Nimble thinkers can leave long-term visionaries locked in a time warp June 14, 2012 IN WESTERN Texas, they’re building a clock in a mountain designed to last for 10,000 years. The project, backed by Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos and many other tech luminaries, will take decades to complete and is the centrepiece of a movement to encourage more long-term thinking. The foundation behind it makes a point of [...]
Sky under threat as BT takes fight to football rights June 14, 2012 BSKYB’S delight at remaining the primary broadcaster for live football in the UK is not unreserved. Increased competition from the likes of Al Jazeera and ESPN has forced it to pay handsomely for the privilege, and the entry of BT into the market threatens its pre-eminence more powerfully than any of its previous competitors have [...]
Are shareholder revolts over executive pay a coherent response to poor performance? June 14, 2012 YES Carol Arrowsmith The 2012 AGM season has witnessed high levels of shareholder activism, focused on the bellwether issue of executive pay. The UK tends not to regulate these issues, believing that companies should follow good practice or explain their position – “comply or explain”. This year we are seeing shareholders challenge some companies – [...]
RAPID RESPONSES June 14, 2012 Accounting error [Re: Accounting rules place box ticking above prudence, Wednesday] Unfortuantely, Syed Kamall has made fundamental errors in his article. The accounting rules proposed by International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) don’t allow balance sheet inflation. They are also not yet finalised and the IFRS rules relevant to banks weren’t in operation during the financial crisis. [...]
Osborne should reject the Vickers report in his Mansion House Speech June 13, 2012 GEORGE Osborne is a flip-flop chancellor – but on all the wrong policies. One area where a u-turn would be welcome is on the implementation of the Vickers report. However, In his Mansion House speech tonight, he will signal an intention to plough on as before – accepting both the good and the bad. Let’s [...]
Obama’s campaign stumbles over claims he doesn’t feel economic pain June 13, 2012 AWEEK after the US Department of Labour announced the country had experienced its worst job growth for a year, President Barack Obama told the gathering herd of reporters at the White House that “the private sector is doing just fine.” Within an hour, Mitt Romney’s campaign had produced a web video. Within a day, the [...]
Italy’s Five Star movement isn’t funny for Monti June 13, 2012 SPAIN’S €100bn bailout plan has failed to reassure markets. The permanent fear of contagion means nervous glances are once again being directed at Italy. Austria’s Finance Minister Maria Fekter was the first political leader to claim that Italy may have to tap into the Eurozone’s rescue funds – a statement which did not go down [...]
Will the Lib Dem’s failure to support Jeremy Hunt risk breaking open coalition divisions? June 13, 2012 YES Donal Blaney There seems to be one rule for Tories and another for Liberal Democrats. While Conservatives stood by Vince Cable, their coalition partners are happy to feed Jeremy Hunt to the wolves. Lib Dems routinely criticise government policy and seek to renegotiate the coalition agreement while Tories act with the discipline that one [...]
RAPID RESPONSES June 13, 2012 Terry Leahy for PM [Re: Business leaders must speak up in promoting a culture of capitalism, yesterday] What a brilliant article. It’s a shame our politicians don’t think this way. I can think of only two politicians who practiced Sir Terry Leahy’s philosophy – Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. They liberalised, lightened regulation, set markets free [...]
Business leaders must speak up in promoting a culture of capitalism June 12, 2012 MY 33 years at Tesco, 14 of them as its chief executive, left me in no doubt that people hold one of two views of the world: there are those who believe in trusting people, markets and competition, and those who put their faith in government, in all its various guises. Life being what it [...]