Miscellaneous

Thursday

14 Jul 2022
Coffee House
Live: Braverman backs Truss

And then there were five. Suella Braverman has been knocked out of the Tory leadership contest after only receiving 27 votes in the second round ballot. She has now backed Truss. Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt, Liz Truss, Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat remain in the contest. Sunak came top in the second round ballot with 101 votes, an increase of 13 since the first round. Penny Mordaunt is closing in on 83, followed by Liz Truss and Kemi Badenoch. Tom Tugendhat only managed to achieve 32 votes in this round. The next vote takes place on Monday evening, when another candidate will be removed from the contest. 8.32pm Braverman backs Truss James Forsyth writes... Suella Braverman is now backing Liz Truss, as is her campaign wing man Steve Baker.

Live: Braverman backs Truss

Wednesday

13 Jul 2022
Coffee House
Hunt backs Sunak

Jeremy Hunt and Nadhim Zahawi are out of the leadership contest after failing to get 30 votes from Tory MPs on Wednesday. Six candidates are now left in the race: Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Penny Mordaunt, Tom Tugendhat, Kemi Badenoch and Suella Braverman. Another round of voting takes place tomorrow, with the candidate with the fewest votes knocked out of the contest. Follow the latest updates from the race here: 9.50pm – Hunt backs Sunak James Forsyth writes... Jeremy Hunt, who was eliminated from the Tory leadership race earlier today, has announced that he is backing Rishi Sunak. Several candidates might have hoped for the former Foreign Secretary's backing. Mordaunt supported him in 2019, introducing him at his launch, and Tom Tugendhat is on the same one nation wing of the party.

Hunt backs Sunak

Wednesday

6 Jul 2022
Coffee House
Live: Michael Gove sacked as Boris Johnson begins reprisals

Michael Gove has been sacked from the cabinet, as Boris Johnson attempts to reassert control after today's 41 ministerial resignations. The Levelling-Up secretary had urged the Prime Minister to quit, a message later reinforced by a delegation of cabinet ministers who gathered in Downing Street earlier this evening. Nadhim Zahawi, the newly-appointed Chancellor, Michelle Donelan, the newly-appointed Education Secretary, Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, and Simon Hart, the Welsh Secretary, who has since resigned, are among those who told the PM to go. But Johnson has refused to do so and is now willing to risk a confidence vote which may come on Tuesday.  Follow the latest developments on Thursday’s live blog here.

Live: Michael Gove sacked as Boris Johnson begins reprisals

Friday

1 Jul 2022
Fisher Investments UK
Fisher Investments UK: Understanding Markets’ Driving Force

What drives markets? In the short term, financial commentators we follow often cite a broad array of different headline news stories. According to Fisher Investments UK’s research, though, markets’ longer-term, more material moves hinge on surprise – the gap between reality and expectations. What does that mean in practise and how can investors use this framework to their advantage? Based on our analysis, stocks concentrate on probable economic conditions over the next 3 to 30 months or so, meaning backward-looking data have little effect on markets beyond a possible short-term sentiment impact. Sometimes newly released data can jar expectations and grab headlines, causing short-term market fluctuations, but we don’t think they alter stocks’ longer-term direction much.

Fisher Investments UK: Understanding Markets’ Driving Force

Thursday

23 Jun 2022
Advertising feature from British Soft Drinks Association
A decision that threatens bottle return scheme success

The government is launching a deposit return scheme (DRS) for drinks containers, due to go live in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in late 2024. The Scottish government’s own scheme will come into force in Scotland in August next year. While the DRS aims to dramatically increase the proportion of containers returned and recycled, one policy decision in particular threatens to punish consumers and businesses alike for doing the right thing. The scheme will involve consumers being charged a sum of money as a deposit upfront when they buy a container, to be redeemed when it is returned empty. In Scotland, the deposit fee has been set at 20p. As it stands, the government intends to apply VAT to deposits collected as part of the recycling initiative.

A decision that threatens bottle return scheme success

Thursday

16 Jun 2022
Vernon Bogdanor
Education must be at the heart of the levelling-up agenda

Talent, Boris Johnson has said, is equally distributed across the country, but opportunity is not. If you live in St Albans, you are nearly three times more likely to have a degree than if you live in Barrow-in-Furness. If you’re male and live in Westminster, your life expectancy is ten years higher than a bloke in Glasgow. Life in Britain, states Michael Gove, has become a postcode lottery. GDP per capita is lower in the north-east, Yorkshire, the East Midlands, Wales and Northern Ireland than in the former East Germany. Reunified Germany has done better at levelling up than we have. This productivity gap is primarily the result of a vast difference in skills between regions. A worker in Blackburn takes five days to produce what it takes someone in Milton Keynes just three.

Education must be at the heart of the levelling-up agenda

Thursday

9 Jun 2022
Paul Burke
How the Tories can salvage ‘Brand Boris’

Brand Boris is in trouble. It wasn't long ago that Boris Johnson could do no wrong, having won his party a thumping majority at the last election. Even when some mishap played out in public – like being stranded on a zip wire or falling in a stream – the public still seemed to love this irrepressible japester. Now Brits are more likely to boo than cheer him. Despite winning a Tory vote of confidence this week, he looks like a bruised and battered boxer who’s just struggled to a narrow points victory. Is there any way for him to rebuild his brand? The advertising industry has involved itself successfully in politics ever since Saatchi & Saatchi helped propel Margaret Thatcher into Downing Street. Years later, I was part of the team that did the same thing for Tony Blair.

How the Tories can salvage ‘Brand Boris’

Wednesday

1 Jun 2022
University of Plymouth
Tree planting: What our ecological past tells us about ‘restoring’ lands

Communities and governments around the world have recognised the scale of environmental damage caused to ecosystems by human behaviour. Calls for climate action have resulted in government policies to try to mitigate the worst impacts and halt, or even reverse, the damage that has been caused. Targets are set. The number of trees to be planted are specified, as is the acreage of peat bogs to be restored. These are noble aims, and positive actions are being taken by local and regional groups to implement change to meet these targets, supported through grant schemes and funds to promote environmental benefit. Private sector finance has entered this arena, particularly in the area of carbon trading. These interventions are well intentioned.

Tree planting: What our ecological past tells us about ‘restoring’ lands

Friday

20 May 2022
Lisa Haseldine
Lisa Haseldine
Are military conscription offices in Russia being torched by protesters?

Something strange is happening in Russia. Protest is banned, referring to 'a war' is punishable by up to 15 years in jail - but there are increasing signs of pushback. At least 12 military conscription offices appear to have been vandalised - some set on fire - since the start of the invasion of Ukraine. That’s according to the Ukrainian army, so we might take that with a pinch of salt. But there has been enough corroboration of this on Telegram (one of the few social media firms not blocked by the Kremlin) to take this seriously. A look around Telegram shows buildings with varying degrees of damage, some having clearly been torched. We see offices broken and scorched doors and windows, while one video shows a firefighter inspecting the flooded interior of a recruitment office near Moscow.

Are military conscription offices in Russia being torched by protesters?

Thursday

19 May 2022
Advertising feature from Kite, a Gilead company
Vision launched in UK to maintain leadership position in cell and gene therapies

Cell and gene therapies are advanced medical treatments for certain patients with debilitating or life-shortening diseases. They work by either altering the content of a person’s genetic code, or by replacing diseased or dysfunctional cells with healthy ones. The UK was the first country in Europe to reach agreements that would see some patients routinely access a form of a cell therapy known as CAR T-cell therapy. This is a complex treatment where patients’ cells are collected, engineered and returned to the body to fight specific cancers. Kite, a Gilead company, is a leader in developing and manufacturing CAR T treatments, and along with other pharmaceutical companies has worked closely with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and NHS England in partnership to ensure timely access to these treatments.

Vision launched in UK to maintain leadership position in cell and gene therapies

Monday

16 May 2022
Frank Baker
Here’s how Britain can solve Libya’s woes

The Libyan Civil War of 2011, culminating in the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi, was the bloodiest of the uprisings across North Africa forming part of the so-called Arab Spring. Western leaders, including David Cameron, backed the rebel forces for a myriad of reasons, not least in response to the brutality shown by Gaddafi in bombing his own people. But there was also an expectation that a Libya free of Gaddafi would be a more prosperous and peaceful country. The reality has been very different. For a decade now, Libya has been beset by chaos. A chaos that has seen the country riven by regional rivalries, divided by political figures from east and west. A chaos that Isis took full advantage of to establish themselves in the centre of the country, before western – mainly UK – intervention helped drive them out.

Here’s how Britain can solve Libya’s woes

Thursday

5 May 2022
Advertising feature from Morocco Now Invest and Export
Don’t miss out on Morocco!

A willingness to advance ideas and be a pioneer is a hallmark of Morocco. It is the top country in Africa for both passenger car manufacturing and aeronautics. With the launch of the nation’s new brand Morocco Now the aim is to raise awareness of the incredible transformation that the country has undergone in the past 20 years under the visionary leadership of His Majesty the King Mohammed VI, and to highlight the dynamism of its industry. It has seen its leaders build a competitive low-carbon production and sourcing platform that offers free access to 1.3 billion consumers in Europe, the US, Africa and the Middle East thanks to free trade agreements with more than 50 countries. Having a steady and consistent approach towards creating a modern, sustainable industry and open trade means Morocco is now well positioned to help cushion global shocks and provide solutions to some of the challenges that are pushing the world to reshape value chains.

Don’t miss out on Morocco!

Thursday

28 Apr 2022
Advertising feature from Tudor Lodge Consultants
Is it a risky move to make the Covid business loan scheme permanent?

The Bounce Back Loan Scheme saw more than £44 billion worth of loans distributed to 1.1 million small businesses and individuals to help struggling UK businesses cope with the financial challenges of the pandemic. The UK government partnered with high street and participating banks to distribute the loans, offering 100 per cent guarantees on the payment of this scheme, allowing borrowers to apply for up to £50,000 with very light checks and often lightning funds available on the same day. However, with incredibly favourable rates, including no interest in the first year, it has emerged two years later that a large sum of the money borrowed was lost to fraudsters. In fact, data shows that 10 per cent of all loans taken out were some kind of fraud, amounting to £4.

Is it a risky move to make the Covid business loan scheme permanent?

Tuesday

12 Apr 2022
Fisher Investments UK
Fisher Investments UK: Don’t let Central Bank moves shift you out of equities

Whenever the US Federal Reserve (the Fed) – the central bank of the United States – appears to be raising or lowering interest rates, investors invoke a common phrase: “Don’t fight the Fed”. The premise behind this saying is an investor belief that when the Fed (or any central bank) raises interest rates, the move hurts equities. Conversely, equities benefit when a central bank lowers rates. The saying implies investors are foolish to sell equities when a central bank is cutting rates or to buy equities when rates are rising. Understanding the relationship between central bank policy changes and equity returns is particularly important for investors today because the Fed and other central banks are poised to begin raising interest rates for the first time in years.

Fisher Investments UK: Don’t let Central Bank moves shift you out of equities

Thursday

7 Apr 2022

Thursday

17 Mar 2022
Advertising feature from Phoenix
A looming pensions crisis – and how we can avert it

Research by the Social Market Foundation, sponsored by Phoenix Group, estimates the average person reaching retirement age is almost £250,000 short of the pension pot they’ll need to deliver the pension income they want. That’s a savings gap of £132 billion across the UK. Let those numbers sink in. They’re alarming, to say the least. Even more alarming is that they’re only half the problem. It isn’t just that people aren’t saving enough; they’re also in danger of making the wrong decisions with what they have saved. The questions facing savers today are more complex than ever. Should I save into my pension or pay off my mortgage? Can I afford to withdraw cash from my pension pot now? Should I sell my small business? Which products should I buy? Are there tax implications? They’ve become harder to answer in today’s labour market, where people change employer every five years on average, accumulating numerous disparate pension pots.

A looming pensions crisis – and how we can avert it

Monday

21 Feb 2022
NatWest
Leading the charge to net zero

‘Going green’ can seem like an expensive and complex process. While we’re seeing an unprecedented shift in the way many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) feel about reducing emissions, there are still many barriers standing in their way according to NatWest’s head of business banking, Andrew Harrison. As the UK’s largest business bank, NatWest has a duty to support the diverse and enterprising SME sector in its bid to tackle the looming challenge of climate change. As part of this commitment – and to support UK decarbonisation and the government’s net zero strategy – NatWest has pledged to provide £100 billion in climate and sustainable funding and financing to smaller businesses by the end of 2025. Alongside financial support, we regularly conduct research with businesses to better understand the forces stopping them from taking those vital first steps towards going greener.

Leading the charge to net zero