Islamic State’s dominance must be halted – the West needs to act now February 8, 2015 There are no words to describe what flight lieutenant Moaz al-Kasasbeh – the Jordanian pilot captured by Isis in Syria in December 2014 – endured at the hands of his captors. But perhaps we should remember what writer Edgar Allen Poe once said: that “there are moments when, even to the sober eye of reason, [...]
Why now is the time for London to be proud of its world-leading legal sector February 8, 2015 The foundations of any transaction in a market economy are based on one simple thing: trust. And key to this is the legal system that enforces that trust – by making sure that both sides know exactly what they are getting into, and how any problems that might arise can be resolved. As a nation, [...]
Landlords should not be the scapegoats for uninventive politicians February 8, 2015 If you’re a landlord, you could be forgiven for feeling like the ills of the world are being laid at your door. The Tories held landlords responsible for stemming illegal immigration, making passport and identity checks a legal requirement before any tenancy agreement can be signed. Labour enlisted them in the fight against climate change [...]
Is Apple just milking the cow? I have an awful feeling it might be… February 6, 2015 $18 billion of profit in one quarter. More than three times the quarterly profit of Microsoft and Google and according to the World Bank, on a par with the annual GDP of Yemen. What is it that keeps Apple at the top? Why do we all rush down to the Apple store to bag the [...]
UK firms face unprecedented risks – politicians shouldn’t be adding more February 5, 2015 Uncertainty has become a new watchword for British businesses. It may not be new for them – to varying degrees they have always operated in an uncertain world – but it is now more prominent in their thinking than at any other time in a generation. Today, they face an underperforming Eurozone, ongoing conflicts in [...]
Syriza’s plan for the Greek economy falls short: Grexit must not be ruled out February 5, 2015 After the failure of the new Greek finance minister’s tour of Europe’s capitals this week to produce a workable debt deal, Greece’s situation now seems terminal. Greece has an unemployment rate above 25 per cent, a debt-to-GDP ratio of almost 200 per cent and deflation of 2.6 per cent. The country’s economy has shrunk by [...]
How London is leading the charge on a radical employee rent scheme February 5, 2015 Two years ago, Vodafone became one of the first big businesses to issue a warning over Britain’s housing costs. It said that the sheer cost of renting was making it harder for firms to attract talent. Within weeks, its concerns were echoed by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and KPMG’s London Business Survey. London’s [...]
Serious Fraud Office must stay at arm’s length from government February 4, 2015 Other than their membership of the UK’s blue-chip share index, what unites Barclays, G4S, GlaxoSmithKline, Rolls Royce Holdings and Tesco? The answer is that they all feature prominently in the caseload of David Green, the director of the Serious Fraud Office. Britain’s principal white-collar crime-fighting agency has come a long way since Green inherited the [...]
The woes of Greece prove why it’s national reforms that matter most February 4, 2015 The sovereign debt crisis that gripped the Eurozone in 2011-12 threw into the spotlight the problems with a currency union lacking fiscal transfers between members and the mutualisation of their debts. Indeed, it was only when European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi vowed, in July 2012, to do “whatever it takes” to save the [...]
A Whitehall balance sheet will revolutionise the public finances debate February 4, 2015 With the General Election less than 100 days away, a central aspect of all party manifestos will be how best to reduce our public debt and deficit. In yesterday’s IFS Green Budget, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) contributed a chapter looking at the UK’s public finances. We believe that it [...]