Why so-called corporate social responsibility is not the answer to our problems October 23, 2011 WHAT’S your image of a socially responsible company? One that pledges not to pollute unnecessarily and donates a percentage of its profits to supporting vulnerable communities or habitats maybe? Better still, one that encourages its staff to volunteer their time to achieving this? Certainly one whose aims go beyond making a profit and are clear [...]
An insider’s take on what Mifid 2 means to the UK October 23, 2011 AT A TIME when growth in the UK economy is stalling, any proposal that aims to make it easier for businesses to raise capital should be welcomed. I hope that a single rulebook will improve the regulatory framework for investors but there are many elements of the Commission’s new Market in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid [...]
Angels will help show the City’s power to all October 23, 2011 AS THE geographic and financial heart of London, protests have been part of the Square Mile’s history ever since the settlement was first founded. So while demonstrators pitching their tents outside St Paul’s Cathedral may make for an eyesore – and pose considerable logistical and environmental challenges – it is important these alternative views are [...]
RAPID RESPONSES October 23, 2011 Brain drain fears I read Friday’s article by Emma Boon on the merger of income tax and national insurance contributions (NIC) with interest, as a Chartered Tax Adviser and member of the Association of Taxation Technicians. I fear the global nature of social security contributions and its underlying contributory principle (contributions made by an individual [...]
Merging national insurance with income tax will boost transparency and cut costs October 20, 2011 NEXT month George Osborne will deliver his Autumn Statement, and it will have to be a good one. With the economy stalled and high unemployment, he needs a credible plan for economic growth. The credibility of the fiscal adjustment is on the line. Spending cuts are right and necessary but they are only one part [...]
Solicitor general: The US lesson on firm punishment October 20, 2011 IS PROSECUTION always the right response to corporate crime? Sometimes it can be a blunt instrument, causing unintentional collateral damage. Companies are not people and cannot be sent to prison: the effect of a prosecution can be felt by innocent employees, pensioners and shareholders as much as by the directors. Arthur Andersen’s collapse in 2002 [...]
Innovation alarm bells should not be ignored October 20, 2011 THERE has been a running controversy in the Forum this week about the rate of technological innovation (see Rapid Reponses, above). After an article by Norman Lewis argued that too much praise for Steve Jobs was a distraction from the importance of truly revolutionary scientific discoveries and world-shaping technological breakthoughs, readers have enthusiastically joined the [...]
RAPID RESPONSES October 20, 2011 Stalled innovation In response to Graeme Sutherland’s claims about transistors and computers [DNA of innovation, Rapid Responses, yesterday], the original patent for a transistor was taken out in 1925. Working transistors were first produced in the late 1940s. Modern computers build on Charles Babbage’s work in the 19th century and Alan Turing’s in the 1940s. [...]
The latest plan to rescue the Eurozone is flawed: It sets the scene for another crisis October 19, 2011 AS EUROZONE leaders gear up for their umpteenth summit to solve the Eurozone crisis, they seem to have reached the conclusion that what the Eurozone needs is more leverage. Not only that, but they seem to believe that the best way to achieve this would be through using the EFSF, the Eurozone’s bailout fund, to [...]
Don’t give house room to illiberal spare-bed taxes October 19, 2011 A MISGUIDED charity has called upon the government to take action against elderly people who live in large homes. In its outrageous report Hoarding of Housing, the Intergenerational Foundation (IF) takes aim at 25m “unused” bedrooms in England. In view of the real housing shortage, the charity’s surreal answer is that the government should tax [...]