General Election 2015: Mastercard’s Ann Cairns wants greater devolution and more technological innovation April 21, 2015 ELECTION COUNTDOWN: 15 DAYS TO GO Every day until the final week of the election campaign, we ask a business leader to say what policies would entice them to vote for a particular party. ANN CAIRNS: PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL MARKETS, MASTERCARD ■ Reduce reliance on cash to drive economic growth – Cash costs [...]
Alexis Tsipras faces backlash as bankers insist euro would not be harmed by Grexit June 8, 2015 World leaders piled pressure on Greece yesterday by calling for the indebted country to accept unpopular reforms, with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras striking an increasingly isolated figure. From the picturesque alpine resort that played host to this week’s G7 meeting, US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted that Greece must accept tough [...]
Former housing ministers Mark Prisk and Nick Raynsford call for 2.5m more houses by 2025 January 28, 2015 The government needs to do more to encourage house building, two former housing ministers have said. The Lloyds Banking Group Commission on Housing released yesterday outlines a programme to tackle the shortage of new homes. “The UK housing market is facing a range of interlocking problems relating to the general shortage and quality of new [...]
George Osborne Budget 2015: Here’s everything we already know March 16, 2015 Chancellor George Osborne is busily putting the finishing touches to his final Budget speech for this parliament, and while he's been keen to stress fiscal constraints mean it's going to be rather light on the ground, here's a quick round-up of what people think he'll pull out of the red box tomorrow: "No giveaways, no [...]
Housebuilding surge slows to weakest growth in 18 months January 5, 2015 Construction growth slowed again in December, an influential private sector survey showed yesterday, as the boom in house building cooled a touch. The sector is still growing rapidly – Markit’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) came in at 57.6, well above the 50-mark which shows growth, and firmly above the long-term trend rate of 54.5. But [...]
Ex-Zeus and Threadneedle bosses re-emerge with advisory outfit March 1, 2015 TWO LEADING advisory figures from the small cap business world have joined forces to launch a new venture offering public affairs advice to junior market-listed firms. Tim Metcalfe, former co-chief executive of Zeus Capital, and Threadneedle Communications founder Graham Herring have put up cash to found City-based Investor Focus Communications (IFC), which will offer advice [...]
Reshoring could bring £15bn lift to UK economy February 15, 2015 BRINGING the manufacturing of goods back to the UK, or reshoring, could add £15.3bn of GDP to the economy by 2025 as the advantages of the developing world lessen. Over 315,000 new jobs could be created for the country as the labour, transport and regulatory costs of producing goods in places like China and Thailand [...]
UK manufacturing sector picking up steam March 2, 2015 The speed at which the UK’s manufacturing sector is expanding reached a seven-month high in January, new survey data show. The manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) – a survey of private sector firms – rose to a score of 54.1 in February from January’s 53.1, according to figures released yesterday. Any figure above 50 [...]
Despite Obama’s silver tongue, the future of Iraq is looking pretty bleak after fall of Ramadi to Islamic State May 25, 2015 No Mr President, losing Ramadi is not a “tactical setback” – it is a catastrophe. Having also got by on my wits in graduate school, I always had a sense that I understood the elusive failings of Barack Obama far too well. When he obfuscates, he does so elegantly, often speaking in half-truths, illustrating his [...]
London Technology Week: The hunt for London’s unicorn tech startups June 15, 2015 There's no doubting the impressive numbers rolling out of London Tech Week. There’s also no lack of people willing to shout about these impressive feats, whether it be entrepreneurs, investors, economists, or the mayor himself. More than a dozen of London’s tech types today gathered near the summit of the Shard to kick off London [...]