Brazil’s World Cup woes expose a far more worrying economic reality July 9, 2014 The dream is over in Brazil; the illusion shattered. Despite President Dilma Rousseff’s claims that this would be the World Cup of all World Cups, for Brazilians it is now seen as the disgrace of disgraces. The national team’s hammering at the hands of Germany is likely to refocus attention on the tournament’s exorbitant cost [...]
Forget the celebrity tax allegations: Our complex system is the real issue July 9, 2014 Take That’s Gary Barlow has again been reported to have participated in complicated tax avoidance schemes. And as ever, discussion on the subject has been clouded by inaccurate reporting. Many have claimed that personal tax avoidance “costs the economy” £5bn a year. This is confused nonsense, based on an HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) estimate [...]
Do we need stronger restrictions on public sector strikes? July 9, 2014 Mark Wallace, executive editor of ConservativeHome, says Yes. Today’s strike is a farce. The National Union of Teachers walk-out, which is at the heart of the action, is based on a ballot which took place two years ago and secured only the majority support of a tiny turnout. That flimsy, moth-eaten mandate will be used [...]
M&S is having an identity crisis: Only radical action can save it now July 8, 2014 Thousands of articles have been written about, and just as many reasons given for, the ongoing struggles of Marks & Spencer (M&S). The latest one, given only yesterday by none other than the chief executive himself, Marc Bolland, was the “settling-in” period of the new website. This, of course, is balderdash, or at least peripheral [...]
Piketty’s populism is flawed: Capitalism doesn’t mean more inequality July 8, 2014 The financial crisis has undoubtedly created a demand in popular culture for works portraying capitalism in a bad light, such as the recent bestseller by Thomas Piketty – Capital in the 21st Century. Piketty’s writing has gathered increasing attention from economists, who show that his arguments do not bear scrutiny. The focus of Piketty’s work [...]
Why you should get over Salesforce Tower’s name – it’s good for the City July 8, 2014 The proposal to change the name of Heron Tower, one of the tallest buildings in the City of London, to “Salesforce Tower”, has been met by more than its fair share of controversy. People have always been resistant to change, but in this case, many of the objections raised seem to be particularly short-sighted. First, [...]
As politicians pledge to end the economy’s focus on London, is this counterproductive? July 8, 2014 Baroness Jo Valentine, chief executive of London First, says Yes. The problem with much of the discussion around this topic is that it assumes the capital’s success is to the detriment of other cities. London is enormously influential in putting the UK on the world stage, due to its position as a leading global hub for [...]
How could Marks & Spencer improve its website? The web developer’s view July 8, 2014 Marks & Spencer announced today that the new M&S website has failed to perform, with a fall in online sales of 8.1 per cent, and with the development project going over budget by 50 per cent. Since the new site launched in February, customers have taken to the company's Facebook page, Twitter and web forums [...]
Hollow localism: Our politicians are still wedded to rule from Whitehall July 7, 2014 Six weeks after the local elections seems an odd time to announce a new settlement for local government funding. Perhaps the parties wanted to get the grubby business of democracy out of the way before discussing the more important question of how local services are funded. After all, the UK has a long tradition of [...]
Judge the NHS on its outcomes – not the intentions behind it July 7, 2014 WITH Monty Python at the O2 arena and ongoing coverage of the NHS, I was reminded last week of the Python sketch showing a lady giving birth. Unfortunately for her, the doctors played by John Cleese and Graham Chapman are more interested in impressing the hospital administrator by surrounding her with machinery (like the machine [...]