Office for Value for Money: Can more bureaucracy really improve productivity? November 13, 2024 Public sector productivity has remained the same for 25 years. Can more bureaucracy help it, Paul Ormerod asks.
Working mothers will pay for Labour’s tax rises November 13, 2024 Employers’ national insurance hikes will increase the cost of childcare and put nurseries out of business, making life for working mothers even harder than it already is, says Alys Denby Governments are notoriously bad at picking winners, but Britain is about to find out what happens when leaders are more interested in picking losers. From [...]
Rachel Reeves needs to get real with the fact that we have become too cautious November 13, 2024 Before the election, Rachel Reeves said she would “unashamedly champion” financial services “as one of the UK’s greatest assets”. This was music to the ears of our sector and the early signs in government have been positive. The question now is: what will this mean in practice? What is the Chancellor’s vision for financial services [...]
How German politics went kaput November 12, 2024 After the collapse of its shaky ‘traffic light’ coalition, Germany is once again the sick man of Europe, says Rainer Zitelmann German chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has sacked his finance minister Christian Lindner (FDP) and delivered an aggressive speech personally insulting Lindner. This is a drastic shift in tone for the otherwise calm chancellor, who [...]
The banality of Welby November 12, 2024 Justin Welby has failed in his constitutional duty to provide moral leadership over the John Smyth abuse scandal. He must resign, says James Price Benjamin Franklin once joked that the only difference between Anglicanism and Catholicism was that: “the Church of Rome is infallible, whilst the Church of England is never in the wrong”. Revelations [...]
A four-day week for tube drivers is a slap in the face for Londoners November 12, 2024 Christmas has come early for tube drivers, who will now work less for more pay. But the government will regret making a deal that proves that strikes work, says James Ford More money for less work. If you’re a trade union official, that is the holy grail you are pursuing on your members’ behalf in [...]
Strong governments must be prepared to upset the markets (a bit) November 12, 2024 The bond markets are a potent opposition, but governments must be prepared to take risks if they are ever to reap rewards, says Charles White-Thomson With a large majority and an election years away, the Prime Minister and Chancellor likely don’t feel the need to worry too much about what the electorate think. But one [...]
The Notebook: Retail investing lessons from some of Britain’s top performers November 12, 2024 Looking to diversify your portfolio? Interactive Investor's Camilla Esmund lays out her no-nonsense guide to retail investing in today's Notebook.
All hail the regulator going for growth November 12, 2024 At last month’s Investment Summit in the City, Keir Starmer set out an admirably clear view of how he wants this country’s regulatory bodies to work, telling delegates: “we will make sure that every regulator in this country, especially our economic and competition regulators, takes growth as seriously as this room does.” There’s been no [...]
How ‘technocrat’ Harris became more controversial that ‘populist’ Trump November 12, 2024 The real reason Harris’ Democrats lost the US election was their failure to acknowledge what many voters have sensed for a long time: that the bureaucratic class has increasingly (even if unknowingly) become an enemy of the people, says Mark Brolin Losing is never fun, especially not in the very public gladiator arena of politics. [...]