There are many shocking statistics that highlight the seriousness of the financial illiteracy crisis in the UK. Recent reports produced about our country’s financial literacy highlight that only 38% of people understand inflation, more than 30% of people fail to carefully consider purchases, and that the average pension pot in the UK stands at less […]
Jeremy Corbyn and his Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, made an announcement earlier this week that if Labour wins the next election it will end the scandal of private finance initiative (PFI) contracts which have been responsible for financial woes in a whole host of hospital trusts, schools and other public institutions. Labour’s promise consists of
For as long as Donald Trump has been in office – possibly as long as he’s been running for office – he has been dogged by scandal and rumour, and more chaos than Armando Iannucci’s The Thick of It. Since being inaugurated on January 20th, 2017, he has; Fired a set of ambassadors and the
Multiple governments have recognised the need for modern infrastructure, capable of delivering and enabling high performance across our country. As with many issues in the political sphere, ministers have taken it upon themselves to craft a ‘long-term plan’, currently entitled the National Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline. I’ve got to admit, I’m a little sceptical of politicians
Last week, my concern over the political performance of the Labour party was compounded during a rout of voters in the local elections. It’s highly unusual for a political party to grow their share of the vote whilst being in power, but the Conservatives seem to have managed this during both the 2015 General Election
I was lazily scrolling through Twitter this morning when I spotted a tweet from one of my Cousins who has a politically engaged friend. This friend has always seemed willing to engage in an honest discussion, so I thought I’d respond to their message that politics needs ’a new way’. My first thought was that
As you will likely have read, the UK Ambassador to the EU, Sir Tim Barrow has today delivered a signed letter to EU Council President, Donald Tusk providing formal notice of the UK desire to leave the EU and triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. This follows months of debate over whether June’s referendum
Once again, Greece is back in the news following a fallout between European governments and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over how to handle the on-going bailout of the country. According to the IMF, Greece needs to be cut a bit of slack on its punitive debt repayment schedule before more funds are released. According
Earlier this year, I published an article on this blog about Donald Trump and his election to the American Presidency. A few weeks have gone by and, rather predictably, the world seems to have gotten ever more hysterical about his election. The first week of his Presidency saw global protests, the firing of the Attorney
In the summer of 2016, I wrote an article about the Panama Papers, the offshore industry and international taxation. The article was brief, but decried the lack of transparency which seemed to be costing the world dearly in lost tax revenues. It’s been pretty much half a year since I wrote that article and I
What has happened to the Offshore Industry since the Panama Papers? Read More »
Anyone that has ever watched Dad’s Army will recognise these famous words, usually frantically yelled by the blustering Private Jones as a situation dissolved into chaos… Now, I’m not usually one to advocate panicking. Indeed, it’s usually a complete waste of time. In most situations of adversity, I tend to lean towards an attitude of
Infrastructure; if people and commerce are the lifeblood of our society, infrastructure are the veins through which they flow. Whilst I could hardly claim to be an expert in economics, I feel reasonably confident in asserting that a correlation exists between long-term growth in a country, and its level of investment in infrastructure. Of course,
Is The West in financial collapse? I might not be an LSE educated economist, but it seems obvious to me that my side of the planet is facing some pretty serious economic challenges. Across Europe and America, inequality is rising, as are housing prices and unemployment. Bank rates remain at ludicrously low levels (even being
Unless you’re living under a rock, chances are that you’ve heard the news that Donald Trump has somehow won the 2016 US election and is going to be the next President. Whatever your political slant (personally, I wasn’t a fan of Hilary Clinton, but wouldn’t have voted for Mr Trump either), the reality is that
Earlier this year, I was browsing my local Waterstones, when I came across a copy of ‘Blair Inc.’ on the shelf. I have to admit to an enduring curiosity in our former Prime Minister, and so picked up the book and parked myself in the attached Costa to start reading. To those of you that
