Is Warren Buffett’s U-turn on airlines a nod to his value investing past? January 6, 2017 Warren Buffett, the investment billionaire, has been pretty rude about the aviation sector. As the Sage of Omaha unambiguously put it in a 2002 interview: “If a capitalist had been present at Kitty Hawk back in the early 1900s, he should have shot Orville Wright. He would have saved his progeny money.” Buffett went on to [...]
The Financial Conduct Authority puts communication “front and centre” as part of proposals for Lifetime Isa sales November 16, 2016 Britain's financial watchdog has set out its expectations on the rules of engagement for next year's launch of the Lifetime Isa. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) today issued a consultation paper that proposed financial advisers must warn investors of the key penalties and opportunity costs of using the savings wrapper. Read more: Property or pensions? Why not both? [...]
George Osborne is right to back Crossrail 2 – but London should pay for it March 15, 2016 Crossrail hasn’t even opened but already attention is turning to its £32bn successor. The second stage would relieve congestion on the Northern and Victoria lines, and connect Surrey and Hertfordshire with central London. The capital’s business leaders are already warning that any repeat of the wrangling that so delayed the first line would be disastrous. [...]
A bigger London can be an even better London January 5, 2016 London is already Europe’s largest city, with a population in excess of 8.6m. The Greater London Authority expects this figure to climb to 11.3m over the next 25 years, but a fascinating report by Oxford Economics says that the GLA has underestimated the continuing boom, and that our city’s population will reach 12m by 2050. The [...]
We can renew London once again post-Brexit – if we channel the can-do spirit of our ancestors in facing up to our housing and infrastructure challenges October 31, 2016 London has always risen again. This is the 350th anniversary of its greatest resurrection. Our ancestors in 1666 reacted to the Great Fire with a speed and coordination that defies belief. They tax-incentivised developers, ran the first national charitable appeal, invented modern fire insurance, and worked day and night for free. Compared with the Great Fire, [...]
Budget 2017: The full text of chancellor Philip Hammond’s speech March 8, 2017 Philip Hammond has delivered his first – and last – Spring Budget. Headline announcements included more cash for social care and punishing new rules for the self-employed – plus some vague comments on business rates. Read more: City A.M.'s TL;DR version of the Spring 2017 Budget Here's what he said: Mr Deputy Speaker, I report [...]
Greater devolution could boost English tourism and encourage more staycations, the Local Government Association has argued September 27, 2016 Greater devolution could help English tourism thrive as it would give local bodies the means to turn their areas into travel hotspots, the Local Government Association (LGA) has said today. Striking more devolution deals to improve regional transport, infrastructure and business support — all key to boosting tourism — could give local groups such as combined [...]
City eyes best possible access to Europe’s Single Market January 16, 2017 The City is shifting to a new focus on best possible access to Europe's Single Market, rather than pinning hopes on continued membership of the trading bloc, as it prepares for the Prime Minister to announce a so-called clean Brexit tomorrow. In a much anticipated speech, Theresa May is expected to make clear the UK’s [...]
Opinion: If we want to solve the housing crisis, we need to find smarter ways of building October 14, 2016 T he fact remains that London doesn’t have enough homes. The city is growing by about 100,000 people annually, but only 25,000 homes were built in the same period last year. As well as finding the land to build these homes, we also need to find ways to build them quickly on a large scale. [...]
School reform’s biggest winners are the poor August 25, 2016 At the height of the last government, an online petition was launched calling for the then education secretary to resign. “Remove the elitist Michael Gove from office” it screamed. “Gove who has experienced private school education and Oxbridge is completely out of touch”. Like so much cyber activism, it was nonsense. For as today’s GCSE results [...]