As he delivers his final State of the Union address, has Obama proved a failure as President? January 12, 2016 Kate Andrews, head of communications at the Adam Smith Institute, says Yes. As a senator, Obama promised “hope” and “change” on the campaign trail in 2007. But as President, he has presided over some of the worst gridlock Washington has seen. His pledge to unite the parties was quickly voided when he pushed through the [...]
The 21st century NHS revolution that will cure more for less January 12, 2016 With every year that passes, medicine is slowly entering a fundamentally new era. While almost every week brings news of breakthroughs and cures, history suggests that a genuine revolution will only be with us when costs start to decline. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, people started to leave their local communities as transport and [...]
A sugar tax would only make the UK tax system more incoherent January 12, 2016 Rumours abound that the government is secretly quite keen on imposing a new tax on sugary drinks, to attempt to combat obesity. There are strong arguments against such a proposal. These taxes hit the poor hardest and will probably only have a marginal impact on obesity levels. Plus, so-called “sin taxes” of this kind have [...]
Tube strikes: The unions are harming London and the low paid by striking over Night Tube January 12, 2016 When Mike Brown was confirmed as London’s new transport commissioner last September, he might have expected to find a note from his predecessor stating bluntly: “Dear commissioner, I’m afraid there is no money”. While most of the UK economy has adapted to the realities of modern-day austerity, however, the transport unions are apparently yet to [...]
Oil rout, shambolic Chinese regulators, and Apple analyst misses: Why don’t we ignore Week One and start again? January 12, 2016 Oh what japes, and that was only the first week back at work this year. But did we learn anything useful from the first five days of trading? Possibly, but has anyone come out of week one with any credit or stood out as a visionary amid the chaos? Not that I can see, I’m [...]
Saudi-Iran schism: The West should cut its losses in the Middle East January 11, 2016 The most annoying intellectual pathology of the western foreign policy elite must be its singular insistence that action, however mindless, beats informed inaction; that doing more is always better than doing less. I saw this intellectual disease time and again in the aftermath of the utterly disastrous Iraq War. Smart opinion was divided between those [...]
The City must work with the rest of the capital to keep London on top January 11, 2016 The City and the boroughs of London are intimately connected. Not only do around 400,000 Londoners travel to work in the City every day, but many also come to visit the Square Mile’s bars, shops, museums and galleries throughout the week. On Thursday, 100 of the top figures in London government, including the mayor of [...]
What M&S’s new boss Steve Rowe can learn from Sir Alex Ferguson about crafting a winning business January 11, 2016 "It's a bit like being asked to be England football manager… you don’t turn it down.” These were the words of one analyst when Marc Bolland, soon to be former Marks & Spencer chief executive, took the retail hot seat back in 2009. Now, like so many England managers, he departs with a sense that adversity [...]
Five lesser-known tricks to successful negotiation January 11, 2016 It's the time of the year when we evaluate what we have achieved and work out how we can accomplish new goals in the 12 months ahead. You might be building up the confidence to go for a promotion and a pay rise, a new job or a big business deal. For any of these [...]
Retail bonds: What they offer small cap firms January 11, 2016 Launched in 2010 by the London Stock Exchange as part of its efforts to help firms find new ways to access capital, the UK retail bond market may still be comparatively new. But it has already shown itself to be an attractive way for small to mid cap companies, particularly those with a well recognised [...]
