Mythbusting Nigel Farage: Why immigration doesn’t erode social cohesion and trust April 6, 2015 The political scientist Robert Putnam famously found that Americans “hunker down” in the face of social diversity, doing less in the community and trusting people less – even their own compatriots. When Nigel Farage suggested that one reason kids tend not to play on the street nowadays was immigration, he was voicing a common concern: [...]
Greece bailout: Future looks brighter for struggling economy as Yanis Varoufakis says he’ll meet all obligations to creditor nations April 6, 2015 Greece's economic situation is on the brink of improving slightly, as long as finance minister Yanis Varoufakis sticks to his word. Yesterday, he told the troubled country's creditor nations that Greece intends to “meet all obligations”, and that includes a €450m (£332m) loan repayment due to be made to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on [...]
General Election 2015: Osborne promises to get 2.4m first-time buyers onto housing ladder with property “revolution” April 5, 2015 Chancellor George Osborne has pledged to bring about a “property revolution” in the UK, helping 2.4m more first-time buyers to get on the property ladder. In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, he said he intended to double the number of first time buyers to 500,000 a year over the next five years, should the [...]
General Election 2015: Cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood launches inquiry into leaked memo claiming Nicola Sturgeon backed Cameron over Miliband for PM April 4, 2015 The cabinet secretary and head of the civil service Sir Jeremy Heywood has ordered an inquiry into a leaked memo claiming Nicola Sturgeon said David Cameron would be preferable as Prime Minister to Labour leader Ed Miliband. The Scottish First Minister and leader of the SNP said the claims, published in the Daily Telegraph from a leaked [...]
David Cameron courts first-time buyers as 50,000 sign on to home discount scheme April 3, 2015 Over 50,000 people have signed up to the government's programme to give first-time buyers a 20 per cent discount on their new home. An extension of the controversial Help to Buy initiative, the programme means new properties up to £250,000 and £450,000 in London will be subject to deep discounts. However, only those under the [...]
Leaders’ debate: Why Nigel Farage failed to break through with HIV claim April 3, 2015 Last night's rare spectacle of seven party leaders tearing each other apart on live TV proved more entertaining than the pundits had feared. Instead of a two hour bora-thon, sparks flew as the seven leaders accused each other of everything from economic incompetence to conspiracies over support for mass immigration. But perhaps the surprise loser of the [...]
TV leaders’ debate 2015: Here’s why Nicola Sturgeon won for the SNP April 3, 2015 Last night's seven-way political slug-fest was a sight to see in British politics. The only parallel to ITV's leaders' debate spectacle are Presidential primaries where a host of candidates battle it out for the party's nomination. But after all the pre-scripted answers and not so clever comebacks the SNP's leader Nicola Sturgeon emerged triumphant. Out of four [...]
Boris Johnson MP hopeful vs Boris Johnson London mayor: Things are about to get confusing (at least on Twitter) April 2, 2015 Things are about to get confusing for Boris Johnson. The London mayor, who is also campaigning as the Conservative candidate for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, has just set up his own “personal” Twitter account to plug his efforts to return to the House of Commons. He's tweeted three times so far from the new [...]
April Fools’ Day 2015: The best (and worst) jokes from BMW, Sun Life, Confused.com, Richard Branson and the London Eye April 1, 2015 Alright, so this year the various political weirdnesses (Joey Essex interviewing Nick Clegg, anyone?) have caused an air of ridiculousness to hang over Westminster for several weeks now – but outside the London bubble, the once-a-year gag fest that is April Fools' Day has kicked off in earnest. Here are some of the best (and [...]
Tidjane Thiam earnt £11.8m in last year as Prudential’s chief executive March 31, 2015 Outgoing Prudential chief executive Tidjane Thiam received £11.8m in his final year at the company, the insurer revealed yesterday. The vast majority of that came from long-term incentive awards – those payouts gave him £8.3m. Combined with a salary of just over £1m, pension contributions of almost £400,000 and a bonus of £2.1m, the boss [...]