RBS glitch demonstrates the UK’s creaking banking infrastructure June 17, 2015 Today’s payment glitches at RBS, which are affecting thousands of customers across the UK, are another timely reminder that many of the City’s IT systems are a ticking time bomb. This is not the first time the UK’s creaking legacy systems are in the spotlight. Last October, RBS was fined £56m following an IT meltdown [...]
City and Gild: Premium brands should beware the temptation to “be more Aldi” June 17, 2015 So the head of the Boarding Schools Association, Robin Fletcher, has apparently encouraged his members to be more like Aldi, and cut their prices to offer a budget version in an effort to appeal to a larger market. If filling spaces were the issue for boarding schools, then this could be an approach you [...]
Go West and get tech: This is why firms should ditch London for Bristol and Bath June 17, 2015 You do not need to move to London to get your dream tech job. In fact, not doing so is going to make your life a lot easier. Too many people feel they have to move somewhere like the capital and put up with expensive, cramped living conditions to get their foot on the [...]
All eyes are on Greece but rebounding inflation is Europe’s next big challenge June 16, 2015 The markets are on edge and, as Mario Draghi conceded several weeks ago, there is not much the European Central Bank (ECB) can really do to help. At the moment, all eyes are on Greece – a statement that could have been written on numerous occasions over the last five years. It’s “déjà vu all [...]
George Osborne won’t need the drug of deficit finance if he liberates the supply side June 16, 2015 George Osborne’s plan to run fiscal surpluses and use them to pay off government debt has been met with the usual set of whinges and whines, mainly from academic economists funded by the taxpayer. Of course, their arguments are based purely on what they believe to be the intellectual merits of their case. One [...]
Britain leads the world in female entrepreneurship – but gender barriers remain June 16, 2015 There’s no doubt that the UK’s startup community is alive and kicking, with over half a million new businesses registered last year alone. Startups by their very nature are bold and agile, and they play a seminal role in contributing to the innovation the UK needs to remain competitive. With the number of incubator and [...]
As the crunch point nears, could Greek default prove to be a geopolitical disaster for Europe? June 16, 2015 Famke Krumbmüller, a Europe analyst at Eurasia Group, says Yes If a default prompted Greece’s withdrawal from the euro, and the new arrangement were managed badly, it could have harmful consequences for the rest of Europe. Most importantly, it would send negative signals about the future of Eurozone integration – the monetary union was never [...]
Why we need to expand Gatwick airport and make Heathrow better – not bigger June 16, 2015 The choice over where to build the additional airport capacity London needs will be one of the major challenges facing the next London Mayor. I have no doubt that our economy needs more aviation capacity, but after much thought, I have decided that I cannot support a third runway at Heathrow. The damage it would [...]
Hysterical Keynesians need to ditch the hyperbole if they don’t want to be ignored June 15, 2015 History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme. On Friday, 79 economists wrote to the Guardian condemning George Osborne’s plans to run budget surpluses “in good times”, claiming this would risk “a liquidity crisis that could also trigger banking problems, a fall in GDP, a crash, or all three”. Signed by well-known hydraulic Keynesians such [...]
How I will demolish the barriers slowing down London’s digital growth June 15, 2015 DIGITAL technology is changing the world, but the pace of change is still breathtaking. In three years, Airbnb amassed as many hotel rooms as the Hilton dynasty did in a century. Ten years ago, Twitter didn’t exist – now it has over 300m users. And Spotify adds over 20,000 tracks to its 30m-strong music library [...]