As the global elite meets in Davos, it’s trebles all round for investors January 23, 2018 A WHO’S who of the world’s elite are in attendance at this year’s annual World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alpine town of Davos. At the Hotel Belvedere, an epicentre for billionaires, superstar chief executives, and heads of state (Donald Trump, the first sitting US President to attend, can arguably claim to be all three), [...]
Two Labour whips have resigned in the aftermath of the first appointments to Jeremy Corbyn’s new shadow cabinet October 9, 2016 Two Labour party whips have resigned in the aftermath of Jeremy Corbyn's first appointments as the re-selected party leader. Corbyn began rebuilding his team last month with the recruitment of Jonathan Reynolds as the new shadow city minister, and has since made a raft of new appointments. However, this included a new chief whip in the [...]
Labour could cause a run on the pound, warns Labour: Corbyn and McDonnell stage ‘war-game’ exercise September 27, 2017 Jeremy Corbyn has insisted that shadow chancellor John McDonnell is right to “war-game” a run on the pound and a flight of capital as possible scenarios following the election of a Labour government. Speaking at a fringe event at the party’s conference in Brighton, McDonnell said that while he didn’t consider a run on the [...]
Going for gold: How the Bank of England became a battleground of the Venezuela crisis February 10, 2019 While tens of thousands of Venezuelans continued their revolt against the regime of discredited strongman Nicolas Maduro last week, a rather different form of protest popped up in the Square Mile. A group of far-left protesters, who counted Ken Livingstone and Labour MP Chris Williamson among their ranks, accused the Bank of England of “theft” [...]
Business groups give Corbyn the thumbs down after CBI speech November 6, 2017 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s overtures to the business community have fallen on deaf ears this morning, with industry groups warning his policy pledges would undermine economic growth. Speaking at the annual CBI conference, Corbyn reiterated Labour’s plans to create a National Investment Bank and a National Education Service, and talked of “investing” in transport, energy [...]
Not your average City suits: The private equity leaders turned to philanthropy at Impetus PEF December 20, 2017 “For me, it’s personal.” Those were the words which headed Andy Ratcliffe’s CV when he applied to be chief executive of the Impetus Private Equity Foundation (PEF), and almost two years into the job they seem to have stood him in good stead. Impetus PEF is something of a novelty in the City. It relies [...]
Jeremy Corbyn says he will hike business taxes to fund a new education service September 28, 2016 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has offered “a new settlement” to British businesses, warning he will increase taxes to fund a new National Education Service. Addressing the Labour party conference, Corbyn said Labour would raise taxes, adding to a previous plan to raise corporation tax to fund a new Education Maintenance Allowance. However, he added that [...]
Venezuela can’t restructure its way out of this socialist nightmare November 17, 2017 Venezuela, once the most prosperous country in South America, can no longer pay its debts. After missing $200m of interest payments on two government bonds, the administration of President Nicolas Maduro was this week declared “in default” by ratings agency S&P. Though bondholders are yet to follow suit, this could happen at any moment, potentially [...]
Britain needs future-facing leaders, not nostalgic dinosaurs like Rees-Mogg and Corbyn September 8, 2017 Jacob Rees-Mogg – committed Brexiteer, potential contender for the Conservative leadership, and devout Roman Catholic – is against abortion and same-sex marriage. Who would have guessed? Rees-Mogg’s comments on ITV on Wednesday, especially his assertion that a rape victim should be forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term, raised eyebrows among the commentariat. But [...]
We can’t save the NHS until we acknowledge its failing health January 5, 2018 The NHS has had to cancel 50,000 non-urgent operations to deal with the winter crisis. This is not normal. The Prime Minister may be pretending everything is fine, but this is not acceptable. The trouble is that, beyond the acknowledgement that there is a very serious problem with a health service that spasms in predictably [...]