Rapid Responses August 13, 2012 Running from tax [Re: Olympic champion Usain Bolt shuns London over tax fears, yesterday] With the closing ceremony ringing in our ears, so too is Usain Bolt’s concern about competing in the UK due to tax. The OECD model tax treaty allows the income of sports people from “personal activities” to be exempted from tax. [...]
London 2012 must be the starting gun in a race for a stronger Britain August 12, 2012 WITH the closing ceremony bringing the stupendously successful Olympic Games to an end, we should recognise what the Games has taught us about our national character. The Games have taught us something about ourselves that we never dared believe. The combined power of the British people, who embraced the Games, and our Olympians who have [...]
Women in the City are more than just voices for caution August 12, 2012 IT WAS once famously said that “whatever women do, they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good.” While I tend not to subscribe to clichés, when I started in the City in the late 1990s, the dearth of senior women suggested something was awry. Just 15 years later, we [...]
US regulators should treat British finance as innocent until proven guilty August 12, 2012 ANOTHER week and, seemingly, another scandal. This summer of discontent for the banking sector shows no sign of drawing to a close, as Standard Chartered is just the latest in a line of UK banks facing accusations of wrongdoing. In this case, the allegation is wire-stripping on U-turn transactions with Iranian entities. It is important [...]
Following its record medal haul in London, is Team GB likely to win even more in Rio? August 12, 2012 YES Tim Lamb I don’t think there’s any question that we can improve on our London 2012 medal tally in Rio 2016. But there’s a pathway to elite success. To build on our performance in London, we need to put several things in place. First, school sport must be strong. That means having teachers with [...]
RAPID responses August 12, 2012 Boris’s £90,000 bill [Re: Why Boris owes me £90,000 for Olympic damage, Friday] I have great sympathy with Neleen Strauss’s situation, with no customers at her lovely restaurant due to the Mayor encouraging a mass exit of Londoners. Some of our clients have experienced similar drops in footfall and it’s a heavy cost to bear. [...]
Regulatory rivalry is driving New York’s Standard Chartered attack August 9, 2012 THE interplay of US federal and state regulators is at the heart of the Standard Chartered scandal. Multinational banks desire a consistent approach from the regulators in the various countries in which they operate, and have come to expect a high degree of cooperation between those agencies. But Standard Chartered has been blindsided by the [...]
Don’t let Usain Bolt’s brilliance dissuade you from breaking your own sweat August 9, 2012 ACCORDING to one tradition that has come down to us from antiquity, the Greek philosopher Plato was also a victor at the ancient Olympic Games – for wrestling. Another anecdote adds that his real name was Aristocles. “Plato”, as we know him today, is just a nickname referring to his broad, well-muscled shoulders. That the [...]
Why Boris owes me £90,000 for Olympic damage August 9, 2012 I HAVE hand-delivered a bill for £90,000 to the mayor of London. This is – give or take a few hundred pounds – what the Olympic Games have cost me in turnover since they began. And I have asked Boris Johnson to pay the bill personally, not from the seemingly limitless coffers that supported London [...]
After its biggest medal haul since 1908, is it important for the UK to do better in Rio 2016? August 9, 2012 YES Kevin Tyler London 2012 is about inspiring a generation and, for athletics, our inspiring moment came when over 16m people tuned in to watch Jess Ennis, Mo Farah and Greg Rutherford win Olympic gold. Our biggest challenge is to ensure that this historic event inspires the next generation of talent – not only kids [...]