The City must aspire to the Olympian ethos of competitive sportsmanship July 22, 2012 NOW THAT the Olympic Flame is in London – having made a dramatic aerial entrance last Friday, courtesy of the Royal Marines – this is the capital’s moment to shine. The weather forecasters are doing their bit by suggesting we’ll continue to bask in glorious sunshine, and boroughs across London are putting finishing touches to [...]
Following arguments that bank regulators have failed, is self-regulation the answer? July 22, 2012 YES Peter Meinertzhagen The main problem with regulation by statutory bodies is that nothing gets done. Witness the inquiry into the fixing of Libor rates. If the governor of the Bank of England could still raise his eyebrows, as in the days of self-regulation, Barclays would have had to act or face the consequences. During [...]
RAPID responses July 22, 2012 Olympic strikes [Re: It’s not all bad: Britain is becoming safer despite recession, Friday] The good news in this article is that the criminals are at least giving us a break in our time of difficulties. On the other hand, a powerful and selfish minority of immigration and border control workers want to put us [...]
Formula One shows real experts should be driving our companies July 19, 2012 NEW research into the success of Formula One teams shows that a leader’s genuine expertise in a company’s core business really matters. Being a capable general manager alone is not sufficient. This is a hot topic – there is recent evidence that major firms have moved away from hiring chief executives with technical expertise, towards [...]
The Batman of business: Private equity has the guts to do the dirty work July 19, 2012 BATMAN and Barack Obama are conspiring to put private equity under a Bat Signal-shaped spotlight this week. The unlikely duo have come together thanks to the similarity between Bane – the name of the villain in The Dark Knight Rises (see our review on page 35) – and the Obama re-election campaign’s attack against Republican [...]
Next governor of the Bank must not be paid for failure July 19, 2012 IN 2008, an elderly lady asked a killer question about the credit crunch which left the so-called economic experts red-faced. During a briefing by academics at the London School of Economics on chaos in the international markets, the Queen asked: “Why did nobody notice it?” Another Old Lady – she of Threadneedle Street – had [...]
As figures reveal the UK increasingly exports outside the EU, should we abandon Europe? July 19, 2012 YES Ruth Lea The news that the UK exported more goods to non-EU countries than to EU countries in the three months to May, according to a report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, should come as no surprise to anyone. Of course, our current trade to the EU is being dampened by [...]
RAPID RESPONSES July 19, 2012 Let Heathrow fly [Re: We need supply-side reforms not more off-balance sheet spending, yesterday] This is an excellent article. If only the government would take notice and read it. Infrastructure is vital to economic growth but, as is made clear here, experience has proven that the private sector is more capable at providing it than [...]
We need supply-side reforms not more off-balance sheet spending July 18, 2012 THE government has announced more schemes to “stimulate” investment. We can now add Credit Enhancement and Export Finance Guarantees to previous measures like Funding for Lending, Credit Easing and the National Loans Guarantee Scheme. Against the backdrop of a further growth forecast downgrade from the International Monetary Fund, the need to be seen to “do [...]
Romney needs to fight Obama’s slurs against his successful business career July 18, 2012 PRESIDENT Barack Obama’s campaign has expertly controlled the election’s narrative over the course of this week: probing Mitt Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital and his reticence to release his pre-2010 tax returns. It’s sublime politics, a tactful “devil you know” distraction from the country’s economic woes. The Democratic offensive has gone from the tenuous to [...]