Austerity is simply bad economics: It’s the current Conservative government – not Jeremy Corbyn – whose spending policies are extreme August 24, 2015 Republican US presidential candidate and Ohio governor John Kasich recently argued that when he gets to the "pearly gates", what will matter is not how much he cut spending, but how much he helped the poor. Austerity is all about spending cuts, which hurt the poor and the vulnerable. This makes the UK government’s [...]
China’s economic slowdown: There’s been blood on the trading floor this Black Monday – but should we be afraid of what’s to come? August 24, 2015 The Chinese government and regulators are currently learning some of the more harsh lessons that their Western counterparts have found out over the last century or so. You can fight free markets as much as you want but sooner or later you will lose. Monday’s 8.5 per cent fall in the Shanghai Composite, when [...]
Greek debt crisis: As Greece returns to the polls, anyone that cares for the country must hope voters reject radicalism August 21, 2015 After a seven-month roller-coaster, Greece received the first €13bn tranche of the latest €86bn bailout this week, allowing it to pay its €3.2bn debt to the European Central Bank and its immediate domestic obligations. Almost simultaneously, Alexis Tsipras announced his resignation, prompting a fresh set of elections. The news is no surprise. Since the spectacular [...]
Unlimited upsides? Check. Too big to fail? Check. History tells us careful investors could be about to make millions in China August 21, 2015 The Chinese government could be forgiven if it now feels rather pleased with itself. After interventions including banning negative reporting on markets, threatening to prosecute short-sellers, and ordering companies to engage in share buybacks, it has succeeded in arresting a stock market crash – albeit with a few bumps along the way. Not many governments [...]
Why we are still only building half the homes we need? August 20, 2015 Today’s release of the latest figures for homebuilding by the Department for Communities and Local Government make for interesting reading for all those interested in ending our nation’s housing crisis. Read more: The number of new homes being built has actually fallen Ultimately, they are a mixed bag. On a positive note, housing [...]
Conveyor belt of UK graduates is failing to boost productivity August 20, 2015 While the United Kingdom’s employment record over the past few years has beaten all expectations, the number of graduates in the UK labour market has significantly outstripped the growth of high-skilled jobs. Graduate over-qualification in the UK has reached "saturation point" with too many over-qualified graduates in non-graduate roles. And yet, record numbers of young [...]
Reverse innovation in India: Low cost does not mean low technology August 20, 2015 They say necessity breeds innovation. Perhaps there’s no other country where this holds more true than India. The needs are overwhelming here. And whether it’s refrigerators that run without electricity, heart surgeries for $800 dollars, or the cheapest cars in the world, enterprising Indians and companies are constantly finding disruptive (and innovative) ways to address [...]
London mayoral elections: Stephen Greenhalgh argues the capital needs a more joined-up approach to its emergency services August 20, 2015 London's ambulance service is in crisis. Last year Prime Minister David Cameron was forced to defend its performance, which was the worst in the country with only 66.5 per cent of ambulances reaching the most serious 999 calls within eight minutes. The NHS target is 75 per cent. This is because the ambulance service [...]
Ill-designed European Union risks fixed-rate mortgage lending in the UK August 20, 2015 Fixed rate mortgages are massively popular with consumers, 68 per cent of all mortgage products from building societies in the first half of 2015 were fixed rate. With the narrative from the Bank of England hinting that the base rate will start to rise later this year or early 2016, the drive from the public [...]
From Tesco’s sugary drinks to Alton Towers’ roller coaster incident: How Twitter can make you a better investor August 19, 2015 Social media has long been used as a resource to tap into sentiment. Twitter, a platform that could easily be dismissed thanks to the challenges inherent in sharing information in 140 characters, is in fact a hugely viable source of information and a vital insight into what people are saying about a brand, an event [...]