A win on the world stage masks mounting trouble at home March 4, 2025 Keir Starmer has won plaudits for his decision to increase defence spending (albeit by less than the amount he’s given Ed Miliband to run a pretend energy company) and voters appear to be firmly behind the PM’s decision to fund this modest splurge by raiding the international development budget. The latest City AM Freshwater Strategy [...]
Week in Business: Will more defence spending mean higher taxes? February 27, 2025 Cutting the international aid budget to boost defence spending – sounds like a fair exchange in a time of war and hazard – but there’s more to this announcement than meets the eye. The Prime Minister was deadly serious when he stood up in the Commons this week to declare that the country faces a [...]
Is Kemi Badenoch up for the fight? February 27, 2025 What is Kemi Badenoch for? If you’re now asking yourself “who’s Kemi Badenoch?” then she really is in trouble. In the four months since being elected leader of the Conservative Party, she has attempted to make a virtue out of vagueness. She explains, not unreasonably, that her party has to reflect on what went wrong [...]
Spring could prove to be an economic washout February 26, 2025 A modest burst of warm weather towards the end of last week may have coaxed the snowdrops and bluebells into life but don’t go dusting off the BBQ, as the cold isn’t done with us yet. Meteorologically speaking, Spring kicks in on 1 March but forecasters say the first month of the new season is [...]
The Week in Business: Is Rachel Reeves to blame for high inflation and job cuts? February 20, 2025 Rachel Reeves might be able to exaggerate her CV but there’s no massaging the state of the economy. We’re in the eye of the storm; a false calm; growth is flat and the labour market is stagnant – but are things about to take a serious turn for the worse? Earlier this week official labour [...]
UK equity markets could do with some shock therapy February 20, 2025 My favourite explanation as to why UK pension funds have shrunk their investments in UK equities from around 50 per cent in the 1990s to a paltry 3 per cent today was offered to me recently by one of the City’s veteran fund managers; “You can trace it all back to the day that crook [...]
In Starmer’s Downing St, some unions are more welcome than others February 19, 2025 Some unions are just more welcome in Downing Street than others. A couple of weeks ago, leaders of the 11 trade unions formally affiliated with the Labour party were invited to talks in No 10 with Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his deputy, Angela Rayner. The meeting was called to discuss the Employment Rights Bill [...]
Budget policies coming home to roost February 18, 2025 With each passing day, the government’s insistence that economic growth is its “number one priority” sounds more and more offensive. Just a few days ago, the Business Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, said he believes that “good policy, good strategies, and good government working hand-in-hand with the private sector, can make a difference.” This may be true, [...]
The Week in Business: Is Net Zero going out of fashion? February 14, 2025 Just a few short years ago BP proudly told us they were embarking on a journey – and I quote – “in support of our purpose to reimagine energy for people and our planet, and our ambition to become a Net Zero company by 2050 or sooner and help the world get to Net Zero.” [...]
Labour has sucked the confidence out of wealthy Brits February 13, 2025 The government defines a high net worth individual as someone with an income of at least £170,000 and net assets of more than £430,000. Such people are undoubtedly in a comfortable position, but are hardly reaching non-dom status. Indeed, those just meeting the government’s definition would be politely turned down for a bank account at [...]
