All taxpayers should have a chance to benefit from the Lloyds privatisation September 17, 2013 THE SUCCESSFUL sale of 6 per cent of Lloyds to institutional shareholders was a crucial first step in returning the bank to full private ownership. That the government has been able to obtain a price above the initial purchase price – and well above the price in the national accounts – is particularly positive. Indeed, [...]
Tories can match Clegg’s income tax coup without punishing middle classes September 17, 2013 FORGET business secretary Vince Cable’s guttersnipe speech at this week’s Liberal Democrat conference – throwing childish insults at his coalition partners, to look clever in front of party activists. They may get written up by the media, but Cable’s political stock has plunged. Under fire from his own side for disloyalty – and the lousy [...]
Letters to the editor – 18/09 – Banking reform, Best of Twitter September 17, 2013 Banking reform [Re: We should replace Fed monetary superheroes with rules-based policy, yesterday] A bigger concern is that central banks themselves have been given superhero status. There is now a belief that they can solve any economic woes, and this is then transmitted to whoever is in charge. Central banks should do less, and leave [...]
ACCA Comment: How to achieve boardroom utopia September 17, 2013 A wider definition of diversity and new roles are key developments THE boardroom is again under the microscope, with challenges recently raised over executive pay, lack of diversity, and business performance, not to mention how much boards actually know about the workings of an organisation. The perception is that sometimes the board is an unrealistic [...]
Unworkable Syrian chemicals plan saves Obama but exposes unrealistic US policy September 16, 2013 IT IS painfully evident that the agreement reached over Syria’s chemical weapons by Washington and Moscow in Geneva is so much less than meets the eye. The accord imposes unbelievably quick deadlines for Bashar al-Assad’s regime to meet. By the end of this week, Syria is to submit a full list of its chemical facilities. [...]
Nick Clegg’s ambition to lift the poor from tax is a lesson for Tories over low pay September 16, 2013 WHAT makes a popular policy that can capture the public imagination? Policy, like politics, is best when it provides a noble purpose. A fight against injustice. A sense of direction. Ideas brutally simple to understand. Take Margaret Thatcher’s “Right to Buy”. A noble purpose? Allowing council tenants to own their homes. A fight against injustice? [...]
We should replace Fed monetary superheroes with rules-based policy September 16, 2013 LARRY Summers is out of the race to succeed Ben Bernanke as Fed chair. After months of debate, with politicians and media picking over Summers’s personality and background, the spotlight has returned to Janet Yellen, deputy Fed chairwoman. Is she now a certainty? Or is another monetary superhero about to emerge? All of this recalls [...]
Letters to the editor – 17/09 – House price bubble, Best of Twitter September 16, 2013 House price bubble [Re: Artificially limiting rises in house prices will do more harm than good, yesterday] Philip Booth is the voice of reason, rightly pointing out that we have one of the most restrictive land-use planning policies in Europe. I am surprised that the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors has called for these limiting [...]
Disruptive technology isn’t a miracle: We can harness its future power now September 15, 2013 THE ASTONISHING rise of firms like Twitter (founded just seven years ago, yet now expected to float for $10bn), is often seen as a grand romantic narrative – an exciting story, difficult to predict. But transformation, disruption, and change should be easier to forecast. The only weapon we need is the deceptively simple power of [...]
City Matters: Britain’s seafaring past is still shaping the City’s culture and economy today September 15, 2013 WHEN people talk about the “City”, they often do so solely in terms of its banks – and financial services. These are a central element of what the City does, but this leaves out a whole side of the Square Mile that is just as important: the second thing we sum up in the handy [...]