The rules of successfully asking for a pay rise August 1, 2014 Ok. You want a raise. Who doesn’t? But you are different. Obviously. You deserve it. Your friends and family have told you that you do for all the hours and effort you have been putting in. And the salary you happily accepted when you took the job just doesn’t stretch as far as it did. [...]
Cut unemployment benefits for immigrants, but don’t cut immigration August 1, 2014 Prime Minister Cameron should be applauded for his plan to halve the length of benefits for unemployed immigrants down to three months. When a government allows immigrants to collect benefits without employment, it essentially pays someone to live off taxpayer dollars without contributing to the economy. But in Britain this is not generally the case. [...]
Britain’s fossil fuel subsidies: Soon it won’t just be renewables we’re propping up July 31, 2014 THERE is no doubt that fossil fuel subsidies – mostly found in the developing world – are a major and unwelcome feature of the global economy today. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that global fossil fuel subsidies cost $544bn in 2012. Add to this lost tax revenues and the figure rises to around $2 [...]
Forget free market selfishness: It’s socialism that turns us into liars and cheats July 31, 2014 Markets make people better. Not many people seem to think so these days, but the idea got a boost from a recent piece of research by Dan Ariely and others, which compared moral behaviour in Germans brought up in East and West Germany. The team found that those with an East German background cheated twice as [...]
Argentina’s mismanaged economy: Default drama should be back again soon July 31, 2014 INVESTORS always seemed too optimistic that Argentina was going to solve its now-confirmed debt default, as the saga has wound over the past year. First, investors seemed to believe that the US Supreme Court would come to the rescue as a final appeal. More recently, investors believed a deal with the holdouts – bondholders who [...]
As the conflict in Gaza continues, are we seeing a realignment of the Middle East? July 31, 2014 Carly Beckerman-Boys, visiting fellow at the LSE’s Middle East Centre, says Yes. The Gaza conflict has shone a light onto heightened tensions and muscle flexing between regional Arab leaders. Their jockeying over whether to force or entice Hamas into a ceasefire has made old and new regional dividing lines far more visible. Egypt, Jordan and [...]
Will fracking lead to a UK energy renaissance? July 31, 2014 For the first time in six years companies are able to bid for natural gas exploration licenses in the United Kingdom. The UK became a net importer of petroleum and natural gas last year and domestically-produced natural gas now accounts for only a third of consumption. Prime Minister Cameron’s decision to go “all out for [...]
Why the ASA’s banning of Jaguar’s Art of Villainy video should worry thrill-seeking brands July 31, 2014 Browsing through the papers on the weekend – all well respected broadsheets (if there is such a thing these days) – and it struck me that, as a brand manager, you may as well pack your bags and go home. Amid headlines which shouted about a cannibal fetish nurse, was a small article which [...]
Payback time but Bank of England’s bonus clawbacks are rife with pitfalls July 30, 2014 Quite literally, yesterday it was payback time for Britain’s banking industry. Regulators’ demands that lenders must force staff to hand back bonuses awarded as long as seven years earlier delivers a belated sense of justice for those clamouring for more robust post-crisis retribution. The Bank of England’s timing could hardly have been better, coming [...]
Dagger in the Kremlin’s heart: Europe’s sanctions have revived a comatose West July 30, 2014 “We live between the act of awakening and the act of surrender.” John O’Donohue, Irish poet MY GOD, they’ve finally done something. In the end, it wasn’t the horrific shooting down of MH17 – highly likely by Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine – that goaded a seemingly inert Europe into decisive action. Even after this [...]