It may not be Hammond’s cup of tea, but we deserve some tax-cutting champions May 31, 2019 I for one am thrilled to see politicians not just talking about tax cuts, but competing for the best policy to reduce a tax burden that is at a near 50-year high. Sure, it took a leadership contest to get them properly talking about it, but from the home secretary’s endorsement of the Adam Smith [...]
Mind the expectation gap: Sadiq Khan is a disappointment to London May 29, 2019 When Sadiq Khan was elected as London mayor just over three years ago, it was off the back of some big promises. The new mayor reassured us that he was going to make our city a “safe and secure place”. He pledged that we wouldn’t pay a penny more to travel around the capital, although this [...]
Theresa May’s legacy? Contortions of logic and tin-eared obstinacy May 24, 2019 It’s the EU exit, stupid. This, to paraphrase Bill Clinton, is what Theresa May’s tenure as Prime Minister has been all about. The tempestuous journey to try to get Britain out of the EU will undoubtedly be her legacy, whether she is remembered in the history books as the architect of a national disaster, or as a [...]
The next Northern Rock? Metro Bank has had a troubled week May 24, 2019 Could Metro Bank be the next Northern Rock? That’s not a question that any banker wants to hear, but in this case, some self-reflection seems necessary for the young bank. This last week has been nothing if not turbulent for Metro, the UK’s most shorted stock, with conspiracies circulating that it had fallen on hard [...]
How to cope with the confusion around social care costs May 22, 2019 Distracted by the ongoing Brexit crisis, the government appears to have shoved the not-so-small issue of social care to one side. With a growing elderly population (by 2046, a quarter of the UK population will be aged 65 or over), and proportionately fewer taxpayers able to prop them up, the rising cost of social care [...]
The anti-vax movement is a symptom of our expert malaise April 26, 2019 The anti-vaccination movement is deadly. According to the charity Unicef, more than half a million UK children were not vaccinated against measles, a highly dangerous but preventable disease, between 2010 and 2017 – which is part of a terrifying global trend. When less than 95 per cent of a population are vaccinated, herd immunity is weakened, [...]
A year of two halves? April 23, 2019 Alex Crooke, Fund Manager of the Bankers Investment Trust, explains how the team is preparing for a different investment landscape in the second half of 2019. It’s in our nature as fund managers to continually contemplate about the future, but the level and scope of uncertainty facing investors today is almost unprecedented. What’s disappointing is [...]
Nouriel Roubini interview (Part I): Expect a ‘synchronised slowdown’ in 2019 April 2, 2019 When Nouriel Roubini talks, it’s worth a listen. Not known for his optimism, the well-known American economist bears the moniker ‘Dr Doom’. CFA Institute spoke to him to get his take on topics including the prospects for global growth and technologies. CFA Institute: When you spoke to us in 2015, roughly six years after the [...]
G4S loses permanent contract for ‘war zone’ Birmingham prison April 1, 2019 A G4S prison in Birmingham has been taken back under permanent government control after it was found in a state of crisis so acute the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) was forced to step in last summer. HMP Birmingham was seized from the contractor in August last year when the prisons watchdog found it was exceptionally [...]
UK retail sales see biggest contraction in 17 months, says CBI March 27, 2019 UK retail sales volumes fell sharply in March, seeing the fastest contraction in 17 months and marking a four-month run in which sales have not grown, a leading business group said today. Of the businesses surveyed by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), 46 per cent said sales volumes were lower in March than a [...]