Iran in protest blackout June 16, 2009 PROTESTORS took to the streets of Iran again yesterday, as the nation’s top legislative body stood by a disputed president poll that claimed incumbent premier Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won by a landslide. But a ban on reporting from the streets of Iran, and arrests of protest ringleaders, meant any further clashes were kept off the world [...]
Britain needs a real digital revolution June 16, 2009 YET another wasted opportunity: that must be the verdict on the government’s ludicrously over-hyped Digital Britain report. Neither of the two main relevant public policy issues was addressed satisfactorily: the quality of Britain’s communication infrastructure, which is scandalously poor; and the BBC’s destructively anachronistic dependence on the taxpayer. Our broadband and telecoms systems are not [...]
Outrage as telephone tax looms June 16, 2009 MILLIONS could be hit by a new “telephone tax” under government plans to fund broadband for all. Lord Carter’s long-awaited Digital Britain Report, published yesterday, outlined plans to slap a £6-a-year levy on households with a telephone line to help pay for universal broadband access. The TaxPayers’ Alliance last night said it was “inappropriate” to [...]
Wheatcroft to edit WSJ Europe June 16, 2009 Patience Wheatcroft, the former Sunday Telegraph editor and Times business editor who left journalism in 2007 to take seats on the boards of Barclays and Shaftesbury, has been named editor-in-chief of Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Europe. Wheatcroft, who last year chaired Boris Johnson’s Forensic Audit Panel, has quit her non-exec role at Barclays to focus [...]
BORIS: ORGY OF CITY BASHING MUST STOP June 16, 2009 LONDON Mayor Boris Johnson yesterday leapt to defend the financial services industry, arguing that politicians and the City needed to be “far more vociferous” in opposing regulations dictated by the European Union. Speaking at the Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) annual summer lunch, Johnson said: “It is crazy that we are so passively and supinely [...]
Tomlinson named as NAPF head June 16, 2009 Lindsay Tomlinson, European vice chairman of soon-to-be-sold Barclays Global Investors, has been named as chairman of the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF). Tomlinson is set to take over from Chris Hitchen whose two-year term expires in October. Lindsay, awarded an OBE for services to fund management in 2005, will have to tussle with rising [...]
RBS to ease burden on debtors June 16, 2009 Royal Bank of Scotland is to delay foreclosures on commercial property assets, to give struggling customers more time to pay, the bank’s boss Stephen Hester said yesterday. He told the British Property Federation’s annual conference RBS is determined to “behave responsibly and to play a long game” to help customers manage debts. He added that [...]
GEITHNER: A MAN WITH A PLAN June 16, 2009 US TREASURY secretary Timothy Geithner’s plan to revamp financial regulation, likely to be the broadest overhaul since the 1930s, will today be announced by President Barack Obama. The changes are expected to include tougher capital requirements for financial institutions and more “robust” reporting requirements.
More cheer for hedge funds as liquidations fall 50 per cent June 16, 2009 THE pace of hedge fund closures slowed in the first quarter, falling by 50 per cent compared to the final three months of 2008, in yet more good news for the industry. The record hedge fund liquidations seen in last three months of 2008, when 778 vehicles folded, proved to be short-lived, according to research [...]
Tchenguiz not backing down June 16, 2009 PROPERTY tycoon Vincent Tchenguiz yesterday refused to adjourn a general meeting of shareholders in Bramdean Alternatives, the listed fund for which he is tussling for control, while a leading corporate governance group warned his actions could give rise to potential conflicts of interest. The announcement comes after Nicola Horlick, the manager of Bramdean Alternatives, on [...]
