Physicists are hunting for a so-called God particle, but their faith is dwindling fast November 24, 2011 EVER since the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was nearing completion at Cern, the European centre for particle physics near Geneva, particle scientists have been earnestly explaining that it really doesn’t matter if the huge accelerator fails to snare its main quarry, a particle called the Higgs boson. Maybe it exists; maybe it doesn’t. It’s interesting [...]
Lehman lawyers think insolvency regime too weak November 24, 2011 THE high profile failure of MF Global has once again highlighted the intractable problems that arise when an investment firm fails. The latest reports suggest that the shortfall on client funds may be as much as $1.2bn (£0.7bn). Staggeringly, that represents a quarter of all the funds that the firm was supposed to be holding. [...]
There’s no middle way: Stretch or be squeezed November 24, 2011 THE Oxford English Dictionary has declared Ed Miliband’s phrase “the squeezed middle” its word of the year. Yes, it’s a phrase, not a word, and let’s set aside how tricky writing the definition must have been, given that Miliband’s concept of the middle appears to reach over the whole population except for far extremes of [...]
RAPID RESPONSES November 24, 2011 Safer than some Allister Heath writes, “the main reason why UK gilt yields hit record lows yesterday is that the Bank of England is monetising the entirety of the government’s borrowing” [Even Germany is feeling the pressure, yesterday]. That would explain why gilts were strong, but sterling has been strong against Asian currencies, suggesting foreign [...]
Regulations sprouting from Brussels will damage the UK’s corporate governance November 23, 2011 In recent days, the implications of the EU regulatory reform agenda for the City of London have been widely reported. However, the financial sector is not the only area of vulnerability to future EU directives. Of wider concern is the growing risk that the UK’s distinctive model of corporate governance – underpinned by “comply or [...]
Democracy is in: Here comes the activist investor November 23, 2011 SOME of this year’s biggest news stories, such as the Arab Spring and the Occupy movements in London and New York, have a common underlying narrative. “The many” are unhappy about the actions of “the few”. Democracy is in vogue. A similar narrative is emerging from some of the biggest business stories of the year. [...]
If I were Osborne, I’d scrap the 50p tax now November 23, 2011 SO WHAT would you do if you were chancellor? Cut red tape, scrap taxes, subsidise industries or build toll roads? The real chancellor is being flooded with suggestions about how to get the economy moving again, with almost no idea being left unproposed. Each day the pages of the papers are packed with stories about [...]
RAPID RESPONSES November 23, 2011 Property wrongs In Alex Morton’s argument for the liberalisation of planning law as the basis of addressing housing need [Our economy and housing supply are being held back by planning, yesterday], he argues for “a presumption against interference” by councils – only in the next paragraph to call for the use of Compulsory Purchase Orders [...]
Our economy and housing supply are being held back by planning: Liberalise now November 22, 2011 THE roots of our urban and housing crises began in the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act. This created the current planning framework where all major private property changes are subject to state veto. All land released for housing has to be approved by councils. Councils tell developers what they should build and where it [...]
Social investing will give a boost to philanthropy November 22, 2011 GEORGE Osborne’s Autumn Statement is likely to reveal that things are going to be tough for some years. One consequence is that money to tackle many social issues will be in short supply. One hope is that the third sector can plug some of the hole created by the deficit reduction plan. But funding for [...]