Rehabilitating Blair: Politicians must revive the spirit of radical NHS reform November 20, 2014 WE NEED to have a serious talk. The topic may be painful. Being faced with the warts of a much-loved figure often is. But it is crueller by far to let it die the death of a thousand cuts, a thousand scandals, and tens of thousands of needless deaths. The NHS – the jewel in [...]
This crude EU bonus cap will jeopardise efforts to really reform banker pay November 20, 2014 NIILO Jaaskinen, advocate general at the European Court of Justice (ECJ), recommended yesterday that the court should reject the UK’s challenge to the EU’s cap on bankers’ bonuses, which restricts bonuses to 100 per cent of a banker’s pay (or 200 per cent with shareholder approval). This wasn’t a big surprise, and it won’t have [...]
As RBS is fined for its 2012 computer failure, are IT meltdowns the biggest risk to banks? November 20, 2014 Paul Thomalla, senior vice-president and managing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at ACI Worldwide, says Yes. The antiquated IT infrastructure of many of our biggest financial institutions is a ticking time bomb. The payments community has been warning for years that it isn’t up to scratch, but retail banks have been like [...]
Only direct democracy can save Britain’s businesses from this rising populist tide November 19, 2014 WHEN the clowns start talking politics, alarm bells should be ringing not just about the state of our democracy but also the prospects for our economy. Russell Brand’s interventions may have faced ridicule, but it is worth reflecting on why such a blatant attention-seeker should be capturing the popular mood. After all, Brand’s book Revolution [...]
Selling public land is just the start: Three steps to solve London’s housing crisis November 19, 2014 WE HAVE got to the stage that, if you don’t know there’s a serious housing shortage in London, I’d assume you must be living in a cave. This shortage comes with increasingly obvious social and economic ramifications. London First recently published research showing that more than half of workers (56 per cent) have difficulties paying [...]
Abolishing the beer tie would be terrible news for British pub-goers November 19, 2014 THE British pub is much-loved, but they have experienced a difficult few years. Changing consumer tastes and the challenging economic environment of recent years have made life tough for pub landlords and companies like Punch. We are now on the road to recovery. At Punch, we were planning to invest over £400m over the next [...]
Should Royal Mail still have to deliver to all the UK for the same price? November 19, 2014 Duncan O’Leary, deputy director of Demos, says Yes. Before Royal Mail was privatised, business secretary Vince Cable stated that the “overarching objective” of the sale was to secure the universal service obligation. In doing so, the government entered into a contract with two groups. First, shareholders, who knew what they were investing in – a [...]
Coal is the fuel of the future – but not as we’ve ever known it before November 18, 2014 BRITAIN faces a two-pronged energy quandary. The government remains determined to close old polluting coal power stations and wants to become more reliant on cleaner gas plants to keep the lights on. But just as this reliance on gas grows, our North Sea oil and gas reserves are in steep decline and there remains a [...]
Corporation tax is getting easier to avoid: It’s time to abolish it November 18, 2014 CORPORATE tax avoidance is once again prominent in the news. When Jean-Claude Juncker, the new European Commission president, was Prime Minister of Luxembourg, the country has been accused of operating as a vast tax shelter. Leaked documents have suggested that special tax arrangements were agreed with over 300 multinational companies. The deals were entirely within [...]
Why predictions of rapid real wage growth are likely to be proved wrong November 18, 2014 IN 2014, the UK economy is likely to have grown by over 3 per cent, employment growth has been remarkably strong, some progress has been made on reducing the deficit, and inflation remains low and stable, despite yesterday’s slight uptick to 1.3 per cent on the consumer price index (CPI). But of all the statistics [...]