Inflation has been Odyssey of 2021 for a behind the curve Bank of England December 17, 2021 Odysseus famously stuffed his ears with beeswax to avoid being lured by the sirens. Thousands of households across Britain were likely doing something similar to stop themselves from wincing at the final inflation reading of the year. Prices are now 5.1 per cent higher than they were a year ago. For anyone with an appetite, [...]
Citypages: Books to look back and books to look forward December 17, 2021 Central Banking 101 by Joseph Wang If you did not know what yesterday’s rate rise from the Bank of England meant, this book is for you. Over the last year, words like quantitative easing have been thrown around with surprising regularity, as happened to other concepts normally relegated to the financial pages. Central Banking 101 [...]
Christmas Special: Books of 2021 from Mayhem to Madness December 17, 2021 Back into the mayhem: Chief of Staff by Gavin Barwell Gavin Barwell was a middle-ranking minister when he lost his Croydon Central seat at the cack-handed 2017 general election. He was 45, bright, personable and loyal, and he had sensed that defeat might come, promising in his concession speech to spend more time with his [...]
Letters: Festive cheer in short supply December 16, 2021 [Re:New virus rules pass, yesterday] For many small businesses, the run up to Christmas was to be the saving grace of 2021. Even before Omicron arrived, that just didn’t turn out to be the case, with supply chain issues, fuel and energy costs, finance costs and delays across sectors leading to a big mountain to [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Biden’s Beijing face off – just not with facial recognition December 16, 2021 US President Biden has put eight Chinese companies on an investment blacklist, meaning American investors are not allowed to take stakes in these businesses. Targeted companies include DJI, the biggest drone manufacturer globally, Yitu Technology, an artificial intelligence company, and CloudWalk Technology, working with facial recognition. The Biden administration believes their products are used by [...]
Behind the slippery slope mystery: intervention will always justify more December 16, 2021 I don’t think this is a big step or a slippery slope, Dominic Raab said on Tuesday when asked about the introduction of Covid-19 passes. This will come as news to the people of Italy, New Zealand and several other countries where normal life is now impossible without proof of two jabs. In Austria, the [...]
Precaution is a useful thing, but designing policy based on maybes is a dangerous road December 16, 2021 It is is so familiar, the script almost writes itself. Health professionals start to call for more restrictive measures at the slightest whiff of bad news. The government initially dismisses the concerns. Gradually, ministers – many of them almost wholly innumerate – are beaten into submission by projections of what might happen. If we were [...]
Sunak’s quietly simplified tax policy could unshackle our economy – or strangle it December 16, 2021 Tax Day hardly sounds like the kind of day we want to mark on the calendar. It is a relatively new practice, when the government dumps an array of tax consultations, reforms and policy proposals on the Treasury’s website, all in one go. Unsurprisingly, they mostly happen without fanfare. But they do offer us helpful [...]
Commons snapshot: Boris’ worst enemies were in plain sight December 15, 2021 As Boris Johnson faced down a mass rebellion on his backbenches last night, there was also a sting from within his own Cabinet. Health Secretary Sajid Javid drew a line in the sand, saying he would “never” support vaccine passports which do not also have an option for a negative lateral flow test. For those [...]
Keir Starmer’s anti-Brexit frontbench needs to banish their love of Brussels December 15, 2021 There’s at least one Christmas Party the Prime Minister will enjoy remembering. On December 12, 2019, Boris Johnson celebrated in style after wrapping himself in Brexit and securing an election landslide. It’s easy to forget now as the Prime Minister fights for his political life, but just two years ago he handed the Tories an [...]