The Chancellor can stick to his debt target by following Canada’s lead December 2, 2012 ON WEDNESDAY the Chancellor will announce whether he plans to stick to the government’s pledge that debt will fall as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2015/16. Worse than expected growth forecasts make it more – not less – vital that he sticks to that plan. Economic forecasters are lining up to predict [...]
We need to put the past behind us and get the special relationship right December 2, 2012 ONLY a few months ago, talk of a special relationship between the US and the UK would have provoked some quizzical looks among many in the City. A number of British banks – Standard Chartered, HSBC and Barclays among them – had faced a summer of discontent as they were subject to accusations of wrongdoing [...]
How US politicians will respond to the looming fiscal cliff December 2, 2012 ONE of the few things that politicians in the United States are good at is dealing with a problem by kicking the can down the road. That’s what happened in August 2011 when Republicans and Democrats reached an agreement to avoid breaching a statutory ceiling on the federal government’s mounting debt. The agreement included the [...]
Could UKIP become the third party in British politics as Nigel Farage recently professed? December 2, 2012 YES Andrew Hawkins It’s the morning after the 2014 European elections and UKIP has won the most votes. This follows a string of by-election successes, regularly beating the Liberal Democrats or Conservatives into third place. UKIP averages 10 per cent in the polls, often ahead of the Lib Dems. Nigel Farage now demands to be [...]
Rapid responses December 2, 2012 New energy model [Re: Simpler energy tariffs will lead to higher bills and less competition, Thursday] It is a mistake for a prime minister to interfere in markets. Competition in the retail energy market was always a bad idea. Since the buying power of the domestic consumer is relatively small, competing for custom is correspondingly [...]
Leveson is wrong – regulation is not the answer to every problem November 29, 2012 THE two scandals which gave rise to the Leveson Inquiry were phone hacking and bribing the police. Both are already crimes. The scandal was failure to enforce the law. Yet Leveson baldly dismisses these issues – asserting without evidence that “more rigorous application of the criminal law does not and will not provide the solution”. [...]
New treaty threatens the economic opportunities of a laissez-faire internet November 29, 2012 AT the beginning of this year, in this very column, I outlined the threats to freedom online both in the UK and abroad through the International Telecommunications Union. Sadly, my predictions were correct. We are facing the risk of media regulation at home while an international treaty negotiation abroad threatens to regulate the internet as [...]
Ireland shows why press controls are not the solution November 29, 2012 LORD Justice Leveson met his deadline yesterday, issuing the findings of his eight month inquiry into the “culture, practices, and ethics” of the press. It came as no surprise that he concluded the state has a role to play in overseeing newspapers. Leveson decided that a statutory body, much like Ofcom, should take responsibility for [...]
Should we be worried that zombie firms will worsen the effects of the recession? November 29, 2012 YES Jon Moulton We should be afraid of zombie companies that eat away at good assets and valuable finance. Allowing bad business models to persist spurns one of the very few positive effects of a recession: clearing out the economically unproductive companies to make way for strong, innovative ones. Forbearance is a nice phrase, but [...]
Rapid responses November 29, 2012 The tax debate [Re: Firms call for tax breaks in infrastructure, Monday] I would happily support an overhaul of the tax system to try and bring better balance to, and a fairer sharing of, the burden of paying our country’s bills. However, the vilification of anyone who legally manages their tax affairs is worrying. The [...]