Tax system to the rescue: Six policy tweaks that could kickstart the economy June 23, 2020 The past three months have seen a deluge of economic, political, and legal moves that would have been unthinkable at the start of the year. As civil liberties were curtailed on a scale never seen in peacetime and ten million children were turned away from school, new hospitals were built in a matter of weeks, [...]
Getting small businesses match fit for economic recovery June 23, 2020 The coronavirus pandemic is having a profound shock on the economy, with UK GDP dropping by a record 20.4 per cent in April. Businesses of all sizes have been shaken, with many — especially smaller ones — struggling to survive. It has also become clear that there is no longer a separate digital economy and [...]
Adapt planning and licencing rules or risk losing the high street forever June 23, 2020 The nation’s high streets have been struggling for years. Rising vacancy rates and declining footfall over the past decade have seen town centres begin to undergo a fundamental transformation — but in many ways not for the better. Empty, boarded up shops have become a depressingly familiar sight in towns and cities across the UK. [...]
Beyond Petroleum: Is BP finally moving from rhetoric to reality? June 22, 2020 Kneeling in prayer for a sin he doesn’t regret, Shakespeare’s Claudius, Hamlet’s fratricidal uncle, ruefully admits: “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below, / Words without thoughts never to heaven go.” Claudius knew that empty rhetoric is entirely unpersuasive — a lesson many corporate executives have since learnt. In 2000, BP hired the advertisers [...]
There is a moral, social and business case for a diverse and inclusive Square Mile June 22, 2020 The senseless and shocking death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests that have followed in the US and the UK have highlighted again the racism that sadly still exists in society. This is a difficult, complex, and emotional issue for all of us, and one that has also rightly caused much concern [...]
With the rest of the world distracted, China is on the march across Asia June 22, 2020 There are iron-clad geopolitical rules as to how the world works, edicts no less true because they are unknown by the vast majority of people. The vastly underrated Nicholas J. Spykman, the foremost US strategic theoretician of the twentieth century, was a primary articulator of these secret runes. As Spykman postulated, the underlying rules to [...]
A regulated blockchain can empower governments, corporations, and people June 22, 2020 For too long, blockchain has been regarded as an obscure technology powering an industry that cannot be trusted. According to a recent trust survey by Edelman, three in four people said they were not familiar with blockchain and cryptocurrencies, while 60 per cent believed that these technologies were not regulated enough. So how can we [...]
We must not abandon the people of Hong Kong behind a new Great Wall June 19, 2020 Hong Kong is a city of refugees. When the People’s Republic of China was declared in 1949, refugees from the mainland flooded to the island territory to benefit from the city’s freedoms. And even before this, Hong Kong was seen as a safe haven for national figures such as Sun Yat-sen in the early twentieth century, wanted [...]
Let retail investors help aid a rapid recovery June 19, 2020 Since lockdown began, there has been a trend of companies acting to build up their reserves through equity fundraises — with over £10bn raised since the pandemic began. However, the vast majority of these fundraises have so far not been open to retail investors. While companies urgently need liquidity now more than ever, neglecting to [...]
As China gears up on the cyber offensive, we need herd immunity to boost our national resilience June 19, 2020 With a GDP of $13.5 trillion, dwarfing Britain’s by almost $12 trillion, China is the third most economically powerful country in the world after Russia and the US — for now at least. And as the coronavirus outbreak disrupts the world in a way not seen since the Second World War, China is seeking to [...]