QE not the answer to UK’s problems February 10, 2012 IF the Bank of England is to be believed, more quantitative easing is necessary to make sure inflation doesn’t fall below its target. Yet the Bank’s record is not good enough to allow us to take it on trust. Simon Ward of Henderson calculates that the Bank’s forecasts for inflation in one year’s time have [...]
QE not the answer to UK’s problems February 9, 2012 IF the Bank of England is to be believed, more quantitative easing is necessary to make sure inflation doesn’t fall below its target. Yet the Bank’s record is not good enough to allow us to take it on trust. Simon Ward of Henderson calculates that the Bank’s forecasts for inflation in one year’s time have [...]
BEHIND THE SCENES FOR OSCAR HIT’S LEGAL FIXER February 7, 2012 PAUL RENNEY, a lawyer at Keystone Law, almost collected the Bafta for The King’s Speech – except the film’s producers were faster out of their seats than he was. Renney, as the hit’s legal adviser, was a stand-in at the event for screenwriter David Seidler, who was “annoyed” at not being flown over from the [...]
Why the debate has gone all wrong February 5, 2012 PART of the problem in Britain today is that public debate is taking place in a fact-less vacuum. People have no interest in what is really happening to investment bankers’ pay and prefer to ignore the regulatory revolution across all of finance, including banking, fund management, private equity, trading, accountancy and insurance. Take pay: as [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 1, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES CALLS MOUNT TO CUT TRINITY MIRROR CHIEF’S PAY Trinity Mirror is facing renewed pressure to rein in the pay of its chief executive Sly Bailey from some of the biggest shareholders in the media group. The shareholders will set out their mounting unhappiness over the pay when Trinity Mirror’s incoming chairman David Grigson [...]
Redknapp in outburst at cop as drama hits tax trial February 1, 2012 TOTTENHAM manager Harry Redknapp shouted across the courtroom at a detective to “stop staring” and accused the policeman of trying to unsettle him as his tax evasion trial took a dramatic turn yesterday. Redknapp (inset) raised his voice towards Detective Inspector David Manley, who led the City of London Police investigation, amid a series of [...]
FTSE rises as Greece closes in on deal January 31, 2012 The FTSE 100 rose in early trading on hopes Greece was nearing a debt swap deal required to salvage the nation’s finances while European leaders agreed on stricter budget discipline measures to help prevent further debt disasters in the region. Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said negotiators had made “significant progress” in talks to strike [...]
Devastating pensions crisis requires companies to take a more inventive approach January 30, 2012 DEFINED benefit (DB) pension schemes are rarely out of the news these days – the latest headlines being from Shell, which has become the last of Britain’s biggest companies to scrap its final salary scheme for new entrants. And while the death of DB – which has been predicted from as far back as 2004, [...]
Osborne to hand treasury new powers over BoE January 27, 2012 The finance ministry will have new powers to order the Bank of England to pump money into the financial system in any future banking crisis. “When taxpayers’ money is at risk in a crisis this legislation gives the Chancellor the power to direct the Bank of England to act,” Osborne said in a speech to [...]
The music stops for UK breaks on bankruptcies January 25, 2012 THE singer Kenny Rogers once sang “you’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away, know when to run”. While Rogers was singing about a gambler, he could just as easily have been singing about the Irish people’s attitude to their bankruptcy regime. Increasingly the people [...]