25 years after the Big Bang we ask: Was it a good idea? October 26, 2011 YES Eamonn Butler SOMETHING had to happen. London had once been the world’s major financial centre, but by the 1980s it had been overtaken by New York and that lead was growing. The City remained an old-fashioned world: to outsiders like me, more like a private gentlemen’s club than a place of business. Its leading [...]
Scandinavia is a showcase of free market reforms October 26, 2011 GEORGE Monbiot once claimed “Sweden proves the neoliberals wrong about how to slash poverty.” Our new research reveals a different story: Scandinavian success is a triumph of prudent fiscal policy, government downsizing and smart market regulation. It is a showcase for neoliberalism, and not its nemesis. The whole region’s success is striking: in the past [...]
A twenty-first century trade policy for Britain October 26, 2011 THE world may seem in deep economic turmoil, but it is only our part of it. Across the planet, the lumbering Asian superpowers of China and India are ticking along nicely. For many UK companies, exports to these growing economies will be critical to pulling through the next few years. In the longer term, boosting [...]
RAPID RESPONSES October 26, 2011 University blues While Jamie Whyte celebrates a 12 per cent decline in university applications [Hooray for a decline in university applications, yesterday], the CBI says that 56 per cent more jobs in the UK will require degree-level skills by 2017. Whyte may belong to the group of people who think we have too many graduates, [...]
At last, a sign of good news in the economic data – the UK’s trade deficit is falling October 25, 2011 AMID the gloom that permeates most economic and financial commentary at the moment, a rather more positive development has become apparent over the past few weeks, but has received scant attention. When revised data were released for the second quarter of 2011, on 5 October, most analysis concentrated on the recent deceleration in the economy. [...]
It is a myth that there is no way to quit the euro October 25, 2011 IN 2010, the economist Barry Eichengreen wrote: “The decision to join the euro area is effectively irreversible.” That’s certainly the view of Europe’s politicians, busy again today with their latest plan to save the euro intact. They seem to think that any exit from the euro would bring chaos, not only to the exiting country [...]
Hooray for a decline in university applications October 25, 2011 UNIVERSITY applications are 12 per cent down on last year. Some are blaming the government’s lifting of the fee cap from £3,375 to £9,000 a year. Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, the trade union for lecturers, claims that this shows the increase to have been a “disaster from the start”. [...]
RAPID RESPONSES October 25, 2011 Define discussion Nick Clegg announced plans yesterday for a new law that will allow protected conversations between bosses and employees. This is a small step in the right direction. My firm advises employers all the time who are genuinely afraid of having frank discussions with their staff about retirement in case what they say is [...]
David Cameron has a point on Europe: We need a vote, but the time isn’t quite ripe October 24, 2011 YESTERDAY’S Tory backbench rebellion over a referendum on Europe has highlighted again how Conservative leaders seem effortlessly capable of creating a political crisis out of a drama whenever the EU edges to the top of the agenda. To be sure, none of the three main parties have a consistent or honourable record on the question [...]
The Russians are coming: Roll out the red carpets October 24, 2011 BACK in the mid-1960s, I wasted a wet afternoon watching a truly silly film. The plot was a melange of bluster, misunderstanding, clashing cultures and xenophobia. The title was The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming. Readers with an interest in the City’s health will recognise a plot that is in danger of repeating [...]