Chief executives can no longer stay out of the political fray December 10, 2018 Activism is everywhere. From our neighbourhoods to boardrooms, national crusades to local causes, there is no shortage of people clamouring to bring pressing, worthy issues to our attention. And business is no exception, hence the rise of a new type of chief executive: the “activist”. This creature takes many forms: publicly outspoken, actively involved in [...]
Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya should be extradited, rules UK court December 10, 2018 Vijay Mallya, the Indian tycoon behind Kingfisher, should be extradited from the UK to India to face fraud charges over the collapse of his airline, it was ruled today. In a judgement at Westminster Magistrates Court, chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot said Mallya – who co-owned Formula One racing team Force India until it went into [...]
With our North American friends, we are proving that trade is not a zero-sum game December 10, 2018 All eyes will be on Westminster tomorrow as parliament prepares for a crunch vote on Theresa May’s Brexit deal. We must remember, however, that the world is not stopping for Brexit, even if it continues to dominate the headlines back at home. That is why I am today starting my first overseas visit since taking [...]
ITV pulls the plug on Brexit debate between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn December 7, 2018 ITV has joined the BBC in pulling out of hosting this weekend’s proposed Brexit debate, with the Conservatives and Labour again unable to agree on how to structure the televised debate. ITV said it “invited the Prime Minister and leader of the opposition to appear in an ITV programme this Sunday evening, and we have been [...]
‘Big Short’ investor Steve Eisman bets against UK banks December 7, 2018 Investor Steve Eisman who is known for his prediction of the 2008 financial crisis has said he is betting against three UK banks. Eisman, who was played by actor Steve Carell in the film The Big Short, said he thinks the British market will go down because of Brexit. He said that he bet against [...]
Hubris will doom the imperial reigns of Macron and Trump December 7, 2018 A political outsider who came out of nowhere to ride to victory on a populist movement he built himself, to the shock of the mainstream establishment. An expert campaigner who promised that he alone had the easy fixes to the challenges that his country had been grappling with for years. A President who now faces [...]
Elon Musk could learn a thing or two from Sweden about a healthy work-life balance December 7, 2018 Last month, Elon Musk issued another controversial decree from his Twitter parapet. Appealing to potential applicants to his various companies, Musk made the claim that “nobody ever changed the world on 40 hours a week”. When pressed for details on what would constitute an earth-altering amount of weekly work, he recommended “80 sustained, peaking above [...]
Editor’s Notes: The Bank of England must protect its independence December 7, 2018 Former chair of the US Federal Reserve Janet Yellen once said “the principle that a central bank should be independent from the government is unassailable.” Donald Trump probably thinks unassailable means you can’t sell it, but even if he understood Yellan’s point he seems determined to ignore it. His broadsides against Fed policy are quite [...]
Bank of England slammed over secret Venezuelan gold summit December 6, 2018 The Bank of England (BoE) has come under fire following reports of a clandestine meeting with senior representatives of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. The BoE is due to meet high-ranking Venezuelan officials in London tomorrow to discuss the return of gold worth $550m stored in the bank’s vaults, according to sources. Today it emerged MP [...]
Tony Blair: There’s no point in May pressing forward with parliament vote on ‘half in, half out’ Brexit deal December 6, 2018 Tony Blair believes Theresa May should scrap next week’s vote on her Brexit deal as she is about to hit a “brick wall at speed”. The former Prime Minister told journalists on Thursday afternoon May needs to begin finding a compromise that will pass through the Commons instead of pushing ahead with her “half in, [...]