Alcohol limits: How much wine should you drink each week? Why science can’t give a straight answer January 13, 2016 The biggest story for many people last week was the new alcohol guidelines issued by the UK’s chief medical officers. In 1995, the recommended weekly upper limit for men was set at 21 units, or about eight pints. This has now been slashed to only 14 units. We might imagine that this drastic reduction is [...]
Alternative finance can unlock the potential of small developers to tackle Britain’s housing crisis January 13, 2016 Hearing that the Prime Minister plans to open up public sector land for small-scale developments was a great way to start the year. Gaining access to land is a major hurdle that keeps too many small property development companies out of the market. All initiatives to correct that should be welcomed. Yet lack of land [...]
As analysts slash their oil forecasts for 2016, will prices fall to $20 per barrel this year? January 13, 2016 David Morrison, senior market strategist at Spread Co, says Yes. The oil selloff began over 18 months ago. The trigger was the US dollar turnaround as the Federal Reserve prepared to end QE. The dollar rally continued as divergent policies between the worlds’ major central banks became ever more apparent. Last month, the Fed hiked and [...]
As he delivers his final State of the Union address, has Obama proved a failure as President? January 12, 2016 Kate Andrews, head of communications at the Adam Smith Institute, says Yes. As a senator, Obama promised “hope” and “change” on the campaign trail in 2007. But as President, he has presided over some of the worst gridlock Washington has seen. His pledge to unite the parties was quickly voided when he pushed through the [...]
Don’t ignore the City in the great Brexit debate January 12, 2016 Although there is much we don’t yet know about the forthcoming referendum of Britain’s membership of the EU (such as when the vote will take place and what the terms will look like), we do now have some clarity on the issue of how much freedom the PM intends to give his own ministers to [...]
The 21st century NHS revolution that will cure more for less January 12, 2016 With every year that passes, medicine is slowly entering a fundamentally new era. While almost every week brings news of breakthroughs and cures, history suggests that a genuine revolution will only be with us when costs start to decline. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, people started to leave their local communities as transport and [...]
A sugar tax would only make the UK tax system more incoherent January 12, 2016 Rumours abound that the government is secretly quite keen on imposing a new tax on sugary drinks, to attempt to combat obesity. There are strong arguments against such a proposal. These taxes hit the poor hardest and will probably only have a marginal impact on obesity levels. Plus, so-called “sin taxes” of this kind have [...]
Reasons to be cheerful: One, two, three (and 4) January 11, 2016 The New Year has not been especially happy, so far, in the world of business and finance. The FTSE is down, China is chaotic, oil is plumbing new depths, and even desperate retailers are replacing their top execs or trying to snap up rivals. But it’s worth remembering that there are two sides to every coin, [...]
Saudi-Iran schism: The West should cut its losses in the Middle East January 11, 2016 The most annoying intellectual pathology of the western foreign policy elite must be its singular insistence that action, however mindless, beats informed inaction; that doing more is always better than doing less. I saw this intellectual disease time and again in the aftermath of the utterly disastrous Iraq War. Smart opinion was divided between those [...]
The City must work with the rest of the capital to keep London on top January 11, 2016 The City and the boroughs of London are intimately connected. Not only do around 400,000 Londoners travel to work in the City every day, but many also come to visit the Square Mile’s bars, shops, museums and galleries throughout the week. On Thursday, 100 of the top figures in London government, including the mayor of [...]