Do patent privateers signal need for intellectual property reform? November 25, 2014 After Google sued BT over patent-infringement and details about BT’s patent strategy garnered public attention, an increasing number of commentators have started pointing to “patent privateers” as a major problem with the current system of intellectual property both in Europe and the US. As is common in high-stakes litigation involving multinational corporations, the debate has [...]
Sanctions have cost Russia billions – but Western firms are not getting off lightly November 24, 2014 WHEN the EU agreed to place new names on its Russian sanctions list last week, it added to an ever-expanding and ever vaguer body of international rules for compliance officials to navigate. While Russia’s finance minister has warned that sanctions are costing his country $40bn (£25.5bn) a year, they also pose significant challenges to businesses [...]
Ditch the structural deficit: Why Osborne has struggled to hit this moving target November 24, 2014 FALL-OUT from the Autumn Statement next week is likely to focus heavily on the slowdown in deficit reduction. Borrowing has been £3.7bn higher this year so far compared with last, and it looks unlikely that George Osborne will hit his fiscal target for 2014-15. But the key number the media will focus on is the [...]
Drop the guarantee on bank deposits to boost competition in finance November 24, 2014 AS NORTHERN Rock began to crumble in the autumn of 2007, then chancellor Alistair Darling stepped in to stave off a bank run by guaranteeing all existing deposits. To some extent, it worked: queues outside Northern Rock branches soon dissipated. But deposit insurance has since been raised dramatically for authorised banks and building societies, and [...]
As BT confirms it’s in talks to buy O2, would a bid for the mobile operator make sense? November 24, 2014 Kester Mann, principal operators analyst at CCS Insight, says Yes. Purchasing a mobile operator like EE or O2 would give a massive shot in the arm to BT’s multi-play ambitions, accelerating plans to offer mobile services without relying on wholesale deals. Given its existing broadband and TV assets, the company could offer a highly potent [...]
Japan needs its Thatcher moment or Abenomics is destined to be a failure November 23, 2014 Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan is halfway there. After two decades of stagnation, matched by a consistently underwhelming political response to this seminal challenge, there is no doubt that Abe is at least aware of the true extent of the problem: that his legacy is wholly bound up with ending Japan’s “Lost Decades”. In [...]
Rochester killed the politics of triangulation – and that’s bad news for Ukip November 23, 2014 Labour and the Conservatives have just gone another 12 rounds with Ukip, and lost. The inexorable rise of Ukip and the Rochester by-election result last week have their origins in strategic calculations made by parties in the 1990s. The rise of the Third Way and the politics of triangulation, pioneered by Bill Clinton, brought to [...]
Business can’t rely on government to allay immigration anxiety November 23, 2014 The question of how to talk about immigration is one of the most convoluted of our time, despite the pivotal role migrants play in our economy. As the Conservative Party loses another seat to Ukip and anti-immigration rhetoric continues to influence the debate, it is clear that something is wrong with our conversation. On Thursday, [...]
As public borrowing remains high, is Osborne’s failure to tackle the deficit a cause for concern? November 23, 2014 David Kern is chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce, says Yes. October’s public finance figures have provided further evidence that the government’s plan to reduce Britain’s deficit in the current financial year is unlikely to be realised. It’s a major concern that the deficit has remained unsustainably large since the crisis, and progress [...]
The poorest will suffer if we force renewable energy on the developing world November 20, 2014 YESTERDAY, the UK announced a contribution of about £720m to the Green Climate Fund, a UN initiative designed to help poor countries cope with climate change. It is right for rich countries to assist the developing world in their efforts to adapt to climate impacts, but they should not burden them with costly decarbonisation schemes. [...]