As fellow Tories say he’s finished as chancellor, should George Osborne rip up last week’s Budget and start again? March 22, 2016 Ben Southwood, head of research at the Adam Smith Institute, says Yes. Though the country could do without yet more marquee financial policy events, economic gimmicks and ill-considered policy changes, George Osborne’s latest Budget was bad enough that he should consider ripping it up and starting again. Glossing over the practical political costs – centred [...]
Apple’s iPhone SE launch was “meh”, but maybe that’s the point March 21, 2016 People still want a small phone that fits in their pocket. Yes yes, Apple has been trumpeting about bigger screens for the last year, so you’d be forgiven for thinking that was the future. But the average joe? Probably doesn't care as much about that as the most avid Apple fan, journalist or tech analyst [...]
Iain Duncan Smith’s dramatic resignation adds insult to injury for chancellor George Osborne March 21, 2016 A senior politician toured the broadcast studios on Sunday morning, accusing the government of presiding over “deeply unfair” policies and “drifting in a direction that divides society rather than unites it". This blistering attack wasn't launched by a fired-up Jeremy Corbyn but by a man who, just 48 hours previously, had been a senior member [...]
Turkey’s Putin mini-me has revealed the truth about the EU: It’s dead March 21, 2016 The geopolitical sharks are moving in for the kill. It is now apparent to all but the most gormless that the European Union – never having economically bounced back from the euro crisis, or mastered its refugee crisis – is dead in the water. The logical follow-on from such a realisation is for the world’s [...]
Five steps City firms should take to tackle London’s youth unemployment problem March 21, 2016 Just as companies have been breaking down the detail of last week’s Budget, the City Corporation has launched a new report on youth unemployment – a subject which remains a real challenge in London. The capital has the third highest rate of 16-24 year olds out of work in England, with nearly one in five [...]
Petrobras corruption is a sideshow: Protectionism and profligacy are destroying Brazil’s economy March 21, 2016 "Brazil,” Charles de Gaulle quipped in the late 1950s, “is the country of the future – and always will be”. Many a true word is said in jest. For the past month, the country has been gripped by protests, spurred on by outrage at virulent corruption inside the state-owned oil firm Petrobras. The corruption scandal [...]
As leading stock markets erase their 2016 losses, was panic about recession earlier in the year absurd? March 21, 2016 Mick Grady, senior economist and strategist at Aviva Investors, says Yes. “I think it’s a myth that expansions die of old age”, said Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen in December last year when asked if the US was likely to see a recession in the near term. And yet soon after that, fears of US recession [...]
How the courts are punishing corporate offenders for fraud, bribery and corruption offences March 20, 2016 We have seen a spike in legal activity relating to bribery and corruption offences in recent months, with a bank, printing business and a large international property company all being subjected to fines and other penalties thanks to allegations of this kind. One long-standing problem with assessing such cases has been in identifying the role [...]
Budget 2016: With the appointment of Lord Heseltine to lead Thames Estuary Growth Commission is the government finally taking the Thames Estuary’s potential seriously? March 18, 2016 Asking someone to agree on the parameters of the Thames Estuary, one of the largest inlets on the coast of the United Kingdom, is almost as hard as asking someone to decide on the best way to unlock its economic potential. The 146 mile Estuary, once the launching place of England's great ships of exploration [...]
EU referendum: A Brexit would consign George Osborne’s Budget plans to the bin and put in jeopardy hopes of future growth. March 18, 2016 George Osborne’s Budget this week was mostly welcomed by the business community. But, his Budget plans for this year and beyond will be blown out of the water by Brexit, which the Office for Budget Responsibility warns is the biggest risk to the UK’s future prosperity, shattering its growth forecasts. And Brexit is increasingly likely [...]