Government should not be doling out money to charities for lobbying June 12, 2012 WOULD you be surprised to hear that British charities receive more money from the government and the National Lottery than they do from individual donors? More than £12bn a year was transferred from the taxpayer to the third sector at the last count. Much of this was essentially outsourcing. Millions of pounds of foreign aid [...]
Rothschild and Rockefellers in joint venture May 30, 2012 THE ROTHSCHILD and Rockefeller dynasties have announced a tie-up that will see two of the world’s best-known business families join forces in the asset management industry. RIT Capital Partners, which is chaired and part-owned by Lord Jacob Rothschild, is to take a 37 per cent stake in Rockefeller Financial Services, the wealth manager. The multi-million pound [...]
Don’t ignore the powerful moral arguments against high taxation May 22, 2012 WE ALL know the moral arguments for taxation: it pays for police, roads, hospitals and other vital services. But there is a moral case against taxation too – and a surprisingly strong one. First, while most of us would happily make some voluntary contribution to essential services, it is only the threat of prison that [...]
Roaring success for animal art May 13, 2012 WHOEVER said not to mix business with pleasure needs to take a leaf out of Jamie Polk’s book. Polk left the City behind him when Jupiter Asset Management, his former employer, was taken over by Commerzbank. But that was by no means the end of Polk’s business career. Paralysed from the chest down following an [...]
FLYING TRADER TAKES TO THE SKIES April 30, 2012 Greg Secker, the foreign exchange trader and coach, is taking to the skies again to raise money for childrens’ charities. Secker is holding six more Flying Trader days (he’s already had one) with a view to raising around £250,000. Secker flies above London while trading and passing on tips to an audience of traders, with [...]
Labour pushes for a vote over the unpopular raid on charities April 16, 2012 LABOUR MPs are pushing for a vote in parliament tomorrow on the government’s planned cap on income tax reliefs, yesterday calling the limits “a sham of a change” which “came completely out of the blue” to hit charities. Treasury minister David Gauke had earlier defended the plan, explaining it is not fair that “there are [...]
Government wrong to demonise generous philanthropists April 13, 2012 IT has become increasingly difficult to understand what the coalition government is up to. Take its decision to demonise those who donate large amounts to charity, depicting them in a grossly unfair manner as tax avoiders who should be ashamed of themselves. This is an astonishingly stupid and nasty thing to imply. The government claims [...]
Government wrong to demonise generous philanthropists April 12, 2012 IT has become increasingly difficult to understand what the coalition government is up to. Take its decision to demonise those who donate large amounts to charity, depicting them in a grossly unfair manner as tax avoiders who should be ashamed of themselves. This is an astonishingly stupid and nasty thing to imply. The government claims [...]
EX-TRADER’S INSIDE JOB ON MORGAN STANLEY February 12, 2012 ART IMITATES life in the new novel On the Floor by former Morgan Stanley bond trader Aifric Campbell. “The real truth about the City – the pressure and the ruthlessness – is best written about by people who have lived it,” says Campbell, who drew on her years as Morgan Stanley’s first female MD on [...]
BIRLEY CAPS NUMBERS AT HIS DELAYED £20M CLUB January 17, 2012 THE DEVELOPMENT of 5 Hertford Street is progressing “more or less” on track. That’s more or less as in originally scheduled for last November, before being pushed back to this month and now – final answer – March. “Except that’s Easter,” says a spokesman for Robin Birley, the leisure entrepreneur developing the £20m Shepherd Market [...]