George Osborne must liberate business from burdensome red tape if he wants to bolster UK growth March 16, 2016 The rumour mill is churning. Will George Osborne ease up on businesses in today’s Budget? Companies have shouldered a lot of responsibility for his plans so far. The chancellor justified giveaways in the last Autumn Statement with better-than-expected economic growth and, crucially, a series of levies on firms. A raft of new measures have been announced [...]
As Putin starts pulling his troops out of the country, could peace finally be coming to Syria? March 16, 2016 Michael Kerr, director of the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies at KCL and author of The Alawis of Syria says Yes. On the same day that some of Syria’s warring factions attended talks in Geneva, again taking the initiative on Syria, Putin announced that Russia would withdraw some of its forces. This sent a message to the [...]
Champions League: Why the final score is not the only metric of success for Arsenal, Barcelona, Bayern and Juventus in the Champions League March 15, 2016 When the elite of Europe face off in the Champions League this week, fans and pundits are likely to judge a team's success purely in terms of the score and other common stats relating to performance. Pep Guardiola and Arsene Wenger's team building abilities will be exclusively discussed in terms of their squad's showings on [...]
UK weather: Dreaming of a White Easter? Snow in March or April is more likely than at Christmas – but probably won’t happen this year March 15, 2016 In recent weeks we have seen headlines which would lead us to think that the weather forecast for this Easter could be one of two extremes. On the one hand “sudden stratospheric warming” could bring bank holiday snow and sub-zero temperatures – and on the other, you could believe that Britain is “set for a heatwave” with highs [...]
Five radical ideas for the new London mayor’s to do list, including car-sharing, devolution and the green belt March 15, 2016 In the fifteen years since five million Londoners chose Ken Livingstone as their first directly-elected mayor, Greater London has been transformed. The capital’s population has grown by one-fifth, and today London’s reputation as a global centre for finance and business is complemented by world-class universities, a rapidly expanding visitor economy, and growing tech, creative industries [...]
Budget 2016: Crossrail 2 could level the playing field when it comes to London’s house prices and office rents March 15, 2016 London is growing at an astronomical rate. Every week, more than two Tube-loads of people move into the capital and while the city’s transport infrastructure is a well-oiled machine, if we fail to invest in major projects, we run the risk of the network grinding to a halt. Set to be announced as part of tomorrow's Budget, Crossrail [...]
George Osborne is right to back Crossrail 2 – but London should pay for it March 15, 2016 Crossrail hasn’t even opened but already attention is turning to its £32bn successor. The second stage would relieve congestion on the Northern and Victoria lines, and connect Surrey and Hertfordshire with central London. The capital’s business leaders are already warning that any repeat of the wrangling that so delayed the first line would be disastrous. [...]
End delays to London City Airport expansion and the whole UK will see the benefits March 15, 2016 UK airports had their busiest ever summer last year, collectively handling 78m passengers, and the indicators are that 2015 as a whole was the busiest year on record. London City Airport certainly had a record-breaking year, with 18 per cent growth in passengers to 4.3m. More people than ever are taking to the skies and [...]
Osborne created a Budget rod for his own back by abandoning prudence on government spending in the November Autumn Statement March 15, 2016 It's what the great economist Milton Friedman described as “the tyranny of the status quo”. Every Budget week, we hear lots about the so-called “losers” of expected or announced decisions by the chancellor on government spending. Over the weekend, for example, there was a lot of noise about potential further cuts to the welfare bill. Despite [...]
Budget 2016 is Osborne’s chance to reform HMRC’s relationship with business for the better March 15, 2016 Tomorrow's Budget poses a dilemma for the chancellor. Does he follow the habits of chancellors past and raise taxes in the first full Budget of a Parliament, or does he defer tax-raising decisions given the uncertainty of the EU vote on 23 June? Whatever he decides, businesses will be focusing on the much-heralded Business Tax [...]