EU budget stalemate: The battle is about more than European waste November 25, 2012 THE EU summit in Brussels last week ended the way most people expected: no agreement. The deal on the table from Hermann van Rompuy – president of the European Council – was for a €973bn (£787.5bn) budget over seven years in 2011 prices. It was significantly less than the over €1 trillion budget originally proposed [...]
The City needs partners to strengthen its place in Europe’s single market November 25, 2012 UNCERTAINTY over the future of Europe, and to an extent Britain’s role within it, continues to dominate the agenda, even as the latest summit in Brussels wraps up. Clearly there are strong views on both sides of this debate in the Square Mile. But – regardless of whether you are a eurosceptic, europhile or something [...]
There must be no compromise on our press freedom November 25, 2012 WHEN he made his plea for press freedom in 1644, the poet John Milton said: “Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.” His depiction of press freedom as the greatest thing a man could be granted, standing “above all liberties”, was not poetic melodrama. [...]
Is the government’s new Energy Bill a good deal for British businesses and consumers? November 25, 2012 YES Tim Yeo If we do not find £100bn of investment by 2020, Britain will face an energy crisis. We need to replace polluting coal power plants and construct new nuclear reactors. The government’s Energy Bill will give generators a guaranteed price for clean, low-carbon electricity. This will cut the risk of investing in projects [...]
Rapid responses November 25, 2012 House of cards [Re:Why Britain’s housing market has escaped the disasters of the 1990s, Friday] Although Ruth Lea’s article is interesting, I’m concerned that a similar housing disaster to that of 1990s has simply been postponed by our unnaturally low interest rates. The problem that Britain’s housing market faces is that a huge number of [...]
Why Britain’s housing market has escaped the disasters of the 1990s November 22, 2012 DESPITE economic woes, the British housing market is holding up reasonably well. According to the Office for National Statistics, house prices in September were 1.7 per cent higher than a year earlier in nominal terms, and only 2.5 per cent down on their 2008 peak. Of course, there are qualifications. Higher prices are mainly confined [...]
It’s time we should raise a glass in Thanksgiving for our commercial society November 22, 2012 BLESSED with a wife born in America, Thanksgiving is a festival I am learning to celebrate. In grim economic times, it is easy to focus only the negative. But we still enjoy the rare good fortune to live, for the most part, in peace and under liberty. Freedoms of association, speech, trade, and faith enrich [...]
The HP Autonomy allegations reveal US-UK differences November 22, 2012 ANOTHER US-UK economic conflict is brewing, following HP’s revelation that it has taken an $8.8bn (£5.5bn) write-down. It comes after the claim that it had discovered “serious accounting improprieties” at Autonomy, the British software company. Autonomy completely denies the allegations, of course. But like Standard Chartered’s run-in with the New York regulator over Iranian sanctions, [...]
Should Sunday trading hours be extended in supermarkets for the Christmas period? November 22, 2012 YES Dalton Philips The seven trading days before Christmas day are the busiest days of the year for grocery shopping. This period puts a huge strain on staff across our business, but particularly those in stores, logistics, and in manufacturing. Our analysis shows that, in the seven days prior to our early closing on Christmas [...]
Rapid responses November 22, 2012 Taxing times [RE: Our bureaucratic tax system is destroying jobs and growth, yesterday] Fiscal reform is desperately needed. There is a bewildering menu of taxes in this country, and even more red tape as a result. With the government’s avaricious appetite, high levels of taxation are not going to go away any time soon. And [...]