What Keynes can teach us about England’s World Cup failure June 25, 2014 SO FAREWELL, then, England! Yet another failure by our boys at the highest levels of football. Despite their stupendous salaries, our players were once again unable to exhibit the necessary skills, a point which seems to exercise many fans of the game. Tens of thousands, if not millions, of words have been written about the [...]
Spire seeks £1bn in London float June 24, 2014 One of Britain’s largest hospital chains, Spire Healthcare, is to list on the London Stock Exchange in a float estimated to be about £1bn, Reuters reported. Spire, which is owned by private equity firm Cinven, owns 38 hospitals and will be publishing its formal intention to float on the London Stock Exchange. It was recently [...]
Social media: The new talent spotter June 24, 2014 Social media has already transformed the way we communicate, and it is now beginning to change the way we work. Enterprise social networks, such as Yammer and Chatter, have created an internal business role for social media, influencing how organisations interact, and how they share and develop ideas. These tools can be instrumental in harnessing [...]
Shares: The greedier the CEO, the lower the value June 24, 2014 Avaricious CEOs are bad for business, according to a report published by the Journal of Management. Called “When More Is Not Enough: Executive Greed and its Influence on Shareholder Wealth”, it examines the effect of a CEO's greed on share value for over 300 publicly traded firms. Professor Katalin Takacs Haynes and her team at [...]
Accelerating competition: How to level the playing field for challenger banks June 24, 2014 THERE is something that politicians and bankers both agree upon – we believe that greater competition improves the service and the products that customers get. We’ve heard ideas about increasing competition in banking from across the political spectrum. Today, the BBA is adding to that debate with some new ideas on promoting competition by levelling [...]
The devil will be in the detail of Osborne’s northern powerhouse plans June 23, 2014 IN THE months before a general election campaign gets going, politicians often look like they’re merely going through the motions. Perhaps that was why George Osborne’s surprisingly radical speech in Manchester yesterday, focused on making the “cities of the north a powerhouse for our economy”, caught many by surprise. But while the speech contained the [...]
Ofgem prepares to investigate energy market June 23, 2014 ENERGY regulator Ofgem is preparing to launch its biggest-ever investigation into the UK energy market this week, amid growing anger from consumers about high prices and poor customer service. The investigation will be undertaken by the Competition and Markets Authority and is set to take 18 months to complete. It comes after consumer watchdog Which [...]
A parting thought: Britain needs to learn to love capitalism June 19, 2014 THERE is one change, more than any other, that Britain needs to undergo if we want to fulfil our true potential. We must learn to embrace capitalism, individual liberty and the awe-inspiring wealth and job creating potential of business, and ditch our ambivalent attitude towards free markets. It is time for a cultural revolution in [...]
Bitcoin and the future of free market money June 19, 2014 The correct government response to the rise of cryptocurrencies should be to allow free competition on a level playing field, according to a new monograph published by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA). New Private Monies: A Bit-Part Player? was launched at the IEA's offices in Westminster with a panel discussion in front of a [...]
Why the car insurance industry faces a difficult future June 12, 2014 The Competition and Market Authority's (CMA) proposed plans for change in the private motor insurance market aim to increase competition and reduce the cost of premiums for motorists. If implemented, they stand to do just that. This is great news for customers, but what does this mean for an industry that is already exceptionally competitive, [...]