Italy’s banks won’t destroy the Eurozone – in the short term July 20, 2016 The euro crisis appears to have moved on. If the newspapers are to be believed, a crisis once centred on Greece has now crossed the Adriatic to Italy. The Economist recently ran with a leader article entitled The Italian Job, which argued that “at best Italy’s weak banks will throttle the country’s growth; at worst, [...]
It’s time to end the scandal of hidden holiday money charges July 20, 2016 Holidays are expensive. Last year British families spent £26bn on holidays abroad. That’s around £2,000 each trip. Some were all inclusive, but many, perhaps even most journeys will have seen people change money to pay for things overseas. As we all get ready for our week in the sun this year, I decided to look [...]
We need more masculists in the boardroom: Unconscious bias doesn’t just affect women July 20, 2016 These are exciting times for gender equality in the UK. With the success of the 30% Club, the announcement of HM Treasury’s Women in Finance charter, and Theresa May’s recent appointment as Prime Minister, momentum appears to be building. Even the term “feminist” has lost much of its stigma. The view that women are entitled [...]
As a surge of supporters sign up to vote in the leadership contest, can Owen Smith save Labour? July 20, 2016 Atul Hatwal, editor of Labour Uncut, says Yes. Labour is in a very deep hole, and Owen Smith is the man to haul it out. Under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, the party has slumped to being over 40 points behind the Tories on the economy and leadership. There has been a total breakdown of its ability to [...]
Why the UK will need more than rate cuts to offset Brexit shock July 20, 2016 Although growth has been less vigorous than in previous recoveries, the UK economy has made real progress since the Lehman-crisis — the private sector has deleveraged, household balance sheets have strengthened and labour market participation has reached a record high. The near-term Brexit-induced confidence shock promises to reverse some of these positive trends. Uncertainty will reign [...]
Nintendo back in the game as Pokemon Go-es bananas July 20, 2016 Pokemon Go has already established itself as the viral hit of 2016 – and it could not come soon enough for Nintendo. The game has taken a life of its own, as young smartphone users are able to act out a game from their childhoods in an ‘augmented reality’. Nintendo’s share price has risen sharply, [...]
BT needs to be open about Openreach aims July 20, 2016 When it comes to Openreach, the arm of BT that runs the UK's cables, fibre and network infrastructure, the telecoms giant is hovering outside the door of the last chance saloon. On the eve of a pivotal decision on the future of Openreach, MPs on the culture and media select committee have upped the ante [...]
Post-Brexit uncertainty won’t derail our commitment to the UK July 20, 2016 Today, the world’s largest international cable company has announced a significant vote of confidence in Britain. The company I run, Liberty Global, the parent of Virgin Media, has announced the next phase of a programme to connect 450,000 additional London premises to the fastest widely-available broadband speeds in the UK by the end of 2018. [...]
Britain hasn’t lost Arm: Its acquisition is the start of a new Great British tech story July 19, 2016 A week ago, many were wondering whether the UK’s tech sector would become less relevant in a post-Brexit world. The news of Arm’s acquisition by SoftBank for £24bn means many things for UK tech – but irrelevance is not one of them. This acquisition is positive and timely news. Following the referendum, it’s an immediate vote [...]
Sorry, Prime Minister: Legislation won’t end excess in the boardroom July 19, 2016 A key element of our new Prime Minister’s platform is to curb what she perceives to be boardroom excesses. “It is not anti-business to suggest that big business needs to change”, she said. One of her proposals is to allow employee and worker representatives to sit on company boards, a suggestion which has not gone [...]