I’m standing for London mayor to give a voice to our great city’s hard-working Polish community April 25, 2016 I am running for mayor of London to provide a strong voice to the Polish community, because I believe that they do not get the credit they deserve for the significant contribution they make to this great city. I want to challenge the widespread rhetoric, pushed by Nigel Farage and Ukip in particular, that Polish [...]
As April draws to a close, should investors follow the old dictum to sell in May and go away? April 25, 2016 Richard Stone, chief executive of The Share Centre, says Yes. The adage says “sell in May and go away, come back on St Leger Day”. Investors should generally take a long-term view of investing and weather short-term volatility. However, with some potential short-term causes of increased volatility – continued concerns over China, difficulty reaching agreement [...]
Why the Investment Association’s definition of the Equity Income sector will leave funds sailing towards dangerous waters April 24, 2016 Over the last few years, the FTSE All Share’s running yield has been widely discussed. The subject is important because the major qualification for existing within the Investment Association (IA) Equity Income sector is the provision of an income yield 10 per cent above that of the FTSE All Share, on a rolling three-year basis. While the rules are clear, [...]
Disposing of Royal Bank of Scotland: It’s the only way the chancellor can cut borrowing April 22, 2016 Whilst George Osborne was sipping some Chateau Lynch Bages 2000 as HM Government was entertaining President Obama, he surely must have been ruminating as to how he can get the UK'S borrowing requirement down from the unacceptable level of 83.5 per cent of GDP. He has tried desperately hard in recent years to achieve this goal, [...]
Competition warnings over OnTheMarket were pretty much inevitable April 22, 2016 Anyone with even a passing interest in technology and its history could have predicted this one: just as the Luddites were eventually overwhelmed by power looms, online property portal OnTheMarket was destined to stumble. And lo, yesterday it came to pass: the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) effectively took a sledgehammer to the site’s business [...]
Ignore the scaremongers: Chinese capital flight is no reason to panic April 22, 2016 China's economic growth is decelerating. By our estimation, it has more than halved over the last five years. We believe that this is for the better, but many are fearful that we are on the verge of a crisis. They are pointing to recent capital flight as evidence – emerging market economic crises of the [...]
Inconsistency versus insincerity: Why this US presidential race leaves me utterly miserable April 22, 2016 I know I’m not the only person turned off by politicians’ sound-bites, but I understand why they do it. Thanks to focus groups, A/B testing, and data analysis, campaigns know which words and phrases will have the greatest impact; and repetition works. But the levels of absurdity the current US presidential race has reached should [...]
Confront women with the true horror of the old age poverty they face to tackle our pensions saving crisis April 22, 2016 Women are facing poverty in retirement as they cut back on pension contributions to fund childcare. A report released by The Fawcett Society, which campaigns for women’s rights, found many women are funding childcare out of their own pay packets (not their partners’) – which means stopping pension contributions. It partly responsible for a doubling of [...]
As the chancellor overshoots his 2015-16 borrowing target by £1.8bn, has his deficit reduction plan failed? April 22, 2016 Kallum Pickering, senior UK economist at Berenberg, says Yes. From an economic point of view, the chancellor’s fiscal policy failed a long time ago. In the 2010 Emergency Budget, the first time Osborne cracked the fiscal whip, he said the deficit would be 1.1 per cent of GDP in the 2015-16 fiscal year. Yesterday’s data shows [...]
EU referendum: I’m a fintech startup founder and here’s why I’m against Brexit April 21, 2016 I’m a strong believer in the rule that politics and business don’t mix. However, as the EU referendum draws closer, businesses need to speak out. Leaving the EU would be harmful for UK fintech as it would create more borders, at a time when we need fewer. Without doubt, the world is a much better place when [...]