Free trade can defuse Asia’s powder keg – but Obama risks blowing it all April 27, 2014 TRUST the “Big Dog” to have Barack Obama’s number. Bill Clinton, one of the shrewdest political operators ever, is reported to have complained about the current occupant of the White House. Obama, Clinton tellingly opined, has done almost all the hard things right: intellectually he has a coherent rationale for almost every major project he [...]
City Matters: The booming City cluster is driving growth across the whole of the UK April 27, 2014 SPRING in Britain is in full flow as the May Day bank holiday fast approaches. And this year, the economic news matches the improving weather. A new City of London Corporation report showed just last week that the Square Mile continues to play an important role in London’s ongoing success. The City is forecast [...]
How Britain can nurture the next generation of super-entrepreneurs April 27, 2014 THOMAS Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century is setting the bestseller charts alight in a way that economics tomes usually cannot. For those insistent upon the importance of economic equality, it is the most anticipated release since Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson’s The Spirit Level. But is the accumulation of wealth inherently bad? In research [...]
Letters to the Editor – 28/04 – Build up and out, Best of Twitter April 27, 2014 Build up and out [Re: How a terraced street revolution could fix London’s housebuilding crunch, Friday] I remain to be convinced that terraced housing is higher density than high rise. If New York and Hong Kong wanted to make more housing available, would they knock down their high rises and build two storey terraces instead? [...]
City & Gild: Time to get back on track April 25, 2014 So, as I was dozing-off watching another lack-lustre F1 race this past weekend (Bernie is right, it’s missing the awe and thunder), I was briefly awakened by the exchange between Red Bull’s lead driver – Sebastian Vettel, and his team. For those of you who were also asleep, the world champion was asked to let [...]
Letters to the Editor – 25/04 – Transport capacity, Western decline, Best of Twitter April 24, 2014 Transport capacity [Re: Just three reforms would transform UK recovery into sustainable boom, yesterday] Rolling back the green belt around London by one mile is a sensible suggestion. But how would the inhabitants of the 1m new houses, all within travelling distance of London, travel into the city? Certainly not on the overcrowded trains and [...]
Pay bosses in debt – not just equity – to deter future crisis April 24, 2014 THE FINANCIAL crisis saw chief executives undertake risky actions that cost society billions. Examples included irresponsible subprime lending and over-expansion through excessive leverage. Moreover, this problem has extended beyond financial institutions. Punch Taverns, for example, accumulated £2.3bn of debt through an expansion spree before the crisis, which has long been causing the business difficulties. Why? [...]
A terraced street revolution could end London’s housing crunch April 24, 2014 IN EXCELLENT news for anyone concerned about London’s housing crisis, local government secretary Eric Pickles has announced that he is looking at how post-war estates can be more comprehensively redeveloped into “traditional streetscapes.” He got it right when he said that traditional streets “can provide more housing and commercial space using the same amount of [...]
How Britain is wasting its real shale gas potential April 24, 2014 WITH the Ukraine crisis intensifying and concerns growing over its impact on energy security, the government has responded this week with rather inconsistent messages: it announced more multi-billion subsidies for unreliable renewable energy projects and another promise to speed up shale gas extraction in Britain. Speaking at a conference in Blackpool, and with a new [...]
Letters to the Editor – 24/04 – Licence to operate, Best of Twitter April 23, 2014 Licence to operate [Re: Cable is fighting yesterday’s battle, yesterday] Whether Allister Heath likes it or not, the “licence to operate” – a term first popularised by Tomorrow’s Company when protestors were attacking Shell’s petrol stations over the Brent Spar crisis two decades ago – is a reality for free enterprise everywhere. This is not [...]