IMF agrees $14-18bn rescue loan for Ukraine March 27, 2014 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced it’s agreed a $14-18bn (£11.6-14.9bn) stand-by deal with Ukraine, which’ll unlock further aid of up to $27bn from the international community over the next two years. "The mission has reached a staff-level agreement with the authorities of Ukraine on an economic reform programme that can be supported by [...]
How embracing globalisation and the flexible working phenomenon can boost SME business growth May 21, 2014 IN TODAY’S globalised world, businesses of all shapes and sizes need to maximise the potential of communicating and trading internationally. According to a recent HSBC forecast, trade conditions are improving for UK businesses, with 63 per cent of exporters expecting trade volumes to rise over the next six months. And with the rapid pace of [...]
There’s a screaming silence about the death of individual responsibility April 30, 2014 A VOCAL lobby is busily advocating the need to rebalance the UK economy. But there is a screaming silence around the question of whether we need to rebalance society. What does this mean? It’s the need to raise the level of social capital – the values and ethical worldview that put individual virtue, freedom, responsibility [...]
City A.M. joins Chuka Umunna: a Brexit would be catastrophic for London firms May 19, 2014 WALKING around Labour-stronghold Burnt Oak with shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna feels a bit like knowing a minor celebrity. Some people clasp his hand and snap selfies, others brush past uninterested. “I don’t want to be the shadow secretary, I want to be the real thing!” Umunna tells one couple who run a curtain shop [...]
China’s forecast chopped after sluggish output May 5, 2014 CHINA’S manufacturing base showed signs of a further contraction in business activity during last month, adding weight to concerns that the world’s second-largest economy is still slowing down. Markit and HSBC’s latest purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for China’s vast industrial sector came in at just 48.1 yesterday morning, 0.3 points lower than analysts expected. A [...]
Chancellor hopes for 200,000 new homes as a result of budget measures March 19, 2014 George Osborne has announced the government will be providing support to small housebuilding firms, with £150m used for new build housing. The construction of a new garden city at Ebbsfleet was also confirmed. The chancellor said the measures taken in the budget would support over 200,000 new homes, with 120,000 built as a result of [...]
Labour calls for stronger rules on cyber threat March 24, 2014 LABOUR is today calling for a clearer strategy on Britain’s defence and security, alongside ramped-up legal requirements for reporting cyber attacks. Shadow defence secretary Vernon Coaker will say in a speech in London that there should be a more open discussion about the UK’s defence strategy, in the run-up to the next strategic defence and [...]
Austerity is working – but we must continue to challenge its diehard critics | City A.M. May 15, 2014 THE “BACKFIRE effect” is a term coined by the US political scientist Brendan Nyhan to describe how a person’s deeply-held convictions may actually get stronger when presented with contradictory evidence. In one recent study, Nyhan and his colleagues presented a group with information confirming the safety of vaccines. Faced with the facts, those who already [...]
Austerity is working – but we must continue to challenge its diehard critics May 15, 2014 THE “BACKFIRE effect” is a term coined by the US political scientist Brendan Nyhan to describe how a person’s deeply-held convictions may actually get stronger when presented with contradictory evidence. In one recent study, Nyhan and his colleagues presented a group with information confirming the safety of vaccines. Faced with the facts, those who already [...]
The government’s crackdown on betting shops: A solution to a non-problem April 30, 2014 The government has unveiled tighter rules governing fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs) and has given councils greater powers to prevent the spread of betting shops. Bookies hoping to set up a new shop can now be stopped from doing so by councils refusing to accept planning applications. Under the old system, book makers were able [...]