The Edge

Richard Northedge takes on corporate finance

Archive for the ‘capitalism’ category

We did not give generously at Live Aid!

The 25th anniversary of Live Aid is being used as an example of how generous people can be in supporting good causes. Nonsense: the concerts were all about commerce, not charity – self interest rather than selfless philanthropy.
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Airlines should have decided whether to fly

If the volcanic cloud that grounded UK aviation for a week has any silver lining it may be to provide a better understanding of risk. A safe flight is one that never takes off: the question is how much risk we are prepared to accept.
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Iceland’s volcano brings out the worst side of compensation culture

Travellers expect their airlines to foot the bill for their enforced grounding. Airlines want governments to compensate them for their losses. Where are governments meant to find the money? Taxing travellers, presumably.
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The “Cadbury Law” is bad

The one company Labour’s proposed “Cadbury Law” would not have protected was Cadbury. Despite the French protection of their yoghurt industry, saving a chocolate company cannot be considered to be in the national interest.
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Compulsion is not the route to sexual equality

Perhaps it was just a pre-election publicity stunt, but the prime minister celebrated International Women’s Day by threatening action against companies that do not put more women on their boards. That’s rich from a man whose 22-member cabinet contains just four females.
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Why is Goldshield’s buyer warning that it got a bargain?

Profits warnings are common during recessions but the oddest seen so far comes from Goldshield Group. The new owner has looked at the books and said that for several years the pills company’s profits may have been understated. Yes, understated.
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Protecting companies from bids protects bad management

Should a company remain independent when almost two-thirds of its shareholders want to sell it? The business secretary thinks so. Lord Mandelson has added his name to those who think the minority should outvote the majority on takeovers.
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Supermarkets are not the villains

Supermarkets are probably the most competitive business in the UK. Why then are they being lumbered with an ombudsman, a new supplier code and all the compliance bureaucracy that goes with them?
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There’s nothing wrong with inequality

A report detailing the gap between Britain’s rich and poor has been met with universal shock and promises to narrow the divide. But why? Isn’t inequality not only inevitable but desirable?
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Burj Khalifa: Why tall towers are always too late

What better monument to financial folly than the tower opened in Dubai at the start of 2010?
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