Letters: Buy now, edge us out later November 22, 2022 [Re: Klarna amps up super-app aims with price comparison tool, Nov 14] Klarna’s new price comparison tool, while a positive thing for consumers, is a significant step towards cutting merchants out of a crucial part of the shopping experience. This only makes it clearer that BNPLs have no intention of staying in the checkout and [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Is Twitter really a dead man walking? November 21, 2022 When Elon Musk bought Twitter, many worried for the consequences on vulnerable users or those more likely to suffer abuse online, as Musk portrayed himself as a freedom of speech absolutist. But now that he’s taken ownership, the problem might be simpler: it’s not clear whether he has the acumen to keep the ship afloat. [...]
Hunt hopes for an uneasy peace between the markets, voters and his own party November 21, 2022 At the dispatch box, Jeremy Hunt opted to forgo the traditional Budget day whisky when he delivered the Autumn Statement. Given the task he was facing, you could forgive him for having a drink. Burgeoning estimates of the fiscal black hole were well trailed by a Treasury desperate to manage expectations. The final figure was [...]
Ten years on, the Sunak government is still beholden to the austerity narrative November 21, 2022 Jeremy Hunt couched his fiscal plans very deliberately as part of a Tory continuum.
Tax hikes will cause national pain but London can still build its own growth plan November 21, 2022 Jeremy Hunt faced a difficult balancing act in the Autumn Statement last week. The state of affairs he outlined, albeit unsurprising, was still a stark warning about the precarious nature of our economy: a £55bn black hole in the nation’s finances. We now know how the government will seek to restore parity in the national [...]
Letters: Never fear, robots are here November 21, 2022 [Re: Y2Pay: Robots eat into wage growth in the UK but boost productivity, Nov 10] The fear that you may be replaced with a robot is, for some, no longer the stuff of science fiction. With automated systems and AI becoming ever-more sophisticated, businesses across a number of sectors are increasingly looking to adopt automation [...]
Explainer-in-brief: The French ready to go down under for submarines November 18, 2022 French president Emmanuel Macron said this week that the submarine deal with Australia was “still on the table”, following conversations with Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese at the G20. The $90bn deal fell through last year – sparking a diplomatic crisis of sorts between the two countries – when Australia ditched it to form a [...]
Hunt plots an ‘OK, but’ budget to spread the pain and fling it to the future November 18, 2022 As Jeremy Hunt competed for headlines with the Australian soap opera Neighbours, its theme song was unwitting inspiration for his financial plan.
Tesla tax? We need a road pricing scheme for a modern congestion-free future November 18, 2022 Given the plethora of misery that accompanied yesterday’s Autumn Statement, it might have been possible to overlook a significant measures namely that electric vehicles will no longer be exempt from Vehicle Excise Duty from April 2025. This is a glimmer of good news. It reveals something deeply encouraging as half of new vehicles will be [...]
We will all feel the squeeze, but squeeze too hard and tax receipts will dry up November 18, 2022 Doom and gloom was the name of the game in the run-up to the Autumn Statement. Yet the measures delivered by the chancellor ended up being more positive for hospitality businesses than many had feared. It was a pragmatic response to a turbulent economic market. Crucially, it delivered stability. The one important part missing, however, [...]