Letters to the Editor – 18/06 – Intervention risks, The Bank’s babies, Best of Twitter June 17, 2014 Intervention risks [Re: Should the West cooperate with Iran to defeat ISIS in Iraq? yesterday] I agree with Michael Rubin – the West should refrain from assisting Iran with its intervention in Iraq. The Iranian leadership’s version of Shiism has proven to be just as ruthless and authoritarian when it comes to the minorities among [...]
Beware Blair: The West must not learn the wrong lessons from Iraq June 17, 2014 MUCH as I am intellectually fond of Boris Johnson, he is entirely wrong about both former Prime Minister Tony Blair and his motivation for speaking out on the present Iraq crisis. For those of us who were against the initial Iraq war (I lost my job in America for my pains), it was certainly emotionally [...]
Our prosperity depends on embracing disruption – but don’t forget the losers June 17, 2014 HERE is your starter for ten. What do the Uber app and David Ricardo have in common? “Ricardo?”, I hear you ask. Scarcely known outside academic economics, he ranks equal with Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes as the greatest ever British economist. His classic Principles of Political Economy was published in 1816, and he [...]
We are jeopardising UK tech by failing to tackle UK skills shortages June 17, 2014 THE UK’s tech scene has changed beyond all recognition since I left London for the US in the late 1990s. Back then, there seemed little to be excited about beyond ARM and Autonomy. But fast forward to 2014 and Tech City can claim to have created more businesses than anywhere else in the UK, with [...]
Corporation tax should be abolished as soon as possible June 17, 2014 As Lord Saatchi proposes abolishing corporation tax for small firms, is the levy justifiable at all? Corporation tax is one of the worst on the books and it should be abolished as soon as possible. Corporations can hand over the cash, but they can’t bear the ultimate burden of tax, because they are legal constructs. [...]
Sadly no chancellor will abandon corporation tax without an alternative June 17, 2014 As Lord Saatchi proposes abolishing corporation tax for small firms, is the levy justifiable at all? Sadly, no chancellor will abandon the £43bn corporation tax brings in each year until a suitable alternative is identified. Corporation tax will likely become a smaller component of UK (and global) tax revenues in the longer term but, in [...]
Letters to the Editor – 17/06 – Tale of two markets, Best of Twitter June 16, 2014 Tale of two markets [Re: Will the Bank of England’s new powers to tame the housing market be effective? yesterday] The UK is two distinct property markets. Outside London is domestically driven, so domestic policy matters to property prices. The ratio of average house prices to average incomes will track average mortgage to income ratios [...]
How the City gained an edge in offshore renminbi – and will grow even stronger June 16, 2014 AS TOP bankers and policymakers meet in London this week for the UK-China Financial Forum, they may want to reflect on how far the City has come as a main offshore hub for the Chinese renminbi (RMB), supporting a rapidly growing number of British and other European companies trading with China. The offshore RMB market [...]
It’s nonsense to argue that the UK tax system isn’t progressive enough June 16, 2014 THE BRITISH tax system just isn’t progressive enough, the Equality Trust claimed yesterday. After citing survey figures showing that 68 per cent of the UK population believe households in the top 10 per cent by income pay more than the bottom 10 per cent relative to their incomes, the Trust offers what looks, at first [...]
Tourist trap: Why China’s wealthy new travellers have shunned Britain June 16, 2014 FOR TOO long, the UK has done too little to encourage Chinese nationals – the biggest of the big spenders in the international tourism stakes – to visit Britain. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang may be being greeted with open arms by David Cameron, but restrictive visa rules have long meant that Chinese tourists have been [...]