Vodafone seals the £790m sale of its stake in Poland’s Polkomtel November 9, 2011 VODAFONE last night sealed the €920m (£790m) sale of its 24.4 per cent stake in Polkomtel after gaining regulatory clearance from Polish authorities. Spartan Capital Holdings beat off competition from rivals including Apax and Telenor to acquire the stake. The sale is part of Vodafone’s strategy to offload non core assets. It has also sold [...]
INTERVENTION FROM THE SNB HAS LIMITS November 8, 2011 ONE currency pair staged a wild rollercoaster ride this week, rising 40 points in a matter of seconds only to fall 100 points a few minutes later as markets reacted to every headline to hit the screen. If you think I am referring to the euro-dollar, I am not. The cross in question is euro-Swiss [...]
We cannot improve schools from the centre: A bold call for more choice in education November 6, 2011 BY AND large, British families do not choose the education their children receive. For the majority of parents that choice is made for them, by the distance from their front door to the school gate, and whether they have the means to buy into the catchment of another school or avail themselves of a private [...]
New watchdog: we don’t care if London is competitive or not November 1, 2011 THE NEW regulator charged with protecting consumers should not have to take into account the competitiveness of the City when making decisions, its incoming chief Martin Wheatley said yesterday. Appearing before the influential Treasury Select Committee, Wheatley, who will run the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) when it is created next year, said that the body [...]
Five must-follow tweeters for trading success October 31, 2011 1 @ZEROHEDGE From the mysterious writers who author the Zero Hedge blog, this twitter feed is streets ahead of the competition. It brings news scoops and links to insightful articles that often challenge the consensus. The website has been credited with bringing the controversial practice of flash trading to the public attention in 2009. 2 [...]
GOVERNOR: TIME IS RUNNING OUT October 18, 2011 BRITAIN’S recovery has been knocked off track by the global financial crisis, Bank of England governor Sir Mervyn King claimed last night, in a sweeping attack on governments and monetary authorities throughout the world. King hit out at monetary authorities that have fixed currencies, and criticised governments for failing to act quickly enough on the [...]
Why unpaid internships are a good thing – they help the young get a foot in the door October 16, 2011 MY COMPANY is currently looking for an intern (don’t all apply at once). The reason is simple. We have a job that needs doing that we cannot get our clients to pay us for and, in the current climate, we cannot afford to pay an experienced person to do it. The work we want doing [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 11, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES MPS SET TO GRILL TAX OFFICIAL The UK’s top tax official is likely to be questioned by MPs today over leaked documents concerning the settlement of a tax dispute with Goldman Sachs. Dave Hartnett, permanent secretary for tax at Revenue & Customs, shook hands on a settlement last December that apparently waived a [...]
America’s solar scandal is a warning: Bankrupt climate policies boost tax, not jobs October 11, 2011 IN SEPTEMBER 2009, the United States Department of Energy gave a $530m (£339m) loan guarantee to the solar company Solyndra. President Barack Obama said at the plant: “It’s here that companies like Solyndra are leading the way, towards a brighter and more prosperous future.” In September 2011, the company collapsed, the jobs which the Vice [...]
FPC: Eurozone crisis could freeze credit September 28, 2011 THE ECONOMIC threat from the Eurozone crisis yesterday prompted the Bank of England’s new regulatory body to urge banks to boost lending. While praising the banks’ recent record in building up buffers of capital, the Financial Policy Committee (FPC) said that bonuses and dividends should be cut in order to release sufficient credit to businesses. [...]