Failing UK drugs policy should take a leaf from Uruguay and Portugal December 11, 2013 DRUGS are harmful, whether they are legal or illegal. The challenge is how to reduce the harms they cause. For decades, countries have tried to stop drug use by handing out criminal justice sanctions. People are arrested, tried, and convicted, at vast expense. But this has not stopped the ready availability of a huge range [...]
Standard Chartered would do better being more upfront December 16, 2013 BEFORE and during the financial crisis, which rocked so many banks to their foundations, Standard Chartered could seemingly do nothing wrong. While their rivals dodged in and around write-downs, rescue rights issues and increased impairment charges, the stock of both chief executive Peter Sands and his ebullient finance director Richard Meddings rose sky-high. So highly [...]
London Report: Energy boost from Iran deal lifts the FTSE November 25, 2013 BRITAIN’S main share index rose for the first time in a week in thin trade yesterday as travel stocks rallied on expectations that a nuclear deal between oil-rich Iran and six world powers would help cut fuel costs. Airlines IAG and EasyJet, and cruise operator Carnival, rose between two per cent and 2.8 per cent [...]
Bottom Line: Chinese burn scars a clean bill of health October 23, 2013 THE PHARMA industry has not enjoyed particularly good health, of late. Fading into a distant memory are the days when a stream of blockbuster drugs could be relied upon to boost shares. Instead, increasingly-dry pipelines are squeezed by stringent regulators and the tightened purse-strings of European and American governments’ health departments. Except that Glaxo, led [...]
Letters to the Editor – 25/10 – Deferred costs, Best of Twitter October 24, 2013 Deferred costs [Re: The global economy sinks under its debts as the real cost of energy rises, yesterday] Tim Morgan’s article strikes at the real issue facing the global economy and all of us. Perpetual growth is almost certainly over. The debt problem of the credit crisis has not gone away, it has simply been transferred [...]
Serious Fraud Office calls for change in law October 7, 2013 THE SERIOUS Fraud Office (SFO) said yesterday the law must be changed if critics want to see more companies in court for misconduct. Serious Fraud Office director David Green said he was constantly being compared unfavourably with US enforcement agencies, which prosecute far more companies for fraud. The SFO faces a much higher burden of [...]
Deloitte asks for leave to appeal its £14m fine for MG Rover work October 2, 2013 DELOITTE has launched an appeal against its £14m fine for failing to properly handle conflicts of interest when working with MG Rover. “We recognise the general desire to move on from this case but do not agree with the main conclusions of the tribunal which we feel could create significant uncertainty for individual members and [...]
Rugby tightens salary cap rules October 8, 2013 ENGLAND’S top rugby union clubs have agreed to tighten regulations on salary caps in a bid to ensure no teams are cheating the system. Premiership Rugby now has the power to undertake an investigatory audit in addition to the standard salary cap audit in order to root out financial cheats. The organisation, which represents the [...]
Coalition caps payday lenders November 25, 2013 CHANCELLOR George Osborne announced a surprise cap on payday loan costs yesterday, turning the government’s previous policy towards the short-term lending firms on its head. In the face of growing pressure from both the Labour party and an influential group of peers including the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, Osborne now plans to amend the [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 05 December 2013 December 4, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES US business chiefs want budget deal Chief executives of big US companies are warning that the country faces another year of sluggish growth, expressing hope that a deal over the budget being discussed in Congress will kick-start the economic recovery. Jim McNerney, chief executive of Boeing and chairman of the Business Roundtable, said [...]