Could a focus on customer experience have saved BHS? June 3, 2016 Retailers have learnt harsh lessons about failing to stay relevant; the collapse of BHS is just the latest casualty. Like Woolworths and GAME before it, when BHS went into administration, the most common reaction was shock. However, the downfall of BHS cannot be considered a surprise. The company failed to keep up with the internet revolution and being outmanoeuvred [...]
Following the BHS collapse and Austin Reed’s closure, it’s clear retailers’ online offerings are not ready to save the British high street June 3, 2016 Another day and yet another high street retailer announcing its financial struggles – this week it is Austin Reed and BHS. The menswear retailer is closing 120 stores, after the announcement it was entering into administration in April. BHS has also announced that thousands of jobs are going to be lost as a result of closing 163 stores. [...]
Why the mortgage market is due to be shaken up by the tech revolution June 3, 2016 Scaling the housing ladder can feel like climbing Everest and nowhere more so than in the capital. From saving every penny for a first deposit, to scouring the tube map for the next undiscovered, reasonably priced gem, the affordability challenges are well documented. But there are other unnecessary challenges driven by an outdated industry that [...]
Dumbed down Brexit row patronises voters June 3, 2016 Like clockwork, yesterday brought another slew of extreme projections about the impact of Brexit. It would “destroy” young people’s hopes of getting on the housing ladder, says Remain, apparently forgetting George Osborne’s warning last month that house prices could fall dramatically if the UK quits the EU (surely a boon for first-time buyers). Leave has [...]
The EU’s efforts to save the failing euro will cost Britain dear if we vote to remain June 3, 2016 In the Eurozone, austerity rules. The poorer countries are kept in straitjackets, stopping the state from spending more and the banks from increasing lending to boost their economies. Half of all young people are out of work in Greece and in Spain. A quarter of all working age people have no job in much of southern [...]
Never Trump and Never Clinton have gifted Libertarians an historic opportunity to realign US politics June 3, 2016 The Never Trump movement was to be expected. A true outsider breaking into the right-wing political establishment was never going to go down smoothly, and Donald Trump’s behaviour since entering the US presidential race hasn’t made his candidacy any easier a pill to swallow among Republicans. What’s truly remarkable is the recent surge in the [...]
It’s Tax Freedom Day: It may be the latest it’s been since 2001 but you’re finally earning for yourself June 3, 2016 Ask a random person on the street how much tax they pay and they’ll usually guess around 20 per cent of their income. That’s the basic rate of income tax, and it’s easy to forget taxes like VAT, council tax, beer and wine duties, air passenger duty, motoring taxes and stamp duty. Even if you remind [...]
Brexonomics: The five most insidious anti-EU myths debunked June 3, 2016 Eurosceptics peddle a raft of myths about the economic costs of EU membership. These have little, if any, empirical basis, but Brexiteers cling to them doggedly however many times they are refuted by proper academic research. Let’s take a look at the five most insidious ones: One: we keep being told that quitting the EU [...]
With three weeks until the result, can we trust any of the EU referendum polls? June 3, 2016 John Curtice, senior research fellow at the NatCen Social Research and The UK in a Changing Europe initiative, says Yes. In many respects, the message of the polls has been consistent throughout this referendum campaign. Ever since the question that will appear on the ballot paper was settled last September, polls conducted over the internet have [...]
The only “logical” answer to Brexit: Declare London a city state June 2, 2016 I believe any rational assessment of the situation should lead to a vote to remain in the EU. There is almost universal consensus among economists and the major global economic institutions that a Brexit will result in an economic hit to the country. There is a small possibility that it might destabilise global financial markets. [...]