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DOF Online Blogs

• Three reasons for one Bank of England report

• By Richard Northedge
• If the Bank of England has launched three inquiries into its handling of the financial crisis, it must have something to hide. One general review would be much better than a trio of specific reports.
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• Olympic torches should be Locog’s hot seller

• By Richard Northedge
• The London Olympics Organising Committee must fight fire with fire. If people are selling Olympic torches for more than £150,000 on eBay, Locog should start selling. We need to recover every penny spent on the Games.
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• BCCI and Northern Rock: cheaper than you think

• By Richard Northedge
• Bank collapses aren’t all expensive. The £2bn official ‘cost’ to taxpayers of rescuing Northern Rock is based on decidedly strange accounting. In cash terms, the break-up should break-even or better. And the 90 per cent recovery of funds at BCCI after 16 years almost looks like a profit compared with expectations.
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• Motor industry revs up to reverse trend

• By Richard Northedge
• Who would have thought that the car industry would rescue the UK economy? For the first time in 36 years, the motor industry is showing a balance of payments surplus.
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• Do we need a constant market in small companies?

• By Richard Northedge
• Small firms wouldn’t like it if investors were buying and selling all day making their share price volatile. But unless there is dealing there is no point being quoted. That’s the conundrum that has forced Plus Markets to close.
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• Which is sicker? The workers or the economy?

• By Richard Northedge
• Are we so worried about losing our jobs we’re reluctant to take time off sick? Or so worried about out work that we have go absent with illness? Should we be worried that the long-term trend in falling sick leave has suddenly reversed?
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• Britain’s already received its Olympic prize. Don’t expect more.

• By Richard Northedge
• Ignore the naysayers who claim the Olympics will not boost Britain’s economic growth. There is a gain from the Games. Unfortunately, we’ve already had most of it (and we’re still in recession.)
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• Is RBS’s share consolidations a conjuring trick or a confidence trick?

• By Richard Northedge
• Are investors really daft enough to think they are better off if they have half as many shares each worth twice as much? Directors seem to think so.
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