Mark Carney’s Canadian legacy has still not weathered the test of time November 27, 2012 MARK Carney, the Bank of England’s new governor, will leave his current position as governor of the Bank of Canada with a sterling reputation. The widespread acclaim he has attracted is based on his Bank’s deft handling of the beginning of the financial crisis, and his recent appointment as head of the G20’s Financial Stability [...]
Yet another Greek bailout will change nothing without structural reform November 27, 2012 ANOTHER bailout deal has been secured for Greece. Some of the country’s borrowing will be written off – it will be left with a debt to GDP ratio of “only” 125 per cent. But is this the end of the matter or another failure by Europe’s elite to face up to the real problems? With [...]
Why government must be smarter on procurement November 27, 2012 BRITISH industry needs accurate information about future opportunities in the marketplace so it can compete for and win business. That way it can plan ahead and buy the technology, labour and skills to match future needs. One in every seven pounds in this country is spent by the public sector. That’s an enormous £230bn spent [...]
Would easing student visa rules be enough to attract the best and brightest to Britain? November 27, 2012 YES Wendy Piatt Boris Johnson is right: students should be removed from net migration targets. International students are worth billions to London’s economy through their tuition fees and living expenditure alone. Their contribution to the capital’s intellectual and cultural life is priceless. Russell Group universities like Imperial, King’s, LSE, UCL and Queen Mary are world-class [...]
Rapid responses November 27, 2012 New beginnings [Re: An unusually brilliant move by Osborne will give City a huge fillip, yesterday] Mark Carney has performed his first conjuring trick by confounding the commentators with his surprise appointment. But to be a successful Bank of England governor, and to get the UK economy going, he is going to need a lot [...]
Three challenges await the new governor of the Bank of England November 26, 2012 WE should be prepared for changes at the Bank of England when the new governor, Canadian Mark Carney, takes over in the middle of next year. George Osborne has chosen to go outside the UK economic policy establishment in his choice of a successor to Sir Mervyn King. And that suggests that he is looking [...]
You can’t reform a central bank by changing the faces of its management November 26, 2012 SIR Mervyn King’s replacement as Bank of England governor has finally been announced. But we shouldn’t let our excitement at the appointment of Mark Carney distract us from the severe structural issues that persist beneath the surface. The Bank has recently come under strong scrutiny for the way it handled the financial crisis. Its economic [...]
Press regulation is not the solution to privacy breaches November 26, 2012 THE Leveson Inquiry will make its long-awaited recommendations on Thursday, and the main expectation is that Lord Leveson will propose putting Britain’s press under statutory regulation. But this is a one-way street towards a British media that is afraid to take on the most powerful voices in the land. That is not what civil society [...]
Will the £29.7m fine imposed on UBS by the FSA reduce the risk of future rogue trading? November 26, 2012 YES David McCluskey The extra capital requirements proposed by the Financial Stability Board reflect the global effort to make banks safer post 2008. But to really change the way banks deal with risk, we need a culture where risk management is prioritised and adequately resourced in all financial institutions. The FSA’s enforcement agenda increasingly focuses [...]
Rapid responses November 26, 2012 Bill please [Re: There must be no compromise on our own press freedom, Monday] Brendan O’Neill is right to invoke the spirit of the First Amendment that guarantees freedom of speech – and by extension, freedom of the press. He highlights a gaping hole in our political institutions: we do not have a simplified Bill [...]