Supermarket price war dents inflation November 15, 2011 CONSUMER price inflation in the UK dropped slightly in October, figures out yesterday from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed, though it remains well above the Bank of England’s target. Headline CPI inflation fell from 5.2 per cent in the year to September to five per cent last month. A 0.9 per cent fall [...]
RAPID RESPONSES October 19, 2011 DNA of innovation I’d like to draw Tim Hammond’s [Innovation first, Rapid Responses, yesterday] attention to the computer, transistor and integrated circuit. Together they have transformed the world far more than the jet engine did, and are all more recent inventions. Then there are new technologies in the life sciences, such as DNA sequencing and [...]
Fastest price rises since CPI began in 1996 October 18, 2011 CONSUMER prices increased at a record rate in the year to September, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said yesterday. The consumer price index (CPI) rose to 5.2 per cent – the highest since it was introduced in 1996, and equal to the peak in September 2008. The figure was 4.5 per cent in the [...]
Inflation at three-year high of 5.2pc October 18, 2011 Inflation in Britain hit a three-year high in September driven by soaring gas and electricity bills, data showed, adding to the severe squeeze on Britons’ living standards as wages have failed to keep up with rising prices. The jump highlights the risk to the Bank of England’s recent move to revive the faltering economic recovery [...]
Firms: cut red tape to boost jobs October 12, 2011 A CHORUS of business groups and think-tanks yesterday called for a raft of supply side measures to boost the economy and cut unemployment, which rose to 8.1 per cent in August. Youth unemployment in particular shot up to 721,000 — excluding full time students — representing 20 per cent of 16-24 year olds. Regulations under [...]
All three parties are failing UK business: Digby Jones lays out his policy challenge October 9, 2011 NOW that all the nonsense of party conference season is over, as Westminster heads back to work and the rest of us continue to try and earn an honest living, what did we hear from the mouths of our political masters? Did any of the three main parties show the UK business community that they [...]
Why Mervyn King is wrong about QE October 7, 2011 IT was strange for Mervyn King to claim yesterday that the financial crisis may yet turn out to be worse than the Great Depression. The world faces monumental challenges. But the mass unemployment, protectionism and rise of fascism of the 1930s has so far been avoided and many emerging markets are still buoyant. Over-using apocalyptic [...]
Why Mervyn King is wrong about QE October 6, 2011 IT was strange for Mervyn King to claim yesterday that the financial crisis may yet turn out to be worse than the Great Depression. The world faces monumental challenges. But the mass unemployment, protectionism and rise of fascism of the 1930s has so far been avoided and many emerging markets are still buoyant. Over-using apocalyptic [...]
MADE IN CHELSEA LINK IRKS TOPSHOP TYCOON September 15, 2011 A NIGHT in is inked in the diary for Sir Philip Green next Monday, when the first episode of the new season of Made In Chelsea airs, starring his 20-year-old daughter Chloe. “I will be watching it on Monday night, of course,” he told The Capitalist. The conversation took a turn for the worse, however, [...]
Stepping into the property market of the new world order August 11, 2011 WITH debt and financial turmoil gripping the economies of Europe, North America and Japan, it’s not hard to look at the rise of India, China and Singapore and sense a coming shift in global power. Recent headlines have been staggering: last year, David Cameron led the largest British trade delegation to India in living memory, [...]