MPs stand up for British institutions after French Embassy slurs January 14, 2014 Last week, City A.M. editor Allister Heath wrote this piece: France’s failed socialist experiment is turning into a tragedy In response, the French Embassy has launched something of an (un)diplomatic rejoinder: 10 accounts on which City A.M. has got it wrong on France The embassy has levelled that France has a better health service, roads, [...]
Does Nest reveal Google’s robotic ambitions? January 14, 2014 Over the past year Google has been acquiring nearly a dozen technology hardware firms – of its 20 total acquisitions – firms that make everything from airborne wind turbines to robotic dogs. While many of these companies are working on crazy projects that could take decades, if ever, to reach the market, they all point [...]
Race for EU Commission president heats up as Barnier prepares to run January 14, 2014 France's Michel Barnier says he is prepared to run for president of the European Commission. Mr Barnier currently serves as the commissioner for the internal markets and services and has been heavily involved in the designs for a European banking union, in an attempt to restore confidence in the Eurozone economy. Prior to an official [...]
Barclays names Shell as its top pick for 2014 January 14, 2014 Barclays has given Royal Dutch Shell’s new chief executive Ben Van Beurden the ultimate vote of confidence by declaring today that the oil major is its top pick for 2014. Low-profile internal candidate Van Beurden replaced Peter Voser at the start of the year, surprising some investors who had expected finance chief Simon Henry to [...]
One year on and Europe is still finding horsemeat where it shouldn’t be January 14, 2014 It is exactly a year since horsemeat was first discovered in processed beef product sold by a several of Britain’s leading supermarkets, throwing the spotlight on the food industry’s supply chain in UK and in Europe. Overall in the UK less than 0.3 per cent of products tested positive for horsemeat above the UK Food [...]
The graph that shows how bad Eurozone unemployment really is January 14, 2014 Over 2013, unemployment stayed stubbornly high across most economies, and despite improving figures, unemployment rates are still well above pre-crisis levels. Figures from the OECD have shown that, across the 34 member countries, the unemployment rate fell to 7.8 per cent last November. When it came to the euro area, 47.1m people were unemployed in [...]
Government immigration cap would see debt to GDP rise to 120pc by 2062 January 14, 2014 The OBR has crunched the numbers to see what happens to the national debt at varying rates of immigration. If the UK sees net inward immigration of 140,000 per year the national debt hits 100 per cent of GDP in 50 years' time. At zero it hits 140 per cent. The reason migrants help the [...]
Shard to be joined by second tower January 14, 2014 One of London's most iconic landmarks, the Shard (pictured above), will soon be accompanied by a brand new 27-story tower, according to reports by the Financial Times. The architect behind the Shard, Renzo Pianzo, will design the structure as part of the London Bridge Quarter. The project is being spearheaded by Sellar Property Group in [...]
Energy bosses to be grilled by MPs over Christmas outages January 14, 2014 December saw hundreds of thousands of homes without power as severe weather hit networks. Now MPs want to question energy bosses over the disruption. On 21 January they'll be called before the Energy and Climate Change Committee. Committee chair Tim Yeo MP said that they "will be questioning the distribution companies responsible and asking them [...]
Mega deals have returned – but European banks are losing out to US rivals January 14, 2014 As global merger and acquisition activity springs back into life after a period of relative inertia, it's worth noting that the likely benefactors amongst bank advisers to these mega deals are likely to be increasingly American. While the likes of Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Merrill Lynch find themselves set [...]