The success of Scandinavia owes nothing to high taxes or welfare September 10, 2012 SCANDINAVIAN nations are often regarded as role models. Egalitarian Richard Wilkinson once said that, if you want to live the American dream, you should live in Denmark. Sweden often gets envious glances from social democrats in the Anglophone world. Scandinavian societies are characterised by high living standards, high life expectancy, low crime rates, high social [...]
Standard Chartered lifts the FTSE in Olympic-thinned trading session August 9, 2012 Banking stocks lifted the benchmark FTSE- 00 to its best finish since early April yesterday, led by a resurgent Standard Chartered Bank. Investors were impressed with chief executive Peter Sands’ robust defense of allegations of malfeance lodged by US regulators, and pushed the shares 3.6 per cent higher. However RBS bucked the trend, sliding 1.3 per [...]
Are the coalition’s plans to allow the elderly to defer care costs until death the right step? July 11, 2012 YES Les Mayhew These proposals represent a practical and measured approach to the problem of reforming social care in England. We are pleased that no decision is being made on the lifetime care cost cap (which would put a cap on the amount people would pay for care during their lifetime). We propose a different [...]
MERKEL GETS AGREEMENT ON FISCAL PACT June 21, 2012 ANGELA Merkel’s government and the opposition reached an agreement yesterday on economic growth measures for Europe that will allow Germany’s parliament to approve the permanent bailout scheme for the Eurozone and the fiscal pact next week. Merkel needs opposition support to get a two-thirds majority in parliament on 29 June to ratify the plans.
Shares rebound on hopes for US stimulus July 26, 2012 Asian shares rose on Thursday on bargain hunting as hopes grew for more US stimulus to support growth and new European measures to contain the Eurozone’s debt woes, but sentiment remained frail. Worries about the Euro crisis eased somewhat on comments from European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny who said there are [...]
Fitch gives thumbs up to plan to help banks and raise loans June 19, 2012 EMERGENCY measures to boost the economy will help support Britain’s banks against any collapse in the Eurozone markets, supporting credit ratings in the sector, said ratings agency Fitch yesterday. However, the “funding for lending” scheme, through which the government and bank of England hope to give cheap funds to banks, will have a neutral impact. [...]
Treasury to underwrite £40bn of investment in infrastructure July 17, 2012 THE TREASURY today revealed plans to underwrite infrastructure investment and subsidise exports, in an attempt to buttress the faltering economy. UK Guarantees, as the plans are together known, will guarantee up to £40bn of “nearly ready” infrastructure projects, support up to £5bn of loans to export customers, and ensure the progression of around £6bn worth [...]
Eurozone summit fails to solve growing debt crisis July 1, 2012 EUROZONE leaders made only a few small steps towards easing the pain caused by the sovereign debt crisis, and remain far away from targeting the root causes of the currency area’s problems, economists have warned. Politicians agreed last week to make plans for a “single supervisory mechanism” for Eurozone banks, probably run by the European [...]
IMF: Slow UK growth puts plans to cut deficit at risk July 19, 2012 THE COALITION government will have to abandon its plan to slow the growth of the national debt if the economic recovery fails to pick up, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday. If unemployment stays high – the most recent data puts it at 8.1 per cent after plummeting in the three months to May [...]
COALITION IN CRISIS OVER LORDS PLANS July 10, 2012 THE GOVERNMENT suffered a bloodied nose late last night after Prime Minister David Cameron endured the biggest rebellion from his own party since arriving in Downing Street over two years ago. Around 90 Tory MPs voted against the House of Lords reform bill, despite the coalition dropping the most contentious element of the legislation earlier [...]