Cynical Labour has no claim to being a party of business February 10, 2013 CHUKA Umunna, the shadow business secretary, suggested in last week’s City A.M. that Labour is the natural party of entrepreneurship. This is little more than a cynical attempt at gesture politics. Like Umunna’s father, my parents came to Britain with very little and set up their own businesses. The small shops they owned created jobs [...]
We need a consumer revolution to deliver lower utility prices February 18, 2013 POLITICAL ideas have always been cyclical. When incomes are falling, the economy is flatlining, credit is scarcer, prices are rising and it is hard to find work, the public always turns against capitalism (or the mixed economy corporatism that these days passes for it); in boom times, it tends to be more relaxed about other [...]
We need a consumer revolution to deliver lower utility prices February 17, 2013 POLITICAL ideas have always been cyclical. When incomes are falling, the economy is flatlining, credit is scarcer, prices are rising and it is hard to find work, the public always turns against capitalism (or the mixed economy corporatism that these days passes for it); in boom times, it tends to be more relaxed about [...]
Financial shares buoy FTSE 100 January 14, 2013 The blue chip index edged up in early trading, but failed to replicate strong gains overnight in Asia. Resources and financial shares were in favour this morning, with oil and gas services provider Petrofac the top FTSE 100 riser. Eurasian Natural Resources was up 1.58 per cent, as Credit Suisse upgraded the stock from “neutral” [...]
Too big to fail insurers will be forced to stockpile more capital October 17, 2012 INTERNATIONAL regulators want “systemically important” insurance firms to hold extra capital to safeguard the rest of the financial system if they go bust. The International Association of Insurance Supervisors set out plans yesterday to avoid insurers becoming too big to fail, by separating traditional insurance activities from riskier ones such as credit default swaps, and [...]
Child benefit for better off ending today January 7, 2013 THE GOVERNMENT yesterday acknowledged today’s child benefit changes are not perfect, but insisted removing the handouts for high earners is still a step in the right direction. Any household with at least one person earning over £50,000 will lose some of its child benefit, with those on more than £60,000 seeing the cash stopped completely. [...]
FTSE breaches the 6,300 mark but loses steam January 28, 2013 BRITAIN’S top share index breached the 6,300 level for the first time since May 2008 yesterday, driven by strength in banking and energy stocks, although that heady height failed to hold for the close. Global giant HSBC added the most points to the FTSE 100 index, with its 1.0 per cent advance alone, accounting for [...]
FTSE 100 slips as miners lead index down January 4, 2013 The blue chip index was broadly flat in early deals, as it failed to replicate its landmark day of trading on Wednesday. The FTSE 100 edged down by around 0.15 per cent this morning. Miners led the way down as worries that the US Fed might halt its monetary easing programme and concerns over US [...]
Who’s switching jobs December 18, 2012 Adveq The asset management firm has promoted Sanjay Gupta to executive director. He joined in 2008 as a senior associate in its investment management team, and he is currently head of the Adveq Opportunity programme and leads its US buyout and turnaround investment activity. State Street Global Advisors The asset management division of State Street [...]
Incentive to work will be dampened by pension reform January 24, 2013 THE coalition received bad news this week, as figures revealed the UK added £15.4bn to its debt pile in December 2012 – up from £14.8bn in the same month in 2011. The chancellor will now be forced to ask ministers to prepare further cuts for 2014-15. But the problem is not just fiscal. It’s political. [...]