Editor’s notes: Forget about Murdoch, media dominance is now an online battle December 16, 2016 For a while this week it felt as if we’d slipped back five years, as Ed Miliband and Vince Cable dusted down their criticisms of Rupert Murdoch. 21st Century Fox’s bid for Sky saw the former Labour leader take to Twitter like a student protester. “Do we want Rupert Murdoch controlling even more of [the] [...]
Osborne looks to carve out a post-Treasury role December 14, 2016 Days after losing his job as chancellor, George Osborne spoke to a City audience in the Guildhall. He was delivering the annual Thatcher Lecture and set out the areas that he felt defined his legacy: economic recovery, the Northern Powerhouse and the pursuit of social reform. He also took the opportunity to reassert a belief [...]
The City has a loud voice in the Brexit debate December 12, 2016 How are we to discern the government's evolving Brexit strategy? Should we sit patiently and wait for strategic leaks? Should we scrutinise every handwritten memo photographed on its way into Downing St? Should we listen to the barrage of voices off, demanding action or concession in certain areas? Perhaps we should simply wait for the [...]
Editor’s notes: Calm down, the banks are not about to run for the European hills December 9, 2016 The government has agreed to set out its Brexit plans to parliament. While this will fall short of outlining a full negotiation strategy, it has been welcomed by politicians and business groups as a necessary step towards providing some clarity. However, there appears to still be confusion in some quarters over the fate of the City, [...]
One more step along the road to Brexit December 7, 2016 The Great Brexit dance continues. Yesterday, the Labour party rediscovered its opposition role and bounced the government into accepting demands that it set out its Brexit plans to parliament. Fearing that dozens of Remain-backing Tory MPs would support the Labour motion, No 10 agreed to go along with it. The shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer [...]
The immigration debate needs liberal voices December 5, 2016 The debate over immigration would continue to rage even if the UK had voted to remain in the EU. Indeed, with fresh figures showing that non-EU migrants made up the bulk of recent arrivals, one could argue it would rage all the harder if we hadn’t voted to ‘take back control’. But with splits emerging in [...]
Editor’s notes: The uncertain art of measuring the UK’s economic uncertainty December 2, 2016 You may not have seen it on the News at Ten but Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee member Kristin Forbes delivered a fascinating speech last week on the nature of economic uncertainty and how best it can be measured. As Donald Trump said when he delivered his victory speech, “it’s a complicated business, folks”. [...]
The £5 fuss: Now even the vegans are gunning for Carney November 30, 2016 Mark Carney has had a pretty tumultuous year. His critics have lined up to attack him for politicising his office during the referendum campaign while his supporters credit him with being the only the grownup left standing in the wake of it. He has survived bruising encounters with eurosceptic MPs on the Treasury Select Committee. Jacob [...]
Editor’s notes: Still in shock over Brexit? Get a grip November 25, 2016 Some corners of our national life are finding it harder to adapt to the new post-referendum reality than others. Earlier this week I joined the cream of the British commentariat at the annual Comment Awards, celebrating the best columns and comment pieces of 2016. As you know, we have a stable of excellent columnists here [...]
Steady as she goes from Spreadsheet Phil November 24, 2016 It can't have been easy for George Osborne to watch his successor abolish one of the former chancellor’s favourite political devices. Philip Hammond ended his sober assessment of the public finances yesterday by declaring that the Autumn Statement will be no more. “No other economy makes hundreds of tax changes twice a year, and neither should [...]
