RAPID RESPONSES November 8, 2011 Marx out of tent Allister Heath’s editorial in City A.M. yesterday [We need reform – but that does not make Marx right] appears to be under a misconception that Occupation of the London Stock Exchange is in relation to the socialist philosopher Karl Marx. Rather like the Arab Spring, the occupation is a reaction to [...]
David Cameron is to call for moral capitalism: He needs to tackle moral hazard first November 7, 2011 IT IS widely expected that the Prime Minister is going to start calling for a more moral form of capitalism. I have a simple test of whether a politician is trying to debate, or avoid, tough policy questions – I ask myself whether anybody would disagree with the opposite of what the politician is calling [...]
End the stigma that surrounds stress in the City November 7, 2011 LLOYDS Banking Group has announced that Antonio Horta-Osorio is expected to return before the end of the year, but City sources have been saying there is no way that he will be able to come back as chief executive after taking time off for physical and mental exhaustion. The persistent stigma is that after any [...]
Monetary policy is not all about pulling levers November 7, 2011 I’M A big fan of the Bank of England museum. I find the way it attempts to educate children about how monetary policy is conducted to be charming. There is an exhibit with a tube of clear plastic containing a ball. The tube is “balanced” when the ball is level with a marker for 2 [...]
RAPID RESPONSES November 7, 2011 Pay may be earned Albert Ellis made some good points about executive pay [The debate over chief executives’ pay isn’t simple, yesterday]. The debate seems to have reached a stage where too many look for data to support their prejudice about overcompensated fat cats and don’t investigate any further the quality of the studies involved. [...]
We cannot improve schools from the centre: A bold call for more choice in education November 6, 2011 BY AND large, British families do not choose the education their children receive. For the majority of parents that choice is made for them, by the distance from their front door to the school gate, and whether they have the means to buy into the catchment of another school or avail themselves of a private [...]
The debate over chief executives’ pay isn’t simple November 6, 2011 INCOME Data Services (IDS) released a report on executive pay last week, drawing hysterical condemnation of business leaders from unions, politicians and journalists. However, research by Harvey Nash’s Board Practice and the London Business School’s MBA Consulting Team reveals that FTSE 100 chief executive pay is just not as simple as many would like us [...]
Reclaim the City from Robin Hood tax risks November 6, 2011 MUCH has been written in recent weeks about the protest camp outside St Paul’s and about the City of London Corporation’s attitude to it. I would like to take this opportunity to bring a degree of clarity to the situation. The City fully supports the democratic right to protest and at no point have we [...]
RAPID RESPONSES November 6, 2011 Bailouts vs zombies As Marc Sidwell says [The Zombie Menace of Anti-capitalist Thought, Friday], the Occupy London protest is leaderless, yet he lumps all the protesters together as anti-capitalist. From what I’ve gathered, some may be anti-capitalist but there is a range of views; many are simply disgusted with the way that banks have been [...]
Four years into a succession of crises and still no reform: Time for some Long Finance November 3, 2011 FOUR years into a series of financial crises, from Bear Stearns and liquidity shocks in 2007, to Lehman and RBS failures, Irish and Icelandic collapses, and now Eurozone currency-quakes, there have been no financial reforms to match the magnitude of the problems. An Olympiad later, the world feels more brittle and people jump at any [...]