City & Gild: Build, don€’t block the sharing economy May 9, 2014 I travel to New York on business a lot and have in the past paid a small fortune to stay in hotel rooms which have the good grace to just about let you walk around the bed, carefully watching out for your shins. And then along came Airbnb. Not only could I rent a whole [...]
Letters to the Editor – 09/05 – Chinese innovation, Best of Twitter May 8, 2014 Chinese innovation [Re: As Alibaba unveils its IPO plans, can China leapfrog the West in innovation? yesterday] China has a huge pool of natural resources and a vast supply of cheap labour. But the key to unlocking innovation lies in having leading higher education institutions and research. A quality deficit can in part be compensated [...]
This irrational tech boom risks the health of the global economy May 8, 2014 THE PENNY seems to be slowly dropping. Investors have taken fright at how they have driven up the value of the tech sector. A range of big name tech firms have suffered sharp falls in share prices. Twitter is down over 40 per cent over the last three months. Facebook has fallen by 11 per [...]
Our real crisis is government silencing the sound and fury of capitalism May 8, 2014 THE STRATEGY is set for the general election on 7 May next year. Expect 12 more months of Labour banging on about the cost of living crisis, and a year of the Conservatives talking up the long-term economic plan. If only they weren’t both wrong. Yes, the Conservatives can justifiably point out the country’s return [...]
Why the government doesn’t need to protect Astrazeneca May 8, 2014 PFIZER’S bid for Astrazeneca is the biggest potential foreign takeover of a UK company ever, and the most controversial since Kraft’s successful acquisition of Cadbury in 2010. Politicians and much of the scientific establishment have called for the public interest test for takeovers – which now only permits the government to intervene when national security, [...]
Letters to the Editor – 08/05 – Housing crisis, European defence, Best of Twitter May 7, 2014 Housing crisis [Re: An inconvenient truth about Britain’s growing housing crisis, yesterday] I’m glad you acknowledge the importance of understanding the figures when talking about the housing crisis. Empty property exaggerations are just the start. What of Labour’s posturing about landbanking, allegedly largely responsible for low building rates? As City Hall has shown, three quarters [...]
How executive pay regulations can increase inequality – not reduce it May 7, 2014 IN JUST two months, Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century has taken the world by storm. In it, he argues that substantial increases in inequality can only be reversed through government intervention. Piketty’s own suggestion is a 2 per cent annual wealth tax, and income tax rates of up to 80 per cent. In [...]
Beware the protectionist iceberg: The damage is below the surface May 7, 2014 THE PFIZER bid for AstraZeneca raises, yet again, the spectre of economic nationalism in Britain, albeit in a subtler form. Crude protectionism has been replaced by calls for a new public interest test to govern such takeovers. But to oppose such calls is not slavish, blind adherence to market dogma. It is merely recognition that [...]
Closing the deficit isn’t enough: UK debt is a risk to financial stability May 7, 2014 ELECTION 2015 is now under a year away. The battle lines are forming, but will any party set out credible plans for tackling government debt? While the deficit is falling, the nation’s debts are growing – with a far-reaching effect on government and public services. In the coming months, each political party will be preparing [...]
Letters to the Editor – 07/05 – Political failure, Pfizer-AstraZeneca, Best of Twitter May 6, 2014 Political failure [Re: We are stuck in a disastrous spiral of misplaced interventionism, Friday] I couldn’t agree more with this diagnosis of political failure. But I think rising rent is largely a London problem. When I was younger, the idea was you bought a small two bed terrace and moved your way up the ladder. [...]