America’s nervous breakdown leaves the free world without a protector November 9, 2016 Once at a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, the great and the good assembled there were invited to say what they saw as the number one single greatest problem confronting the world. The usual answers were tamely trotted out: Nuclear Proliferation, Pandemics, Terrorism, Global Warming, the tired four horsemen of the imaginary [...]
Let’s face it, Hillary Clinton was a terrible candidate – and Trump could be very good for Britain November 9, 2016 It is sadly commonplace to sneer at Americans in our country – a lamentable tradition of biting the hand that freed us. As the 2016 Presidential election is prompting the emergence of another bout of this regrettable tendency, I thought that I’d counsel against it here. Don’t get me wrong. I do not claim that [...]
RBS faces a long road to profitability as it seeks to put its problems behind it November 9, 2016 In an era of ultra low interest rates, ever tightening regulation and steep legacy fines, times are tough for banks. But taxpayer-backed RBS, which has not made a full-year profit since 2007 and has seen shares slide 36 per cent in the year to date, is having a particularly rough ride. This is largely through problems [...]
M&S dresses for success by choosing food over fashion November 9, 2016 As Marks & Spencer announces its turnaround plan, now is a great time to analyse how the retailer has reached this point, and whether a revival is possible. M&S reported falling sales and profits in the six months to the end of September and said it will close more clothing and home stores, and convert many [...]
Unpredictable and punitive taxation is threatening the competitiveness of UK banking November 9, 2016 Winston Churchill famously claimed that “for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle”. But for banking – Britain’s biggest export sector – the handle is still being pulled. New figures published today by the BBA show [...]
Theresa May is treading softly on immigration when Brexit Britain needs boldness November 8, 2016 Prime Minister Theresa May has said that she will allow the Indian government to nominate business executives to become members of the “Great Club”, a programme launched in 2013 for 100 of the world’s most senior business leaders to more easily get visas into Britain. The “Great Club” may have resonance in history, reaching back [...]
From the NHS to Brexit, give people a choice and they’ll make a good one November 8, 2016 A current headache for the government is the performance of the NHS, and whether it is running out of money. This was making the front pages until the judges’ decision on Brexit pushed it off. Successive governments have discovered that the finances of the health service are a potentially bottomless pit. A key policy issue [...]
Has Barack Obama been a good President? November 8, 2016 Ed Bowsher, senior analyst and joint output editor at Share Radio, says Yes. Barack Obama has definitely been a good President. He took over when the US was in the middle of an economic crisis – banking reform and a sizeable fiscal stimulus helped create a decent recovery. If you doubt whether the stimulus made [...]
Autumn Statement: Government has little room for giveaways November 8, 2016 In the early months of 1975, with Britain creaking out of recession, the government’s debt was equivalent to around 56 per cent of GDP. A year later, Harold Wilson was replaced as Prime Minister by James Callaghan who promptly went cap in hand to the IMF. Such was the parlous state of the UK’s economy, [...]
Britain is embracing free trade just as the world turns to protectionism November 7, 2016 In pointed contrast to President Obama, Donald Trump has promised Britain that it will be at the front of the queue for a free trade deal should he triumph in today’s presidential election. Yet whether a President Trump, or indeed a President Clinton, would be minded to expend political capital on any trade deal has been thrown [...]