Double-dip alarm is premature and politically driven April 30, 2012 ACCORDING to the latest figures, Britain has fallen back into recession. Some have seized the opportunity to pin the blame on the coalition’s austerity measures, but I don’t believe that’s right, for two reasons: first, this isn’t austerity, and second, I’m not convinced there’s a recession. Let’s be clear: a budget deficit equal to 7.7 [...]
A year after Osama Bin Laden’s death, is the world now a significantly safer place? April 30, 2012 YES Robin Simcox The world is undoubtedly a safer place following Osama bin Laden’s death. Al-Qaeda finds it easy to replenish mid-level commanders and footsoldiers, but a figurehead like bin Laden is virtually irreplaceable. Bin Laden’s sermons inspired Islamist extremists around the world to fight and die in his name; he also had military legitimacy, [...]
RAPID responses April 30, 2012 Gordon’s legacy [Re: A recession made in Downing Street – but not caused by cuts, Thursday] It is right to continue to criticise Gordon Brown for our economic position. By basing future expenditure plans on income levels at the top of a boom (and still running a deficit then), he left us in an unsustainable [...]
Time for Russia 2.0: Putin’s return promises an economic revolution April 29, 2012 THE Western European view of Russia has not moved with developments in the country since the crash of 1990. To the Western media, Russia remains a kleptocracy run by the mafia. It is seen as secretive, corrupt, plutocratic, hugely unequal and unjust. Yet the challenges that Russia faces are not unique in the world of [...]
Tech City’s free radicals can’t be run by the state April 29, 2012 TODAY, the UK has a huge array of entrepreneurial talent. However, with the latest GDP figures showing the country back in recession, we need more than political spin from Westminster about promoting innovation and entrepreneurship. We need the politicians to get out of the way so we can achieve results. No project has inflamed more [...]
Four challenging years guiding the City through its tumult and turmoil April 29, 2012 WHEN I assumed the position of chairman of policy and resources at the City of London Corporation in 2008, I knew that there would be difficulties. But very few people could have anticipated the scale of the challenges that lay ahead. Over the last four years there have been sequences of events that have defined [...]
Is it time to shake-up the way history is taught to children in Britain’s schools? April 29, 2012 YES Robert Tombs History is a big story. The episodes are connected. They have causes and consequences. They explain each other. Think of watching football on television, entirely made up of snippets from different matches. It might be exciting at first, but soon you would realise that it made no sense. Yet that is how [...]
RAPID responses April 29, 2012 Holiday ending [Re: What course should George Osborne take, Thursday] A temporary VAT cut isn’t the answer. It’ll lead to a temporary surge in consumer spending, before falling back when the rate is restored. Similarly, a temporary cut in NIC isn’t a good enough reason for an employer to take on staff. They need to [...]
We must campaign with one voice to end financial illiteracy in the UK April 26, 2012 WE NO LONGER live in a world where our financial futures are taken care of by either the government or our employers. Today, we are increasingly expected to take personal responsibility for planning for the long term. If we are to make the right decisions, we need to understand the language of economics, statistics and [...]
Back to the future: Private enterprise has got us racing into space again April 26, 2012 IT TOOK less than one human lifespan, just 66 years, for humankind to go from our first powered flight to landing a man on the moon. But in the last decade we’ve given up on supersonic flight and grounded the space shuttle forever. There are no jetpacks zipping across the City skyline. Whatever happened to [...]