Time to be tougher towards the EU May 9, 2011 IT was Europe Day yesterday – and no, I wasn’t celebrating. The EU is shockingly badly managed. It wastes vast amounts, its single currency is in crisis (with bailout-hungry Greece’s credit rating downgraded again), it is bureaucratic and its massive regulatory apparatus is crippling, rather than liberating, Europe’s economies. Take two all too typical anecdotes: [...]
Boris calls for strike law May 9, 2011 MAYOR Boris Johnson has insisted a change in the law is needed to stop industrial action grinding London’s transport network to a halt. His call comes despite criticism from ministers over his handling of unions planning to hold a run of Tube strikes from next week. Senior cabinet ministers told him to engage with the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 9, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES SAMOA TO MOVE BACK TO THE FUTURE Samoa, the tiny Pacific Ocean island state, is travelling through time to improve its economic prospects. In a vote of confidence for the Asian century, the country has decided to shift the jagged International Date Line to its east at the end of this year, which [...]
US house prices fall by 3pc May 9, 2011 US house prices fell by three per cent in the first-quarter of the year and will drop by as much as nine per cent in 2011, according to research by real estate website Zillow. In the first quarter, homes were on average 8.3 per cent less valuable than the same time last year. The research [...]
UKTI picks new chief exec May 9, 2011 UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) has chosen Nick Baird to become its new chief executive. The government trade promotion branch is expected to announce today that the foreign office civil servant and former ambassador to Turkey will take up the role later this year. Baird is set to replace Sir Andrew Cahn, who stepped down [...]
Banks take hit on mis-selling May 9, 2011 BRITAIN’S banks bowed to the inevitable and dropped their appeal against the FSA on the mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI) yesterday, as Barclays and RBS became the latest lenders to reveal multi-million pound bills from the debacle. Barclays said it is putting aside £1bn and RBS £850m to pay compensation to customers who were [...]
NHS reforms survive Labour challenge but still face battle May 9, 2011 HEALTH secretary Andrew Lansley won the support of backbenchers for changes to the NHS last night, with both Tory and some Liberal Democrat MPs helping to defeat a Labour challenge to the reforms by a majority of 53. Lansley told parliament that the reforms of the health service were “not about me” but that the [...]
Centrica warns surprise tax hike means higher bills for customers May 9, 2011 ENERGY giant Centrica yesterday warned customers to brace themselves for bill rises as the Treasury’s tax hike on oil and gas firms starts to eat into the firm’s earnings. The firm said the surprise tax raid would cost the company £300m this year, and it expects to report “more modest” growth in the future as [...]
HSBC’s one-off costs eat away at bottom line May 9, 2011 HSBC spooked investors yesterday by unveiling a sharp jump in costs on the back of one-off charges and Asian inflation, with chief executive Stuart Gulliver (pictured) warning that it would take two to three years to achieve the necessary efficiency savings. Pre-tax profits slumped 9.8 per cent compared to the same quarter last year to [...]
Hedge funds fail to make gains as short positions don’t pay off May 9, 2011 HEDGE funds have failed to advance ahead of stock market indices, as shorting stock hit performance. The latest performance index by Hennessee Group, an adviser to hedge fund investors, found hedge funds had advanced just 1.36 per cent in April. In contrast, the S&P 500 gained 2.85 per cent last month, whilst the Dow Jones [...]
