How regenerating failed high rises can gift London thousands of extra homes January 20, 2014 A QUIET announcement, with potentially significant implications for London’s housing crisis, lay hidden in the detail of last year’s Autumn Statement: the government will “explore options for kick-starting the regeneration of some of the worst housing estates through repayable loans.” Is this just another excuse to spend taxpayers’ money? I hope not. It could be [...]
Why it’s time to stop feeding our addiction to ultra loose monetary policy January 20, 2014 WITH GDP still 2 per cent below its pre-crisis peak and consumer price index inflation falling back to its 2 per cent target, many argue that Britain should stick with extraordinarily loose monetary policy for longer. Just yesterday, the EY Item club urged the Bank of England to bolster its forward guidance policy, and to [...]
Migrant benefit reform: Doing the right thing for all of the wrong reasons January 20, 2014 YESTERDAY saw the government announce the latest in a line of restrictions on the benefits immigrants can claim. New jobless EU migrants will be denied access to housing benefit from April, and will only be able to claim Jobseeker’s Allowance for six months unless they have a “genuine” chance of work. This comes on top [...]
Letters to the Editor – 21/01 – EU reform, Heathrow debate, Best of Twitter January 20, 2014 EU reform [Re: EU reform is possible – and it can safeguard the position of the City of London, yesterday] Mark Boleat is too quick to praise a “reformist agenda” without considering the alternatives. We should not dismiss leaving the EU based on the results of a CBI survey of just 406 businesses across the [...]
Sponsors ditch West Brom over Anelka gesture January 20, 2014 PROPERTY website Zoopla has taken the extraordinary step of ending its sponsorship of West Brom following the row over striker Nicolas Anelka’s controversial “quenelle” celebration. Anelka’s gesture, which has been associated with anti-Semitism, is believed to have upset Zoopla’s Jewish co-owner Alex Chesterton, and the company yesterday said it would not renew its £1.5m per [...]
Golf Comment: Schoolboy error was McIlroy undoing January 20, 2014 FORMER world No1 Rory McIlroy was justifiably annoyed at missing out on the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on Sunday because of a two-shot penalty, but the truth is that he had no one to blame but himself. The Ulsterman was penalised for having one foot on the spectator path when dropping his ball during the [...]
Murray doubts Aus Open glory January 20, 2014 BRITAIN’S Andy Murray has played down his chances of winning the Australian Open ahead of tomorrow’s quarter-final with four-time champion Roger Federer. Murray, who underwent a back operation last year, beat world No119 Stephane Robert 6-1, 6-2, 6-7, 6-2 yesterday. The 26-year-old said: “I can’t honestly say my expectations are as high as if I’d [...]
Bopara backs captain Cook January 20, 2014 ENGLAND all-rounder Ravi Bopara is adamant under-fire cricket captain Alastair Cook should continue to marshall his country in both Test and one-day international formats. Following Sunday’s seven-wicket reverse to Australia, ensuring defeat in the ODI series with two matches still to play, Cook admitted he was questioning his future as skipper. But Essex and England [...]
Lugano rescues point on Mel’s debut January 20, 2014 DEFENDER Diego Lugano scored his first West Brom goal as new boss Pepe Mel oversaw a 1-1 draw with Everton last night. The Baggies fell behind on 41 minutes after Kevin Mirallas slotted in from Romelu Lukaku’s knock down. But on 75 minutes Lugano headed in James Morrison’s cross. Mel said: “I’m very happy to [...]
Jones ruled out of Six Nations January 20, 2014 RUGBY UNION: Wales back row Ryan Jones will miss the entire RBS Six Nations campaign with a hamstring injury suffered during Ospreys’ Heineken Cup defeat to Leicester on Friday. James King has been called up as his replacement. Meanwhile, England No8 Thomas Waldrom has signed a three-year deal to join Exeter from Leicester from next [...]
