Jonnie Peacock smiles despite failing to medal in Paralympic Games as Sherman Guity Guity claims gold
Sorry to be a party-pooper, but this is the wrong kind of growth October 31, 2013 EVEN the Bank of England sometimes makes mistakes. It was forced to correct its most recent data on consumer borrowing yesterday, in a development that confirmed what many of us feared all along: credit is beginning to surge dangerously. Yes, the economy has rebounded; but in many ways we are seeing the wrong kind of [...]
Inside Track: Imperial’s Napier under pressure as shareholders rebel October 9, 2013 IT has been a poor week for the UK’s quoted tobacco companies. Even by the standards of a sector used to being the target of political hammerings, the suite of measures passed by MEPs on Tuesday was tough for investors to swallow: a ban on smaller packs, enlarged health warnings and new restrictions on products [...]
The Tories are failing to find a market response to Ed Miliband’s anti-capitalism September 30, 2013 THE ROLE of the state has long been the major fault line in UK political discourse. This is not surprising, given that the interaction between state and citizen has changed so profoundly over the past 100 years. And with Ed Miliband’s challenge to the market economy last week, and yesterday’s attempted defence by George Osborne, [...]
Countrywide awaits second housing boost August 1, 2013 COUNTRYWIDE is anticipating another boost from the government’s Help to Buy scheme when the second phase comes into force next year, the UK’s largest estate agency said yesterday, as it posted a jump in half-year profits. Countrywide’s core business is in second hand home sales, which is not covered by the first part of Help [...]
Real estate jobs boom a worry – but labour market rebalancing September 11, 2013 IT is the fact of the day: those who work in real estate accounted for 23.05 per cent of the net jobs growth in the UK over the past year. In fact, 13 per cent of the 562,000 total jobs that now exist in “real estate activities” – which include a range of jobs, from [...]
Letters to the Editor – 22/07 – Keep Heathrow, Broken housing, Best of Twitter July 21, 2013 Keep Heathrow [Re: Heathrow expansion is our best option and it doesn’t have to be loud, Thursday] One justification for an Isle of Grain airport is that London is moving east. That may be true for several thousands of people, but many hundreds of thousands in the west and south west of London depend on [...]
UK mortgage approvals rise to a 17-month high as chancellor meets with lenders to discuss Help to Buy July 23, 2013 Some 37,278 home loans were approved in June 2013 – a 17-month high – according to a report from the British Banker’s Association. While this came in below analysts' expectations of a rise to 38,500, mortgage approvals were still up 32 per cent from June 2012 and 17 per cent from the 2012 average. It [...]
Rise in new jobs casts doubt on Bank rates plan September 11, 2013 STRONG figures released by the Office for National Statistics yesterday showed a significant drop in unemployment, casting doubt on the Bank of England’s new policy on rates. The rate of joblessness has become even more important since Bank of England governor Mark Carney revealed his forward guidance plan in August, announcing that current historically [...]
Lloyds reprivatisation expected to raise over £3.2bn September 16, 2013 A statement from the government agency managing the state's stake in Lloyds has given the green light to the chancellor to begin reprivatising state-backed bank Lloyds. UK Financial Investments (UKFI) has given the nod shortly after the Office for Fair Trading said that TSB should be given more financial help by parent Lloyds. Our banking [...]
The Iranian deal is truly historic – but not because it resolves nuclear crisis November 25, 2013 THE HISTORIC interim agreement between the Islamic Republic of Iran and (primarily) the West over the former’s nuclear ambitions is the real deal – an actual current event that lives up to the “historic” tagline far too easily given out by breathless commentators. However, on its immediate merits, the best that can be said of [...]