London house prices slide as gloom sets in December 2, 2012 GREATER London saw its first house price fall in a year in November, new data has revealed this morning. This came as forecasts, also published today, saw the UK housing market taking another two years to recover to its pre-crisis peak, before staying stuck in the so-called new normal of weaker house price growth for [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 25 July 2013 July 24, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Osborne accused of bowing to City The UK chancellor was yesterday accused of bowing to City pressure and watering down key provisions to make Britain’s banks safer, as the Banking Reform bill began its passage through the House of Lords. Lord Lawson, the Tory former chancellor, said the Treasury was guilty of an [...]
UK economy heats up July 21, 2013 THE UK ECONOMY looks set to finally record robust growth this week, after a bundle of positive indicators from consumers and firms this morning all point to an expanding economy. All five of the latest surveys are positive, continuing a run of steadily strengthening data over the past few months and bolstering hopes that Thursday’s [...]
We must build more homes to tackle bubble, not tax more June 11, 2013 IF you want to know why a wealth tax should not be adopted in Britain, look no further than France. Over 8,000 French households were hit by tax bills that topped 100 per cent of their income last year, Les Echos reported this weekend, citing finance ministry data. For these people, the only way to [...]
We must urgently improve the quality of our economic growth July 24, 2013 BARRING an astonishing shock, today’s second quarter UK GDP figures will be good. But while economic activity is now clearly increasing again, I’m deeply worried about the quality of the growth and its sustainability when monetary policy is eventually tightened. Ever since the Keynesian revolution, the City and government have been far too obsessed with aggregate, [...]
Britain’s economy is finally recovering – enjoy it while it lasts June 8, 2013 TIMING, as they say, is everything. If you are interested in the short-term, and agree with John Maynard Keynes, not my favourite economist, that we are all dead in the long run, now is the time to turn bullish. Growth is returning. There is no doubt that the UK economy is looking up; the short-term [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 24 July 2013 July 23, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Ex-HSBC banker in frame for RBS job Mark McCombe, a veteran banker with 20 years experience at HSBC, has emerged as the leading external candidate to be the next chief executive of RBS according to people close to the process. Mr McCombe, a Briton who has spent the past year running the Asian [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 31 July 2013 July 30, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Biotech gives Wall St shot in the arm Biotechnology firms are raising money at the fastest rate since the dotcom boom, underscoring the renewed appetite for one of Wall Street’s riskiest bets. So far this year 22 companies have raised $1.7bn from initial public offerings, according to Dealogic. Law firms hire rogue private eyes [...]
Britain is falling badly behind in the entrepreneurship stakes July 29, 2013 ONE OF Britain’s great advantages is that we are meant to be a much more entrepreneurial nation than most of our major competitors. We do, indeed, create more companies than some other wealthy countries but as a study by RSM reveals, we are hardly covering ourselves in glory. In fact, we are ranked a pathetic [...]
Official data shows house prices slid into decline in September November 13, 2012 HOUSE PRICES started to slide going into September, ending a six-month run of unbroken expansion, official data revealed yesterday. The UK’s average house price slipped 0.2 per cent between August and September, the data from the Office for National Statistics showed, as even London’s housing market came under pressure. London house prices dived some 1.2 [...]