Letters: Digital VAT can be an opportunity April 4, 2022 [Re: Digitalisation of VAT for small businesses, April 1] The next phase of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT came into force on Friday, and it’s fair to say that not every small business will have welcomed it with open arms. Already facing a laundry list of challenges, they now need to comply with HMRC’s [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Behind the upcoming energy strategy April 4, 2022 As we brace ourselves for higher energy bills this month, the energy strategy is expected to finally come out this week. Boris Johnson has made clear that his juice of choice is nuclear, setting the goal of getting a quarter of the country’s electricity from nuclear power. Yet nuclear can’t be the only homemade source, [...]
As we cosy up to Qatar, the West must face the moral maze of the Middle East April 4, 2022 Last month I wrote about the prospect of Dubai challenging London’s place as a great global financial centre. But Britain’s delicate dance with the Middle East does not end there. The emerging relationship between Europe and the United States on the one hand and the oil-rich emirate of Qatar on the other poses a multitude [...]
Impact investing has the power to create social change, but we need to measure it April 4, 2022 As our world faces a myriad of environmental, social and geo-political challenges, there can be little doubt that radical changes must be made to ensure a sustainable and equitable future for generations to come. The UN’s latest report on climate change sends a stark warning: we have passed the point of no return. We must [...]
Fintech was born out of the 2008 crisis: now it will help us navigate another storm April 4, 2022 In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash, the financial services industry was in crisis. Silver linings were hard to come by. That period of turmoil led to the emergence of a new wave of financial innovation that would transform the industry and drive a fintech revolution. The crisis created opportunities for new companies to [...]
Explainer-in-brief: A fertiliser win for farmers – even if it stinks April 1, 2022 British farmers have won a battle over manure in a bid to find alternatives to increasingly unaffordable and scarce chemical fertilisers. Fertiliser costs have been steadily going up, with the last spike following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The government had previously banned using manure as a fertiliser last autumn. This decision was taken following concerns [...]
European tech laws should tempt the next Silicon Valley to cross the Atlantic April 1, 2022 In the early years of the last century, Louis Brandeis of America’s Supreme Court believed that markets, without regulation, would destroy their most treasured characteristic, competition. It was Justice Brandeis, above all others, whose actions curtailed the oil industry’s “robber barons” and brought about the age of “antitrust”. Today, for the first time since, anti-monopolists [...]
Law firms cannot keep riding the two horses of easy money and the rule of law April 1, 2022 The war in Ukraine has cost many lives. It has also exposed some double standards. The recent Oxera Report has shown the economic value of the English legal platform which underpins City markets. This platform rests on the rule of law. But the City has unwisely developed a parallel reputation as a haven for funds [...]
The tectonic plates of economic power are being moved by the crypto kings April 1, 2022 Sanctions have shown the power of the people who control cash. Oligarchs counting their dollars today have realised that their money is more than just a currency, it’s an operating system. In the past month, the US Treasury, which issues the American notes and regulates the accounts that trade them, has removed the operating licence [...]
Into the final straight: An interview with gambling chief Michael Dugher April 1, 2022 For most punters, it’s the thrill of horses entering the last couple of furlongs when the heart rate starts picking up. The betting industry however is in a final stretch quite unlike that at courses like Cheltenham and Epsom – for a government review in the works since 2020 is due to finally set the [...]