A second deficit could hit chancellor George Osborne and the UK hard March 29, 2016 The Budget generated a hefty amount of political shrapnel for chancellor George Osborne, forcing him to eat humble pie in parliament and raising questions over his ability to balance the country’s books. This week, Osborne is likely to need his hard hat again when the latest balance of payments figures are published. The size of [...]
Islamic State is losing – but it must not be the West that destroys it March 29, 2016 With last week’s murderous attacks in Brussels, Islamic State (Isis) reminded us that it can strike at the heart of Europe, seemingly at will, and with depressing regularity. But while this is surely true, and will remain so for quite a time, like the wave of anarchist assassinations and terror attacks that plagued Europe at [...]
Corporation tax is a bad tax– but let’s make sure we replace it with something better March 29, 2016 The lack of meaningful reform of business taxation is one of the great failures of recent governments. But with public pressure mounting, MPs will soon have to move beyond headline-grabbing at parliamentary grillings and consider the future of corporation tax. We could of course muddle along and carry on taxing profits, perhaps gradually lowering the [...]
Why banks are humanity’s most perfect socialist institutions – and why we need to talk about bank capital March 29, 2016 Nine years after the start of the financial crisis, there has still been no rational discussion about bank capital. Blame this on the banks, who haven’t set out the arguments. Money is a figment of the human imagination. Historically, we’ve tinkered with ways of making it appear real – stamping coins, printing notes, putting up [...]
Is Brexit the most likely outcome of the EU referendum? March 29, 2016 Dr Madsen Pirie, founder and president of the Adam Smith Institute, says Yes. In the 1975 referendum, the then Prime Minister Harold Wilson announced major reforms to the EU. In fact, he had a scant handful of trivial concessions that made no difference whatsoever. The vote was to stay in because people were told they were [...]
Why Chinese leaders are laughing at Donald Trump March 29, 2016 China has been having a field day watching political events unfold in the US. There was a great piece in the Guardian recently by Tom Phillips (Democracy is a joke, says China – Just look at Donald Trump) depicting how Chinese leaders are laughing over what we call democracy. The article tells how Chinese authoritarian [...]
Note to our next Mayor – don’t rush towards a morning lorry ban without a thought-through plan March 24, 2016 In recent months’ mayoral election debates have seen an increasing focus on quality of life issues. Certainly everyone can agree that we all want London to remain a great place in which to live and work. However, to remain great, London also has to be a good place to run business and succeed. That’s why the growing calls [...]
London house prices: Solving the capital’s housing crisis needs more than just cynical promises from mayoral hopefuls March 24, 2016 Tottenham’s resurgence near the top of the Premier League seems to have dovetailed with its housing market, which has shot up 10 per cent in a year. Massive investment across north east London from long term investors such as Grainger, Argent and Legal & General is transforming the area, with a high focus on build to rent. Crucially, many [...]
Despite recent terrorist attacks in Brussels the world is a lot safer than it has been in the past March 24, 2016 In times like these, it is easy to become downhearted by global events. Another horrific and appalling terrorist attack in Europe has caused many of us to feel that we live in an increasingly violent and turbulent world. Looking at the data, it is true that Islamist-related conflict has prompted a rise in the global [...]
The trouble with predictions: Forecasting the future is the easiest job out there March 24, 2016 Will the economy go into recession this year? Will the British electorate vote for Brexit? These are just two of the questions everyone would love to know the answer to and there is an army of people willing to forecast them. But is their track record at forecasting any good? For some of the big picture [...]