Euro versus dollar: a scrappy fight May 10, 2011 OVER the last fortnight, the euro-dollar pairing has turned into a bit of an ugly dog contest, with both sides competing to see who carries the fewest fleas. However, the euro came out second best in this challenge last week, hit with attacks from all sides. The tipping point for the pairing came when the [...]
Bank to face questioning over inflation May 8, 2011 THE BANK of England releases its latest Inflation Report on Wednesday, with economists increasingly divided over the outlook for price pressures in the UK. Consumer price inflation unexpectedly slowed to four per cent in March, yet official figures released next week could show a rebound for April. Input costs for manufacturers accelerated to 17.6 per [...]
Let us hope we get the right reforms April 10, 2011 It was spun by George Osborne as an attempt to take the politics out of banking. Yet the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) has achieved the opposite: its interim report, out this morning, will merely kick-start the bitter row over how banks should be regulated. Banker-bashing, which had subsided in recent weeks, will rear its [...]
NO CASH FOR LIB DEM INTERNS AS CENTRAL OFFICE PASSES THE BUCK April 7, 2011 JUST days after Nick Clegg made an earnest pledge to improve expenses for the Liberal Democrats’ army of unpaid interns, The Capitalist was amused to see three job ads for internships at the party on the Work for an MP (w4mp) website offering barely a cup of tea. The “short volunteer opportunity” to work in [...]
London’s success means the government is ignoring it March 2, 2011 IS London too successful for its own good?” What a thought! Like the Mayor, I have always believed it possible to have your cake and eat it. A report out last week from Citigroup proclaimed an ever more successful future for London – predicting that its economy would grow more than any other city in [...]
Why gazelles and giants both matter March 1, 2011 SHOULD you work for a big company or a small one? To me, the answer is simple: the smaller, nimbler and the more entrepreneurial the firm, the better. But as figures out yesterday demonstrate, there is a reason why many people would prefer to work for larger institutions. The top 100 firms in the UK [...]
Spiralling prices are hurting the UK February 15, 2011 TAKE your pick. Is inflation four per cent a year, as the official, consumer price index measure suggests, or 5.1 per cent, as the older, broader retail price index would have you believe? My own favourite measure of how the cost of living is going up is the tax and price index, which has surged [...]
King: I was right not to raise rates January 25, 2011 GOVERNOR Mervyn King used a defiant speech last night to defend the Bank of England’s record in the face of rising inflation and a stumbling economic recovery. King’s speech came after shock figures – showing a 0.5 per cent contraction in the UK economy for the three months to December – had rocked the markets. [...]
Retail sales hit by tax and inflation October 21, 2010 THERE is a simple reason why retail sales are beginning to fall, and it has very little to do with the Comprehensive Spending review. A triple whammy of limited pay rises, elevated inflation and tax increases have conspired to impoverish most of the public over the past year, a development that has been barely picked [...]
Black hole in Miliband plan, say the Tories September 23, 2010 THE Tories have stepped up their attacks on the Labour leadership candidates, claiming bookies’ favourite David Miliband must find £55bn of cuts to pay for his campaign promises. Ed Miliband, who is also within touching distance of winning the leadership contest, will have to find £67bn of spending cuts to fulfil his pledges, the Tories [...]