Recession dials flash red on UK economic dashboard May 11, 2022 The dials are flashing red on the dashboard of the health of the British economy. Just a few months ago, UK growth prospects were reasonably good. The Covid-19 bounce back was set to continue this year, building on the country notching the biggest expansion in the G7 in 2021 (albeit due to the UK suffering [...]
Letters: Insurance is paying a price May 11, 2022 [Re: Hiscox sets aside £32m to weather impact of war in Ukraine, May 5] What’s happened with insurer Hiscox is just another example of how the insurance industry is now entering the most prolonged hard market in living memory. After the financial and reputational losses sustained during the pandemic, we are now deep into a [...]
Opinion-in-brief: Putin scrambles to salvage war campaign replacing spies May 11, 2022 Vladimir Putin has replaced Russia’s main spy agency – the Federal Security Service (FSB) – with military intelligence chiefs who will now oversee intelligence operations in Ukraine. The individuals appointed are part of the GRU, the service allegedly behind the Salisbury poisonings in 2018, and heavily involved in operations in the Donbas and in Syria. [...]
The Queen’s Speech failed to turn our financial regulators into a public asset May 11, 2022 The most important segment of yesterday’s Queen’s Speech was the landmark Financial Services Bill. This piece of legislation was a major test for the government’s vision of a net-zero aligned financial system that drives sustainable economic growth across the UK and acts in the interest of all people and communities. Regrettably, it didn’t pass the [...]
As we resume our life back to normal, the costs of lockdowns become painfully clear May 11, 2022 The enormous costs of a policy of strict lockdowns – identified and predicted by many economists in the summer of 2020 – are now becoming obvious. As our memory of them starts to fade away, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is still tracking vital Covid-19 data. The WHO provides estimates of the excess deaths due [...]
A slip into recession is a token of the Conservatives’ failure to govern our country May 11, 2022 The word recession has not been thought about for years, but after the Bank of England announced that we should expect it by the end of 2022, it has been placed at the front of people’s minds. Of course, external factors do play a massive role in this; the Russian invasion of Ukraine has disrupted [...]
Letters: Up and down for the Bitcoin world May 10, 2022 [Re: Bitcoin slips to three-month low as interest rate rises hit financial markets, yesterday] Over the weekend, the value of Bitcoin has reached new lows of £27,630, meaning the market value has now fallen by 50 per cent since its peak in November 2021. Whilst investors shouldn’t be too taken aback by the fall, given [...]
Explainer-in-brief: UK and EU at loggerheads over Northern Ireland May 10, 2022 The Northern Ireland protocol saga is back following Sinn Féin’s extraordinary assembly election victory last week. The Democratic Unionist Party has said it won’t return to government and form a coalition unless the protocol is scrapped. The post-Brexit agreement between the UK and the EU – meant to regulate checks of goods travelling between the [...]
Carbon trading could create a green mask for companies to hide behind May 10, 2022 When the Integrity Council – an independent governance body – announced they were drawing up a set of global values for voluntary carbon markets in March, it seemed like an answer to many prayers. Compulsory carbon markets, where regulated companies must use carbon allowances to justify their annual emissions, have been accepted as an effective [...]
London won’t throw out fraud until we put transparency at the core of finance May 10, 2022 Today the Queen’s annual speech will be delivered to parliament. Amid all the pomp and ceremony that surrounds this event, one very important piece of legislation to be expected is a second Economic Crime Bill. The first bill had to be fast-tracked through parliament as part of the government’s immediate response to Russia’s invasion of [...]