Letters to the Editor – 7/10 – Washington antics, Empty rhetoric, Best of Twitter October 6, 2013 Washington antics [Re: Recovery could still be extinguished by Washington’s antics, Friday] It’s easy to blame the crisis in Washington on a intractable group of Tea Party Republicans. We can criticise their behaviour. But is what they’re saying right? The real problem the US faces is not the debt ceiling (which will likely be raised) [...]
Energy innovation is stagnating and the implications for growth are stark October 3, 2013 EVERY day seems to bring better websites, cooler startups and niftier smartphones. But there’s one area where technological progress is barely crawling along. Unfortunately, it’s one race we cannot afford to lose. I’m talking, of course, about energy. To get an idea of the problem we face, consider two stories from last week: Ed Miliband’s [...]
The Long View: Why brief can be beautiful when you’re trying to make your first billion October 3, 2013 SIZE isn’t everything. Some of the best ideas are short. But formal publication, beyond social media’s throwaway pithiness, is hopelessly garrulous. There should be more to judging the intellectual pastry than seeing how thin it can be rolled. Yet to be taken seriously, it seems thoughts today must first be eked out into essays and [...]
Debt ceiling crisis is just a symptom of America’s dire fiscal recklessness October 3, 2013 US SENATE majority leader Harry Reid said on the floor of the Senate last month that “anarchists” had taken over the House of Representatives. While of course nonsense, Reid highlighted the deeply partisan nature of fiscal debates in Washington DC since the 2010 elections. These saw Tea Party Republicans voted in on a platform of [...]
Letters to the Editor – 04/10 – Business growth, Stamp duty, Best of Twitter October 3, 2013 Business growth [Re: Cameron needs growth gazelles to bring life to his land of opportunity, yesterday] The Prime Minister’s gazelles will find it difficult to leap with elephants in the room. Indeed, our recent research looked in depth at certain features of over 250 companies – around 54 per cent with no serious financial issues and [...]
Cameron needs growth gazelles to bring life to his land of opportunity October 2, 2013 IN HIS speech to the Conservative Party conference yesterday, David Cameron told the audience that the government’s great project was to make Britain a land of opportunity. He argued that Conservatives should see their mission as building a Britain where humble dreams like owning your own home or starting your own business are within the [...]
Why the clouds surrounding the banking industry may be starting to shift October 2, 2013 YOU COULD forgive me for being a little nervous at the prospect of the party conference season. Bankers have hardly been flavour of the month at these political jamborees in recent years. And at all three parties’ annual get togethers, there have previously been vocal elements unafraid to let rip at our industry – at [...]
Debt ceiling deal should be reached despite dire US leadership vacuum October 2, 2013 AS A masterful negotiator, leader, and parliamentarian, senator Lyndon B Johnson (who would one day become US President) noted that his near unprecedented control over the Senate, the “world’s greatest deliberative body” could be attributed to his “[understanding of] power. Whatever else may be said about me, I know where to look for it and [...]
Letters to the Editor – 03/10 – Help to Buy solution, Best of Twitter October 2, 2013 Help to Buy solution [Re: Help to Buy, yesterday] As a former chairman and chief executive of Alliance & Leicester, I welcome the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme. The decision to solicit the assistance of the Bank of England Financial Policy Committee recognises the need to manage the scheme’s potential risk – a task that [...]
Government shutdown: US political dysfunction is worse than you think October 1, 2013 THE PREDICTABILITY of what is unfolding following the US government shutdown approaches tragedy, but ends in farce. The much-maligned Republican Party is almost entirely right on the merits of doing away with Barack Obama’s healthcare programme (Obamacare has been the key sticking point in the fruitless negotiations over the budget). Already this many-headed monster is [...]