Letters to the Editor – 31/01 – UK democracy, Small business, Best of Twitter January 30, 2014 UK democracy [Re: Scotland’s referendum is a fateful moment for the whole UK, yesterday] I struggle to understand how a system has developed where Scottish MPs vote on policy affecting Wales and England, but Welsh and English MPs can’t vote on some aspects of Scottish policy. Why not follow a similar model to the USA [...]
Emerging market desperation risks a repeat of 1997 Asian crisis blunders January 29, 2014 THE EMERGING market sell-off has prompted central bankers to act. Yesterday, South Africa’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by 0.5 percentage points to 5.5 per cent, citing the depreciation of the rand and an increased risk to the country’s inflation outlook. The Reserve Bank of India has also increased its benchmark rate by [...]
We’re no longer the world’s largest financial services exporter: We should worry January 29, 2014 ECONOMIC growth is humming away at an annual rate of nearly 3 per cent, inflation is bang on target and the government’s deficit is falling. But even the sunniest of days often have some clouds. At risk of being damned as a spoilsport, there is a little-noticed fact about our economic recovery I find pretty [...]
We’re not witnessing the stirring of another Dot-com tech bubble January 29, 2014 IT MAY be chilly outside but, for those of us analysing the UK tech market, it couldn’t be hotter. It was a stellar year in 2013 for the sector. In the US, the Nasdaq index of technology-focused stocks reached highs last witnessed in 2000 – at the height of the Dot-com boom. Here in the [...]
Letters to the Editor – 30/01 – School leavers, Facebook, Best of Twitter January 29, 2014 School leavers [Re: Better Schools, Friday] This article rightly praises the overall improvement in exam results in England, and especially in London. However, education is not just about exam results but teaching all students, academically able or not, the communication skills and confidence to be useful to employers who take on those leaving school. As [...]
The grave crises facing Putin’s Russia lay bare its fundamental weaknesses January 28, 2014 CHAOS in Kiev must feel uncomfortably close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Ukrainian parliament yesterday annulled laws that sought to clear the streets of protesters against Ukraine’s increasingly authoritarian pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych. Ukraine’s prime minister and government have quit, and the country stands perilously on the edge of deeper conflict – prompted initially [...]
Against the Grain: Facebook’s imminent collapse is possible – but not because it’s a bad product January 28, 2014 SO FAREWELL, then, Facebook! That is the conclusion of a highly technical paper by two Princeton researchers John Cannarella and Joshua Spechler, which received a lot of publicity in the press last week. The authors conclude that “Facebook will undergo a rapid decline in the coming years, losing 80 per cent of its peak user [...]
We’re seeing respectable growth for a New Normal but real risks still remain January 28, 2014 UK ECONOMIC growth is looking up. The 0.7 per cent GDP increase in the fourth quarter of 2013 might not have been as strong as some commentators were expecting, but it means economic activity is up a full 2.8 per cent on a year ago. It’s not as strong as the 3.3 per cent growth [...]
Letters to the Editor – 29/01 – More red tape, Best of Twitter January 28, 2014 More red tape [Re: We’re slashing rules that hold business back while Labour imperils recovery, yesterday] While we applaud Michael Fallon’s success in realising the government’s commitment to slash rules for small firms, readers in the City won’t need to be reminded that financial services are excluded. We understand this is due to the massive [...]
Labour’s 50p tax populism ignores the most important debate of the century January 27, 2014 ED BALLS’S announcement that the 50 per cent top rate of income tax could make a comeback is an act of political opportunism devoid of any economic sense. Opinion polls may show that two-thirds of voters would support such a hike, but satisfying the politics of envy is a dangerous economic game. Raising the top [...]