Editor’s Notes: Only a lack of ambition can hold Britain back, says the Legatum Institute’s researcher tasked with finding the upside of the Brexit vote March 17, 2017 Britain faces an enormous challenge in the wake of Brexit, but the prize is more than worth the fight. That’s according to one experienced former trade negotiator who now finds himself at the heart of the UK’s trade debate. Shanker Singham is director of economic policy and prosperity studies at the Legatum Institute in London. He’s [...]
Time to dust down the case against the Scottish National Party March 14, 2017 The pursuit of independence is all that matters to the Scottish Nationalists. It is the glue that holds together everything they say and do. Having lost the referendum on independence they wasted no time in predicting the circumstances in which another one could follow. On the day after the EU vote, Sturgeon said that a second [...]
Editor’s notes: Hammond falls down the cracks between politics and policy, the bigger threats to the media than Rupert Murdoch and why the UK needs a new army of trade negotiators March 10, 2017 There are plenty of people willing to defend the chancellor’s controversial raid on the self-employed, not least the chancellor himself who was out and about yesterday claiming that the government faced “some new challenges” and that it has “to pay for these things somehow”. As opposition to the move grows on his own backbenches, he [...]
Chancellor Philip Hammond’s tax hikes in yesterday’s Spring Budget spell political trouble March 9, 2017 Philip Hammond was beaten up pretty badly at last night’s meeting of Tory MPs. Colleagues rounded on him for hiking a tax on the self-employed (for which one can read, entrepreneurs) and for another raid on dividend payment tax relief. How exactly are Tory MPs meant to sell this to their voters? And how does [...]
Ever the pragmatist, chancellor Philip Hammond is right to be bullish on Brexit March 6, 2017 Philip Hammond isn’t known as Westminster’s most exciting MP. He lacks the bombast of a Boris Johnson or the polished ambition of a George Osborne. And yet, he has emerged as one of the most respected figures of the post-referendum government, with many City figures viewing him as “the grownup in the room”. Having backed [...]
Editor’s Notes: It’s hard to see how Corbyn’s Labour party could sink any lower, Brexiteers attempt some cheer and Michael Gove takes to Twitter like a duck to water March 3, 2017 An American has taken out an advert in the Times to lay claim to the British throne. Allan Evans, of Colorado, says he is a descendant of a royal Welsh line dating back to the third century, and that “in 30 days’ time” he “shall claim his royal estate”. I was reading about Evans’ dubious [...]
Ministers cannot afford to echo Sir John Major’s nervousness over Brexit March 1, 2017 For someone so dull, John Major manages to provoke passionate reactions. Among those who welcomed his latest intervention in the great Brexit debate he is hailed as a wise and respected grandfather to the nation, speaking sense at a time when the UK is running towards to a cliff edge. In contrast, he is seen [...]
Editor’s Notes: Snapchat woos London investors, Venezuela’s vice president reaches a new low and Channel 4’s Jon Snow needs to get a grip February 24, 2017 Are you a Snapchatter? Do you even know what I’m talking about? Snapchat is a social media app that allows users to send images and videos to each other, often augmented by the addition of creative filters or effects. It’s also increasingly used as a platform for viewing and sharing news content. You may not [...]
Experts are vital, but so is scepticism and debate – take it from the Bank of England’s Minouche Shafik February 23, 2017 Experts have come in for plenty of stick over the past 12 months. Michael Gove’s infamous assertion during the referendum campaign that “people have had enough” of them has entered political legend. His actual quote is overlooked: he was specifically criticising experts who worked at “organisations with acronyms” and who were “consistently getting it wrong”. So, [...]
Downing Street was up for a fight over the now scuppered $140bn Kraft Heinz-Unilever mega deal February 20, 2017 Sometimes, it’s just not meant to be. Many of us spent the weekend chewing over the early manoeuvres of what would have been one of the largest corporate deals ever, but by Sunday evening Kraft Heinz declared it was “amicably” walking away from its audacious bid to scoop up Unilever. In just 48 hours, a [...]