Liberate the law from regulation that shackles it February 21, 2012 AS THE British economy faces tough economic challenges, promoting areas of potential economic growth is not only important – it is essential. With an annual turnover of £25bn (roughly the equivalent to two per cent of our country’s GDP) the legal services industry in England and Wales is an example of one such area. The [...]
A heretic’s view of the National Health Service February 21, 2012 YESTERDAY, the Prime Minister met healthcare professionals concerned about the proposed reforms of the National Health Service (NHS). He reassured them that “this is about improving and enhancing our NHS, not in any way endangering it”. He is right that these reforms will preserve the NHS. Those who use it will still pay nothing. This [...]
RAPID RESPONSES February 21, 2012 The pay agenda I would like to respond to your coverage of our research into directors’ pay. Our findings are based on meticulous research and a rigorous methodology. There is nothing meaningless about averages if that is what the data is saying, I know of no statistics textbook that actually says otherwise. Our average 49 [...]
Is the NHS reform bill a cure for Britain’s healthcare ills? February 20, 2012 YES DAVID SKELTON ANY changes to the NHS are always going to provoke controversy. But in a healthcare landscape characterised by changing health needs, rapid technological innovation and rising patient expectations, reform is vital if the NHS is to meet the challenges of the coming decades. That is one of the reasons that these proposals [...]
Keeping zombie companies alive is a scary policy February 20, 2012 COMPANY insolvencies are a sign of a healthy economy and preventing companies from failing stifles the innovation this country needs to grow. Insolvencies, together with mergers and acquisitions, new company registrations, recruitment, and redundancies are, strange though it may seem to some, a sign of a healthy economy. Analysis of the number of new companies [...]
A new way to explain how much they spend February 20, 2012 SOME readers may be familiar with recent attempts to make US government spending plans easier to grasp by converting them to a representative family budget. Having recently returned from a weekend teaching in Croatia, I want to use it as a European example, hopefully shorn of the partisan emotions that can arise when discussing the [...]
RAPID RESPONSES February 20, 2012 Water pipedream [Re: Time to invest in infrastructure we actually need, yesterday] In 2006, the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) studied the potential to transfer water using the established river network. At the time this was mistaken in media reports as recommending a national water grid but that was not what ICE proposed. ICE concluded, [...]
The EU’s proposed Tobin tax will raid pension funds. But not in France and Germany February 20, 2012 TAX pension savings now! Not a slogan you are likely to see emblazoned on banners in the Occupy the City demonstration outside St Paul’s or even on the lips of European commissioners, but that is precisely what is being proposed with the EU’s Financial Transaction Tax (FTT). Worse yet, not all EU citizens will face [...]
Time to invest in infrastructure we actually need February 19, 2012 IT MAY be winter and pretty rainy but now is the time to start thinking about this summer’s inevitable water shortages in southeast England. For years, the government’s strategy has been to ration water. Yet in parts of the UK it rains almost every other day all year long. The wet regions are economically deprived; [...]
The City can help build bridges to Gulf states February 19, 2012 AT A time when political tensions are running high in Syria, Iran and parts of the Gulf now might not seem like the best time to be leading a senior City business delegation to the region. Business confidence relies on a stable environment but despite the current uncertainty there remain huge two-way opportunities for closer [...]