thatcher government understood that championing innovation would turbo-charge Britain’s economy – and seized the day. June’s EU referendum result was also a decisive turning point. Both Remainers and Leavers [...]
My key aim as lord mayor is to promote London’s unique business and cultural offering November 14, 2016 It has been a busy few days since starting as the 689th lord mayor. After my swearing in at the ancient Silent Ceremony on Friday came the world’s biggest and oldest street pageant: the Lord Mayor’s Show. Since 1215, every newly-elected lord mayor has travelled through the City of London to Westminster to swear loyalty to the [...]
Singles Day: What can British retailers learn from China’s version of Black Friday? November 11, 2016 Today marks the world’s largest e-commerce event. No, it’s not Black Friday yet – Singles Day is taking place in China, and it’s bigger than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. At midnight local time it took Alibaba just 52 seconds to take its first 1bn renminbi (£116m) and just under seven minutes to reach 10bn [...]