Coalition’s crazy credit contradiction February 13, 2012 YOU can’t have lending without borrowing. They are the two sides of the same coin. Yet try telling that to those who, in the same sentence, want more lending yet also want the UK to deleverage. As contradictions go, it takes some beating. But this entire debate is disturbingly muddled. Two different concepts are mixed [...]
Everyone must learn to pay their way February 12, 2012 BRITAIN as a whole is spending much more than it raises in tax – that is why there is a massive budget deficit and the government is being forced to borrow so much. But what if the various parts of the UK were all independent countries, including the English regions? Looked at in this way, [...]
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 [...]
Why free money has very real costs February 8, 2012 LOW interest rates are great, high interest rates are bad – that, at least, seems to be the general message from politicians and the media, who almost invariably welcome easy money and decry rate hikes. The problem is that the public doesn’t agree – not a bit, in fact. The latest YouGov research on the [...]
UK can’t count on others messing up February 7, 2012 THERE are two ways a country can do well. The first is to introduce domestic policies that boost work, investment and innovation, and trigger an entrepreneurial revolution and job-creation. Regrettably, while the coalition has introduced a few pro-market policies – such as cutting corporation tax and tweaking some regulations – on balance it has made [...]
Britain’s rail industry is a giant mess February 6, 2012 ONE of the problems with Britain’s rail industry is its nightmarish, confusing structure. It is part private, part government owned; part financed by users and part by state subsidies; and few people understand the real costs of the railway services they use, or who is really in charge. When it comes to rail travel, politics [...]
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 [...]
FSA is missing a trick on living wills February 2, 2012 ENTIRELY unsurprisingly, the FSA is increasing its budget, by a cool 16 per cent. One thing it should do with the money is to accelerate its plans for a new bankruptcy code for complex banks. This crucial reform – known as a special resolution scheme – would be based around living wills: a detailed guide [...]
Britain is now an anti-business nation February 1, 2012 YES, this government is anti-business. This is the first time since 1994, when Tony Blair took over the Labour party, that both government and opposition are united in their relentless attacks on corporate Britain, money-making and the City. The difference in those days – and starting in 1979 – was that the Tories were in [...]
Mr Goodwin deserved to lose his title January 31, 2012 IT is right that Sir Fred has become Mr Goodwin once more. Goodwin was knighted for “services to banking”; given that he has done more than anybody else in the Western world to damage that industry’s reputation, Gordon Brown’s absurd decision to honour him needed to be reversed. It also sends a strong message that [...]