You can tell when times are tough because you can hail a taxi.  But there is more to this model of supply and demand than meets the eye.   (more…)

Peter Mandelson has a reputation as a strategist and a schemer. We should be pleased the Department of Business has a man with such talents in charge.
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The banking crisis has reached a healthy phase: it is now safe to let a bank go bust. Until now the state has feared one insolvency would cause others.
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Having demanded a stamp duty holiday, the housing industry ungratefully dismissed the one-year suspension as insignificant. But it’s not the start of the holiday that will make people buy, it will be the end.
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The histories of mutual businesses and the Labour party are intertwined but by allowing Nationwide to takeover two other building societies it looks like the love affair is over.
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It is ironic that the chancellor’s Guardian interview blamed poor communication for Labour’s troubles – yet he failed to communicate clearly his comments that Britain faces the worst economic circumstances for 60 years and failed subsequently to clarify what he was trying to say.
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The exodus abroad of British companies – Charter, Henderson, Regus have joined the list – has renewed calls to cut UK corporation tax. But the less they pay, the greater the burden on people that cannot move.
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If a billionaire wants to buy two painting for £300m that’s his business. But how can UK galleries justify buying them for £100m (unless they are planning to flip them to the billionaire and keep the profit?).
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There is a small oasis in the housing market where prices have not fallen. New homes. While other property prices plunge, builders refuse to cut theirs. Perhaps that’s why they’re not selling?
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Would the Olympic athletes run faster or jump higher if paid? Would they train more intensively for a cash reward? There is a suggestion Britain should pay its medal winners money, with £20,000 for a gold.
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