One more step along the road to Brexit December 7, 2016 The Great Brexit dance continues. Yesterday, the Labour party rediscovered its opposition role and bounced the government into accepting demands that it set out its Brexit plans to parliament. Fearing that dozens of Remain-backing Tory MPs would support the Labour motion, No 10 agreed to go along with it. The shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer [...]
Rampant corruption – not just the euro – has doomed Italy to decades of stagnation December 7, 2016 So farewell then, Matteo Renzi! The resignation of the Italian Prime Minister after his heavy defeat in Sunday’s referendum on constitutional reform has created turmoil. Fears have been resurrected about the stability of the Italian banking system, and even the possibility of Italy leaving the euro has been raised. But the problems of the Italian economy, [...]
A small band of Remain useful idiots wrongly thinks Brexit won’t happen December 7, 2016 We have a problem. An odd little group of people – who make up with fervour and confidence what they might lack in numbers and logic – is presently touring the world of the commentariat. Unlike most Remain campaigners, principled and reasonable people able to accept a decision contrary to their will and move on, [...]
Was Mark Carney right to absolve monetary policy of the blame for popular disillusionment with capitalism? December 7, 2016 Vicky Pryce, board member of CEBR, a former government economic adviser and co-author of It’s the Economy Stupid, Economics for Voters, says Yes. The impact of globalisation has on the whole been positive. It has lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty, created vast new middle classes and extended all our horizons. The consumer has [...]
Half of us will buy Christmas dinner at discount supermarkets this year December 7, 2016 Nearly half of us are going to buy our Christmas meal from one of the discount supermarkets this year. Aldi and Lidl have steadily being growing their share of the grocery market as shoppers looking for cheaper and cheaper prices. Read more: Iceland Foods wants "peaceful coexistence" with Iceland (the country) But, the discounters have [...]
May doubles-down on Brexit timetable with a challenge to Remainers December 6, 2016 Prime Minister Theresa May has moved to see off a potential Commons defeat by accepting a Labour motion requiring the government to set out its Brexit plans to MPs. However, the PM also doubled-down on her Brexit timetable. While the Prime Minister has accepted the Labour motion the government has tabled an amendment which further [...]
EU antitrust authority approves Microsoft’s $26bn connection with LinkedIn December 6, 2016 The European Union has approved a $26bn (£20.5bn) connection request between technology behemoth Microsoft and professional networking site LinkedIn. The deal has already received the green light from antitrust authorities in the US, Canada, Brazil and South Africa. Having received the go-ahead from the EU’s competition watchdog, the deal is likely to close in the [...]
Fund manager Schroders gears up to appoint BAE Systems and Google Ventures heads as non-executive directors December 6, 2016 FTSE-100 listed asset manager Schroders will name Ian King, the chief executive of BAE Systems, and Avid Larizadeh Duggan, a Google Ventures partner, as non-executive directors this week. They could be officially appointed as soon as today, sources told Sky News. Read more: Schroders backs private equity firm's bosses as they fend off hostile bid The group [...]
Brexit vote hits deal numbers in third quarter December 6, 2016 The total number of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) involving UK companies in the three months to September almost halved from the previous quarter. The data from the Office of National Statistics is the first indication of how deal activity has been impacted following the UK’s decision to leave the European Union in June’s referendum. In total, [...]
These are the countries that will thrive in the post-Trump, post-Brexit era according to the new Indigo Index December 6, 2016 The UK is the fifth-best equipped country to thrive in the post-Trump, post-Brexit era, according to a new global ranking of states’ “entrepreneurial eco-systems” and future potential. Sweden comes top in the Indigo Index rankings, which measures 152 countries by five key metrics for doing business as economies move away from being powered by natural [...]