What businesses want in London’s new mayor: A wishlist from the CBI April 24, 2012 IN A YEAR of exciting events, the London mayoral elections are first in the capital’s diary, followed in the summer by the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the 2012 Games. The spotlight will be on London, so there’s no better time to redouble our efforts to promote the city as a world-leading business centre. Whoever wins [...]
State spending leads to growth in Grossly meaningless Domestic Product April 24, 2012 TWO years ago, the Bank of England (BoE) predicted that GDP would today be growing at a rate of 2.5 per cent a year. It is in fact growing at 0.0 per cent or thereabouts. An economic forecaster overestimating GDP growth by 2.5 percentage points is like a weather forecaster predicting that the temperature will [...]
The chancellor’s cuts to loss relief will hurt startups April 24, 2012 A FRIEND of mine responded to an invitation to a Big Society philanthropic event, “not sure I want to be associated with a group of tax evaders (previously known as philanthropists)”. I believe the event was cancelled. The foolishness of limiting tax relief on charitable giving has already been exposed; but there has been less [...]
Is the Leveson Inquiry becoming an attack on the fundamental freedom of the press? April 24, 2012 YES Mick Hume The Leveson Inquiry is the enemy of a free press, a showtrial which found the tabloids guilty before it started. David Cameron set it up not to investigate phone-hacking but to sanitise and tame the entire “culture, practice and ethics” of the media. Who needs state censorship, when you can get a [...]
RAPID responses April 24, 2012 Decaying heritage [Re: A tax on heritage attacks the heart of local business, yesterday] I completely agree with the sentiment and tone of this article. The charity, church and not for profit sectors are not legitimate targets for governmental revenue-raising on this kind of scale. One hopes, by now, the message has dawned. We need [...]
Super Mario talks a good game but Italy’s entrepreneurs have lost out April 23, 2012 ITALIAN Prime Minister Mario Monti recently proclaimed “historic” labour reform and even declared the “financial aspect” of the crisis to be over. But don’t pop the Prosecco yet. Italy’s biggest impediments to business – rigid labour rules and uncertain contract enforcement – are alive and well. Monti’s upbeat attitude should be tempered by Italy’s ongoing [...]
A tax on heritage attacks the heart of local business April 23, 2012 THE decision to withdraw VAT relief from approved alterations to listed buildings may not just change the face of Britain by sounding the death knell for hundreds of cherished buildings, but also damage local economies and community services. Listed buildings – only three per cent of all buildings – are protected as the best surviving [...]
Do the first results of France’s presidential election represent a threat to the Eurozone? April 23, 2012 YES Vincenzo Scarpetta Almost one third of votes went to candidates who are explicitly anti-euro (Marine Le Pen), or anti-austerity and protectionist (Jean-Luc Mélenchon). Irrespective of the outcome of the second round, it’ll be hard for the next President to convince France to follow a German vision of the Eurozone – sound money and strict [...]
RAPID responses April 23, 2012 Monetary wisdom [Re: Luck-based pay makes decision making a lottery, Wednesday] Jamie Whyte’s analysis is simplified to the point of being meaningless. If a corporate banker only makes one loan and bases his analysis purely on a credit rating, I would question the wisdom of paying such a banker anything other than a basic wage. [...]