EU reforms speech: David Cameron’s European Union renegotiation failed before it even began November 9, 2015 Today, David Cameron will deliver a much-awaited speech setting out in detail the reforms he wishes to see adopted by the European Union. I am sorry to say this, but in regard to achieving significant and lasting change, it is an entirely shallow and pointless exercise. To paraphrase Churchill’s dictum, the Prime Minister’s renegotiation is [...]
Forget horse-trading over cuts: The Spending Review is an opportunity to rethink the state November 9, 2015 How large were cuts to government spending during the last parliament? The answer may surprise you. Overall real expenditure fell by just 2.9 per cent between 2010-11 and 2014-15. Later in the month, when the chancellor delivers his Spending Review to flesh out where the axe will fall to meet this parliament’s spending targets, it’s [...]
Shared ownership’s time has come so here’s six ideas to help home buyers in the high cost capital November 9, 2015 There is an iconic image of the Patterson family stood outside their house with Margaret Thatcher. The first people to purchase their home under Right to Buy in 1980, Thatcher delivered the deeds herself. Right to Buy is back in the news, with the government striking an agreement to extend the scheme to housing [...]
With calls to tackle “unfair dumping” should more be done to block cheap Chinese steel imports? November 9, 2015 Mathew Lawrence, a research fellow at IPPR, says Yes Yes, if proportionate action can be taken at an international scale that doesn’t tip into tit-for-tat protectionism. It clearly can be done: the US has introduced 43 anti-dumping tariffs in the last seven years. This isn’t about anti-Chinese action, though; their steel sector is also under [...]
Tesco boss Dave Lewis is right to take issue with the government over burdens on the grocery sector November 9, 2015 It really wasn’t that long ago that we were talking about the near total domination of one supermarket: Tesco. Indeed, Tescopoly was published in 2007, setting out a variety of charges against the retail giant. Tesco’s dominance was, according to the book, based on “profiting from poverty” as it plundered the world’s resources. Everything was [...]
Recep Tayyip Erdogan: Turkey’s Putin can’t halt the coming economic meltdown November 8, 2015 You have to hand it to him. Turkey’s increasingly authoritarian President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is turning into quite the Putin mini-me, both in terms of his ruthlessness and his complete political mastery of his country. Stung by his Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) shocking failure (after over a decade of utter dominance) to win June’s [...]
Immigration is in the interest of business – but we must help bring the public round November 8, 2015 When President Xi Jinping of China visited us here at the Guildhall in October, he didn't have to worry about whether or not he would be granted a visa. For too many of his countrymen, this is an issue which is keeping both them and their businesses out of the UK. As we welcome Indian [...]
London’s businesses face a pressure cooker of rising wages and skills shortages next year November 8, 2015 No matter what the latest ONS employment and GDP figures say when they're released this Wednesday, the conversations I'm having with employers reveal that confidence is now firmly rooted in the British economy. In fact, there is a resoundingly positive attitude to growth next year, according to our latest report, Hays UK Salary and [...]
With Japan’s economy likely to have entered a technical recession, has Abenomics failed? November 8, 2015 Freya Beamish, an economist at Lombard Street Research, says Yes. Abenomics is failing, but the technical recession doesn't prove it so much as confirm Japan's exposure to China. In fact, Shinzo Abe has achieved some significant successes: strides have been made in improving corporate governance, although there is still a long way to go; the [...]
With Argos and John Lewis both releasing their Christmas TV adverts today, will tugging at the heart strings still pull customers back? November 6, 2015 Today marks the official start of Christmas as John Lewis releases its hotly anticipated advert. It’s become a modern tradition, up there now with carols and mince pies. This year’s campaign follows the well-trodden path of pulling at your heart strings in the hope of loosening your purse strings. But has John Lewis gone a [...]