Remembrance Sunday 2014: The City will never forget those who fought for our liberties November 2, 2014 Every year, the pageantry and fun of the Lord Mayor’s Show is followed by a more solemn occasion, one that is of great significance to each new lord mayor: Remembrance Sunday. The City’s link with the military is ancient and rich, with every Lord Mayor’s Show being honoured by the participation of some of the [...]
Lord Hill should not fear ambition in pursuing capital markets union November 2, 2014 Today is Jonathan Hill’s first day as European commissioner for financial stability, financial services and capital markets union. He takes on the role at an inflection point: there is broad recognition that Europe needs deep, healthy, and diverse financial markets if it is to unlock economic growth. Banks still provide the major proportion of Europe’s [...]
Free enterprise will crumble if we fail to make the moral case for capitalism October 30, 2014 THE BIRTH of free enterprise more than 200 years ago fuelled the greatest advances in human prosperity and happiness the world has ever seen. Life before capitalism was, as Thomas Hobbes might have said, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Today, people in capitalist countries live longer than those in Third World countries and twice as [...]
Don’t underestimate the economic benefits of investing in energy efficiency October 30, 2014 EVEN if this year’s Indian summer delayed the onset of colder times, families all over the country are now starting to turn on their heating, while dreading the moment the bill lands. For many families in Britain, the onset of the colder months means a stark choice. Six million low income households in this country [...]
UK drug policy is decades out of date – it’s high time we faced up to the evidence October 30, 2014 After months of delays and political squabbles, the Home Office yesterday released its survey of international approaches to drug control. Examining the policies of 13 countries around the world, it failed to find “any obvious relationship between the toughness of a country’s enforcement against drug possession, and levels of drug use in that country”. The [...]
As confidence rises in October, has economic malaise in the Eurozone been exaggerated? October 30, 2014 Christian Schulz, senior economist at Berenberg, says Yes. Germany is experiencing a rough patch. Yet it’s not the Eurozone dragging down Germany. Spain, Portugal and Ireland have solid recoveries, which have broadened from exports to investment. Unemployment is falling, helped by labour market reforms at the height of the crisis. Even Greece is showing tentative [...]
Small is beautiful: Why the age of big business and big government is over October 29, 2014 THE CORPORATION has never been less fashionable. Politicians are falling over themselves to tell voters how they will constrain, bully and regulate large companies. It makes sense. The polls tell them that trust in the corporate world is at derisory levels. A recent Populus survey found 61 per cent wanted the government to be tougher [...]
Asda is discovering the perils of Britain’s incoherent employment regulations October 29, 2014 DESPITE a remarkable reduction in Employment Tribunal claims, the system continues to throw up major problems for employers, with potentially disastrous consequences for business. First, the government is worried about two recent claims concerning holiday pay. For many years, this entitlement has been calculated by reference to basic pay. But the claims, backed by trade [...]
Britain’s punitive tax on flying is 20 years old – and more harmful than ever October 29, 2014 AIR PASSENGER Duty (APD) is 20 years old this week. Since it was first levied on flights from 1 November 1994, it has raked in a staggering £27bn for successive governments. Originally considered to be an environmental tax, APD’s annual yield for the Treasury is now in excess of £3bn – not far behind inheritance [...]
As QE ends in the US, has it changed the world for the better? October 29, 2014 Sam Bowman, research director at the Adam Smith Institute, says Yes. Many people, including me, expected QE to cause uncontrollable inflation and end in disaster. How wrong we were. The US and the UK, which did QE, are growing healthily. The Eurozone, which didn’t, is in ruins. QE helps to keep nominal spending steady during [...]