Pound slips on coronavirus trade slump February 28, 2020 | City Talk GBP / EUR Update It was an up and down week for the pound. At the end of last week, it had made an average gain of 0.3%, but the positivity was short-lived. At the beginning of this week, retail sales showed a 0.9% increase after two months of decline, but the pound was pushed [...]
Keir Starmer is reminding Labour what winning looks like February 28, 2020 For Labour members, the interminable leadership contest has been a never-ending ordeal. Increasingly desperate pleas from the candidates have been interrupted only by a line of unwatchable TV debates. For everyone else, it has barely registered. Coronavirus, floods, and the internal battles within Downing Street have far overshadowed the question (as Have I Got News [...]
Independent mayoral candidate Rory Stewart in BBC row February 27, 2020 The BBC has been accused of discriminating against Rory Stewart by shutting him out of its coverage in the lead-up to the May mayoral election. BBC London did not include the independent mayor of London candidate in a special report yesterday about knife crime, despite featuring the other four main challengers. City A.M. understands the [...]
Cancelled Budget forces OBR to run two forecasts in two days February 27, 2020 The cancellation of last autumn’s Budget, in place of one next month, means the OBR will now publish two sets of economic forecasts within two days of each other, to avoid falling foul of the law. The Office for Budget Responsibility is legally required to produce two forecasts annually, tied to a fiscal event. However [...]
Pound falls as UK threatens to walk away from Brexit trade talks February 27, 2020 The pound is down against the euro after Downing Street threatened to walk away from Brexit trade talks in June if it appears an agreement is unlikely. The pound fell 0.79 per cent against the euro to €1.175 and down to $1.288 against the dollar, as Britain reiterated its no-deal Brexit threat. Boris Johnson published [...]
Brexit trade talks: Six key takeaways from the UK’s negotiating mandate February 27, 2020 The UK government published its negotiating mandate for Brexit trade talks today, setting out what Boris Johnson’s chief sherpa David Frost will be seeking when talks kick off next week. But what are the key takeaways from that document? Here’s six of the most important points. 1. No UK-EU alignment This should be no surprise [...]
UK threatens to walk away from EU trade talks if no progress by June February 27, 2020 Downing Street will demand autonomy over “our own laws and political life” in a future trade deal with the EU – and will walk away from talks as early as June if it appears that an agreement is not likely, according to the UK’s negotiating mandate. The 30-page mandate, published minutes ago, clearly sets out [...]
Keep calm and drink Yorkshire Tea until the Twitter storm blows over February 27, 2020 Another day, another Twitter pile-on. This time, the warriors of social justice turned their ire on homely hot-drink merchants Yorkshire Tea. Their equally voluble online opponents rallied to its defence. Why? Because Yorkshire Tea had the temerity to be, unbeknownst to them, our new chancellor’s choice of brew. Or, more precisely, the drink selected by [...]
Our capitalist system is in crisis — here’s how we can reboot it February 27, 2020 Capitalism and the market economy are in trouble. As the benefits of our capitalist system accrue to the already wealthy while a huge swathe of the population continues to struggle, many are questioning whether inequality is built into the current system — which therefore needs overthrowing with statist intervention. Others cling on to their ideological [...]
Britain’s political landscape has shifted, but think tanks are struggling to adapt February 27, 2020 Think tanks occupy a unique place in the policy world. Neither academic institutions nor the parties tasked with policy implementation, their role has traditionally been as independent “policy labs”, growing ideas for politicians to use when in power. Yet, as we are all aware, the political landscape has shifted in recent years. And think tanks [...]