Blueprint for Brexit: Why post-EU prosperity isn’t unthinkable April 8, 2014 IT WOULD be easy to think that the debate about Britain’s membership of the EU has been done to death. Yet there has been relatively little serious discussion about the alternatives to EU membership – an urgent issue given the possibility of an in/out referendum in 2017. Outlandish claims that exit would be utterly catastrophic [...]
Diplomat wins €100,000 prize for Brexit plot April 8, 2014 THE UK could boost its GDP by £1.3bn if the country left the EU and negotiated a looser relationship with Brussels, according to the winner of a competition to design a “Brexit” plan. The Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA) announced a competition last year to plan a potential exit from the EU for the UK, [...]
MPs to hit out at HS2 as research doubts benefits April 28, 2014 NEW RESEARCH claims the benefits of the High Speed 2 railway for the north of England have been exaggerated, and that the “regeneration myth” is obscuring the damage that would be done to some regions. Ahead of a vote in parliament on the new laws needed to build HS2, the Institute of Economic Affairs argued [...]
UK comes one step closer to banning unpaid internships May 13, 2014 The House of Commons has passed a Ten Minute Rule Motion banning unpaid internships by a massive 181 votes to 19. The motion was brought forward by conservative MP Alec Shelbrooke, who argued that unpaid internships disproportionately favoured the children of the wealthy and well-connected. Shelbrooke said fellow members of the House of Commons had [...]
UK comes one step closer to banning unpaid internships May 13, 2014 The House of Commons has passed a Ten Minute Rule Motion banning unpaid internships by a massive 181 votes to 19. The motion was brought forward by conservative MP Alec Shelbrooke, who argued that unpaid internships disproportionately favoured the children of the wealthy and well-connected. Shelbrooke said fellow members of the House of Commons had [...]
Here’s how government policy fuelled a booming black market in tobacco April 23, 2014 The illegal tobacco market continues to thrive in a country with one of the strictest tobacco control regimes in Europe, according to a report released by Japan Tobacco International (JTI). Ireland's illegal tobacco trade has grown to a point where non Irish duty paid cigarettes make up 28 per cent of the market. JTI's research [...]
Tobacco plain packaging braced for legal showdown at the WTO April 28, 2014 The battle over Australia's law compelling the standardised packaging of tobacco is set to come to a head after two years of procedural wrangling. The case will now be settled in court by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) after five countries brought the action against Australia arguing the law was a restriction on intellectual property [...]
Ukraine will only be the start April 21, 2014 Traders set to increasingly feel the pinch from flare-ups in petro-states FOR ANY traders not paying close attention to energy markets, recent events will have come as a rude awakening. Brent crude shot up from just above $104 per barrel in February to over $109 at the end of last week, while energy firms embroiled [...]
IEA warns of oil supply problems in Iraq and Libya and cuts 2014 demand growth forecast August 9, 2013 The International Energy Agency has increased its oil demand forecast for this year to 29.8m barrels per day (bpd), up 200,000 from its previous estimate. However, it has warned against supply shortages from Iraq and Libya and cut its forecast for growth in demand for 2014 by 100,000 bpd to 1.11m bpd. Protests in Libya [...]
Four reasons Osborne should abolish the Budget March 10, 2014 IN EIGHT days, George Osborne will deliver the penultimate Budget of this Parliament. Despite little indication of what it will contain, newspapers are already rife with speculation, organisations are pushing their favourite policy hobby-horses, broadcasters are booking Budget Day interviewees, and commentators are salivating about what a minor tax cut here, or spending pledge there, [...]