Greek election 2015: Alexis Tsipras’s incompetence failed Greece’s debt crisis – show him the door September 15, 2015 This Sunday, the Greek electorate is being summoned to the ballot boxes for the third time this year. For the third time, they are unsure as to the reason. Back in January, an election forced by a quirk in the country’s constitution abruptly halted the reformist course of a coalition government that had brought [...]
Why national statistics have become sexy September 15, 2015 A potential candidate for the world’s most boring book is the Office for National Statistics’s National Accounts: Sources and Methods. This book, all 502 pages of it, is currently available in hardback on Amazon for just 1p. It does exactly what it says in the title, giving a detailed description of how the data in [...]
Complacency about Jeremy Corbyn is dangerous: He could push UK politics in a populist direction September 15, 2015 It wasn't that long ago, but it is easy to forget the market uncertainty that preceded the General Election in May, and the relief rally in UK shares that followed it. We saw particularly strong performance in equities sensitive to the outlook for domestic consumption after the election of a modest Conservative majority, deemed [...]
As the UK inflation rate falls back to zero per cent, does this reinforce the case for keeping interest rates low? September 15, 2015 Ruth Miller, UK economist at Capital Economics, says Yes We probably haven’t seen the back of negative inflation in the UK. Petrol prices have fallen further this month. The British Gas price cut will show up in September’s figures. Meanwhile, the strength of sterling should continue to put downward pressure on import prices. Admittedly, the [...]
Federal Reserve US interest rates hike: This is no Doomsday for emerging markets – The City View September 14, 2015 The prospect of a Federal Reserve rate hike looms large. On Thursday we will learn whether nearly 10 years of record low interest rates in the world’s largest economy are finally over. The date is a landmark because for much of this year consensus among economists has been for a September lift-off. The [...]
Yes, Jeremy Corbyn’s far left shadow chancellor John McDonnell is a joke – but the threat he poses is all too real September 14, 2015 "Know Your Enemy" is advice worth heeding. And it is particularly appropriate for those of us who believe in free markets when faced with the new shadow chancellor John McDonnell. For it would be easy simply to dismiss him as a far left nutcase. Not because he is not far left (he is). Not [...]
Labour has rejected its own legacy of NHS reform – with sad implications for patients September 14, 2015 "New Labour officially dead and buried", tweeted Daily Politics presenter Andrew Neil as the Labour leadership election results came in. Writing for the Guardian, general secretary of Unite the Union Len McCluskey also interpreted Jeremy Corbyn’s victory as “three parts optimism and one part repudiation of the ‘New Labour’ past”. It is hard [...]
Fit for the digital age: Why we’re not publishing paper copies of our annual report September 14, 2015 As a firm advising clients on regulatory disclosure, transparency and getting digitally fit for the future, corporate reporting is a major focus for PwC. Having produced a traditional print and pdf annual report for several years, this week we published something decidedly different. For the first time, we’ve released our annual report solely in a [...]
As Jeremy Corbyn is criticised for his male-heavy shadow cabinet, has Labour got a woman problem? September 14, 2015 Atul Hatwal, editor of Labour Uncut, says Yes Boy oh boy, Labour really has a woman problem. No woman deemed able enough to fill any of the big jobs. A commitment from Jeremy Corbyn that half of his shadow cabinet would be women already broken, with just 10 women appointed out of 22 full members. [...]
Venezuela’s “dear comrade” Jeremy Corbyn puts Labour’s moral authority at risk – The City View September 13, 2015 It's Saturday afternoon in a central London pub, and a newly victorious Jeremy Corbyn can be found leading supporters in a rousing rendition of The Red Flag. At the same time, just under 5,000 miles away, Venezuela’s opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez is beginning a 13 year prison sentence after a court of questionable legitimacy [...]