Letters to the Editor – 24/02 – Planning laws, Political banking, Best of Twitter February 23, 2014 Planning laws [Re: The only solution to the housing crisis: build, build and build, Friday] Well said. The iron grip on planning laws held by councils throughout the UK simply stops the housing market from functioning properly. Just a quick look through the government’s online “planning portal” reveals the complexity that builders must deal with. [...]
City&Gild: Customers have changed – are you ready to move from need to desire? February 21, 2014 As I watched the tragic plight of the Ukrainian people this week, the arrival of an email entitled “Need state Identification project” made me question further the way that we think about brands and customers. With struggling nations across the globe all battling for their voices to be heard, the contrast between such real and desperate [...]
Bottom Line: Investors are right to shrug off price tag February 20, 2014 FACEBOOK’S $19bn (£11.4bn) payment for instant messaging service Whatsapp knocked many market watchers sideways. Those numbers see the start-up of just 55 employees valued at more than American Airlines or Ralph Lauren. But Zuckerberg isn’t here for Whatsapp’s profitability – it charges users 99 cents just once a year – he wants its market share. [...]
How free markets are making solar energy feasible without subsidies February 20, 2014 IT MAY be a clean form of energy, but solar has become a dirty word in some circles. Given expensive subsidies and feed-in-tariffs, solar (like other renewables) has looked like yet another uncompetitive distraction. It’s little surprise that countries like Germany, which have made the greatest commitments to renewables, also have the highest domestic energy [...]
The Long View: The Lego revival: What the brickmaker can teach us about creative freedom February 20, 2014 THE LEGO renaissance is one of the great business stories of our time. A decade ago the Danish firm was on the brink of bankruptcy. It is all different now. Last autumn it overtook Hasbro to become the second-biggest toymaker in the world. This month’s box-office triumph for The Lego Movie, $50m (£30m) over the [...]
Ukraine’s crisis sits on a knife edge as protest morphs into revolution February 20, 2014 THERE is almost nothing more difficult for a political risk analyst than assessing the dynamics of a revolution, a situation in which long-held conventional wisdom can be upended in a matter of minutes. For only one question matters in Kiev today: what is the likely end game for Ukraine, and how do we get there? [...]
Letters to the Editor – 21/02 – Wasted Parliament, Best of Twitter February 20, 2014 Wasted Parliament [Re: Has the government now missed its chance to repair Britain’s public finances? Wednesday] Dominic Raab is wrong to say that it is “churlish to underestimate the challenge of turning around the economic mess inherited in 2010”. It would have helped if this government had actually done something to cut back the state, [...]
Why Facebook’s $19bn Whatsapp purchase makes complete sense February 20, 2014 Facebook's staggering $19bn (£11.4bn) payment for instant messaging service Whatsapp has knocked many market watchers over. Those numbers see the startup of just 55 employees valued at more than Marriot International, American Airlines, or Ralph Lauren. But Facebook isn't here for Whatsapp's lame profitability – it charges users $0.99 just once a year – it [...]
Indecisive Europe is acting too late to save Ukraine from Kremlin discipline February 19, 2014 LIKE a slow-motion car wreck, the tragic violence that has erupted in Ukraine over the last few days – which some fear could result in bloody civil war – has been inexorably coming for some time. In November 2013, the country’s President Viktor Yanukovych abruptly broke off talks with the EU over a political and [...]
Against the Grain: What Italy and France should really learn about German economic resilience February 19, 2014 IT’S EASY to forget that Germany was once seen as the Sick Man of Europe. Between 1991 and 2005, its GDP growth averaged only 1.2 per cent a year, compared to 3.3 per cent in the UK. Since then, of course, the German economy has revived dramatically. The recovery in the German cluster of economies [...]