Politicians are to blame if we have crony capitalists January 18, 2012 CAPITALISM has a problem. Increasingly it is viewed as a deeply unfair system favouring a small, privileged elite at the expense of everyone else. Our politicians have been quick to join the criticism. Last week David Cameron mooted granting extra powers to shareholders to restrain executive pay. Today he will give a speech on how [...]
To destroy the enemy don’t make it personal January 18, 2012 GOVERNOR Nelson Rockefeller knew that his 1964 campaign for the Republican nomination would be finished if he lost the California primary. He would throw everything at the state to prevent senator Barry Goldwater from not just winning the nomination, but also from capturing the heart and soul of his party. Rockefeller gave his campaign a [...]
RAPID RESPONSES January 18, 2012 J Lewis oversold I agree with Allister Heath on Nick Clegg’s vision of a “John Lewis” society. [Clegg’s Contradictions, Tuesday]. There is a horrible dollop of survivor bias in the discussion about employee ownership. People talk about John Lewis, but by only analysing firms that are still in existence (ignoring all those mutuals that have [...]
Tracking money laundering matters: But don’t cast too wide the webs of suspicion January 17, 2012 I WOULD like to introduce you to Alyssa Thomas, a 6-year old girl from Ohio. She was placed on the terror watch list, causing airport havoc whenever her family would fly. How does a 6-year old end up in the terrorist watch list? When her father was asked by news reporters “What could she possibly [...]
Tech innovations herald a better educated future January 17, 2012 AN EDUCATION technology (edtech) revolution is taking place that’s changing the way the next generation learns. Although some are fearful of the disruption – not least teachers – integrating technology into education has the potential to unleash young people’s talents more effectively than ever before. This isn’t about training children to give PowerPoint presentations – [...]
Why prejudice cannot pay off in the long run January 17, 2012 OVER the last year, the number of executive directors of FTSE 350 firms who are women has decreased from 45 to 43, about 5 per cent of the total. The revelation of this fact on Monday prompted complaints about “under-representation”, “glass ceilings” and “boys’ clubs”. The Liberal Democrat peer, Lord Oakeshott, even claimed that “British [...]
RAPID RESPONSES January 17, 2012 The VAT morass On Monday, you mentioned the reduction of VAT were we to join EFTA [With the Eurozone tottering it may be time we signed up for some Norwegian lessons]. VAT is a typical bureaucrat’s way of raising a tax on sales. It is highly complex and applied to almost every transaction. We have [...]
The Deputy Prime Minister thinks we are irresponsible – the feeling is mutual, Nick January 16, 2012 NICK Clegg wants to give tax breaks to John Lewis style, employee-owned companies. This is just the latest salvo in the “responsible capitalism” debate. But when a government dictates which forms of capitalism are responsible, and which ones aren’t, it overrides the individual morality of its citizens – and not for the better. After all, [...]
The global battle for the internet is about to begin January 16, 2012 2012 is the year that freedom online will be challenged. In the UK and the US, proposals are being introduced for website blocking in the name of copyright and child protection. In America, the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) is already causing seismic protests. But in 2012 we will also see a push to [...]
Do not blame Opec for a rise in the price of oil January 16, 2012 WHEN discussing oil prices, it is common to encounter two views that are confused: the first is that Opec, the cartel to which many of the world’s oil-producing countries belong, sets the price of oil, the second is that it can cause inflation by increasing the price of oil through restriction of the quantity it [...]