We urgently need simpler taxes: National Insurance is a good place to start July 1, 2014 JUST days after the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee published a damning report, describing tax authorities as “unable to cope” with the number and complexity of UK tax reliefs, it has emerged that the chancellor is considering abolishing employee’s National Insurance and merging it into income tax. This is genuinely great news. With a [...]
As Ocado posts a half-year profit, will the business now go from strength to strength? July 1, 2014 Jonathan Jackson, a partner and head of equities at Killik & Co, says Yes. Ocado offers a unique way to play the expected strong growth in the UK online grocery market. The group offers investors the potential to benefit from its industry-leading intellectual property, built up over 13 years of investment in technology, to more [...]
Letters to the Editor – 01/07 – Not a new normal, Best of Twitter June 30, 2014 Not a new normal [Re: Is Mark Carney right that the “new normal” for interest rates will be 2.5 per cent?, yesterday] Mark Carney has pointed to financial market expectations to support his assertion that the “new normal” for rates will be around 2.5 per cent. He is wrong. Financial markets do not forecast the [...]
We can help mend our fractured economy – by passing powers to cities June 30, 2014 AT LONG last, the economy is growing. But as business leaders constantly told me during my economic review, deep structural problems need urgent attention – mass youth unemployment, skills shortages, too few high growth companies which innovate and export, poor infrastructure, and excessive centralisation on Whitehall. The facts are stark. Nearly one in five under [...]
Britain needs safeguards on ever-closer union – or we’ll sleepwalk into EU exit June 30, 2014 DAVID Cameron has been engaged in a valiant, some might say vainglorious, charge to set clearer parameters for the future development of the European project – only to find that those who pay the piper call the tune. The paymaster of Europe is undoubtedly Germany, and recent events have demonstrated that it is indeed Germany [...]
Why bold action on NHS funding can no longer be avoided June 30, 2014 FEW SUBJECTS generate emotion in UK politics like the funding of the NHS. Warnings of the health service’s imminent collapse are ten a penny, while politicians love to talk about “saving” it. With an election less than a year away, the call by Dr Sarah Wollaston MP (chair of the health select committee) and former [...]
As BNP Paribas receives a $8.9bn fine, can US authorities be accused of protectionism? June 30, 2014 John Mann, Labour MP for Bassetlaw, says Yes. BNP Paribas has pleaded guilty to significant wrongdoing. But while US authorities may have levied large fines on US banks, by suspending BNP’s ability to handle some US dollar clearing, they have removed a major competitor from the market. The US Justice Department has fined non-US based [...]
Risk tolerance: Why decadent Europe is whistling as chaos reaches its gates June 29, 2014 WILL the US ramp up its involvement in Iraq? And if so, on what terms? Will Europe build on its new partnership agreements with Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia to draw an effective line over which an expansive Russia would not dare cross? Will Israel persist in rattling its sabre, while Western powers search for a [...]
City Matters: Britain’s infrastructure crunch is coming: Doing nothing is not an option June 29, 2014 AS THE British summer makes a fleeting appearance, the demands placed on our infrastructure are only set to increase. The roads, trains and airports will all face additional strain over the coming months, as commuters jostle with overseas tourists and British holidaymakers. This is part of a longer-term trend that has serious consequences for the [...]
Cameron’s Juncker defeat may be good for EU reform June 29, 2014 IN WHAT could be called his concession speech, following the EU Council’s unprecedented vote to nominate Jean-Claude Juncker as the European Commission’s next president, David Cameron was right to frame it as only one of many engagements with Europe. The trouble is that the sheer volume of energy spent on the campaign to fight Juncker [...]