Private investors could swing the election – but parties are offering nothing April 22, 2015 The manifestos have finally been published and we now know what each party is promising. Unfortunately, not one seems to be listening to the voices of personal investors. According to Platforum’s latest Direct to Consumer research, there is now £132bn invested on direct to consumer investment platforms by some 5.8m active investors. This is a [...]
Back to basics for Tesco: Dave Lewis’s plan has a fighting chance of success April 22, 2015 If Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis takes any pleasure in yesterday’s apocalyptic-sounding headlines, it will be the knowledge that the “kitchen sinking” is complete – surely there can be no more bad news for the retailer to announce. Such a huge loss – £6.4bn in the year to the end of February, and one of [...]
As the Bank’s latest minutes suggest, is it likely that inflation will bounce back soon? April 22, 2015 Andrew Sentance, senior economic adviser at PwC, says Yes Consumer price index inflation has been at zero for two months now. But looking ahead, the pressures are in an upward direction. The oil price has recently risen above $60 per barrel and petrol prices are firming up. The labour market continues to tighten, putting upward [...]
Labour would never recover from a Faustian pact with the SNP April 21, 2015 As the opinion polls blow hot and cold for both the Labour and Conservative leaders, so Ed Miliband and David Cameron are likely to broker a deal with minor parties to form a government. No one I know believes an outright victory from an overall majority is on the cards. For the Conservatives, the choices [...]
Why zero inflation means there are no more free lunches for politicians April 21, 2015 The temptation to believe in the concept of a free lunch has proved irresistible to numerous governments through the ages. Henry VIII, for example, has seized the popular imagination once again through Damian Lewis’s brilliant portrayal of him in Wolf Hall. Bluff King Hal is the nickname often associated with the King. But to his [...]
Steve Jobs was wrong: The customer knows best in the age of crowd-sourcing April 21, 2015 Apple’s 1997 “Think Different” campaign stands out as one of the major turning points in that company’s history. It was a message that Steve Jobs and his innovative spirit had returned to the firm, after he left in 1985. Jobs was as famous for championing the misfit as for saying that, in business, you won’t [...]
Without significant progress at the Eurogroup meeting this week, is Greek default inevitable? April 21, 2015 Sam Bowman is deputy director of the Adam Smith Institute, says Yes No country has pulled back from a peacetime debt-to-GDP ratio as high as Greece’s 175 per cent without defaulting. Its options are to grow out of debt, default unilaterally, or restructure its debt in cooperation with the Eurogroup. With the last of these [...]
Google search shake-up could leave firms in the lurch – Bottom Line April 20, 2015 GOOGLE is about to embark on a major algorithm change which could leave businesses who have yet to adapt to mobile see their customer base shrink overnight. Billed as “mobilegeddon” in some quarters, the search engine will tomorrow start to roll out what is expected to be the biggest change to its search results in [...]
Gender equality has become an election issue – but progress remains painfully slow April 20, 2015 Gender equality has been highlighted as an important electoral issue in the political manifestos. All of the main parties want to see better conditions at work for women and they welcomed progress on female representation on boards – vouching to do more, though shying away from embracing quotas. But what is holding women back when [...]
Forget small ideas for big challenges: This is the economic manifesto Britain needed April 20, 2015 Distance sometimes gives you a better perspective. What became clear to me abroad last week was that, in an age of big economic challenges, the ideas in the parties’ manifestos are very small. In fact, we’re seeing a depressing resurgence of misguided giveaways, interventions and price controls. We’d hope a politician would be handsomely rewarded [...]