A tax on bonuses might shore up the Labour vote, but it will finish off the...
Before he gets too carried away with his plans for a tax on bonuses, the Chancellor should take a quick dekko at this story (hat-tip, Devil's Kitchen). More than a thousand investment bankers are...
View ArticleBanking reform: showing the City slickers the door
Be prepared for the howls of pain, the banging of doors and the shouts of "we're leaving". The City boys are set for another collective tantrum. This week the Banking Commission will report its...
View ArticleDoes Nick Clegg think he's Tony Benn?
The Deputy Prime Minister came out swinging this morning on Radio 4's Today programme. When asked how he would tackle the issue of bank bonuses he was robust. Emphasising again and again how the...
View ArticleThe government is quite right not to penalise banks for paying bonuses
Has Britain become a nation of Communists? How else to explain the widespread public anger over bankers' bonuses? After all, it only makes sense to be angry with the government for not preventing banks...
View ArticleIt's no good sneering, David Cameron has to take on Ed Miliband
It's easy to deride Ed Miliband. He economic policy is devoid of credibility, his shadow chancellor is not taken seriously, the majority of his parliamentary party nurse doubts about his suitability,...
View ArticleDavid Cameron's 'popular capitalism': half an hour of puff and one intriguing...
It's said that the problem with elections is that no matter who you vote for, you get the same thing: a politician. It certainly feels like that this morning. Ed Miliband has an article in the...
View ArticleDave and Ed's rhetoric over bank bonuses is as empty as the Occupy St Paul's...
Apparently Stephen Hester isn’t going to be getting his million-pound bonus after all. Instead, the RBS boss is reported to be in line for a pay-out of between £800,000 and £950,000, dependent on the...
View ArticleThe EU caps the only bit of bankers' pay that is performance-related. My...
Most of us got upset about bankers’ pay only after the crash. During the boom years, we didn’t especially mind that financiers were snapping up yachts and mansions. (Most of us didn’t, at any rate....
View ArticleEd Miliband bashes the banks – again. Isn't he bored with this yet?
I appear to owe Ed Miliband an apology. On Tuesday I suggested his big economic policy announcement – scheduled for tomorrow – would be preceded by over-heavy briefing around a dramatic new “shift to...
View ArticleBravo, Mark Carney: for capitalism's sake, greedy bankers must be punished
Perhaps there is light at the end of the anti-capitalist tunnel. Mark Carney is using language sharp enough to penetrate the ears of even the most ostrich-like banker: "Bankers made enormous sums in...
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