City Matters: Why opponents of City development ignore our true Victorian heritage February 16, 2014 GUILDHALL is currently playing host to a public inquiry that has major ramifications for planning in the Square Mile and London. The future of the derelict Smithfield General Market and Annex (not the operational meat market next door) – or Smithfield Quarter for shorthand – is under deliberation. The secretary of state for local government [...]
Stamp duty is feeding the growing bubble in London’s house prices February 16, 2014 SUPPORTERS of financial transaction taxes (FTT), often known as Robin Hood taxes, claim that they can make markets safer. But a look at London’s frothy housing market makes this argument difficult to sustain. FTTs remove liquidity from markets, making bubbles more likely to form. And it looks like London house prices are booming thanks to [...]
Letters to the Editor – 17/02 – Big bluff, Futures markets, Best of Twitter February 16, 2014 Big bluff [Re: The Scottish nationalists aren’t credible on keeping sterling, Friday] The Westminster politicians would soon change their minds in the event of a “Yes” vote. A vote for Scottish independence would force all interested parties to negotiate over UK asset and debt sharing, bank recovery and rescue plans. Ross McEwan of RBS thinks [...]
City & Gild: You can’t handle the truth! February 14, 2014 I find a useful shorthand definition for ‘brand’ is the combination of product and reputation – where reputation is past performance and future promise. Which, if you read the press in any given day, should be the cause of sleepless nights for CEOs around the world. Because, in this day and age of social media, [...]
Worrying failings in the annuity market are not being addressed February 14, 2014 THE FCA’s report on the annuities market confirms that customers are not being well-served by insurers. The Report is welcome but, rather than getting on with the urgent reforms required, the FCA is launching another review, leaving thousands at risk of poor value, unsuitable pensions for the rest of their lives. More delays mean more [...]
The ultimate privatisation: It’s time to let parent power loose on our schools February 13, 2014 HOW DO you change the world? The answer is one child at a time, by transforming the education system and the influence of parents in that system. How do you transform the education system and the role of parents? By making schools part of a genuine market, dominated by consumers (parents and children), and not [...]
Annuity market review uncovers a fundamental flaw in pensions policy February 13, 2014 BRITAIN’S annuity market is not working for consumers. This is the conclusion of an important report, released by the FCA today. With the advent of auto-enrolment, most people are now saving for their retirement through a pension scheme, where they and their employer pay money in and invest it to build up a fund. But [...]
Letters to the Editor – 14/02 – East London, Scots uncertainty, Best of Twitter February 13, 2014 East London [Re: The Docklands legacy can help fix London’s chronic housing crisis, Wednesday] Andrew Adonis’s proposal for a new Ebbsfleet town seems muddled. The area needs a Thames Estuary airport, bringing jobs and all the knock-on economic benefits. Yet Adonis’s Go East report favours Heathrow expansion – hardly designed to move the economic centre [...]
Of course Scotland can use the pound without a currency union. Jersey does exactly that February 13, 2014 Panama might do well in an informal currency union, but proponents of Scottish independence might prefer an example closer to home. The British crown dependency of Jersey has just such an arrangement with the UK, and has been managing just fine since the pound became its currency in 1834. A publication compiled by the European [...]
Osborne’s claims that Scotland couldn’t use the pound don’t stack up February 13, 2014 Chancellor George Osborne is on the warpath this morning. He's knocking the idea of Scotland using the pound, without asking England's permission. Something that Adam Smith Institute research director Sam Bowman says the English government couldn't stop it doing. Pointing to other countries that do something similar – Panama with the dollar, and Montenegro with [...]