The reshuffle is a fillip for Osborne and the economy September 5, 2012 THE chancellor had a mixed reshuffle. First, the negatives. He wanted Iain Duncan Smith out of Work and Pensions, but the quiet man had his way. Osborne also winds up with Ken Clarke as a roving rival, licensed to speak about the economy; untameable and unabashed in voicing his views, whether or not they fit [...]
As the coalition debates whether to expand airport capacity, which is the best option? September 5, 2012 HEATHROW Tim Yeo Britain needs the third Heathrow runway because Boris Island is too expensive, too late and in the wrong place. Building Boris Island requires billions of taxpayers’ money. Expanding Heathrow does not require a penny. No aircraft could take off from Boris Island before 2030. The third runway could be operating in 2020 [...]
Rapid Responses September 5, 2012 Jolt the economy [Re: More public spending is unlikely to multiply into stronger economic growth, yesterday] Paul Ormerod is spot on. I had hoped that the world had evolved beyond the theories of John Maynard Keynes. It should be obvious now that an increase in public spending will not stimulate the economy. Rather, David Davis [...]
Tablet market hots up September 5, 2012 A resurgent Microsoft hopes a new range of devices running Windows 8 will succeed where Google has failed and shake up a tablet industry dominated by Apple. Here are some of the players hoping to steal the iPad’s limelight. Sony Vaio Duo 11 The Vaio Duo 11 is a flippy, foldy, deckchair-like device with a [...]
Need to know the Nokia Lumia 920 September 5, 2012 The basics Nokia has, once again, produced what looks like a seriously good handset. It has a gigantic 4.5 inch HD display, which squeezes lots of the “Live Tiles” that Windows Phone 8 is based around onto the homescreen. It is also bright, with colours including banana yellow, electric blue and fire engine red. The [...]
Coalition 2.0 September 4, 2012 PM reshuffles cabinet but no shift in key policies Change at Transport, NHS, Culture and Justice Boris attacks Cameron over Heathrow expansion DAVID Cameron last night put the finishing touches to his first ministerial reshuffle, with sweeping changes to the lower ranks but with most top cabinet members remaining in place. Despite changing dozens of positions [...]
Wheatley: Review pay rules to stop misselling September 4, 2012 TOP BANK bosses will today be told to review pay practices to make sure customers are not being ripped off by unscrupulous sales tactics, as Martin Wheatley unveils his report into mis-selling. The managing director at the Financial Services Authority (FSA) is not expected to ban commission-based remuneration, but is expected to warn that such [...]
An underwhelming reshuffle which did not go far enough September 4, 2012 COALITION 2.0: that is our front page headline today, and it sums up what this reshuffle is all about. This was an incremental, almost minor reshuffle, not the revolutionary shift that this government really needed, with most of the most important, cabinet-level jobs still controlled by the same people and economic policy changing not one [...]
Financial union backed by ECB and Deutsche September 4, 2012 EUROPEAN Central Bank policymaker Joerg Asmussen yesterday called for Europe to create a financial market union and beef up external regulation to address risks to market stability. In a sign of support for single European bank regulator, Asmussen’s call was echoed by Deutsche Bank co-chief executive Juergen Fitschen, who yesterday said Germany should support the [...]
FBI deny Apple ID hack claims September 4, 2012 THE FBI last night denied claims from hacking group Anonymous that hackers had infiltrated an FBI agent’s laptop and lifted a file with identification numbers for more than 12m Apple products. An Anonymous affiliate called AntiSec posted a file on the web on Monday that it said contained more than 1m Apple ID numbers taken [...]