The rapid rise of the food bank can’t just be blamed on government austerity June 12, 2013 FOOD banks are a rapidly growing phenomenon in the UK. A few years ago, they barely existed, but an estimated half a million people now make use of them every week. On the face of it, it seems that poverty has sadly become endemic since the financial crisis, with many families unable even to feed [...]
Britain needs a Swedish-style fiscal rule to end its yearly Budget farce | City A.M. March 22, 2013 BEN GUMMER HERE we are again, two days before the budget, and the chancellor is inundated with advice about what he should do to “fix” the British economy. It has become a tiresome ritual that comes around twice a year before the Budget and the Autumn Statement: a litany of suggestions, papers and proposals pushed [...]
Tokyo tops cost of living table – but London rises to 16th place February 4, 2013 TOKYO has regained its position as the most expensive major city in the world, according to figures released today, while the ongoing financial crisis has pushed down the relative cost of living in the Eurozone. Research by the Economist Intelligence Unit shows uncertainty surrounding the single currency has made it relatively cheaper to live in [...]
Political risk could still derail a better Eurozone outlook January 29, 2013 THIS year could be a watershed for the Eurozone. There is now a real chance the region can overcome the market volatility and fragmentation of the past few years, and that countries like Greece could actively return to capital markets. European leaders have laid much of the groundwork towards restoring credibility to Eurozone policy. But [...]
Crack down on the high cost of living or growth suffers January 22, 2013 THE emergence of competitive economies in the East is a well-known phenomenon. But less understood is the challenge this poses to the West. First, the rising East will squeeze traditional markets (albeit while creating new ones). Secondly, it will turn the terms of trade for primary products against us. We are not powerless, however. Emerging [...]
Cameron’s Europe speech: A chance for the EU to boldly embrace the US January 16, 2013 IT’S hard to imagine expectations for David Cameron’s long-overdue Europe speech getting any lower. The smart money is already on him getting caught in the crossfire between supporters and opponents of Britain’s EU membership. But it needn’t be like that. A few months before the 2010 general election, the Conservatives published a policy paper called [...]
Rapid responses January 8, 2013 Planning inflation [Re: Daft planning rules are pushing up the price of food in shops, yesterday] While it is always good for an article about planning policy to focus on commercial property rather than housing, and while the academics cited may have delivered interesting papers, let’s not use this work to justify more fiddling with [...]
The coalition’s lack of purpose has ruined our freedom to fail or thrive January 6, 2013 A SOCIETY must provide its people with certain basics, including security, food and shelter. A civilised society should also provide freedom. There is no precise definition of the term, but it is basically a status that allows people to do what they want, provided they do not interfere with the freedom of others. A market [...]
Guilty: Adoboli gets seven years for trading fraud November 20, 2012 ROGUE former UBS trader Kweku Adoboli, whose unauthorised trades lost the Swiss bank $2.3bn (£1.4bn), was yesterday jailed for seven years after being convicted of one of the biggest frauds in British history. Adoboli, once pegged as a rising star on the Exchange Traded Fund desk at the bank’s Finsbury Avenue offices, was found guilty [...]
China’s new leaders may struggle to fulfill their immense ambitions November 18, 2012 CHINA has announced its new leadership line-up. It’s a hugely significant event for the world’s second largest economy – indeed. for the world more generally. The new (and old) faces revealed last week will run the country for the next ten years. And their programme is certainly ambitious. On his first day in office, China’s [...]