The City is a litmus test for PM’s European Union renegotiation December 16, 2015 David Cameron heads for Brussels tomorrow with a significant weight on his shoulders. The Prime Minister knows that it’s a crucial point in his efforts to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the EU – and then, subsequently, to convince the British public that he’s done enough for them to vote “Remain”. You may see a lot [...]
Why the war on buy-to-let will make the UK housing crisis worse December 10, 2015 Landlords sighed with relief at the Conservative victory in the General Election in May. Faced with the threat of rent controls from the Labour Party, they had looked forward to a government that accepted the importance of the rental market, and supported its development while properly targeting the crooks renting out sub-standard accommodation. But [...]
European Central Bank minutes reveal strong split on decision to boost stimulus January 14, 2016 European Central Bank (ECB) officials were divided on the decision to boost stimulus measures in their December meeting, details of the decision published today reveal. The minutes of the meeting revealed some members of the governing council thought the recovery was well underway and that further easing would come with negative side effects. On the day, [...]
Heathrow has always been the answer – now there’s finally the political support for expansion December 6, 2015 UK infrastructure projects don’t tend to be speedy. Plans for a railway linking Paddington station to the City of London and the docks were approved by Parliament in the 1880s – but Crossrail will only be fully operational in 2019. William Gladstone, as chancellor of the Exchequer, was presented with a proposal for a tunnel [...]
With public borrowing in October at a six-year high, will deficit reduction be a three-parliament issue? November 22, 2015 Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, says Yes. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will revise up its borrowing forecasts in this week’s Autumn Statement, and the surplus predicted for 2019-20 probably will be reduced to just £5bn from £10bn. But even after these revisions, it is doubtful that borrowing will fall as [...]
David Cameron plans Islamic State fightback and Syria airstrikes “within weeks” November 22, 2015 David Cameron is formulating plans for Britain's fight against Islamic State (IS), including military action, and will announce them "within days", media reports suggest. That could include airstrikes against IS in Syria for the first time, action which was previously voted against by MPs. The PM will need to corral support from across the political spectrum for a [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: Great Britain Olympic hopes boosted with 29 pc increase to UK Sport funding November 25, 2015 Great Britain's medal hopes at next year's Olympics have been given a boost by George Osborne after the chancellor announced a 29 per cent increase in funding to the UK Sport budget. "I will help UK Sport, which has been living on diminishing reserves, with a 29 per cent increase in their budget," said Osborne, [...]
China’s ghost cities symbolise the nation’s troubles: overspending, debt and wild speculation. Now the People’s Bank of China wants to devalue the yuan to boost the slowing economy February 9, 2016 Ghost cities dotting the landscape are an eerie reminder of China’s failed ambitions. Yujiapu cost billions. The buildings were modelled on Manhattan’s skyscrapers, as it was supposed to be a new centre of world finance. Sitting on the edge of the huge northern city of Tianjin, it’s mostly empty. There are scant signs of construction on [...]
City Moves for 11 January 2016 – Who’s switching jobs January 11, 2016 CBRE Matthew Leitch (pictured) has been appointed as senior director at CBRE Residential. He will be based in the commercial real estate services and investment firm’s Canary Wharf office and will be focused on the prime east London market. Matthew joins from Savills, where spent over five years as a director in the residential development [...]
Syria crisis: How to defeat Isis in five steps without misleading the public December 6, 2015 While the Prime Minister searches in vain for the 70,000 moderate Syrian troops on the ground he disingenuously promised were just waiting for UK air strikes to begin before they rose up against Isis, I thought we might better occupy our time by actually laying out how the terror state can be strategically defeated. Ironically, [...]