The class politics of Lord Wolfson and his pals
GENUFLECTION to the opinions of those we have come to call ‘business leaders’ has formed an unquestionable norm of economic orthodoxy under every British government since 1979. Trade unions are repeatedly castigated as vested interests. By contrast, the agenda of the wealth creators is routinely presented as ideologically neutral. OK, these guys dodge a bit [...]
Welcome back to Britain, Mr Nadir
HERE we are, more than three months into a Tory-led government, and there has yet to be a single sleaze scandal of any genuine seriousness. So bang on cue, one comes along and resurrects itself from the past. Asil Nadir, the bloke what done a runner to Cyprus back in 1993 rather than face the [...]
Sir Philip Green: tax avoider gets job on the side
PUT the firm in the name of the missus, set the old girl up with a nice little gaff down in Monaco, and then pay her a dividend of well over a billion quid. Tell the taxman to go swivel. That’s essentially what Sir Philip Green did in 2005, so ensuring that not a single [...]
Crisp industry to take charge of anti-obesity policy
ANTI-OBESITY campaigning in Britain will soon be brought to you courtesy of Bombay Bad Boy-flavour Pot Noodles, Snickers, Golden Wonder and Fanta. Or at least it will be, if Andrew Lansley gets his way. The Tory health secretary has today announced that the Change4Life campaign – which offers friendly advice and encouragement to those of [...]
Actually, BP does need its ass kicked
MY JOB sometimes sees me address seminars designed to teach businessmen how to handle the media when things go tits up in a big way, and the week before last I was once again on the platform at such an event. The other scheduled panellist – booked months in advance, I understand – was to [...]
Dictatorship of the supermarketariat: reply to Alex Brummer
TERRY Leahy became chief executive of Tesco in 1997, exactly the same year in which Tony Blair became prime minister. The synchronicity was patently fortuitous; in the intervening years, Leahy’s supermarket chain has prospered under New Labour more than perhaps any other company. The boss man’s performance has clearly impressed Daily Mail economics columnist Alex [...]
RBS after Fred the Shred: some lessons for Labour
FRED the Shred had to work damn hard to secure that nickname. In the heady years of mergers and acquisitions seen in the early part of this decade, it took a lot of effort to stand out from the chief executive crowd when it came to giving people the chop. But Fred Goodwin – the [...]
Why you and me owe Merrill Lynch $29bn
US investment bank Merrill Lynch lost $29bn on its global collateralised debt obligations last year. Not to worry, though; all losses worldwide have been booked through a London subsidiary, so three generations of British public will be forced to pick up the entire tab instead. So that’s OK, then: Merrill Lynch is unlikely to pay [...]
Trash and cash: Labour should tackle short selling
In City jargon, they call it ‘trash and cash’; you borrow shares you don’t own, sell them, , maybe spread rumours that have detrimental impact on their price, and then buy them back on the cheap in order to repay the lender. The practice is absolutely rife in both London and New York. So, come [...]
Illegal filesharing: let it rock
If you are the bass player in Uriah Heap – the band pictured right – and happen to be reading this, please accept my apologies; I owe you guys some royalties. Then again, I doubt very much whether all those cassettes that my friends and I swapped in the playground put that many dodgy 1970s [...]
