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.
Read the rest of this post »

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.
Read the rest of this post »

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.
Read the rest of this post »

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.
Read the rest of this post »

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.
Read the rest of this post »

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?
Read the rest of this post »

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.)
Read the rest of this post »

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.
Read the rest of this post »

The coalition government set two deadlines for 2015 when it came to office: the next general election and elimination of Britain’s budget deficit. Two years on, the budget balancing has been postponed but the election date can’t be. So ministers must go to the polls with the economy still a problem.
Read the rest of this post »

Football finances belong to a different planet, but fining a club because it goes bust? That’s from a different galaxy. What chance has the authorities of receiving any payment?
Read the rest of this post »