RAPID responses
Victim of Libor?
[Re: Libor manipulation scandal is a disastrous own goal for City, yesterday]
Back in the 1990s, my business had a Libor-linked loan with Barclays Commercial. Every quarter, when we came to settle, it mysteriously jumped 0.125 per cent or 2.5 per cent. After the first few times this happened, I started to keep a daily graph and around the time of our quarterly set it used to go up, sometimes as much as 0.375 per cent. Throughout the time we were on Libor, it was always set 0.25 per cent above base rate. When rates were 6 per cent, these small blips were bearable and were dismissed as bad luck. After this week’s news, I’m not so sure.
Steve Britt, managing director of Anchor Storage.
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Tax and voters
[Re: Should the UK create an industrial strategy to guide the economy?, yesterday]
Kevin Dowd is right. Civil servants, like Vicky Pryce, aren’t qualified to determine which investments will pay off in the future. The problem is that activist government is strangely popular. Voters must be convinced that governments simply can’t do everything.
Jamie Cauvain
[Re: The UK’s consumer debt burden is stifling hope of economic recovery, yesterday]
Excellent MPs like Kwasi Kwarteng need to come up with costed alternatives to the Budget. Vague mention of tax cuts isn’t enough to change anything.
Phil Anderson
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TOP TWEETS
Barclays has saved taxpayers £50m on bikes, but if its employees have engaged in criminal behaviour then bang em up.
@MayorofLondon
Of course financial corruption at Barclays is the problem. What’s the cause? State intervention, especially socialised risks.
@SteveBakerMP
Leaving David Beckham out of the Olympic squad is a disgrace. He was a major influence on the country getting the Olympics.
@OilPriceBates
Kwasi Kwarteng is right. We’ve got to cut tax and get the economy going.
@mchadwickcarbon