Eurozone’s bank sector is facing a wintry new year December 18, 2011 IT’S hard to be optimistic about European banks: they are operating in a highly volatile economic environment that still seems a recipe for trouble ahead. To start with, take rising capital requirements and mix with new liquidity standards. Then add in constrained economic growth alongside the need for future restructuring and significant cost cutting. Combined, [...]
It’s a good time for the City’s taxes to pour in December 18, 2011 AT A time when the City’s value is being questioned, both in the UK and in Europe, it is more important than ever that we highlight the huge contribution it continues to make – even in this extremely challenging economic environment. It was timely therefore that last week a new City of London Corporation report [...]
RAPID RESPONSES December 18, 2011 Fire and ice Benny Peiser argues “the green agenda will remain firmly on ice for the rest of this decade”. [Durban’s climate conference puts green deal on ice, last Wednesday]. What’s true for inter-governmental climate treaties may also be coming true for the green energy movement, as governments realise they can’t afford the costly subsidies [...]
Don’t lock the world out of London: New rules send the City back to the dark ages December 15, 2011 THERE is a well-used phrase in management, that it is better to make a wrong decision than none at all. The exception must be Mark Makepeace, chief executive of the FTSE Group, who this week ruled all listings in London from next month must have a 25 per cent free float In enforcing this, he [...]
Nokia’s Lumia has made me see it in a new light December 15, 2011 I HAVEN’T always been Nokia’s biggest fan. Earlier this year I might have said its tie-up with Microsoft was not so much a case of rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic as sending a diving team to the bottom of the ocean to drape bunting over its rusting shell. I might have said it was duller [...]
Europe’s responsibility deficit is out of control December 15, 2011 DAVID Cameron spoke of ending a “responsibility deficit” yesterday. He wasn’t talking about the Eurozone, but he could have been. Its steadily-compounding financial disaster is an epic tale of failed responsibility, the consequence of spending without thought to the consequences. And yet lazy references to “PIIGS”, while they point rightly to the dysfunctional choices made [...]
RAPID RESPONSES December 15, 2011 All hail shale I wholeheartedly agree with Matt Ridley [In America, the shale gas revolution is creating jobs and growth, yesterday]. The country would be much richer for letting the shale gas industry compete on a level playing field with subsidised green energy. Crucially, doing so would spark much-needed industry in the north-west. Many people [...]
In America, the shale gas revolution is creating jobs and growth. It can here too December 14, 2011 WHEN is a job not a job? Answer: when it is a green job. Jobs in an industry that raises the price of energy effectively destroy jobs elsewhere; jobs in an industry that cuts the cost of energy create extra jobs elsewhere. The entire argument for green jobs is a version of Frederic Bastiat’s broken-window [...]
Russia’s protests are a cry for less state corruption December 14, 2011 ANYONE surveying the scene in Russia today has one name to commit to memory: Alexey Navalny. It would be a gross exaggeration to say that this 35-year-old anti-corruption blogger was responsible for turning out a 50,000-strong protest against a rigged parliamentary election – the largest pro-democracy movement Russia has seen since the collapse of communism. [...]
Minority shareholders need more protection December 14, 2011 I NOTED with interest Andrew Tusa’s article in City A.M. about UK listing rules [Critics of listing rules in the UK should bear in mind how the system actually works, Tuesday]. REAL CONCERNS While Andrew makes some good points about the role of the United Kingdom Listing Authority (UKLA), I am concerned that he possibly [...]