The parable of the broken traffic lights: When good signals go bad April 22, 2012 SUPPOSE on some sunny afternoon in a large city somewhere in the western world, a man discovers on awaking from a two-hour nap that several hundred car accidents had occurred in the city while he slept. He wonders why. First he considers the possibility that the weather was the cause, but the gorgeous afternoon sun [...]
The bank branch of the future will do less but better April 22, 2012 RETAIL banks face a daunting challenge: providing profitable personal banking in a climate of cost cutting and digital disruption. A popular strategy is to focus branch staff on selling high value products and services, such as mortgages, while nudging other customers into self-service, online or mobile channels. In theory, this makes branches more profitable with [...]
Maintaining the City’s strength is in the interests of the whole economy April 22, 2012 AS I WRITE this, I am in Cyprus in advance of the Cypriot Presidency of the EU, meeting business and political leaders to set out the crucial importance of Canada and the financial services industry in creating jobs and growth right across the European Union. Canada remains the world’s [...]
Should government make internet service providers do more to restrict adult content? April 22, 2012 YES Claire Perry I chaired a cross-party group of MPs that this week concluded that ISPs need to do more to keep children safe online and that an industry-led opt-in system for adult content would protect choice while improving safety. For years we have known that people are concerned about what children see online and [...]
RAPID responses April 22, 2012 Not so negative [Re: Hedgies march out of Mayfair as property costs bite, Tuesday] It’s worth noting that, due to the long lease terms and notice periods associated with conventional office leases, many hedge funds probably decided to leave over a year ago. We own and operate 17 serviced office buildings in the West End. [...]
As France goes to the polls its love for London grows April 20, 2012 WALKING around South Kensington, you may have a feeling of being lost in Paris’s Latin Quarter. There are French cafés, bistros, book stores; you may even come across the Lycée Français, the established hub of the French community. The French are in London en masse and have made some parts of the capital their own [...]
Despite the Abu Qatada fiasco this was a good week for human rights April 19, 2012 DIPLOMATS have just struck an important deal at the Council of Europe conference on reforming human rights, but the implications have been overshadowed by the ongoing farce around attempts to deport the Islamist radical Abu Qatada. A further appeal lodged by Qatada’s legal team at the 11th hour now looks set to delay his removal [...]
A lesson from the age of the dinosaurs: Big isn’t beautiful in the long run April 19, 2012 Asteroids happen, and being big won’t save you. In our current world of apocalyptic economic threats, that’s a lesson that seems worth re-learning. The latest version comes in a fascinating study of the fate of the dinosaurs from the University of Zurich and the Zoological Society of London. The paper’s abstract explains that the study [...]
After Morning Wire exposed Ken Livingstone for using private healthcare, is he a hypocrite? April 19, 2012 YES Priti Patel Using private healthcare is just another example of how Ken Livingstone says one thing and does another. We already know that he dubbed tax avoiders as “rich bastards”, only for it to emerge that he had been funnelling his income through a company to avoid paying income tax. And while in City [...]
RAPID RESPONSES April 19, 2012 Gas warning [Re: There’s a real danger that fracking will cause a major boom, Wednesday] This article makes some assertions on the implications of shale gas extraction in the UK – first the conclusion that shale gas would be a blow to the renewable energy industry and second that shale is cheap and abundant. In [...]