A history lesson on the Black Death teaches us to resist the urge to panic about Covid-19 March 10, 2020 When Pope Francis announced the cancellation of major public engagements, his tired face half-obscured by a handkerchief filled front pages across the world — before he headed into self-imposed isolation. Nearly 700 years ago, Pope Clement VI was trying very hard not to catch a different infectious disease that was then sweeping Europe. Known to [...]
Lebanon should learn the lessons of the past to protect the future when it comes to its debt problem March 10, 2020 In a solemn press conference over the weekend, the relatively new Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab delivered a speech that will go down in history. Conceding that the country was paying for mistakes made in the past, Diab announced to the world that Lebanon would not be rendering whole the bond payment due on Monday, [...]
DEBATE: Should the chancellor bend the fiscal rules to increase spending in his first Budget? March 10, 2020 Should the chancellor bend the fiscal rules to increase spending in his first Budget? Will Tanner, director of Onward, says YES. It is the prerogative of a twenty-first century chancellor to set the rules of your own tenure. Gordon Brown, George Osborne, Philip Hammond and Sajid Javid (who never delivered a Budget) all established the [...]
Small Budget tweaks could give startups big improvements in access to cash March 10, 2020 Britain’s small business funding picture is mixed. The good news is that, while access to traditional bank loans has been limited since the financial crisis, founders have undoubtedly benefited from the rise of alternative finance. Over £2bn is now lent through peer-to-peer lenders and close to 400 equity crowdfunding deals take place in the UK [...]
SME group calls for next London mayor to lobby for business rates reform March 10, 2020 The next mayor of London should focus their energies on improving renting conditions for businesses and lobbying the Treasury for rates reform, according to a leading business advocacy group. The Federation of Small Business’ (FSB) mayoral manifesto, released today, calls on the next mayor to pressure “major landowners” to sign on to a “supportive small [...]
Bad weather and coronavirus fears hurt high street sales March 10, 2020 Bad weather and coronavirus fears kept UK shoppers away from the high street last month, while streaming services and takeaway firms benefited from Brits staying at home. Consumer spending was up 2.2 per cent year-on-year last month, driven by digital subscriptions and takeaways as Brits stayed home to avoid storms and coronavirus risks. More than [...]
Qantas to cut international capacity by a quarter as it grapples with coronavirus March 9, 2020 Qantas will slash its international capacity by nearly 25 per cent for the next six months, as it grapples with a steep fall in demand due to coronavirus. Qantas’ chief executive Alan Joyce will not take his salary until the end of the financial year, which ends 30 June. The board will take a 30 [...]
Coronavirus: Whole of Italy put on lockdown as death toll soars March 9, 2020 Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has placed the entire country on lockdown in an effort to contain the spread of coronavirus, as the death toll jumped by 97. It extends the emergency measures the government put in place over the weekend for Lombardy and 14 other provinces in the north of the country, the epicentre [...]
RB Leipzig v Tottenham: Jose Mourinho is risking a repeat of palpable discord through his treatment of Spurs’ thin squad March 9, 2020 Statements from football clubs don’t tend to offer much more than the essential information they wish to convey, but on 17 December 2015 Chelsea’s technical director Michael Emenalo provided an exception to the rule. Chelsea, Emenalo said on the club website, were “in trouble” and “it was time to act”. Jose Mourinho, for the second [...]
Life inside Italy’s quarantine zone March 9, 2020 I was at home with my family when we learned that our town was one of those being put into the so-called red zone, quarantined to battle coronavirus. We had discussed how nursery closures were affecting our ability to work. But then a leaked draft of the government decree made us realise things were about [...]
