Don’t count on brownfield: It won’t solve the housing crisis alone June 11, 2014 IN TODAY’S Mansion House speech, George Osborne is expected to outline new plans to encourage housing development on brownfield sites. The speech follows in the wake of an IMF report, which urged the UK government to relax planning rules that constrain both brownfield and greenfield development in order to sort out the grave imbalances in [...]
Scottish independence referendum: Politicians have failed to inspire, but the union must survive September 17, 2014 There have surely been better political campaigns than the Better Together one that has been arguing the case for Scotland remaining in the United Kingdom, 307 years since the 1707 Act of Union. Admittedly, the Better Together side started with a bad hand, taking the No position in the whole debate. Arguing for something not [...]
Bank of England inaction threatens house price bubble, warns analyst May 8, 2014 April saw a rare fall in house prices, according to the latest data from Halifax. They dropped by 0.2 per cent, a small monthly decline. But on an annual basis, UK house prices are now up by 8.5 per cent in the three months to April. House prices are driven by supply and demand, and [...]
Letters to the Editor – 18/06 – Intervention risks, The Bank’s babies, Best of Twitter June 17, 2014 Intervention risks [Re: Should the West cooperate with Iran to defeat ISIS in Iraq? yesterday] I agree with Michael Rubin – the West should refrain from assisting Iran with its intervention in Iraq. The Iranian leadership’s version of Shiism has proven to be just as ruthless and authoritarian when it comes to the minorities among [...]
Lake Capital in talks to back Engine Group July 21, 2014 The Engine Group, owner of PR firm MHP Communications and ad agency WCRS, is set to announce a major investment by Lake Capital by the end of the week. The London-based company’s 13 agencies provide services including advertising, lobbying and marketing to major brands including Tesco, Coca Cola and Lloyds Banking Group. MHP also advised [...]
Crowdfunding: Beware the celebrities offering investors strange deals September 14, 2014 I am a great fan of crowdfunding – it really is a cheap way of using modern technology to enable investors, including very small ones, to invest in all manner of things. So what can go wrong? Well, the regulators can stop it as effectively as they have made share offers to the public so [...]
London signs slew of deals to foster renminbi trading June 17, 2014 THE LONDON Stock Exchange (LSE) yesterday inked agreements with two of China’s biggest banks to give businesses in China greater access to UK capital markets. The group said it had signed memorandums of understanding with Agricultural Bank of China and the Bank of China to boost London’s role as a hub for the burgeoning offshore [...]
Carney wishes he could build houses May 14, 2014 The Bank of England governor showed his frustration at the housing market today, in an unusually open display of irritation at the demands placed on the institution. Prices are soaring in areas like London – some boroughs have seen prices rise by as much as 30 per cent in the last year – and [...]
Mortgage approvals fall to July 2013 low June 2, 2014 Mortgages have seen another fall, dropping to 62,918 in April, from 66,563 in March, according to new figures from the Bank of England. That compares with an average of 70,132 over the previous six months. We had a good idea that we'd see that third monthly decline today. Timelier measures from the BBA saw mortgage [...]
Mixed messages on interest rates from Bank of England prompt criticism July 23, 2014 City economists clashed with Mark Carney yesterday, challenging the Bank of England governor’s insistence that “clear guidance” is being provided on when interest rates will finally begin to rise. The latest monetary policy committee (MPC) minutes yesterday showed another unanimous decision to hold bank rate at 0.5 per cent, even as Carney told a Glasgow [...]