Tories in fast broadband plan January 31, 2010 A CONSERVATIVE government could use part of the BBC licence fee to fund the rollout of superfast broadband to the majority of homes by 2017. And the Tories pledged to end BT’s dominance of broadband by forcing it to give rivals access to its ducts, sewers, telephone poles and unused cables. Shadow culture secretary Jeremy [...]
Vast state payrolls will veto reforms January 31, 2010 MORE evidence of a growing public-private divide: 57 per cent of extra UK jobs created during 1997-2007 were either officially on the government’s payrolls or “para-state” – technically private but dependent on government funding. And that was before the private sector jobs bloodbath since 2008. Manchester University’s Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change calculates that [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 31, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES US BANKS FACE INSIDER TRADING PROBE Neil Barofsky, the special inspector-general overseeing the US government’s financial rescue efforts, is to probe allegations of insider trading among bank executives and their associates. Eight of the largest banks in the US received between $2bn and $25bn in October 2008 under a programme to prop up [...]
Mayor urges end to bank bashing January 31, 2010 The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Nick Anstee, will tonight urge a new ‘social contract’ between the City and the UK public and will also challenge politicians to stop ‘banker bashing’. In a speech at London’s Guildhall, Anstee will address the breakdown of trust between the UK public and the City by asking politicians [...]
Darling blamed for Lehman fall January 31, 2010 Alistair Darling prevented a takeover of Lehman Brothers by Barclays because he thought it could hurt the British bank, according to former US Treasury secretary Hank Paulson. Paulson makes the claim in his memoir On the Brink. He says that the Chancellor called him on 12 September 2008 – when the US authorities were desperately trying [...]
US watchdog: bailout plan doesn’t work January 31, 2010 THE US taxpayer-funded rescue programme set up to save banks from collapse during the financial crisis makes future reckless behaviour more likely, the government’s bailout watchdog has warned. A quarterly report to Congress on the $700bn (£437bn) Troubled Asset Relief Program, or Tarp, said financial firms seen as too big to fail before 2008 have [...]
City firms at heart of new venture fund January 31, 2010 THE Government is putting City investment firms at the heart of revised proposals to boost small businesses, it emerged at the weekend. In a change from previous plans that would have created a national network of investing offices, the Department for Business plans to inject private investment and public cash into a fund-of-funds that would [...]
Polls point to hung parliament in headache for Cameron’s Tories January 31, 2010 THE next election is likely to result in a hung parliament, according to a raft of opinion polls. The polls, published in the Mail on Sunday and the People newspapers, both put the Tories nine points ahead of Labour. Two polls on Saturday also hinted at a hung parliament. A lead of up to nine [...]
THIRD DIMENSION January 31, 2010 Football fans in nine pubs – including the Railway Tavern in Liverpool Street (pictured) – yesterday watched the clash between Arsenal and Manchester United in 3D. Sky Sports used the event to launch its 3D channel, which goes live in April.
Swiss fears grow for UBS January 31, 2010 SWISS bank UBS could collapse if talks over a tax probe fail and the US government bans it from trading in the US, the Swiss justice minister warned yesterday. The bank’s wider activities could be hit if UBS fails to honour a deal with Washington to hand over the details of suspected tax-dodgers, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf [...]
