Japan – with kids? Believe it or not, it works The looks of incomprehension became commonplace, from colleagues, friends, neighbours and, most severely, my mother-in-law. “You’re taking her… to Japan?” they asked, through a variety of similar rhetorical questions. A trip to Japan should surprise no one, these days. The island state is undergoing an eye-watering boom in tourism, with visitor numbers soaring from 13m [...]
Tax radicalism would give the economy a boost While keeping a close eye on Westminster (again) today, traders will also be aware of a number emerging mid-morning from the Office for National Statistics. To little fanfare, ONS wonks will reveal the first official evidence of whether or not the UK is already suffering from a technical recession. July’s GDP reading must be taken [...]
Sajid Javid’s spending spree puts Tories’ record at risk Javid's spending spree puts Tories’ record at risk Less than a year has passed since Theresa May danced on stage at the Tory party conference and told party activists that the era of austerity was officially over. The announcement was not received well by the Treasury at the time, where Philip Hammond was still trying to eliminate the government’s annual deficit. Read more: [...]
Fracking faces a battle to win over the public August 26, 2019 Just a dozen days ago the government said it would consider easing rules that force fracking companies to stop all activity when relatively weak tremors are found. The hint of a U-turn was a considerable boost to an industry that had become exasperated by Theresa May’s somewhat-bizarre approach of officially supporting fracking while essentially preventing [...]
It makes sense to put the brakes on HS2 August 22, 2019 A policy may be considered well-balanced if it is attacked fiercely by two opposing extremes in the surrounding debate. Perhaps this is not always the case, but it is a reasonable rule of thumb, and it sprung to mind yesterday after the government announced a quick review of the exciting yet eye-wateringly expensive High Speed [...]
Trump’s blame game strategy is backfiring August 19, 2019 US President Donald Trump’s economic cheerleaders were out in force yesterday trying to convince American voters that all is hunky-dory with the US economy and the escalating trade war with China. “There is no recession in sight,” White House economist Larry Kudlow insisted, after 1,500 points was wiped off the Dow Jones in recent weeks [...]
A belligerent President has an effect on us all August 8, 2019 Donald Trump’s 63m followers on Twitter are used to all manner of bluster emerging from the US President’s account. Nonetheless, yesterday’s rant at the Federal Reserve managed to raise a few eyebrows when Trump bizarrely argued that the “yield curve is at too wide a margin” to justify rates staying at their current level. Trump [...]
Buybacks are vital for our economic health July 28, 2019 Political opposition to share buybacks has become so fierce in the US that it was unsurprising to hear Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ramp up the rhetoric at the end of last week, bizarrely describing the practice as “a huge Ponzi scheme.” The doyenne of the Democratic left was specifically referring to pharmaceutical companies that return cash to [...]
Former banker Sajid Javid’s first job as chancellor? To stand up to Boris Johnson July 25, 2019 Analysts at Deutsche Bank triggered sighs across the City yesterday with an attempt to coin the term “Borisnomics”. The portmanteau, as clunky as the new Prime Minister’s debut speech on the steps of Downing Street, is unlikely to catch on – but whatever we call it (Bojonomics, Johnsonomics…) how should we judge Boris Johnson’s likely approach [...]
Attacks on central bank independence must be called out for what they are July 10, 2019 There lies great danger in normalising the extraordinary political events of our time. In the last 24 hours alone, reports have emerged of a plot to channel Russian oil money to a governing party in the Eurozone’s third biggest economy; a campaign group behind the UK’s leader of the opposition has disseminated an attack video [...]
