McDonnell’s profligacy will clash with reality November 21, 2016 Philip Hammond will treat us all to his first fiscal event on Wednesday, as he stands up to deliver a hotly anticipated Autumn Statement. Actually, that may be overdoing it. Let's just call it anticipated. After all, Hammond is no George Osborne. The latter was famed for using such set-piece occasions as an exercise in power-building, [...]
Editor’s notes: Whatever your view of him, Farage should sit in the House of Lords November 18, 2016 There are many ways to get a peerage these days. You could conduct a white-wash inquiry into the Labour party’s problem with emboldened anti-semites; you could bounce from quango to quango until a seat on the red benches is the next logical step; you could donate to a political party; or you could have the [...]
The new lord mayor must look to the future November 14, 2016 The City now has its 689th lord mayor. On Saturday, Andrew Parmley donned the traditional finery and paraded through the City in the magnificent State Coach that has carried his predecessors every year since 1757. The Lord Mayor’s Parade is one the most public-facing elements of the City of London Corporation, which can lay claim to [...]
Editor’s notes: Does Trump’s victory provide opportunities for the UK? Maybe November 10, 2016 One benefit of Trump’s shock victory is that it makes the Brexit vote look like a council by-election in comparison. The world is now used to the idea that over the next two years the UK will slip the surly bonds of Brussels, and although the full details of that plan aren’t fully understood it’s the [...]
Trumpism will clash with economic reality November 10, 2016 Yesterday marked the 27th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. It also heralded the ascendancy to the world’s most powerful office of a man whose most famous campaign pledge is to construct a massive wall along the length of America’s southern border. “We’re going to build it,” declared Trump, “and Mexico’s going to [...]
The Brexit vote has revealed Jeremy Corbyn’s irrelevance November 7, 2016 The weekend brought a deluge of reaction to Thursday’s High Court ruling on Article 50. Everyone from renowned legal experts to armchair constitutionalists weighed in on what the ruling meant for Theresa May and whether the judges had made the right call. Under normal circumstances, the voice of the Leader of the Opposition would be prominent [...]
Editor’s notes: Think Brexit voters were just angry? Think again. November 4, 2016 The hot topic of the day is the process of Brexit. With the High Court ruling in favour of those who claimed that the government lacks the constitutional authority to trigger Article 50 without parliamentary approval, it’s an absolute field day for legal commentators and armchair constitutionalists. Those who cry that the judgement represents “a [...]
Brexit scare stories are haunting the City October 30, 2016 The cobwebs falling from the windows of pubs and shops in the City are much more likely to be Halloween decorations than an indication that businesses have abandoned the Square Mile in the wake of Brexit. Nevertheless, post-referendum scare stories hang thick in the air. Project Fear takes on a new meaning at this time [...]
Editor’s notes: Brexit has damaged economists, not the economy October 28, 2016 A couple of years ago I interviewed Saatchi & Saatchi’s global CEO, Robert Senior. As we discussed possible future advertising trends he said “my problem with futurologists is that they’re never held to account”. He meant that predictions of what life will be like in 100 years are very hard to hold up in front [...]
Brexit doesn’t mean the end of the City October 24, 2016 Thirty years ago this week, the City of London underwent a transformation that would set it on a path to global dominance in financial services. The Big Bang, as it became known, was enabled by new technology, regulatory reform, political will and entrepreneurial endeavour. Over the ensuing three decades, the City came to represent the [...]
