Is Sir Mervyn King right to excuse failure to meet deficit targets on economic problems? September 23, 2012 YES Philip Shaw August’s borrowing figures were a little better than expected, but the seriousness of the UK’s public finances remains plain to see. Stripping out one-off factors shows that, so far in 2012-13, the deficit is running at £2.6bn per month higher than last year, leaving George Osborne struggling to achieve his aim of [...]
Rapid responses September 23, 2012 Good regulation [Re: Regulator: I’ll shoot first, ask questions later, Wednesday] I am disappointed by your paper’s coverage of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) likely new stance. Your coverage seems to confuse two quite different things: first, the expected new approach to dealing with any retail products that are likely to cause significant consumer detriment; [...]
Government must think fast and big to make Britain a tech haven September 20, 2012 THE Prime Minister says he wants the UK to be the best place in the world to start, run and grow a high-tech company. As a strategy for rebalancing the economy, this makes a lot of sense. The internet is where the growth is. It accounts for a greater share of UK GDP than in [...]
Economic malaise reveals itself behind a global surge in nationalist violence September 20, 2012 ONE of the most extraordinary images of the week was a display of militarised toothpaste tubes at a Nanjing supermarket. Beneath the Chinese flag, the green boxes were artfully arranged into the shape of an artillery gun, with an uncompromising slogan – “The Daioyu islands belong to China!” – between its wheels. The combination of [...]
Ten golden rules of investing September 20, 2012 The efficient market hypothesis is nonsense. Markets are driven by humans, humans are irrational, thus markets are irrational. Occasionally, something happens and investors panic. You should take advantage of these instances, not join the stampede (or, if you are going to rush for the exit, be the first.) Think of a 20 per cent fall [...]
Are there signs that mergers and acquisitions activity might rise over the coming months? September 20, 2012 YES Alexis de Rosnay There have been tentative signs that the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market has picked up over the last few weeks. The key ingredients for a sustained pick up in M&A is the performance of the equity markets in general – it is no coincidence that the bumper years for transactions have [...]
Rapid Responses September 20, 2012 Clegg’s apology [Re: How one ticking economic timebomb is being slowly defused, yesterday] Nick Clegg’s apology wasn’t just confused. It’s another step in the quiet unravelling of the coalition. You can see how Clegg and David Cameron are slowly beginning to reposition their parties in preparation for the next election. Whether either will still be [...]
How I plan to apply the lessons of business to running government September 19, 2012 DESPITE the progress made in cutting the deficit, this country is facing one of its most difficult economic situations. But my experience tells me that it is at these moments that you can generate the best results. It would be a wasted opportunity if we didn’t use it to make fundamental changes to the way [...]
Romney’s absurd 47 per cent gaffe risks alienating his own core voters September 19, 2012 MONDAY was touted by Mitt Romney’s campaign as a “re-launch” day, an opportunity for the candidate and his proxies to engage voters with specifics about what his presidency would entail. By Tuesday morning, however, rather than resembling a fresh start, it looked like more of a relapse. The decision by the website Mother Jones to [...]
Ten golden rules of investing September 19, 2012 The worst reason in the world to buy something is because somebody else did. This is essentially what you would be doing if you allowed your portfolio to mimic the benchmark index. A company’s weighting in the index tells you only what has happened in the past, not what will happen in the future. Furthermore, [...]