Why raising the minimum wage is not the best way to help Britain’s poorest January 8, 2014 IT IS widely rumoured that the government is moving towards a commitment to increase the national minimum wage (NMW) well above levels suggested by the – usually fairly sensible – Low Pay Commission. This may be good news for some workers, but I’m not convinced that it is sensible policy. Temporarily recognising the constraints on [...]
Letters to the Editor – 09/01 – Buy British, Land sale, Best of Twitter January 8, 2014 Buy British [Re: Is the environment secretary right that UK consumers should buy more British food?, yesterday] So John Allan supports the UK sticking to domestically-produced food and also expects other countries to open up to UK producers? He really hasn’t thought that through at all. The government manipulates our spending and consumption with taxation [...]
Don’t let the Vegas tech giants fool you: We’re in the age of disruption January 7, 2014 IT’S HARD to think of a better parable about the effects of technology than Samsung’s embarrassing product launch at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on Monday. The Korean tech giant had lined up high-octane movie director Michael Bay to launch its new curved television at the show, where the world’s techies come [...]
Against the Grain: The UK and US recoveries show why France has become such a basket case January 7, 2014 THE COMING year looks like it will be a good one. At the start of each of the past five years, the economic scales have been tilted downwards, and the challenge has been to look for factors which might have tipped them back up. The balance is now reversed, and the onus lies with the [...]
How to give pensioners choice without harmful annuity switching plans January 7, 2014 WITH the demise of salary-related pensions, we now face the challenge of ensuring people get the most out of the alternative defined contribution system, where their pensions are heavily dependent on how much they have saved during their working lifetime. This is why pensions minister Steve Webb is right to worry about annuities. But his [...]
Letters to the Editor – 08/01 – France failing, Congestion charge, Best of Twitter January 7, 2014 France failing [Re: France’s failed socialist experiment is turning into a tragedy, yesterday] The impending triple-dip recession in France should be the ultimate humiliation for Labour’s Ed Miliband and Ed Balls. French President Francois Hollande’s strategy seems to have delivered precisely what Labour predicted would happen in the UK as a result of austerity. That’s [...]
2014: The year to start a proper debate on what the welfare state is for January 6, 2014 GEORGE Osborne has been quick to define 2014’s political agenda. He indicated yesterday what the Conservatives’ offer at the next election is likely to be: completion of deficit reduction in a lower-tax, lower-spend way than Labour, buttressed with continued school reform and tighter control of immigration and welfare. Osborne laid down a challenge to his [...]
Why annuities switching is likely to cause serious problems for UK insurers January 6, 2014 WE HAVE little detail of pensions minister Steve Webb’s proposals to allow pensioners to switch between annuity providers in the same way that they can switch between mortgages. However, at first sight, his ideas provide more evidence that the coalition made a serious error in appointing somebody so far to the political left to such [...]
Letters to the Editor – 07/01 – Space travel, Best of Twitter January 6, 2014 Space travel [Re: Which technological development will see the most game-changing advances in 2014?, yesterday] Commercial space travel could be the most exciting technological development this year. In 2013, we saw the final technical pieces of the complex jigsaw puzzle for our human spaceflight programme fall into place. Early-2014 will see our pilots further expanding the [...]
Global Politics: India and Mexico will rise as Europe dies but the US will reinvent itself once again January 5, 2014 I HAVE long strongly advocated a modest proposal for my clients regarding global political risk: judge analysts as you would a plumber. If we do a good job, rehire us. If not, show us the door. For only by assessing real world outcomes can clients separate snake oil salesmen from the real thing. As I [...]