The European Union is facing a perfect storm this summer May 26, 2016 As Europeans look ahead to summer holidays, the union faces a series of severe tests. By now, drama in Greece and mid-year market gyrations may seem routine, but the number and timing of this year’s challenges set 2016 apart from summers past. With the UK’s referendum on EU membership set for 23 June, Spain’s rerun general [...]
We’ve not even scratched the surface of fintech’s true potential – and banks will struggle to keep up May 26, 2016 Fintech innovation has seen rapid growth over the past few years and is producing businesses with scalable products. In turn, senior executives at banks are responding to the challenge these businesses present and have begun to set up their own incubators to capture this rapid innovation. Driving much of this has been the rise of [...]
G7 leaders must recognise that monetary policy alone won’t solve the world’s ills May 26, 2016 Hosting a successful family get-together is a stressful business. Just ask Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. With the leaders of the world’s major economies arriving in Ise-Shima for a G7 summit, Abe has promised “candid” and “fruitful” discussions to tackle the challenges to global growth. But against the backdrop of sluggish activity, doubts about the [...]
The Trump effect: Why it pays to remain sanguine about the rise of the Republican renegade May 26, 2016 With his infamous “Great Wall” plans and talk of repealing “horrible” free trade deals – neither of which would be good for global business – Donald Trump is in step with the rising trend towards protectionism and populism seen in Europe. If the presumptive Republican nominee wins the Oval Office in November, City investors may [...]
As the EU says 20 per cent of Netflix content should be made in the European Union, is this a good reason to back Brexit? May 26, 2016 Len Shackleton, professor of economics at the University of Buckingham and fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs, says Yes. A quota for tedious German family sagas or subsidised reworkings of Napoleon’s triumphs, compulsorily advertised on the Netflix homepage, may not itself drive voters to Brexit. But attempting to regulate video-on-demand is symptomatic of the Commission’s ever-expanding [...]
Brexit campaigners need to remember, “its the economy, stupid!” May 25, 2016 Less than 30 days to go, and Boris Johnson has been speeding around in a sports car to over engineer a “take back control” metaphor while Nigel has been doing his latest man of the people act outside a pie and mash Café in Essex. Photo opportunities can, of course, make or break any campaign – [...]
RMT’s vote for a strike over Night Tube will be Sadiq Khan’s first test as mayor of London May 25, 2016 Well, that parade has been been well and truly rained upon. At the start of this week, TfL announced – to widespread cheers – that the long-promised Night Tube would (finally) launch in August. That promise remains on track, but yesterday the sense of triumph was darkened by the prospect of more strikes. The RMT, [...]
There is a smart case for diversity – but it’s not the one favoured by the trendy liberal elite May 25, 2016 Andy Haldane, chief economist at the Bank of England, hit the headlines last week with his confession that even he could not understand much of the material which pension providers give to customers. Less noticed, however, was a speech he gave the previous week at a dinner organised in aid of Children in Need on [...]
The UK has been negligently slow to frack – but shale gas has more promise than ever May 25, 2016 At last, five years after Cuadrilla’s last frack near Blackpool, Third Energy has been given the right to extract shale gas in North Yorkshire. This is what Churchill might have called “the End of the Beginning”. It’s a big moment, but only because the UK has been so negligently slow to seize the environmental, strategic [...]
With world leaders congregating in Japan for the G7 summit, is it just a pointless talking shop? May 25, 2016 Steve Davies, education director at the Institute of Economic Affairs, says Yes. The G7 summit, which is now a regular event in the circus of international get-togethers, is indeed both pointless and a talking shop. The problem is that its perceived point is neither possible nor desirable. These meetings give the impression that the attending world [...]