Read my lips: Why the chancellor should commit to a lower tax burden December 2, 2013 TWO CAMPS exist in the Conservative Party on tax cuts. One thinks they should happen now to ease living costs, the other that it’s fiscally premature and imprudent to do them. There is logic in both. The purpose of taxation should be to finance state expenditures in the least distortionary way possible. Since spending is [...]
Fog is lifting over China but its reform efforts may not prove enough December 2, 2013 DAVID Cameron is right; there is no point in being subtle. He is in Beijing for a three day visit – accompanied by an army of 100 British business leaders – in an effort to strengthen trade links with the world’s fastest-growing Great Power. So important is the prize of enhancing economic ties with a [...]
Letters to the Editor – 03/12 – Heathrow noise, Autumn Statement, Best of Twitter December 2, 2013 Heathrow noise [Re: Our innovative Heathrow plan could expand capacity without huge costs, Friday] It’s not clear to me that the author’s suggestions would limit the number of additional residents affected by Heathrow expansion, or merely dump even more noise on to those of us who already suffer. When the inspector gave the go-ahead for [...]
Forget Gatwick bluster: A mega-hub east of London is our only real option December 1, 2013 THE AIRPORT debate is hotting up: the last few days have seen the chief executive of Gatwick Airport practically carpet bombing every media outlet in sight, trying to convince us that expansion at his airport is the only game in town. It sounds a good story (even if one mired in self-interest and distortion of [...]
City Matters: International markets need regulation that transcends national boundaries December 1, 2013 THIS IS an important time for those working in finance on either side of the Atlantic. As the world’s two largest financial centres, it is up to both London and New York to take a leading role in ensuring that the reputation of the financial services industry is rebuilt, as the United Kingdom and the [...]
Tories need to map out a tax cutting plan to ease the living cost squeeze December 1, 2013 AS THE chancellor’s Autumn Statement beckons, after a run of good economic news, it is time to address Britain’s less flattering fundamentals. Government has too much debt, the country too little to show for the recovery. Public spending at 48.4 per cent of GDP is debilitating, leaving the tax burden at its highest for 24 [...]
Letters to the Editor – 02/12 – More runways, Islands dispute, Best of Twitter December 1, 2013 More runways [Re: Our innovative Heathrow plan could expand capacity without huge costs, Friday] I think Jock Lowe’s Heathrow Hub plan is a good idea. I do, however, also think that a second runaway should be built at both Gatwick and Stansted airports. Boris Johnson’s Thames Estuary plan is not going to happen – the [...]
The Long View: Angelina Jolie shows us a glimpse of our future – if regulators let us have it November 29, 2013 How do you regulate the future? We live in an age of miraculous, disruptive technologies, yet one of its great challenges is how to keep the lumbering process of regulation from putting the brakes on human inventiveness. Take genetic testing: this week 23andMe, a pioneering US firm that offered to scan your genetic code for potential [...]
Our innovative Heathrow plan could expand capacity without huge costs November 28, 2013 IN JUST three weeks, Sir Howard Davies and the Airports Commission will publish a shortlist of ideas to solve a problem critical to Britain’s future success – how to enhance our airport capacity. We hope that our innovative Heathrow Hub concept – which is unconnected to any proposals from the current airport owners – will [...]
The Funding for Lending pivot may take the gloss off Osborne’s economy November 28, 2013 THE ANNOUNCEMENT that the Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) is being redirected away from mortgages is one of the most significant economic policy developments of the year. FLS was launched in the summer of 2012 as a joint Treasury and Bank of England initiative to boost bank lending to the real economy. Unlike 2011’s Project [...]